Janet Contreras Vs. Ed Pastor : Up Front Or Hiding Out In Back?

Janet Contreras, in her well conceived bid to unseat nine-term incumbent Ed Pastor in Arizona CD4, deserves my apology...and Janet, you've got it. I should have written about your race prior to this.

Well, the cavalry--or at least one old, transplanted Montana cowboy with a keyboard--is here now.

What finally got my attention? After all, being present when Janet spoke at the Arizona Border Rally in August should have been enough in itself. She's a pistol, and I mean that in a good way. However, it took several events from yesterday to finally seal the deal:

1. Sarah Palin's endorsement, which reads as follows:

"Janet Contreras is not a politician; she’s a working mother, grandmother, and a former small business owner. She’s like many of the patriots I meet all across this country –frustrated, disappointed, and doing something about it. Many of you will remember Janet from the letter she wrote expressing concern for the direction the country was moving in. Glenn Beck read the letter on his show and later interviewed her. Janet will be a smart, straight-forward, honest, and independent voice for Arizona’s 4th Congressional District.

2. My discovery that incumbent Ed Pastor is a sneaky hider-outer every bit as much as Janet is open and up front. Back room deals? He might as well be doing his business out on the back forty for all I could tell. Every other candidate's website provides a wealth of information on the politician's politicians, accomplishments, goals, etc. Not Ed's. If you can sum up his 18 years in Congress from that site, clue me in. His home page seems to be all about what you can do for him!

I smell weasel.

3. Confirmation of his "typical liberal" way of voting (details farther on down the page).

4. Irritation at some of the so-called polling experts who consider CD4 to be "Safe Democrat". In 2010, there shouldn't be such a thing as a "safe Democrat". The polls are wrong in that respect...and I hereby volunteer to help bury Ed Pastor's political career out back of the barn where it belongs with the rest of the manure.

All that's needed to understand Janet Contreras is to cruise her website. With an incumbent packing 18 years of Congressional service, however, there is usually an abundance of activity to mark his passage through Time on Capitol Hill. This is no doubt as true for Ed Pastor as for any other longtime Congressman...but he makes us work to find it.

So I did a little digging.

1. Like his fellow Latino incumbent, CD7 Congressman Raul Grijalva (about to be soundly defeated by rocket scientist Ruth McClung), he hates SB 1070 (Arizona's law dealing with illegal immigration). And while he didn't try to boycott his own constituents like Raul did, he nonetheless made his position clear in July:

"I am pleased with U.S. District Court Judge Bolton's decision to issue a preliminary injunction that will prevent the core provisions of Senate Bill 1070 from taking effect," Pastor said. "The implementation of these provisions would have seriously interfered with federal immigration enforcement causing irreparable harm to the people of Arizona. Under the Constitution, the federal government has the exclusive authority to set immigration policy."

"Therefore, I remain hopeful that a permanent injunction will eventually be issued on the grounds that these provisions are constitutionally preempted by federal law."

Note: Janet Contreras is dead set against illegal immigration while deeply approving legal immigration.

2. Pastor has earned an "F" rating from the National Rifle Association. In other words, he'll be happy to outlaw guns so that only outlaws will have guns. And as we Arizona borderlanders know all too well, the outlaws do indeed have plenty of firepower on hand. If you live in CD4 and would like to continue having the God-given right and the means to defend your family from a violent home invasion, vote for Janet!

3. He voted against House Amendment 773, Ending Moratorium on Deepwater Drilling Rigs That Meed Certain Safety Standards. That's right, against. It doesn't matter if your drilling rig is safe or not; Ed wants you shut down permanently. Jobs, U.S.produced fuel supply, none of that matters. Just go away.

All of which adds up to one more incumbent Democrat who needs to go away on November 2. It's time to put the Pastor out to pasture.

Contreras 2010 and Remember in November.