Republicans Ose, McClintock attack each other in spirited debate

The leading Republican contenders to replace retiring Rep. John Doolittle pounded each other with charges of selling out their public service on Wednesday in a spirited debate reflecting the tense, closely watched primary race.

Former Sacramento-area Rep. Doug Ose repeatedly assailed state Sen. Tom McClintock for trumpeting conservative credentials while serving as a career politician "taking inappropriate advantage" of some $300,000 in state per diem payments while living just miles from the Capitol in Elk Grove.

McClintock lit into Ose for accepting $600,000 in farm subsidies for agricultural land he owned while serving on a House agricultural committee and making votes in favor of a spending surge that marked "the largest expansion of entitlements since the Great Society."

The debate, sponsored by the Lincoln Club of Placer County, drew 500 people to the Sunset Center in Rocklin. They were treated to a vivid show as the candidates went after each other, clashing over illegal immigration, taxes and – above all – character.

Ose, a wealthy developer, drew McClintock's ire by attacking his receipt of state per diem payments in opening and closing statements and in two of three questions the hopefuls were able to direct to one another.

He jumped on McClintock for taking the money – which the vast majority of lawmakers accept – while visiting his home district only 32 times last year and paying no rent on the Thousand Oaks home of his mother where he is registered to vote. He noted that McClintock claimed per diem expenses for work at the Capitol on weekends and holidays and when he announced his candidacy in Auburn.

"Can you share with the voters why you think this behavior is acceptable?" he asked.

An irked McClintock, who defended his right to live with his family near the Capitol, responded at one point: "For you to bring this up during a campaign speaks of a recklessness and desperation that I until now have not correctly calculated."

McClintock, who said he has refused a state pension, noted his personal net worth – he listed it at $175,000 – and questioned why Ose, a multimillionaire, should accept farm subsidies.

Ose said later that he received farm subsidies for property he rented out for rice farming. He said he later voted for congressional legislation that protected the subsidies for farmers but denied them to non-farming landowners such as himself.

In his closing, Ose cast himself as a businessman not beholden to politics, saying: "You will need to make a choice between someone who turned down every pay raise (in Congress) and someone who is gaming the system."

To which McClintock responded, "And the choice you will have to make is a choice between the politics of character assassination and the consistent course of conservatism I have steered."

With $1.5 million in campaign spending, including $849,000 in personal loans, Ose has lambasted McClintock with an aggressive television and radio campaign.

McClintock has raised more than $315,000 for his campaign. A recent McClintock radio ad, featuring Tom Hudson, chairman of the Placer County Republican Central Committee, attacks Ose as a congressional "liberal" with "one of the worst ratings of any Republican" on taxes.

Ose responded with new television and radio advertisements Thursday attacking McClintock, quoting a San Diego newspaper editorial that accused the Thousand Oaks lawmaker of "supping at the public trough" and depicting McClintock as a King George figure out of the Revolutionary War era.

Todd Stenhouse a spokesman for the campaign of Democrat Charlie Brown, on Thursday scoffed at the advertising war between the two district outsiders.

"These are two guys fighting over who is the biggest carpetbagger and who is more beholden to partisan interests," Stenhouse said.

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• Call Peter Hecht, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5539.