March 27, 2012 | 12:28 pm

“Non -erman” #1: Vince Gilmore, Democrat

Posted by Jonah Lowenfeld

While most candidates want to get their faces out there, Vince Gilmore, a Democrat running for congress in the California's 30th district, has this picture on his website. Photo courtesy VinceGilmore2012.com

Thanks to a ballot measure approved by voters in 2010, this year will be the first regularly scheduled election cycle in California to include what some call a “jungle primary,” in which all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, will appear on a single ballot, and in which all voters, regardless of party registration, will be allowed to vote.

In the 30th district, along with Reps. Howard Berman (D - Van Nuys) and Brad Sherman (D - Sherman Oaks), five other candidates’ names are set to appear on primary ballots on June 5. Assuming no single candidate wins an outright majority, the top two vote getters will advance to a second round general election in November. And while the two incumbents are certainly the best known candidates of the bunch, whether both of them can make it through the first round is still anyone’s guess.

As I’ve noted on this blog, some political observers have speculated that the continuation of the contest for the Republican Presidential nomination might bring more registered Republicans to the polls, which could make “Berman v. Sherman, Round Two” less likely. Then again, the three Republican candidates could split the GOP vote.

All this by way of introducing the series of profiles of the “non -ermans,” the candidates running in the 30th congressional district who don’t have blogs named after them.

* * *

There’s only one non-incumbent Dem running in this race, and I have no idea what he looks like, because Gilmore’s website doesn’t include a photograph. Or a biography, for that matter. But in an interview with the Journal, Gilmore, a freelance gardener, said he is hoping that voters will focus on his ideas rather than on his age (31) or his lack of experience. (The Los Angeles Times called him a “neophyte.” Gilmore prefers the epithet, “Constitutional Democrat.”)

“Since I’m young I didn’t want people to make prejudgments on how I look or my age,” Gilmore said in a phone conversation in February. So he’s been using the stars and stripes instead. “I thought, what better than a nice American flag to get my message out there?”

Gilmore’s message, in a nutshell, is anti-war, anti-free trade and pro-civil liberties. Gilmore opposes the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, preferring “total individual freedom” on the internet, and he’s opposed to all foreign aid, including foreign aid to Israel.

“I would argue that foreign aid is not authorized in the constitution,” Gilmore said. “It’s as simple as that to me.”

“It’s not an anti-Israel policy as much as it’s a pro-constitution policy,” he added.

March 21, 2012 | 12:12 am

Berman Israeli Visa Bill Passes House, 371-0

Posted by Jonah Lowenfeld

Congressman Howard Berman

A bill sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman (D - Van Nuys) that would make it easier for some Israeli investors in U.S.-based businesses to move to the United States to oversee those businesses passed the House of Representatives on March 19 by a margin of 371-0.

Berman’s bill will extend to Israeli investors the ability to apply for an E-2 investor visa, which is today available to investors from more than 75 other countries—including Britain, Montenegro, Iran, and the Republic of Togo.

A companion measure is being considered in the Senate.

What accounts for the wide margin of this bill’s passage?

KPCC’s Kitty Felde noted that it might be important for lawmakers to burnish their pro-Israel credentials in an election year (and seriously, the only other bill that I can think of that recently passed through a legislative chamber in Washington by a unanimous vote was the Senate bill calling for tougher sanctions on Iran).

But the other reason for the overwhelming support for Berman’s bill lies in just how unobjectionable the measure is. I reported on the bill in February, around the time it was first introduced. Back then, an immigration law expert called it “a tiny little fix” to the immigration visa system.

More than 25,000 E-2 investor visas were issued in 2010, according to E2VisaReform.org, a group that tries to “highlight problems facing E2 Treaty Investor Visa holders.”

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March 15, 2012 | 1:04 pm

Rep. Adam Schiff endorses Berman over Sherman

Posted by Jonah Lowenfeld

Rep. Adam Schiff (D - Pasadena) Photo credit: United States Congress

Rep. Adam Schiff (D - Burbank) has endorsed Rep. Howard Berman (D - Van Nuys) for reelection in the 30th district.

Berman, who is locked in an all-out battle with fellow Democratic incumbent Congressman Brad Sherman (Sherman Oaks), had already received the support of most of California’s Democratic representatives when Schiff made his endorsement, which was announced by the Berman campaign on March 14.

Berman, Schiff said in a statement, “has been a mentor and a leader on some of the most challenging issues of our time. There are not many Representatives who can rightly be called ‘statesman,’ but Howard is one of them, and I am proud to support him.”

“After working closely with Congressman Berman for the past decade,” Schiff’s statement continued, “I know that his wisdom, experience and tireless advocacy must not be lost.”

With the addition of Schiff, the total number of Democratic incumbents in Congress backing Berman rises to 24, a number that includes Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D - Santa Ana), who has endorsed both Berman and Sherman. Sherman has also received endorsements from two other members of California’s Democratic delegation in Congress, Reps. Judy Chu (D - El Monte) and Grace Napolitano (D - Norwalk), neither of whom have endorsed Berman.

While the 23 other representatives backing Berman announced their support for the congressman back in November 2011, Schiff’s endorsement came only after the March 9 filing deadline for candidates wishing to be on California’s ballot had passed.

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March 12, 2012 | 11:30 am

A very “-erman” weekend: little league openers, Shimon Peres’ closer

Posted by Jonah Lowenfeld

Rep. Howard Berman (D - Van Nuys), back row, center right, seen with Sherman Oaks Little Leaguers and former Dodger Ron Cey on March 10. (Photo courtesy Berman for Congress)

It’s the first day of little league season; do you know where your local congressman is?

If he’s running for reelection in California’s 30th district, he spent part of March 10 on the ball field. Howard Berman (D - Van Nuys) and Brad Sherman (D - Sherman Oaks) both made appearances at different little league openers on Saturday morning.

The two Jewish incumbents got early starts on Sunday morning, too, both attending the final event on Israeli President Shimon Peres’ Los Angeles itinerary, a gathering of (mostly) Latino elected officials, religious leaders and other prominent and pretty people.

At that event—a much more formal affair at the Beverly Hilton—Sherman estimated he’d been to about 40 or 50 little league openers. He told the L.A. Times the day before that he had “learned not to throw out the first pitch.”

Word from the Berman campaign is that the 70-year-old congressman may have seen some action on (or near) the mound on Saturday morning, but the pictures they shared with the B-v-S blog showed Berman with a microphone in his hand, not a Rawlings.

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