As Dana Rohrabacher spent last week dodging reporters who wanted to know if he knew he’s been played as a Russian spy for years—when he was not dodging inhabitants of Mars thousands of years ago (see video below)—another challenger announced for the Slimin’ Congressman’s 48th congressional district seat.
But unlike his announced Democratic foes—businessman and attorney Harley Rouda, real estate broker Boyd Roberts and PhD neuroscientist, cancer doctor and former UCI School of Medicine professor Dr. Hans Keirstead—Stelian Onufrei is a Republican.
“Orange County has been the bedrock of conservatism in California,” explains the 52-year-old Huntington Beach businessman about his decision to face off against a fellow Republican for the GOP nomination in 2018. “We owe much of our success as a state to this region that stood boldly for American values. I am saddened that a region as respected and prestigious as ours has largely gone unheard, unnoticed and seemingly forgotten in our nation’s capital.”
Onufrei continues, “I attribute this to nothing more than the poor leadership that we’ve been saddled with for decades. Representative Dana Rohrabacher no longer cares for the people he serves, he is a representative that has long forgotten why he first took on his journey.”
Born in Communist Romania, migrating to the U.S. at age 19 and quickly having started a solar business before moving into residential construction, Onufrei makes no mention of the Russia scandal that has engulfed Rohrabacher, as it has the Trump administration. The latest news about Vladimir Putin’s favorite congressman is that House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) declined Rohrabacher’s request to travel to Moscow shortly after Trump’s inauguration—because the timing was inappropriate. Also, top Rohrabacher aide Paul Behrends was ousted as staff director for a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that his boss chairs because of his relationships with pro-Russia lobbyists.
No, Onufrei in his announcement goes after another pet Rohrabacher project, calling him “a politician that does anything but represent those who have entrusted him with so much and the California 48th Congressional District is now known for an entirely different reason, since my opponent has the proud distinction of founding the Congressional Marijuana Caucus in D.C.” (There goes the MMJ vote, Stelly!)
Added Onufrei: “Our congressional district is one of the most sought after and prestigious locations in all of America. We have a proud heritage of diversity, strong economy, and bold leadership. This rich history has often gone under represented in the halls of Congress due to weak, entrenched politicians that refuse to stand for the principles that have made America the greatest country on earth. We need strong leaders who are willing to carry the mantle of justice, liberty, and limited government, and that’s what I plan to make this campaign about.”
He says he has kicked $500,000 of his own money into that campaign, whose top announced priorities are the economy, tax reform, education reform, restoring religious freedom and something Rohrabacher called for when he was first elected to Congress in 1989.
Congressional term limits.
And now, NOT for a civilization on Mars, is that video:
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.