Not many people in California's 13th Congressional District seem to be familiar with Chris Pareja, the Independent candidate who challenged long time incumbent Democratic Congressman Pete Stark.
In addition to my previous blog post about California's ignorance, the situation in Congressman Stark's district and his treatment to the people who have elected him to office since 1973, should be added to that list.
Congressman Stark demonstrates that he is beyond ignorant, sleazy and has no real honor whatsoever in representing his constituents. I am going to assume two possible scenarios as to why he keeps his Congressional seat and that is: people who elect him every year are your typical voters who vote for the incumbent every election, or they are just radical left wing Democrats with no real purpose accept to keep a failure in Congress.
Congressman Stark has also developed a notorious reputation for becoming perhaps one of the more controversial members of the U.S. House of Representatives, choosing to use sarcasm and hateful dialogue when speaking to his people, instead of, you know, actually listening to his people and doing the job he is elected to do. It's quite sickening indeed.
On June 26th, 2010, Congressman Stark held a town hall meeting in his district in which many of his constituents addressed the issue of border security and illegal immigration. The Congressman chose to do nothing. He did not give any insight into solving the problem of illegal immigration, instead attacked one constituent as a member of the 'Minute Men' project and pondered the question "who are you going to kill today?" The constituent, indicating that it is not the Minute Mens' responsibility to enforce immigration law, it is the duty of the Federal Government.
Congressman Stark, in a shocking display of immaturity, responded "I'm not the Government". After several minutes of the Congressman mocking this particular constituent, and other members in the audience, one member simply asked "this is a very serious matter, why are you making fun of it?" The Congressman's disgraceful remark "I don't need to make fun of it sir, you do a fine job at doing that yourself".
The video of the Congressman's town hall meeting that day is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHny1U4kdxk&feature=related
The man in the red shirt and black dress coat is of course, Chris Pareja who was at the meeting to perhaps get a feeling of the lack of representation on the part of Congressman Stark. I'm sure the outcome of this meeting was just more reason for Mr. Pareja to run as an Independent Candidate, and I'm sure he must have been shocked to see the horrible display of carnival acts by the Congressman.
Towards the end of this meeting, Mr. Pareja asks "you've been in office for 38 years, all 38 years that I've been on the planet...what are your plans of retirement?" Congressman Stark's response "I have no plans for retirement."
Unfortunately the Congressman stood by his decision not to retire, having been re-elected this last Tuesday.
But I have to give Mr. Pareja a great deal of credit for standing up for the people, especially at this meeting back in June, when Congressman Stark refused to do anything to address the situation of illegal immigration. I think it is a shame that individuals choosing to run as Independents have to garner a certain number of signatures within a certain period of time if they want to appear on the ballot. In Mr. Pareja's case, he had to secure a required 9,260 nomination signatures to appear on the ballot to try and unseat Congressman Stark. But at least Mr. Pareja challenged this Congressman, and helped show that he is a real problem with what Americans are angry about today: The failure to be properly represented by our Congressmen.
While Mr. Pareja was not elected, he can become a new influence in California's 13th Congressional District and help expose the truth as to the inability of this Congressman to do anything and how he has mistreated the people that he is supposed to be working for.
I'm personally hoping that Mr. Pareja will choose to re-run as an Independent in the 2012 election, and by that time, maybe enough voters will see Congressman Stark for what he really is: one of the most despicable members of the United States House of Representatives.
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