Recent Sentinel articles might leave readers with the impression that Representative Campbell is not much different from a Democrat.  After all, he did vote against Newt Gingrich.  Listed below are a few of his recent votes that show otherwise: 

Labor
     Campbell voted to eliminate the 40 hour work week:  more here.  . 
     He voted against raising the minimum wage: more here
     He voted for the "paycheck reduction act": more here
     He introduced a bill to deny back pay to illegal aliens, and it passed.   more here
     He voted to repeal labor protection for Amtrak Employees  more here
     He did vote against the GOP bill to curb union organizing:   more here
     (but that bill passed the House) 

Fair Trade vs. Free Trade
     Campbell voted for "Fast Track" more here
     He voted for the African Trade Bill: more here
     Campbell voted for the Andean Trade Protection Act (ATPA),  which 
     damaged the central coast flower industry, but later joined Farr in sponsoring 
     a bill that would mitigate its effects: more here

Protecting the Environment
As a Republican, Rep. Campbell is one member of the House GOP Majority which  keeps the timber industry's two "strong advocates" in "influential positions"  [Congressional Quarterly, April 18, 1998, p. 976].  They are Don Young, R-Alaska, the chairman of the Resources Committee and  Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, the chair of Youn'gs Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health.  Don Young advocates dismantling the National Park System. 

In the 105th Congress, House Republicans attached a number of anti-environmental riders to "must have" appropriations bills.  Many, but not all, were blocked by President Clinton.  Quoting the New York Times, [10-16-98, A24]: 

On environmental matters, the White House blocked or softened the worst of more than two dozen destructive riders that Western Republicans tried to sneak through in the final budget   package.  The Administration gave ground on some amendments of importance to environmentalists,   but it beat back three riders that would   have greatly acclerated logging throughout   the national forest system and two that would   have disrupted efforts to restore salmon runs   and protect watersheds throught the Pacific   Northwest. 

Other notes: 
Campbell voted against a bill to scale back limits on the endangered species act:  more here
and he voted for restricting participation in UN conservation programs: more here

He was not a co-sponsor of H.R. 2351 in the 105th Congress, the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act.  Rep. Miller's bill  is endorsed by the Sierra Club and the NWF.  More about .R. 2351 here:  NWF   A recent Miller statement about the bill is here Congressional Record. 

Campbell did vote against the misnamed "Forage Improvement Act", H.R. 3492, (but it  passed the House) 

He voted to establish a nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada: more here

(Campbell's self-serving statement about Headwaters conveniently fails to mention that  Democrat Dick Lane, his opponent for the 15th Congressional District seat, demonstrated at  Headwaters) 

Defense Spending
Campbell emphasizes his votes against the military appropriations budget, but...

He again voted for the Anti-Missile Defense System (hr 1141)
Campbell voted against a bill to eliminate funding for the B2: more here
He voted against cutting funding for anti-missile defense 
He voted against line item vetoes for military construction: more here
He voted against a Kennedy Bill to cut funding for the School of the Americas. 

Affirmative Action
Campbell opposes affirmative action.   He voted to prohibit affirmative action programs at instittuions of higher learning.  More about his vote for the Rigg's amendment:  here.  The Democratic Party supports Affirmative Action; the Democrats' position paper is here. 
 

He  signed the Democrats "Disccharge Petition" but then compromised with House leadership, and requested his name be removed.  His statements are here: 
           Campbell Press Release-About Removing Himself 
           Campbell's Press Release-About the Compromise         . 

The Clinton Affair
The Clinton affair is a high priority to Tom Campbell. He speaks about it on the floor of Congress, in his Town Meetings, and in correspondence with his constituents.  Here is what he added to the Congressional record on the subject:   Congressional Record Campbell also cosponsored Republican Barr's bill to investigate whether Clinton should be impeached. On December 15th he announced that he would vote to impeach; he also said that  55% of his calls were running against impeachment. 

Maxine Waters read something a little different into the record:  new evidence about the CIA and its connection to drug smugglers.  The GOP Congress, and the national press, simply ignored her.  Here's a quote from an article written by Robert Parry for IF about a real presidential scandal: 

New evidence, now in the public record, strongly suggests that the Reagan administration's tolerance of drug trafficking by the Nicaraguan contras and other clients in the 1980s was 
premeditated. 

 With almost no notice in the national press, a 1982 letter was introduced into the Congressional Record revealing how CIA Director William J. Casey secretly engineered an exemption sparing the CIA from a legal requirement to report on drug smuggling by agency assets.

Other Issues
Campbell voted against easing the Private Mortgage Insurance Requirements: more here
His statement on Cuba:  Congressional Record
He voted for the Istook "Prayer in  Schools" Amendment.   You can find his statements by searching for "Campbell" as a "Member of Congress" here: 
   http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r105query.html

Reauthorizing the Endangered Species Act
The  environmental section of Campbell's web site has not been updated in a year.  Perhaps that is because he is not among the 85 co-sponsors of  Miller's  bill to improve the Endangered Species Act, and does not support it.  George Miller is the bill's sponsor, and it is co-sponsored by Dellums, Farr, Bonior, Waters, and many others. 
 

According to the Environmental Working Group, in 1997, Campbell received these contributions from groups seeking to weaken environmental laws: 

     American Crop Protection Association Members   $7,000
     Chlorine manufacturers                         $1,700
     Clean Water Act "Reform"                      $44,550
     Endangered Species "Reform"                   $49,000
     Food Chain Coalition Members                  $17,932
     Pro-Logging                                     8,000
     Pro-Mining                                    $23,500
     Pro-Takings                                   $8,350
     Regulatory "Reform"                           $61,300
     Superfund "Reform"                            $69,985
     Wetlands "Reform"                             $21,000

The Environmental Working Group provides details about each of the above lists of organizations here. 

Campbell's CalPIRG scorecard for 1998 is 60%.  Compare Campbell with Democrats in nearby districts: 
  14 Eshoo      93%
  15 Campbell   60%    Campbell is 20% worse than any Democrat!
  16 Lofgren    87%
  17 Farr       80%
Details here
 

Here is his PIRG: 1997 Congressional Scorecard  Campbell's 80% score for 1997 is very misleading, because he was ineligible to vote on 9 of CalPIRG's 19 issues.  Campbell voted as CalPIRG recommended on these 8 issues: 

   5   Environmental Defense/Protect Endangered Species (Adopted 1-19-96) 
  6    Environmental Defense/End Logging Without Laws (Rejected 6-20-96) 
  9    Polluter Pork Handouts/Stop Sugar Industry Subsidy (Rejected 1-28-96) 
 10   Polluter Pork Handouts/Stop Tobacco Industry Subsidy (Rejected 1-12-96) 
 11   Polluter Pork Handouts/Stop Wasteful Dam Project (Adopted 1-24-96) 
 12   Polluter Pork Handouts/End Dangerous Nuclear Program (Rejected 1-25-96) 
 13   Polluter Pork Handouts/Stop Building Roads for Timber Industry (Rejected 1-20-96) 
 17   Clean Energy/Preserve Funds for Renewable Energy (Adopted 1-25-96) 

and against CalPIRG on these 2 issues: 

  7  Environmental Defense/Make Polluters Pay for Toxic Cleanup (Rejected 1-26-96) 
14  Consumer Protection/Oppose Investor Rights Rollback (Adopted 1-23-95. 
       It required a 2/3 vote to override President Clinton's veto) 

 Taxes
Campbell's home page lists the various bills he sponsored and cosponsored.  Among them is H.R. 14, a bill to reduce the tax rate on capital gains to 14% for individuals and 28% for corporations. "Capital gains" are profits made by selling things like stock or real estate--not income received as salaries or wages.  More about H.R. 14:   here.

See for yourself.  You can see Campbell's voting record for the last 18 months at this site: 
     Congressional Quarterly's VoteWatch

Here is Rep. Campbell's Profile from Common Cause: 
 Common Cause Citizen Action Network
 

Here is his home page: 
    Tom Campbell - Congressman for California's 15th District
and his home page provides these links to bills he has sponsored and co-sponsored: 
   Bills Sponsored by Tom Campbell
   Bills Cosponsored by Tom Campbell

More About the  Republican Majority in the House of Representatives

An excellent, detailed assessment of the GOP's environmental record, prepared by House Democratic Environmental Task Force is here:  the "Camouflage Congress"

Democrat's description of the Republican investigation of the Sanchez election   here.

In October the US House of Reps voted to eliminate EPA funding for Global Warming Research.  To put this in perspective, read this warning from the Union of Concerned Scientists, signed by many Nobel prize winners:  Warning!. 

The GOP Congress increased the defense budget by about 3 billion dollars over the President's.  Air Force officials testified against funding the B2 bomber, requested fewer C150s than Congress appropriated funds for, etc.  It is a  scandal that goes unreported. 

Congress budgeted billions for space projects that depend on Plutonium technologies.  One pound of Plutonium is enough to kill everyone on the planet.  The Cassini mission, which uses 72 pounds,  is costing American taxpayers 3.4 billion dollars. 

What is Campbell's position on HR 1625, what Miller calls the "Worker Payback Act"???

His environmental votes in 1996 were better than in 1997: 
   1996 National Environmental Scorecard:Campbell(CA-15)

Other notes: 
  Campbell's statement about blocking the minimum wage raise: Press Release
   His statement about ending the 40 hour work week: why

Campbell's Press Releases

There are various Campbell press releases:  here,   Among his releases you will find descriptions of his most popular positions in the 15th CD: 

He voted against Gingrich for speaker (!)  The problem is that Prof. Campbell  is a Republican, and therefore contributes to making the Republican Party the majority party in the House.  If just eleven Republicans representatives are replaced by Democrats in the next election, Democrats will be in the majority and Democrats will select the House Speaker; it will not be Gingrich. 

He sponsored legislation limiting funding for Auburn Dam: 
      California-Ecowatch: Calif. EcoWatch Vol. 2 #3

He voted for the assault weapons ban. 

He introduced HR 3619 to protect money collected from petroleum companies for conservation 

He participated in a bipartisan effort to pressure the INS in San Jose to be more responsive (with Eshoo and Farr) more

He introduced Democratic Senator Feinstein's bill in the House, restoring SSI benefits to elderly legal aliens (HR931) 

He introduced a bill restoring certain funds to the United Nations Population Fund:  (search for "Campbell" at this web site)  ZPG.ORGhttp://www.campbell.org/news/article12.htm.
This bill was supported by ZPG and Planned Parenthood 

Recently Campbell introduced a bill calling for removal of forces from Bosnia.  He says that he is making good a promise that he would assert Congress's constitutional power to declare war.  (Sentinel, 2-28-98)  He says he now regrets his failure to join Dellum's suit against President Bush;  Dellums filed suit with 70 colleagues to force Bush to obtain Congressional approval before waging war in Iraq. 

Campbell's Campaign Contributions

Here is his campaign contributions profile for 1995-96, prepared by the Center for Responsive Politics:: 
   CRP Politician Profile
and the latest data from FECInfo is here FECInfo

Information about contributions to Campbell from groups seeking to weaken environmental laws:  here. 

More about searching for campaign finance info about anybody: here. 

1995 and 1996 Campaign Spending 

1996 General 
  Campbell    $527,125   that's 814% of Lane's spending
  Lane          64,732 

1995 Special 
  Campbell   $1,650,740  204% 
  Estruth       805,409 

Source:  The Almanac of American Politics
 

Soft Money Contributions to Both Parties

Soft money contributions to both parties increased nearly three-fold between 1992 and 1996--with the Republicans benefitting more: 

1992
  RNC  $49.8 million     ($13 million more)
  DNC  $36.3 million 

1996
   RNC $141.2 million    ($21  million more)
   DNC $122.3 million 

Source:  Washington Post, "Soft Money:  A Look at the Loopholes"

1998 Contributions
A new Center for Responsive Politics site just went online with data for Campbell's 1998 campaign.  It is here:   District 15

Campbell has already spent $288,000 on the campaign.  Eight of his top 10 contributing zip codes are outside the 15th CD. 

Campbell hearing testimony 
A headline in the March 24, National/World news section [of the Santa Cruz Sentinel] informs us (with dubious grammar) of  "Campbell hearing testimony about child farm labor." 

However, the AP report which follows is concerned with a forum chaired by Congressman Tom Lantos (Democrat) in which mention of Tom Campbell appears but once and then only in the tenth paragraph bracketed with Lantos in questioning the adequacy of current legal protections for children. 

Anyone with even a modest acquaintance with Tom Lantos knows who was dominating the forum. 

A few years back SC's leading journal lent its powerful editorial support to a certain Vonnegut (a cousin of the author) running in the primary against Henry Mello. Vonnegut got 1% of the vote in Santa Cruz. 

Campbell  Will Vote for Shays-Meehan

After his Town Hall Meeting in Boulder Creek today, Tom Campbell said that he plans to vote for the Shays Meehan Bill on Monday.  He expects it to pass the House. 
 
 

House Republican Tom DeLay Attacks Campaign Finance Reform

Page A17 of today's (7-31-98) NY Times has an article titled "House Blocks Amendments 
on Campaign Finance Bill".  It describes efforts by Republican House Majority Whip DeLay to 
attach amendments to the Shays-Meehan bill in order to sink it.  DeLay's spokesman is quoted as saying "We've always been against it.  Now we've won some converts". 

From the article, this is clearly a case of a mostly Republican attack against Shays-Meehan, led by DeLay.  (As in _delay_ reform)  Quoting the Times: 

The Shays-Meehan bill would effectively ban the unlimited and unregulated contributions to the political parties, or soft money, which were at the heart of the 1996 campaign finance abuses.

Among the amendments mentioned is one that would have required candidates for Congress to raise at least half of their money from inside their districts.  That sounds a lot like the bill draft our 15th CD 
representative, Tom Campbell, floated on RightNet about a month ago.  The irony is that 8 out of 10 of Campbell's top contributing zip code areas are outside his district. 

Impeachment Votes

Adopting the Fourth Article 
               Y      N
  Republican   147    81    Campbell No
  Democratic     1   203
  Indep                1
               ----------
               148   285   FAIL

Adopting the Third Article
                Y     N
  Republican   216    12
  Democratic     5   199     Campbell Yes
  Indep                1
              ----------
               221   212   PASS

Adopting the Second Article
                Y      N
  Republican   200    28     Campbell No
  Democratic     5   200
  Indep                1
               ----------
               205   229   FAIL

Adopting the First Article 
                Y      N 
  Republican   223     5    Campbell Yes
  Democratic     5   200
  Indep                1
               ----------
               228   206   AGREED TO

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