“Career politician Michelle Steel has proudly touted her status as Washington Republicans’ handpicked candidate and her lockstep support for their health care repeal agenda explains why. While Congressman Rouda has worked to make Californians’ health care more affordable, Michelle Steel has spent the last decade calling for a full repeal of our health care system, undermining access to affordable health care for millions of Californians. The contrast between Congressman Rouda’s service to his community and Steel’s record as a political insider prioritizing special interests over the working families of Orange County is just one of the reasons Harley Rouda is on track to hold this seat in November.” -DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos
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To: Interested Parties
From: Andy Orellana, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: March 3, 2020
Subject: The Case Against Michelle Steel
Orange County Supervisor and career politician Michelle Steel is setting herself up for the same fate as rejected Republican incumbent, Dana Rohrabacher. Despite claiming that she was not a career politician, Steel jumped into the race and straight into the arms of the Washington Republican swamp.
Meanwhile, months before she declared her Congressional candidacy, Steel had instead filed to run for State Controller in 2022. While running for Congress, Steel’s candidacy for statewide office remained active for over four months and is further evidence that Steel’s sole concern is her own political advancement. Beyond being a political insider handpicked by Washington’s GOP, Steel regularly opposed policies that have benefited the health of California families, including opposing the Affordable Care Act.
In 2014, Steel argued that the Affordable Care Act was “growing the ranks of the uninsured” in California, when in fact the ACA reduced the number of uninsured Californians by millions. In her unwillingness to face up to the facts and shed Republican orthodoxy, Steel doubled-down on her opposition to the ACA saying the Orange County Board of Supervisors “did the right thing by blocking Obamacare implementation in the county for as long as they could.”
Steel’s political support from Washington Republicans and her time as a White House appointee make it clear to the voters that Steel is an insider for focused on her own political benefit and not on the public’s behalf.
In stark contrast, Rep. Harley Rouda has continued fighting for Orange County families and worked to represent their values. Rouda’s bipartisan, problem-solving approach to protecting California homeowners, ensuring affordable healthcare and rooting out corruption. Harley has shown his bridgebuilding can consolidate Democrats and moderates who are key to winning this district while speaking to Republicans disillusioned with the current state of the GOP.
In this rapidly changing district, where the GOP voter registration advantage has been cut in half in recent years, Harley Rouda clearly has the momentum and support to secure reelection. Especially when matched up against a Washington Republican foot-soldier who has spent their career working for themselves over the families of Orange County.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“‘The first bill I passed into law was to address the opioid crisis,’ said U.S. Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Laguna Beach). ‘It is not a Republican issue, it’s not a Democratic issue, it’s an American issue.’ The Orange County Health Care Agency reported in 2017 that the county had seen an 82% increase in overdose deaths since the turn of the millennium.” [Daily Pilot, 12/13/19]
“However, Rouda, 58, has taken a more moderate position than some of his fellow House Democrats, particularly on the issue of universal health care. In his first year, he introduced a few dozen bills focused on, among other things, environmental protection, fighting the opioid crisis and reducing robocalls, with three of those bills signed into law.” [Orange County Register, 2/22/20]
“Rouda has focused on constituent services, the unflashy part of being a member of Congress. His office boasts that during Rouda’s first six months in office, he responded to 31,114 constituent questions, resolved 189 of their cases and helped recover $170,000 in Social Security, Medicare and other federal money owed to people who live in the district.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 12/1/19]
Headline: Rep. Harley Rouda’s First Town Hall Gets Commitments To Fund State Needs, Tackle Airport Noise. [Daily Pilot, 2/20/19]
“Steel’s views on major issues fall mostly along party lines […] She is campaigning on pledges to reduce taxes, oppose government-run health care, support a border wall with Mexico […] Steel plans to vote for Trump and has ties to the president.” [Orange County Register, 2/22/20]
MICHELLE STEEL: CORRUPT CAREER POLITICIAN, GOP AND CORPORATE INSIDER
Corrupt Career Politician Who Is Always Sizing Up The Next Public Office
With no sense of shame, Michelle Steel has spent most of her adult life adamantly denying she is a career politician all the while she’s campaigned for her next public office.
Now, Steel even hedged in anticipation of losing in November with news that months before she declared her candidacy for Congress in California 48th District, Steel had filed to run for State Controller in 2022. Steel’s candidacy for state-wide office remained active for four months while she was running for Congress and is just another example that Steel’s primary concern is not about Orange County residents, but rather her own political advancement.
Puts Corporate Backers and Political Allies Before Orange County Families
Steel has spent those years of public service giving voice to her corporate backers and working to silence the voters by avoiding accountability from the public whenever possible. Steel has also shown a consistent willingness to use her governmental power to protect and promote key political allies and financial corporate backers.
As Supervisor, Steel has acted time and again to the benefit of private corporate jet operators – who so happen to be some of her biggest campaign supporters – over the concerns of Orange County homeowners inundated by jet noise.
Over considerable local public outcry in 2019, Steel allowed for a wildly unpopular proposal to expand private flights at John Wayne Airport to move forward, which would have benefited ACI Jet – which has donated $26,500 to Steel through its lobbyist and executives. Three years earlier, Steel voted in favor of a lucrative general aviation contract for the same company – despite it ranking fifth out of six in a county evaluation –prompting a FAA investigation.
Steel doesn’t just use the powers of her office to curry favor with her corporate backers, her political and campaign allies are also equally taken care of by the career politician. In 2018, Steel voted to defund the County’s Office of Independent Review while the agency was actively investigating two of her closest political allies – and campaign chairs – for misusing jailhouse prison informants to illegally obtain confessions. Steel’s long and sordid history of attempting to ignore Orange County’s families for the benefit of corporate executives and political pals shows that she is a perfect fit for the Washington GOP’s culture of corruption and cronyism.
In stark contrast to Steel, Rep. Harley Rouda as a Member of the House Oversight Committee has worked to fight corruption in Washington and keeping corporate special interests accountable for their pollution of our America’s waterways.
Bad for Orange County Families, Supports Cutting Their Health care
Steel’s support from the Washington Republican swamp, makes it clear to the voters that Steel is more than comfortable taking orders from DC Republicans and her record of spouting Republican talking points on health care shows as much.
In 2014, Steel argued that the Affordable Care Act was “growing the ranks of the uninsured” in California, when in fact the ACA reduced the number of uninsured Californians by millions. Steel doubled-down on GOP dogma saying that she and the Orange County Board of Supervisors, “did the right thing by blocking Obamacare implementation in the county for as long as they could.”
Due to Steel’s willingness to join Washington Republicans on policy, health care premiums are projected to increase by nearly 18% in California. And Steel’s opposition to the ACA would have gutted protections for those with preexisting conditions and jeopardized health insurance for 51,000 people in CA-48.
Nowhere is it more evident why Steel is a favorite of the Washington GOP then on her record of health care, where spent the last decade being a full-throated supporter for destroying the ACA and proudly working to block it locally. While, at the same time, Rep. Harley Rouda has been leading on the local health care needs of his district, passing bipartisan legislation to address the opioid epidemic while keeping corporate special interests accountable for clean air and water for Orange County families.
PATH TO VICTORY
California’s 48th Congressional District is a majority suburban seat comprising Orange County’s coastal cities. This affluent, college-educated district is changing. Traditionally this has been the most Republican seat in Orange County, with the GOP holding what was once a 10 point registration advantage has been whittled down to now only 6 points after Democrats made sizable inroads in the district.
While the GOP still maintain their registration advantage, this did not prevent Hillary Clinton from winning the district by 2 points in 2016 and Rouda by 7 in 2018. And despite the fundamentals of the district still tilted Republican, Republicans have to cope with a devastating Achilles heel – Trump and the enduring and devastating effects of a tax bill that hit CA-48 voters and homeowners especially hard.
Democrats have shown that they can win in CA-48 and have shown the path in the last two cycles against even steeper electoral terrain at the time. Rouda who has a proven track record of mobilizing Democrats and strongly appealing to Independents, and moderate Republicans in a district that has already rejected the Trump Presidency.
With the momentum and support to secure reelection, in this growingly purple district, Rouda is positioned to win especially when matched up against a Washington Republican who has spent her entire career looking out for herself and not Orange County families.
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