Christine Palmer-Persen: Why is Denham sponsoring bills outside of district?

Congressman Jeff Denham introduced HR 597, the Lytton Rancheria Homelands Act of 2017, in late January 2017. He has no additional sponsors for this bill. Although he was elected to represent constituents in Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties, he is carrying a special interest bill that dictates land use only in Sonoma County, that would benefit only Lytton Rancheria. Passage of this bill would allow the Lytton to flout local land use rules, avoid environmental review, and not pay taxes, all of which the rest of the community abides by. The Lytton Rancheria has no historical connection to Windsor, California, where they seek to put recently purchased land into federal trust. They already have a reservation in Contra Costa County (San Pablo Casino) making approximately $260 million annually. Evidently, Congressman Denham has received over $80,000 in contributions from Lytton Rancheria. Denham does not represent my district (CA-2). His district is at least 150 miles away. While he is sponsoring a bill that negatively affects my district, he is not using his time to represent his own constituents. Shouldn’t he work on issues in his own district? Please tell Rep. Denham this is bad practice. Please say no to HR 597.

This story was originally published May 9, 2017 at 12:02 PM with the headline "Christine Palmer-Persen: Why is Denham sponsoring bills outside of district?."