Do you know your Congressman?

picture by Flickr user Rob Sawyer

By Nathan Stein

Brian Bilbray is currently our elected congressman for our district. Bilbray was elected after Randy “Duke” Cunningham resigned because of his felony charges. Prior to working for California’s  50th district, Bilbray was the mayor of Imperial Beach and served in congress from 1995-2001 for the 53rd district. With his political experience, he became a lobbyist for several powerful political groups. He represented casinos, energy companies, and several other groups. When Cunningham’s seat was opened, a special election was held and Brian came out victorious and has been serving ever since.

Brian Bilbray is a republican, and leans more conservatively. His political views on society include protecting the border from illegal immigration, jobs for Americans, lower taxes, and American energy reform.

“With a veteran unemployment rate of 11.5 percent in California, Representative Bilbray believes that more needs to be done to create an environment that helps the private sector, and hire men and women who have served our country in uniform, which include more than 250,000 of whom live in San Diego County. Due to this, Congressman Brian Bilbray introduced H.R. 3340, the Help Inspire and Retrain our Exceptional (HIRE) Veterans Act of 2011, with bipartisan support.”

Brian Bilbray serves on the House Energy And Commerce Committee, which is designed to tackle issues such as clean coal, Solyndra, and does not support the EPA. It is a very partisan committee that leans conservative. The committee views that  “they have the responsibility for the nation’s telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health research, environmental quality, energy policy, and interstate and foreign commerce. They oversee multiple cabinet-level Departments and independent agencies, including the Departments of Energy, Health and Human Services, Commerce, and Transportation, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Communications Commission.”

This November, Brian Bilbray will be running against Democrat Scott Peters, who has served as a San Diego Councilman and is currently the Port of San Diego Commissioner. According to polls, both are very close and some might consider them tied. Bilbray is viewed more favorably to win, due to the fact that he is the incumbent, has more funds, and is better known than his relatively unknown adversary, Scott Peters.