“While Congresswoman Katie Porter has been a strong and independent voice fighting for Orange County families, Greg Raths has made sure to hug the Washington Republican orthodoxy tightly, making it clear he will be another lockstep, party line vote to fully repeal health care and raise taxes by thousands of dollars on middle class families in California’s 45th district by supporting the Washington tax scam. Taxes and health care – it seems clear that Raths is on the Washington Republican side of the issues that hit voters in Orange County the hardest.” -DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos
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To: Interested Parties
From: Andy Orellana, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: March 4, 2020
Subject: The Case Against Greg Raths
The race between Greg Raths and Rep. Katie Porter is a contest between a local champion who has been a true advocate for working families and an ideologue, who is eager to join the ranks of Washington Republicans and fall in line with Trump’s Washington Republican Party, even when it’s bad for working families in Orange County. From repealing our current health care system to the Washington tax scam that means higher taxes for California homeowners, Raths has run as a true believer in the Washington Republican Agenda.
In what is his third Congressional run for California’s 45th district, Greg Raths has hugged the Washington Republican orthodoxy tightly and surrounded himself with criminal elements from Trump’s fringe supporters in this competitive 6-way GOP Primary. Raths has made questionable political allegiances and parrots Republican talking points, making it abundantly clear he will be another lockstep, party line vote to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, while giving predatory insurance companies free reign to hike premiums on Californians, particularly those with preexisting conditions.
Besides pledging allegiance to the GOP health care repeal agenda, Raths has signed up to champion the Washington tax scam that, through the elimination of the SALT deduction, has hit the pocketbooks of California homeowners and families. Raths has championed the tax scam, calling permanent corporate tax giveaways, “a big deal”. From taxes to health care – it is clear that Raths is on the Washington Republican side of the issues that hit voters in Orange County the hardest.
In sharp contrast, Rep. Katie Porter has been tirelessly fighting for families in Orange County with a focus on delivering results for the people of the 45th District. From her time as a consumer protection attorney to now holding special interests accountable in the halls of Congress, Katie has built a record of standing up for families and standing strong for America’s consumers against big banks and corporations. Representative Porter has shown that she is committed to fighting for affordable healthcare, ending corruption and protecting Orange County taxpayers.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“Local House Democrats […] are doubling down on efforts to undo the SALT cap. Porter led a bipartisan call for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, to prioritize repealing the SALT cap this session.” [Orange County Register, 5/03/19]
“Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, estimates that 37 percent of taxpayers in her 45th District, which runs from Irvine to Mission Viejo and through Anaheim, use the SALT deduction, with an average deduction of $18,200 per household.” [Orange County Register, 5/03/19]
“The [GOP] tax bill did allow residents to deduct more medical expenses this year, since it lowered the threshold to write off hospital bills from 10 to 7.5 percent of income. But that change expired Jan. 1, which means people with high medical bills could see their taxes go up slightly in 2020. Porter recently introduced a bill that would permanently lower the threshold for deducting medical expenses to 7.5 percent of income.” [Orange County Register, 5/03/19]
“Porter is a […] a consumer-protection law and banking expert. Her position on the House Financial Services Committee allows her to be a leading voice on Wall Street and the American banking system.” [LA Times, 3/19/19]
GREG RATHS: GOP RIGHT-WINGER AND BAD FOR ORANGE COUNTY FAMILIES
Rath Supports Washington GOP Agenda of Health Care Repeal, Undermining Protections for Pre-existing Conditions
Greg Raths has championed the Washington Republican party line on health care repeal, advocating for policy that would cut health care for millions of Californians, while raising premiums and undermining protections for everyday people living with preexisting conditions.
To put a finer point on it, Raths’ support for the Washington Republican health care repeal agenda means he supports increasing insurance premiums by nearly 18% in California – in addition to jeopardizing health insurance for 44,000 people in California’s 45th district, imposing an age tax on seniors, and doing nothing to lower the price of prescription drugs.
While Raths has fallen in line with the Washington GOP, Rep. Katie Porter has been working tirelessly to ensure that health care is more affordable and those with preexisting conditions are protected from losing coverage.
Raths Supports GOP Tax Scam, Socking It To California Homeowners and Taxpayers
Greg Raths has been a strong supporter of the Trump GOP Tax Scam that has hurt California homeowners and families, with Raths calling the corporate tax giveaways, “a big deal”. Raths supports the Washington Republican tax scam despite families in CA-45 being some of the “biggest beneficiaries” of the local tax deductions that eliminated savings on $13,915 worth of taxes for each of her district’s homeowners and caused nearly one million Californians to pay $12 billion more in higher taxes.
Experts have warned that Californians could now face “double taxation” due to the Washington Republican tax scam that Raths supports. To make matters worse for families in Orange County, that tax scam served as a “hit to home shoppers” and has put “home ownership even further out of reach for families” in California.
In stark contrast, Rep. Katie Porter has lead the charge in Congress to protect homeowners from the GOP’s tax hike on Orange County homeowners, with Porter calling on Congress to take bipartisan action to repeal the SALT cap hurting Southern California homeowners.
Raths Is Out of Touch With the District, Surrounding Himself with Criminal Elements from Trump’s Orbit
After failing twice to be the Republican candidate in California’s 45th district, Raths has run further to the right, associating himself with figures from the “alt-right” movement with deep ties to Trump and the worst elements of his political orbit. When Raths filed to run in 2019, he listed Paul Rolf Jensen as his campaign treasurer. In addition to donating the federal maximum amount to Raths’ campaign, Jensen is a close ally of convicted felon Roger Stone, and was a part of both the racist birther movement and helping start a group that was sued by Democrats for intimidation during the Mueller investigation. And when Raths can’t convince Trump sycophants to support him voluntarily, he’s been happy to pay. Recently, he was caught buying videos from the paid service, Cameo, that featured Corey Lewandowski and Tomi Lahren to boost his campaign.
Raths’ warm embrace of the worst of the Trump agenda in a district that Hillary Clinton won by five points is the special sauce in Republicans’ recipe for defeat in CA-45.
PATH TO VICTORY
California’s 45th Congressional District is a newly-purple district that supported Hillary Clinton by 5 points and Katie Porter by the same margin. This suburban, college-educated district anchored by the University of California-Irvine has trended towards Democrats in part due to the toxicity of Republicans’ agenda in Washington.
In bad news for Greg Raths, the agenda that he has signed on to support showed just how out of touch Republicans have grown with the values of the voters in this district. But instead of an un-contested primary giving Republicans in CA-45 the ability to distance themselves from their party in Washington, Republicans in CA-45 have been placed in the precarious position of having to embrace an agenda that will put them far from the mainstream in a general election.
Meanwhile, Katie Porter has stayed focused on why the voters sent her to Washington: holding big banks and special interests accountable to the working-class families of CA-45. Porter has defined a clear brand, which she will be able to communicate broadly thanks to her prodigious fundraising. She enters the general election with 15 times more cash-on-hand than her leading opponent: over $3 million.
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