Mar 30, 2007

Tracy Press - Getting to know McNerney

Mar 30, 2007

Tracy Press - Getting to know McNerney

By Jon Mendelson

In the days leading up to the 2006 election, the Tracy Press and many voters asked, “Who is Jerry McNerney” No one seemed to know too much about the guy, except that he was from Pleasanton, had a doctorate in mathematics, was a former wind-energy engineer, favored renewable energy and congressional ethics reform and was the alternative to then-Rep. Richard Pombo.

But that slim knowledge was enough for a majority of 11th Congressional District voters to usher McNerney in as part of a new Democratic majority in the House.

Almost five months after the election, however, the question largely remains. So I set out to find an answer, or at least to let the congressman explain himself.

After a few phone calls and more than a few e-mails, I caught up with him Wednesday. Via a phone connection with his Washington, D.C., office, I asked him about his goals and what was most important to him as an elected official. His answer was, depending on your perspective, perfect or too perfect.

“It’s real important to me to keep in touch with the district and to make sure that I’m listening to (constituents) and to make sure that if they have issues, that they feel like I’m here for them,” McNerney told me.

While many officeholders are already pursuing the big bucks for their re-election bids, McNerney says his focus is his district rather than his war chest. Granted, that’s the kind of response you’d expect from a politician. But several trips between D.C. and the district and his calendar of events during the congressional recess that started Thursday indicate he’s trying to walk the talk.

McNerney hasn’t shunned money completely — he’s already raised more than $250,000, according to his Web site. But the money, he says, is less important to his pending re-election bid than making sure he’s responsive to the folks who voted him into office. “If people feel like I’m doing a good job and like what I’m doing, then they’re not going to listen to the attack ads that are going to be out there — that’s my goal.”

However, it’s not his only goal.

McNerney touts his record on ethics, citing passage of Sunshine Week legislation to enhance government transparency and a House bill passed early in the session that banned accepting gifts and traveling on corporate jets.

But the biggie that no one has touched is campaign finance reform. And without that, there’s little chance that special and corporate interests with deep pockets will lose their grip on American politics.

While McNerney shied away from my presented idea of publicly financed campaigns — which might be the only way to wrest the electoral process away from special interests — he said he’s committed to improving the process. “I’ve talked to (Speaker Nancy Pelosi) about it and shes interested in something ... There’s some interest in this area, and I’d love to see something move forward that would make campaign financing more responsible and more responsive to the people,” McNerney said.

With that tough re-election fight looming and a slim party majority in both houses of Congress, it’ll be interesting to see what action McNerney and the Democrats take to clean up the election process.

Meanwhile, Tracy’s representative says his main focus is on two area-specific policies: renewable energy and levee repair.

McNerney made no secret of his expertise with renewable energy during his campaign and says it’s still one of his top priorities. He told me that the valley’s agricultural base is ripe with opportunity for developing bio-diesel and that he’s going to work with farmers to harness that potential. Part of his vision is making the San Joaquin Valley a green-energy leader.

While detractors say McNerney is in the pockets of environmental groups like the Defenders of Wildlife, the congressman insists he’ll pursue his goal.

“I’m going to get those accusations, of course. People perceive one thing or another, but I am who I am,” he said. “The reason I went into wind energy is that I believe we need alternative sources of energy. I still believe that.”

As for the crumbling California levee system, which has been at the forefront of many minds since Hurricane Katrina showed how vulnerable an area protected by levees can be, McNerney says that funding for repairs is already in the works.

“We do have our appropriations request in, and I have definitely made some requests for levee work,” he said. “And, by gosh, I’ll put it in next year and the year after until we get what we need … We need to get these things fixed.”

Mix in a goal of infusing jobs into San Joaquin County’s traditionally depressed economy, encouraging a change of course in Iraq and making sure we don’t do something rash regarding Iran, and that’s the policy picture of Rep. Jerry McNerney in a nutshell.

If he’s able to accomplish his goals of connecting with constituents, bringing in levee money and restoring ethics to Congress, not everyone will agree with him, but at least no one will wonder who Jerry McNerney is in 2008. More than likely, the question will be “Who’s the other guy”

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