TheLiberalOC welcomes a new contributor to this site. Jeff Pearlman, an author of several sports books and a former Sports Illustrated writer and ESPN.com columnist and the author of five New York Times’ best-sellers. My latest book, “Gunslinger,” is a biography of former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre that came out in October 2016. He’s also the author of the new CrazyDana.com blog that chronicles the actions of OC’s surfing Congressman.
He’s a fan of our site and, with her permission, we’ll be reposting his stuff like this excellent piece. So click and give him some traffic!
As for an introduction to Jeff, here goes: “I am neither a political operative nor a political insider. I’ve never held an elected position. I’ve donated very little money to candidates—and all (if not all) of the money I did donate went to Noam Bramson, the mayor of New Rochelle, N.Y. I probably attended, oh, three meetings of the Democratic club when we lived in New York, and I helped register voters.
That, more or less, is my political resume.
When my family moved to Southern California 2 1/2 years ago, we were told our new turf was quite conservative. And, truthfully, on a day-to-day measure it’s barely perceptible. We have made wonderful friends of all political stripes, and when we do debate or disagree it’s always polite and respectable. Personally, while I certainly lean liberal, I have voted for Democrats and I’ve voted for Republicans.
I digress.
While we anticipated differing political viewpoints, my family had no idea that our new representative, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, was, well, absolutely batshit crazy. I mean, look at him. He seems to be, personally, a lovely man. Digs surfing. Plays the banjo (quite well). Pro-marijuana legalization. Middle name is Tyrone. Affable. Embraceable. Devoted husband, quality father of triplets.
But then … egad.
Among other things, Dana Rohrabacher …
• Is known throughout Washington as “Vladimir Putin’s favorite congressman.” He has been inexplicably pro-Russia and pro-Putin for more than a decade, and dismisses any criticism of the Russian strongman as political/media nonsense.
• Is an outspoken climate change skeptic who once joked that “dinosaur flatulence” may have caused a prehistoric episode of global warming.
• Voted yes on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1.
• Voted yes on barring EPA from regulating greenhouse gases.
• Voted no on enforcing limits on CO2 global warming pollution.
• Voted no on tax incentives for energy production and conservation.
• Voted to terminate the Home Affordable mortgage program.
• Voted no on four weeks of paid parental leave for federal employees.
• Voted no (pre-housing collapse) on modifying bankruptcy rules to avoid mortgage foreclosures.
• Voted no in 2007 on regulating the subprime mortgage industry.
• Voted yes on terminating funding for National Public Radio.
• Voted no on expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
• Voted no on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.
• Voted yes on allowing school prayer during the War on Terror.
• Voted yes on giving federal aid only to schools allowing voluntary prayer.
• Voted no on prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation.
• Voted yes on Constitutionally defining marriage as one-man-one-woman.
• Voted yes on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage.
• Voted yes on banning gay adoptions.
• Supported amending the Constitution to define traditional marriage.
• Voted no on enforcing against anti-gay hate crimes.
• Voted no on expanding services for offenders’ re-entry into society.
• Voted no on funding for alternative sentencing instead of more prisons.
• Voted yes on more prosecution and sentencing for juvenile crime.
• Voted yes on making federal death penalty appeals harder.
• Voted no on more funding for Mexico to fight drugs.
• Voted no on $40 billion for green public schools.
• Voted no on $84 million in grants for black and Hispanic colleges.
• Voted no on environmental education grants for outdoor experiences.
• Voted yes on speeding up approval of forest thinning projects.
•••
You can see much of his voting record here. But—warning—it’s painful. The banjo-playing pot smoker who looks like ol’ Grandpa Happy? Well, he loves Putin, hates your gay son and doesn’t seem troubled over clean air and water.
So I’m devoting this site to showing you who Dana Rohrabacher truly is.
Our representative isn’t merely another member of congress.
No, he’s crazy.
And dangerous.
Readers will be getting more from Jeff in the weeks and months ahead. I’m looking forward to chatting about baseball with him.