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McClintock to bring conservative approach to Congress
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Tom McClintock (AP file photo)
Tom McClintock, a conservative Republican and a veteran of more than 20 years in California politics, is the new congressman from the 4th District, with the vote tally completed nearly a month after the Nov. 4 election.
In a very close race, McClintock, 52, a term-limited state senator whose service in the legislature ended Dec. 1, defeated moderate Democrat Charlie Brown, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, by a vote of 184,543 (50.3 percent) to 182,967 (49.7 percent), with Brown conceding on Dec. 3. He succeeds nine-term Republican incumbent John Doolittle, who is under investigation for his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and did not seek re-election. Doolittle, who had previously won by comfortable margins, narrowly defeated Brown in 2006.
The mostly rural 4th District, one of the most Republican in California, extends from the Sacramento suburbs to the northeast corner of the state. It contains all of El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, Sierra, Plumas, Lassen and Modoc counties, along with parts of Butte and Sacramento counties. Republicans hold a 48 to 30 percent edge in voter registration over Democrats.
A longtime advocate for cutting taxes and government spending, McClintock had represented a state Senate district in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, hundreds of miles away, since 2000. His move into the 4th District prompted Brown to label him a carpertbagger and a career politician. In the Republican primary, McClintock defeated Doug Ose, a former congressman from the nearby 3rd District.
McClintock served in the state Assembly from 1982 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2000, when he moved up to the state Senate. He lost a race for Congress in the 24th District in 1992 to Democratic incumbent Anthony Beilenson, was defeated for state controller in 1994 by Democrat Kathleen Connell and in 2002 by Democrat Steve Westly, finished third in the 2003 recall gubernatorial race behind fellow Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, and was beaten for lieutenant governor by Democrat John Garamendi in 2006.
A native of White Plains, N.Y., and a graduate of UCLA, McClintock chaired the Ventura County Republican Party from 1979 to 1981, served as chief of staff for state Sen. Ed Davis from 1980 to 1982, was director of the Center for the California Taxpayer from 1992 to 1994, and was director of the Claremont Institute's Golden State Center for Policy Studies from 1995 to 1996. He is married and has two children.
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