|
Back
Wally
Herger: the Invisible Incompetent
Published Saturday,
June 14, 1997
Your Representative
in Congress is Walter William (Wally) Herger. Youve never
heard of him. Why? Because he is a non-entity party hack,
doesnt need to campaign here to win, and doesnt do anything
for us.
According to statistics from Vote-Smart, Herger has been boring you in
Congress since 1986. I believe our county inherited Wally in 1992,
when the district was gerrymandered and we lost the brilliant John Dolittle.
Pat Malberg, youll recall, was starting to consistently beat him
in Nevada County, and I presume the Republicans wanted to prevent a future
loss.
Herger is a Republican dream. Hes bland, says little, does
less, votes the party line, and doesnt ask for much. However,
youve got to admire how he raises and uses his money.
In the 1996 campaign, Herger took in $355,459 from individuals and $341,801
from PACs. This means he is 49.01% bought by special interests.
He had a starting balance of over $271K and spent only $536K, leaving
him with a 12/31/96 cash balance of $477,749. He made NO personal
contributions. Why should he? Well, this slush fund should make
it easy to run again or it could be useful in the case he retires early.
Of Hergers 534 reported individual contributors, the little
people who also own him, George Foster, Lowell Robinson, Greg Seghezzi
and a host of Nevada County luminaries were there. However, Ill
bet these folks know Herger isnt much of a performer. They
probably give their $250-1000 because they believe in Republican principles
and want to keep the district out of Democratic hands. Besides,
the contribution usually includes a nice barbecue at somebodys horse
ranch.
Of course, locally-raised money isnt spent campaigning here.
Even the California Democratic Party has written Nevada County off as
safe for Republicans. And actually, its understandable that
Herger raises and uses money to keep the district safe for him.
Thats politics. But surely Hergers performance in office
offends even Republicans.
Hes a member of the powerful Ways and Means committee, but Hergers
performance is never powerful. It ranges from thuddingly dull to
completely dangerous.
He gets no trophy for wanting disaster relief for the Marysville/Yuba
City floods. Any Rep would do that. Further, Herger blames an endangered
plant species for delaying levee repairs and causing three people
to die.
This man is no friend of the poor. In the daily one-minute speeches in
the House, on May 15th, 1997, he sang that old tired song that what the
poor need less government regulation. Sure.
This man is no friend of women. He has eight kids, so he presumes all
women want to be baby factories. He generally votes against abortion
issues, including prohibiting abortions at overseas military facilities
(9/7/95), even those privately funded (6/15/95). He voted to prohibit
the Federal Workers Health Insurance from covering abortions (7/19/95).
Less regulation, indeed.
Herger wants to abort the NEA, doesnt like the NEA grant to the
California Indian Basketweavers Association, and believes the Yuba River
will magically stay pristine without a Wild & Scenic designation.
But most important, Herger dont bring home no pork.
He doesnt DO anything for us. How about some economic growth
in this county? Or some help for the poor?
He is no communicator. Herger is one of the few Representatives
with no e-mail. As the constituency becomes wired, e-mail would
make it easy to communicate with him, but he probably doesnt want
that. Why encourage the voters to write?
Instead, we get Wallys feel-good newsletter (with biased survey
included) every few months, mailed at taxpayer expense. Its
all hooray for me stuff, and lists a schedule of town hall
meetings, which I suspect are well-orchestrated self-sells. The
newsletter says they help me better represent you. Probably
not.
By the way, Wally, I will personally pay the $19.95 a month to get you
an e-mail account. Just call me.
Herger wants to stay in office, offend as few Republicans as possible,
and vote the way his handlers tell him. My fear is that this could
go on forever, or until I die of boredom. Id like to see a
Democrat in this seat, but that doesnt seem likely.
So, painful as it is for registered Democrat like me to endorse a Republican,
Ill say that if you must vote Republican, how about Todd Juvinall?
Hed do a better job, and at least hes more interesting.
Barry Schoenborn is a technical writer, and a ten-year resident of
Nevada County. You can write to him at barry@wvswrite.com. The opinions
of columnists are not necessarily those of The Union.
Back
|