House Democrats take California GOP candidates to task over budget

Some of them won’t even make it past the June 3 primary election, but leading Republican candidates in hot congressional races in California are getting hammered over their party’s budget proposals.

The House Democrats’ campaign arm has launched a series of automated phone calls to likely voters in several congressional districts, taking GOP candidates to task for Congressional Republicans’ “radical” budget as they prepare to vote this week.

The calls represent the second phase of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Battleground: Middle Class” campaign. Democrats launched the campaign last week with a series of online ads.

The committee declined to say how much it is spending on the campaign.

Central Valley Republican Reps. Jeff Denham of Turlock and David Valadao of Hanford are targeted in the “robocalls.” They include an option for the call recipient to be connected to the congressmen’s offices.

The calls also take aim at several Republican candidates hoping to unseat Democratic incumbents in the Sacramento area and Ventura, Riverside and San Diego counties. Two Republicans running to succeed retiring Rep. Gary Miller (R-Rancho Cucamonga) also are targeted in the robocalls.

“Republicans in Congress are trying to sell you out so that they can help their wealthy contributors,” a sample call script goes, adding: “And candidate Carl DeMaio is part of the problem.”

The script goes on to say the GOP’s latest budget proposal would “cost 3 million jobs, raise taxes on families like yours, give breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, end the Medicare guarantee and raise costs on seniors.”

DeMaio is widely viewed as the strongest of three Republicans running against Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego).

In response, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee attacked Peters for his personal wealth and his party’s stances.

“The fact is multi-millionaire Scott Peters has zero credibility on pocketbook issues when he supports a budget that never balances, raises taxes by $1.5 trillion and adds trillions in new debt,” spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton said.

“Must be easy for him -- he’s set. But hard-working Californians don’t appreciate being thrown under the bus so Peters can stay loyal to Obamacare and Nancy Pelosi,” Houlton added.

jean.merl@latimes.com
Twitter: @jeanmerl