Jorgensen's re-entry shifts congressional race

Less than a month after dropping her bid for a seat in Congress, Marta Jorgensen announced May 19 she is back in the race, with only two weeks left of campaigning.

As suddenly as she left, Jorgensen returned to compete for the Democratic party’s nomination for the 24th congressional district. The Solvang resident re-entered the three-woman race against Mary Pallant, of Oak Park, and Jill Martinez, the party’s 2006 nominee. Jorgensen, an environmentalist, dropped out April 23 and endorsed Jill Martinez in a move that coincided with Earth Day.

All three candidates seek the seat currently held by Republican Elton Gallegly, of Simi Valley [Editor's note: corrected from 5/22/08 print edition], who himself faces a primary challenge for the second election in a row from Thousand Oaks Attorney Michael Tenenbaum. Voters will make their choices known in this and other races in the June 3 state primary. Nominees from each party will face off Nov. 2.
The turnabout was prompted by voters in northern Santa Barbara County and even some parts of Ventura County who expressed to Jorgensen their lingering disaffection with her opponents, whose campaign efforts, she says, have gravitated on the more populous and affluent reaches of the district in Ventura County.

“I was just getting used to the idea of not being in the race but I had some people contact me this week who were really getting upset that they lived in the central valley up here, the Lompoc valley, Orcutt, andparts of Santa Maria,” Jorgensen said. “They felt like the candidates were never coming up here to campaign. I’d never seen them so I really helped what they were doing.”

Jorgensen said some voters even said they wouldn’t participate in the election if she stayed out of the race.

“I dropped out and was endorsing Jill, but after two weeks of the primary I’d seen neither hide nor hair of either [Martinez or Pallant],” she said, adding that it wasn’t enough to attend Democratic Party club meetings and events in the region.

“It’s not getting out with the voting public.”

The 24th district covers nearly all of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties except for a coastal strip represented by Democrat Lois Capps in the 23rd District. Communities such as Ojai, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Fillmore and Santa Paula in Ventura County and Santa Ynez, Lompoc, Buellton and Solvang are represented in the district, as is the reservation for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and huge swaths of rural land inside and near the Los Padres National Forest.

Both Pallant and Martinez were surprised by Jorgensen’s announcement.

“I am at a loss as to Marta’s accusations,” Pallant said. “I am reaching out to every corner of this district through phone banking, speaking engagements and meet and greets and I will continue to run a hard charging campaign to do what is necessary to win this primary. I stand for a politics of ideas, hope and truth and will continue to do so as it is time for a new direction in our district and in our country.”

Pallant also said Gallegly himself has not adequately represented voters in the 24th district. As an example she said census data for the district shows that only 9 percent of the constituents in the district earn more than $200,000 a year and are thus eligible for the tax cuts supported by President Bush and made permanent by Gallegly and other members of Congress.

“I am here to represent the entire district, including the other 91 percent Elton neglects with his tax policy,” Pallant said.

Martinez said she thought one of the reasons Jorgensen decided to endorse her was to help her campaign better access the northern reaches of the 24th district.

“I’m surprised,” Martinez said. “I’ve been working for some time in the North County, in particular in Lompoc, Orcutt, Santa Ynez and Buellton. Her response to me when she decided to come to my campaign was every place she goes they’ve already endorsed my campaign. She was unable to address her agenda up there. I was hoping that she would be able to address her agenda through my campaign, so we’ll see where we go after the primary. “

Martinez said she has been involved in the area, working on issues such as affordable housing efforts and the possible expansion of the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez and getting involved with the community of Casmalia, where 250 residents were sickened with salmonella after a Chevron water tank deteriorated. She said as a congresswoman she would be accessible and receptive to such concerns.

“What I really see is that there’s a need to be accessible, to know what the issues are and actually do something about them,” Martinez said. “I’m quite involved up in Santa Ynez.”

Jorgensen may have an uphill battle against Pallant and Martinez. During her absence from the campaign she missed multiple candidates forums. She said that she has had a difficult time campaigning in Ventura County against her better funded candidates anyway, but that would change if she were nominated.

“I called people on the phone,” Jorgensen said. “That’s about the closest I got to getting down there. I had very limited financial resources. It’s very tough for me to get out of the valley. I’m sorry about that. The thing is, these guys have money and they have staff and they have all the endorsements and they could come up here.”

She said campaigns shouldn’t be as focused on major fundraisers and high profile endorsements, but on the people the member of Congress would serve.

“I just think campaigns get so caught up in these fundraisers that they’re not out in the street,” she said. “They should be out having rallies.”