January 11, 2021

What Can Be Done About LaMalfa?

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Over the last several days, our party has gotten a flood of communication demanding that we do something about the fact that our CD1 representative, Doug LaMalfa, was one of those who voted against the certification of legitimate ballots in the presidential election and, by doing so, helped to incite the insurrection we saw play out in the Capitol on January 6th.

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We have taken some actions and will take more in the days to come.

It is important to understand the realities of this (we operate in a reality-based world, unlike the other party).

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1. There is NO provision for recall of a federal elected official. California’s recall process is for state and local officers only.

2. The sole authorities to discipline or expel a member of Congress resides in each house – the Senate and the House of Representatives. No recall process and no court action can do it.

3. A vote of the House to expel a member requires a 2/3 vote. Democrats have a very narrow majority in the House, so it would take the votes of about 77 Republicans to vote to expel a member. In this case, a majority of Republicans are guilty of the same crime as LaMalfa, so we can safely say that vote is not possible.

4. For us as local voters, our power to remove LaMalfa is at the ballot box. In the last election, we had the best candidate we’ve ever had, with tremendous volunteer energy and ample financial support, and still fell short by a large margin. It would be nice to think that many of our Republican neighbors would have changed their minds after January 6th, but today’s Republicans live in such a distorted, reality-free world, that very few of them have.
    

Does that mean nothing can be done?  NO!  it does not.

Short of shaming him into resigning, what we can realistically do is work NOW on actions that will weaken him in the future and make it less likely he wins re-election next year.

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Local party leaders are doing what can be done and will continue to take the actions available to us. But the real power and influence lies less with party leaders and more with engaged citizens – that means YOU. When lots of individual citizens voice their outrage, politicians listen. It truly does matter more – much more – if all of us take action.  So the most effective thing you can do is to take action yourself and persuade one or two or ten of your friends to do the same.

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Here’s how:

House member Cori Bush from Missouri has introduced House Resolution 25, which calls for the expulsion of any member who supported the insurrection for violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  You can read more about it here: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/532990-cori-bush-introduces-legislation-to-sanction-remove-all-house-members-who

Contact Nancy Pelosi and ask her to help move it forward:  https://www.speaker.gov/contact

Write letters to the editor. In Chico, email to letters@chicoer.com

Limit to 250 words and put your name and phone number at the bottom.

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Contact the House Ethics Committee – the committee that handles disciplinary action.  Ask them to investigate Representative LaMalfa for support of insurrection.    The committee chair is Ted Deutch

Email:  http://ethics.comments@mail.house.gov/
Phone: 202-225-7103
Mailing address: 1015 LHOB, Washington, DC, 20515

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Contact LaMalfa’s office directly and tell him what you think of his actions.  All the contact info is on his website.  https://lamalfa.house.gov/contact/offices

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And to hit him where it will impress him the most…

Cut his financial support: An unprecedented number of contributors have already said they are withdrawing support from seditious Republicans.   That comes from citizen pressure.  LaMalfa is already raising money for his next election.  One of the best ways to weaken him is to stop people – and especially PACs - from giving him money.  A list of his contributors is here:  https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00509422&two_year_transaction_period=2020&min_date=01%2F01%2F2019&max_date=12%2F31%2F2020

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It’s a long list.  Scroll through it.  Do you see a company you patronize?  A friend or acquaintance? Click on the contributor name for more info and contact them.  Tell them to stop supporting congress members who betray their country.  Organize a group of your friends and split up the list.  A tip: A LOT of companies and organizations give money to all the safe incumbents.  They aren’t contributing because they agree with that member.  They are just contributing so that, when they want to talk to that member, the member sees them on a contributor list.  Citizen pressure really can change their behavior.

AGAIN: The Party is doing what it can, but it is is much more powerful if you join us in direct action.