SCHIFF SAFE IN CONGRESS RACE
By Charles Cooper
Pasadena Independent
April 10 2008
CA
Democrat Adam Schiff, seeking his fourth term in the 29th Congressional
District, has this year at least reached the status of having a safe
district with little or no opposition.
The district has 43 percent Democratic registration, 29 percent
Republican, and 23 percent Independent.
Schiff, 47, launched into the House after one of the most expensive
and hotly contested races in recent years, defeating Republican Jim
Rogan in 2000.
Rogan, a young star of the Republican Party at the time, was targeted
as one of the House prosecutors in the impeachment trial of President
Bill Clinton. Despite massive financial support from conservative
activists across the country, he was outspent and defeated by Schiff,
whom he’d defeated in an earlier race for State Assembly.
Schiff, who served four years in the State Senate and is a former
federal prosecutor, almost immediately established his credentials as
a moderate by joining the Blue Dog Democrats in the House, a moderate
to conservative coalition which concentrated on budget issues.
He had no substantial opposition in later elections, though in 2006
he was targeted from the right and the left, particularly from peace
advocates who were unhappy with his position on Iraq.
This year, he has no Democratic opponent in the primary, and little
known challengers in Republican Charles Hahn and Libertarian Alan
Pyeatt. Hahn is a financial advisor from Burbank and Pyeatt an engineer
from Glendale.
Schiff, who has raised $570,000 for this year’s campaign, compared
to $18,000 for his opponents, has moved into a leadership role in
the newly Democratic Congress. He serves both on the Appropriations
and the Judiciary Committee, and has just been named to the Select
Intelligence Oversight Committee.
He has worked on national security issues, including nuclear
proliferation, has pushed for ratification of the 9-11 commission
recommendations, and is a leader on international copyright and
anti-piracy efforts. He has also become the leading Congressional
spokesman for U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Local issues of major concern for Schiff include extension of the
Gold Line, a project he helped rescue from the MTA scrap heap, and
a study of expanding the Santa Monica Mountains conservancy through
establishment of a Rim of the Valley corridor.
Schiff has been on the short list for some time to run for U.S.
Senate if either seat opens, and is a pledged super delegate for
Barack Obama.