House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has a challenger in her own district, Republican John Dennis – grassroots organizer for GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul. Dennis will attempt to unseat the powerful San Francisco Democrat using the organizational base of Paul's movement.
Dennis made the announcement that he will run against Pelosi at a Log Cabin Republican event in San Francisco Wednesday night.
"Nancy Pelosi is out of touch with San Francisco and America," said Dennis in a press release. "Every major problem facing our nation has been exacerbated during her 26 year career in Congress and has escalated since she became both Speaker and now Minority Leader. Ms. Pelosi career in Congress epitomizes Washington's assaults on the liberties of every American."
He added:
"She is emblematic of the corruption in Washington via insider trading, out of control spending that has led to a nearly $15 Trillion national debt, and economic intervention which has lead to significant losses in the labor force. As a self-proclaimed liberal, she has proven hypocritical even when it comes to the wars Washington started and funded in the last ten years, showing again how out of sync she is with her constituents here in San Francisco."
Mr. Dennis refers to himself as a common sense Republican with a proven ability to articulate coherent policy positions from a detailed understanding of the issues, which he says has earned him support from among Republican and Independent voters. The San Francisco businessman’s focus on personal liberty and fiscal responsibility shares the same rhetoric as the libertarian-leaning presidential candidate, Ron Paul – for whom Dennis organized in Iowa and throughout California. As the Republican Nominee in 2010 for California's 12th Congressional District, Dennis received Paul's endorsement. He garnered the most votes of any Pelosi challenger since she took office according to a campaign press release.
“We should have done a lot better last time,” Dennis told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We have a different strategy this time….we’re going to raise money and put it into name recognition. And we’ll see how much abuse San Francisco can take when it comes to Nancy Pelosi. I’ll keep putting the pressure on.”
According to his campaign website at JohnDennis2012.com:
He opposes the aimless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have resulted in thousands of casualties and a total cost of over one trillion dollars. He opposes her failure to protect individual rights and privacy; for example, the failure to repeal either “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” or the Patriot Act.
To address the trillions in growing U.S. debt, as well as current deficits, he supports cuts in the budget. These cuts include foreign military spending, notably savings achieved by ending the wars and returning the troops to the U.S. He advocates protecting personal liberties and privacy as it applies to orientation, drug consumption, and domestic intelligence surveillance.
John Dennis has garnered support from Democrats, Republicans and Independents, has been endorsed by former Vice Presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez and activist groups like the Log Cabin Republicans. John and his wife Heather live and work in San Francisco.
