The Buzz is the Register’s weekly political news column.
Despite going along with a new round of sanctions, President Donald Trump and Costa Mesa Rep. Dana Rohrabacher continue to be scrutinized for having urged friendlier relationships with Russia.
The Republican congressman told the Register he only voted for the sanctions because they included North Korea and Iran, and would have opposed the measure if it targeted Russia alone. As for Trump, several people close to the president appear to still be part of a federal investigation into election meddling by the Russians.
But Stelian Onufrei only sees one of the two at fault: Rohrabacher, who says that modern-day Russian should not be confused with Cold War-era USSR.
“I do not believe a regime like Russia today is that far off from the USSR,” counters the Romania-born Onufrei.
Perhaps not coincidently, Onufrei is a Trump supporter and a Rohrabacher foe.
Last month, Onufrei, 52, declared his candidacy against the 15th-term incumbent, the only Republican among the nine challengers in the race so far. Within days of announcing his bid, he changed the address on his voter registration from a home outside the district, in Buena Park, to an apartment in the coastal congressional district. The construction-company owner says he plans to spend $500,000 of his own money on the campaign.
One target of Onufrei’s criticism is the congressman’s 2016 Moscow meeting with a Russian prosecutor in Moscow, an unofficial event that took place while Rohrabacher was leading a congressional delegation tour. The Russian official gave Rohrabacher a document defending Russia’s treatment of whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky, whose suspicious death contributed to an earlier round of U.S. sanctions. Rohrabacher said he was simply collecting information in his role as a House foreign affairs subcommittee chairman.
Onufrei said Rohrabacher shouldn’t have taken that meeting on his own.
“Our intelligence people should have been there.”
But Onufrei is unconcerned when it comes to the controversial June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower, when people connected to the Russian government met privately with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Trump’s then-campaign manager, Paul Manafort, to provide information from the Russian government described as damaging to Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent in the race for president. The distinction Onufrei makes is that Rohrabacher was working in an official governmental capacity while the Trump associates were not.
“Do I believe Russia should be treated as an adversary? Absolutely,” the first-time candidate told me over lunch. “Do I believe Dana Rohrabacher thinks of them as an adversary? Absolutely not.”
Does Trump think of Russia as an adversary?
“He’s very, very cautious,” Onufrei said. “I would not presume to know what President Trump thinks about (Russian President Vladmir) Putin.”
Despite past advocacy for better relations with Russian, Rohrabacher drew the line at defending Putin during a July 30 appearance at the Politicon convention in Pasadena.
“There are some bad guys in Russia and Putin is one of them,” Rohrabacher said.
Climate change
While Onufrei’s criticizes Rohrabacher for the Moscow meeting, it’s a far gentler attack than that dished out by the congressman’s other challengers. And exactly how Onufrei would legislate differently from the incumbent remains unclear. Aside from calling for congressional term limits, nothing in the platform on Onufrei’s campaign website seems dramatically at odds with Rohrabacher’s positions.
In announcing his candidacy, Onufrei took a shot at Rohrabacher for having “the proud distinction of founding the Congressional Marijuana Caucus in D.C.” Rohrabacher has been a leading advocate for the federal government to respect state laws regarding pot. Stelian opposes legalizing recreational marijuana but supports legalized medical marijuana.
One of Rohrabacher’s most controversial positions is the belief that man is not a significant contributor to climate change — the only Orange County Congress member to unequivocally take that position. Onufrei, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to have an opinion on the high-profile topic.
“I do not have a specific answer for you at this time as I am still formulating my position on this issue in such a way as to best represent my district,” he said via email.
Orange County’s other three Republican House members all acknowledge that man is contributing to climate change, with Reps. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Beach, and Darrell Issa, R-Vista, explicitly saying man’s contribution is significant. Except for Onufrei, all of the 23 challengers to the county’s four GOP incumbents say man is a significant contributor — and nearly all say humans are the biggest cause.
Onufrei says Rohrabacher has lost touch with the district and fresh blood is needed. There’s still plenty of time for challenger to emerge with bold, distinguishing policy positions, but it seems the launch of a campaign would be the prime time to reveal at least a couple.
Nonetheless, Onufrei’s candidacy could be a deterrence to any more Republicans entering the race. With seven Democrats running so far, it’s possible they split the left-leaning vote, allowing two Republicans to advance out of next June’s top-two open primary.
That possibility would increase if the second Republican was known and had a broad political network in place — somebody like former state Assembly GOP leader and former county GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, who has made no secret of his interest in the seat. But with two Republicans already in the race, the road to general election for a third Republican has become steeper.
That means Onufrei’s entry into the contest could benefit Rohrabacher, the very man he says needs replacing.