Matt Ortega

Conservative Jon Fleischman launched a poorly designed and constructed attack website Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton, Calif.). By attack website standards, the site uses a rather nonthreatening image of the freshman congressman that reminds me of a promotional shot for the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly flick, Step-Brothers.

David Dayen writes:

CA-11: Apparently trying to win some kind of award for the worst attack website in history, Jon Fleischman of the Flash Report (a terribly designed website in its own right) has put together One Term Is Enough, in all of its way-too-large masthead, ridiculously-spare with no action items or columns, design out of Quark X-Press glory.  Man, that’s ugly.  And I think the focus on Jerry McNerney’s earmarks, given the summer of scandal that Dean Andal has lived through which is entirely about a construction contract with a community college (if he was in Congress, that would be, basically, an earmark), is kind of silly.  Meanwhile, McNerney is up with his first ad of the cycle, focusing on his work on behalf of troops and veterans.

Watch the new television advertisement.

Mayor Ed Chavez (R-Stockton) endorsed Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton, Calif.) last week.

The mayor of the 11th Congressional District’s largest city — also a 30-year Stockton Police veteran, including 10 years as chief — has been “impressed with what Congressman McNerney has done in his short tenure in office,” he said in McNerney’s news release.

“He’s back in California every weekend — in fact, it’s nearly impossible to spend a Saturday in Stockton without running into him,” Chavez said. “He’s committed to serving his constituents well by helping create family-wage jobs in renewable energy, bringing home federal funds for important infrastructure projects in our region, working to make sure veterans have access to services they’ve earned, and being open, available and accessible to members of our community. He puts the needs of his constituents first; that’s why he earns my endorsement.”

Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton, Calif.) continued to outraise Republican challenger, former Assemblyman Dean Andal, according to second quarter figures released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

In total, Rep. McNerney raised $2.1 million to Andal’s $829,000. The challenger faced terrible fundraising numbers recently. Last October, McNerney held a $700,000 advantage over Andal. Nine months later, Andal faces a nearly $1.3 million deficit. In terms of cash-on-hand, McNerney wields an $800,000 advantage.

Dean Andal, the former Assemblyman from Stockton and Republican challenger to Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton, Calif.), is finally making headlines but not the ones he or the Republican Party wanted: “Andal denies ties to leak.”

A report issued last week by the San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury charged Delta trustees with leaking to developers closed-session information about a deal to build a satellite campus in Mountain House — a violation of the Brown Act, a state law that governs how elected leaders must conduct themselves in both closed and public meetings.

Andal works as a consultant for Mountain House developer Gerry Kamilos, whose company, PCCP Mountain House LLC, has several employees.

The project was a complete disaster and squandered millions of dollars in taxpayer money.

Andal encountered trouble making headlines. Most local media focused on Congressman McNerney’s large fundraising lead, and Andal’s numbers are commonly described as “anemic,” “unimpressive,” and “insufficient.”

Andal’s troubles were picked up in the state-by-state rundown in The Hill.

Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton, Calif.) holds a significant lead in fundraising dollars over likely Republican challenger and former Assemblyman Dean Andal. Hank Shaw of the Stockton Record reports:

Stockton Republican Dean Andal added another $90,000 to his campaign kitty during the first three months of 2008, according to campaign finance reports released today. Andal, who wants to oust freshman Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, this fall, also spent $42,000, so his net is $48k. Andal has $531,000 in his campaign account, which is pretty respectable for this time of year. Interestingly, Andal raised $11,000 of his cash this quarter from contributions smaller than $200 — a nice show of grassroots support.

The campaign of freshman incumbent Rep. McNerney told Shaw, however, that he brought in $329,000 in the first quarter with $51,000 in contributions under $200 with $1.2 million overall.