on the cover / By Hank Sims

Unlike Mike

Congressman Mike Thompson is unbeatable. But that doesn’t stop people from trying.

(Jan. 10, 2008)  “How happy it would make us to see Bush and Cheney behind bars!”

So said Mitch Clogg, Democratic candidate for Congress, on KMUD radio on Sunday. And if anyone within distance of the radio signal objected to the notion, they did not bother to make their objection heard.

GALLERY >

Clogg was one of three candidates who plan to run against— and beat— longtime First District Congressman Mike Thompson this year. The three participated in a forum aired on KMUD public radio in Redway. The forum was organized by Southern Humboldt activist Paul Encimer, publisher of the Greenfuse newspaper, who along with KMUD host Bud Rogers and the North Coast Journal asked the candidates about their platforms and their campaigns. Originally, the forum was to take place live at the Mateel Community Center, but the weekend storms made the plan unfeasible.

The candidates participating were Clogg and Carol Wolman, both of Mendocino, and Andy Caffrey of Garberville. (See sidebars.) All of them are left activists, and all of them were principally motivated by the turn that national politics have taken since 2000, when George W. Bush became president.

Each of the candidates’ deep, heartfelt dismay over the national state of affairs dominated the discussion. The themes, as well as the stances taken by the candidates, were familiar to anyone who follows left politics in Humboldt County: impeachment, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, universal health care, the Patriot Act. One candidate— Wolman— spoke in favor of the 9/11 Truth movement. (“There are so many indications that it was an inside job,” she said.)

Perhaps because of their overwhelming preoccupation with great affairs of state, it was perhaps notable that there was little or no talk about issues and institutions specific to the North Coast. The principal proposal agreed upon by all candidates present was that Congress— and Thompson specifically— has shirked its duty to the Constitution by not pushing for the impeachment and trial of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

“Right now,” said Caffrey, “Congress is full of traitors.”

Reached at his Napa Valley home Friday, before the forum had taken place, Rep. Thompson defended his record on the impeachment issue. He noted that he had, in fact, voted to support House Resolution 799, Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s resolution to impeach Cheney. When the resolution came up on the House floor on Nov. 6, Thompson voted along with the Democratic majority to prevent the measure from being tabled completely. He also joined a smaller majority to refer the measure to the House Judiciary Committee for study.

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