Ammar Campa-Najjar for 50th House seat
It’s not exactly a mystery how The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board feels about the 50th Congressional District race. In May, before the primary election, we wrote that voters should support “anyone but Duncan Hunter,” citing the Alpine Republican’s pathetic campaign finance scandal, in which he and his wife Margaret routinely used campaign funds for their personal and family needs. Rather incredibly, Hunter at various times suggested he was the true victim in the scandal, blaming his wife and the “dishonest” reporting of the Union-Tribune. On Aug. 21, when the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego released a 60-count indictment that laid out in painstaking detail how Hunter and his wife had spent more than $250,000 in campaign funds from 2010-2017, we called for his resignation, saying he doesn’t deserve the privilege of representing the 50th district in Congress.
The good news for voters in the district is that the Democrat running against Hunter — Ammar Campa-Najjar, a former White House fellow and former director of communications and public affairs for the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce — is bright and knowledgeable. He is only 29. But we encourage voters who might hold his age against him to read the transcript of his hour-long interview with the editorial board. Campa-Najjar made empathetic points about veterans and military families, touted apprenticeship programs and how effective they are in Germany, and dissected the shortcomings of our health care system. He’s not doctrinaire on issues, criticizing the 2017 state gas tax hike pushed through by Gov. Jerry Brown.
In short, he meets the test of being a credible candidate. We endorse Campa-Najjar for Congress. He is far superior to the troubled incumbent. This fact is underlined by the despicable ad that Hunter has begun to air in recent days suggesting that his “Palestinian Mexican millennial” opponent was linked to terrorist groups and was “working to infiltrate Congress.” It’s well-known that Campa-Najjar’s grandfather was a terrorist who helped plan the 1972 attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. It’s also well-known that Campa-Najjar, a Christian, has had literally nothing to do with his grandfather. As Campa-Najjar notes, when he worked at the White House, he was “given a security clearance by the Secret Service after a thorough background check.” With this smear, Hunter continues to demolish his own reputation.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/editorials/sd-ed-50-district-duncan-hunter-campa-najjar-utak-20180928-story.html
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