Pegram to Run For Congress

San Jose’s favorite Evangelical leader, Larry Pegram, chose the biggest political event of the season to come out last week. (No, not like that.) At the annual Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee (COMPAC) picnic, Pegram, who was a vociferous leader on the campaign to ban gay marriage in California last year, was spotted wearing a yellow ribbon, flagging him as a candidate. When asked what office he was seeking, the president of the Values Advocacy Council confirmed that he is eyeing Congress in 2010.

Pegram, who (as Fly reported last week) just announced plans to spearhead a mission to equip San Jose libraries with Internet porn filters, will run against incumbent Jerry McNerney, a Democrat from Alameda County. Pegram says he and his wife have already started looking for homes in Tracy, which is part of District 11. His reason for running? Pegram mentioned something about how there was a lot of work to be done and how now was the time for him to help get it done.

The Fly is the valley’s longest running political column, written by Metro Silicon Valley staff, to provide a behind-the-scenes look at local politics. Fly accepts anonymous tips.

59 Comments

  1. No thanks.  There are already plenty of right wing-nuts in Congress.  Just what we need, someone working hard to pretend the last 40 years didn’t happen and set us back to the ‘40s.  Ick.

      • Dear Kathleen,

        One can only assume you don’t follow City Hall politics as closely as you claim to. 

        Your candidate and friend Jim Cogan has been helping Larry Pegram advance his agenda at City Hall for some time. 

        While Jim tells everyone outside City Hall that he is anti-content filters in San Jose libraries, he actually writes the Memos for Pete Constant to support them.  He also tries to get others to support such Memos. 

        This is widely know on the 18th floor.  Ask anyone, except Jim.

        We anxiously await your “just doing his job” response. 

        Eyes on the 18th Floor

        • Boy, you really seem to dislike Jim. I guess you STILL haven’t spoken to him, but would rather come on here anonymously and defame his reputation. Your comments about him doing his job as a Chief of Staff, and trying once again to twist the truth to spread misinformation about him only serves to show me that, you are the one who doesn’t understand politics on the 18th floor! wink 

          Having said that, I have zero problems with Pegram’s need to try and protect children from porno, and child molesters, or even his stand on Gay marriage. I disagree with porn filters based on First Amendment rights, and I fully support Gay marriage, but he has a right to his beliefs. My problem with Pegram is simply who he is as a person, how rude, and disrespectful he is to others. He is hardheaded, pushy, disrespectful to women, and always seems to use God to justify his need to be in the media. Not good qualities in my book for a Congressman to have.

        • Instead of you making excuses for Jim why doesn’t he just respond for himself on the blog? His silence is deafening. If the statements are untrue let him tell us. If not, then I guess by his silence he has already told us they are true. If he is going to run for Council he is going to have to answer tough questions—might as well start now.

        • It is very odd that you are claiming I’m making excuses for Jim when I was merely responding to a post directed at me solely. Whatever your issue is with Jim, I suggest you take it up with him directly, and use your real name. Here is his direct, public email address at City Hall: [email protected].
          Have a great weekend~

  2. And there’s not too many left-wing nuts in Congress already?  Please.  See Pete Stark, Sheila Jackson-Lee and their ilk.

    I’ll take Larry Pegram, a small-government, pro-growth conservative, over Jerry McNerney, a do-nothing liberal fraud, any day of the week.  Go Larry Go!

  3. Larry Pegram leaves San Jose and Jerry McNerney gets an opponent he’ll beat by 40 points! Happy Days!!!

    Oh but can Hugh Jardonn, Frustrated FinFan, Steve Phillips, and John Galt leave town with him too? That would really make my day.

  4. White Flight,

    Rather than pin your hopes on the efforts of others, as is your default setting as a liberal, why don’t you instead satisfy your desire to reside free of conservatives by moving to Oakland, East Palo Alto, or, if you like it cool, Bayview-Hunter’s Point? Really, it makes more sense for you to do the moving than it does for the four of us you named, plus think about all the money you’ll save by living where property values are, remarkably, just as low as moral values.

    So many liberals like you consider themselves to be wise and witty, never hesitating to amuse themselves by bashing the hell out of religious conservatives, even when, as is the case with Larry Pegram, they bash a man who has never hurt anyone, disgraced his family, dishonored his position, or broken any laws. Contrast his behavior to that of Ted Kennedy and I’d take Pegram as my neighbor any day over Kennedy or any of the rest of that decadent, substance-abusing clan. In fact, I would love to live in a neighborhood surrounded by religious conservatives, even though I don’t share in their spirituality. And I must not be alone, because it appears that a whole lot of newly arrived non-Christians are paying a premium to live in those same neighborhoods. I guess they haven’t had a chance to experience the day-to-day blessings of living amongst diversity… or maybe they have.

    Time and again, liberals on this site assume the high ground, even as they viciously attack a good man for nothing other than having different beliefs, all the while honoring the life of a depraved, dangerous man, simply because they like his politics. That is not the high ground, it is the ground occupied by fools who mistake the popularity of their political dogma for righteousness.

    Disagreeing over traditional values is what cultures do as they evolve; waging war against those holding those values is what cultures do as they disintegrate.

    • Nice try, FF, but you are wrong again. Pegram is not attacked for having “different beliefs” but for forcing his beliefs on others who believe differently from him. Let him shut up and believe what he wants but don’t tell me how or what to believe.
      That’s the real problem with these religious zealots—they just aren’t satisfied until they force their “values” on everyone else. They are not content until they forced their beliefs on an entire city, state, or nation.

      • My problem with this left/right crap is that both sides push their agendas and beliefs on us because many folks walking around don’t use the brain God gave them. If it wasn’t working for them, they would be doing it and having so much success at getting things their way. I think people need to wake up and use their heads for something other than at tree topper!

  5. Wrong Again (to say the least),

    Please explain how Pegram has forced anything on anyone. Either you don’t understand the definition of force, or you are just another hysterical fool whose panties bunch up every time someone promotes a set of values contrary to your own. To the best of my knowledge Pegram has always worked through lawful political channels to push his agenda, which is more than can be said of gay marriage supporters (with their terror campaigns against Prop 8 donors), bicycle commuters (with their brute force takeovers of SF streets), illegal immigration supporters (taking over city streets without regard for laws or permits), so-called police reform groups (who stage violent riots), or the many minority rights groups who’ve shown themselves quite willing to destroy entire neighborhoods to promote their point of view.

    Oh, there are zealots of many kinds in this nation, but through the hard work of the media the only zealots upon whom it is open season are Christians. It is their agenda, and theirs alone, that has been deemed so extreme and dangerous as to make it okay to mock their beliefs and viciously insult them as individuals—actions considered off-limits when aimed at any other group (including, in the wake of 9-11, Muslims).

    You assert that Pegram has tried to tell you what to believe? When did that happen? Did he beat you on the head with the Holy Book, or interrupt you in mid-porn on a library computer? Please, share the details with us lest we think that maybe you suffer from nun-filled night terrors or perhaps that horrible form of paranoia that comes from excessive self-abuse.

    Better yet, rather than respond here, why don’t you go out and really learn enough to allow you to catch your breath, control your fears, and realize that you have years of idiocy for which to seek forgiveness.

    • Fin Fan,
      I sure miss John McEnery’s column, in large part because I miss your humor. I mean this comment with sincerity, so please don’t take this the wrong way. You just crack me up. The way you put things sometimes is just hilarious. You really are funny even when you are trying to make a serious point. You are indeed a good writer. Between the last paragraph in your above post and this gem, “You got me. I’m hateful, horrible, and… hideous. My one saving grace, and I know that it won’t impress you or any other Ted Kennedy fan, is that my evenings out never end with my date abandoned and submerged,” I have a tough time not laughing when I should be serious. You really should write a book, or do comedy. You’d have a huge following. Have a great weekend. wink

      • I am astounded that you find anything humorous in the rantings of FF. You talk about sensitivity and caring for people but you find humor in FFs hate-filled and often racists diatribes? I find his comments laughable but not humorous at all. It is apparent that he is paid by the word because he has to offend as many people per post as he can.

        • Don’t make this personal because it is not. FinFan has a right to his/her opinion, like it or not. Having said that, I really think you need to go back and read what I actually said instead of taking what I said and twisting it way out of context. Nowhere in my post did I ever say anything you are claiming I did. I simply said he has a way of putting a humorous spin on something tragic, and some how you have twisted that into I’m a hateful racist who claims to be Mother Teresa! God Lord give me a break.

          You might try and respect differing opinions without name-calling, or falsely accusing others, and me of things we are not doing.  It is this type of selective thinking and communicating that stops growth and discourages open exchange of ideas and thoughts. So you don’t like his viewpoint, okay I respect that. Give us your thoughts, but don’t make personal attacks on people just because you disagree with them.

        • Wow, talk about twisting and taking things out of context. Of course I didn’t say any of the things about you that you imply. Try reading what I said again—slowly. If you still miss the point then there is not much more I can say to you.

        • Thank you for the mature and respectful response. I re-read your post-S-L-O-W-L-Y. You and I are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I think your comments about Fin Fan are personal attacks; I think your comments directed at me are uncalled for; you don’t so we are at an impasse.

  6. I think maybe we are debating the wrong ethical issue. This is not another knee-jerk left vs. right issue,
      What about the ethics of a politician moving from San Jose to Tracy thinking he is qualified to represent an area where he does not live and apparently has little or no connection? 
      I would like to know how Mr. Pegram is qualified to represent that community, how well he understands their local issues and what he has contributed to Tracy in terms of public service, volunteer work, etc.? 
      Try entering the name “Larry Pegram” into the search engine of the Tracy Press and see how many times his name comes up. Zippo.
      In short Mr. Pegram does not appear to be qualified to represent the citizens of Tracy.

    Note to fanfan and crew: Before you get your knickers in a twist and start invoking the ghost of Ted Kennedy, who as near as I can tell is not running for Congress in Tracy and therefore irrelevant to this discussion, please note that I would say the same thing about a liberal carpetbagger. Even a moderate carpetbagger, if we could find one.

  7. Reader,

    Who is arguing an ethical issue? Did you post your comment under the wrong topic, or is changing the subject just your way of trying to extract for the Christian-haters a bit of victory from an otherwise losing cause? The topic here is Larry Pegram running for office, and in the original post The Fly set the tone for SJI commenters to hammer him for his religious beliefs, his definition of marriage, and his objection to taxpayer-supported porn viewing.

    And as you would expect from a well-trained flock, SJI sheep responded with bah-bah-bah.

    What’s interesting is that while the post was about Pegram’s run for Congress, not a word was devoted to his position on any of the critical issues facing our nation’s legislators. It would seem that in The World According to The Fly, having a belief in god and a traditional definition of marriage automatically disqualifies a candidate for high office, no matter that such views are also held by the vast majority of Americans. This is one of the many ways in which the liberal media brainwashes the voting public, though the Stepford Liberals in the Bay Area have nary a brain cell left to wash.

    It is challenging to understand the visceral hate that’s been posted here. With all the serious problems in the Bay Area, why is Larry Pegram’s Christianity so high on the list of evils? Can we blame the economic crisis on it, or the chronic bad management of our city? Is it the reason African-Americans are killing themselves by the cord, and Hispanic kids are joining street gangs? Did it cause AIDS, drug abuse, or poor academic performance amongst people of color?

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against hate. It’s unwarranted hate that annoys me; stupid hate that people engage in because they’ve been told to, without ever questioning the wisdom or the motives of those doing the teaching. You know, the kind of hate that leaves those spouting it speechless when someone dares to challenge them to justify it.

    Oh, and in regards to carpetbaggers, if you’ve never heard of a liberal one, then you must have been under the impression that Hillary Clinton was a native New Yorker when she ran for the Senate in 2000, not realizing that previous to that her only connection to that state was her relationship with some of its soon-to-be-pardoned Jewish criminals (http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2001/012601e.htm).

  8. We don’t have to look as far as New York, or as long ago as 2004, for examples of “carpetbagging”.
    Take John Garamendi for instance.
    His riverfront home is in District 3, yet he is currently running for State Assemblyman for District 10.
    I’m confident that Reader, with his high principles, would be quick to condemn Garamendi for cheapening the reputation of his party by giving the appearance of being a lifelong, trough-feeding, carpetbagging political hack.

    • Of course you know Garamendi is running for Congress, not the Assembly, but we won’t let a little fact like that get in the way.

    • Actually, Mr. Galt, I DO oppose carpetbagging from ANY candidate. (Read the last two lines of my original post.) That includes Garamendi, H. Clinton AND Larry Pegram. Why would you assume otherwise? 

      Also, I am sorry to burst your bubble about my (assumed, by you) party affiliation, but you got that wrong too.

      The article in question was specifically about Larry Pegram, which is why the issue of carpetbagging was raised in the context of that election.

      It’s interesting, however, that what you deride as my “high principals” on the issue of carpetbagging politicians has been interpreted by folks like you and finfan as an attack against conservative political candidates. It was not.

      I guess some folks just can’t get past left/right polarity.

      • My fiancé worked for Council Member John Diquisto (D9) for 8 years. He did not live in D9 at the time, but moved into the district six months prior to running for Council member of D9. (We weren’t dating then, but I did work on his campaign.) While I didn’t think that was right that he moved into D9 to run, I have to admit he did know everything there was to know about the district when he ran. Does Larry Pegram know anything about Tracy or is he just doing this because he thinks it will be an easy win?

        • Does Larry Pegram know anything about Tracy or is he just doing this because he thinks it will be an easy win?

          He probably is doing it because he thinks a majority of Tracy residents would be stupid enough to vote for him and his tripe.

      • When I wrote “cheapening the reputation of <his> party”, the <his> was referring to Garamendi. I presumed nothing about your party affiliation. But never mind. That’s not important.
        I’ve no interest in “getting past this left/right polarity”. I acknowledge that it exists and I make no apologies. Rather than shy away from discussing this basic chasm between our respective ways of thinking about the role of Government, I happen to think that failure to discuss it is at the heart of our failure to understand one another in this country. Some claim to be immune from left/right politics. I happen to think they’re either kidding themselves, trying to fool me, or are just plain dumb. At any rate, it’s funny how these people invariably turn out to be, in my humble estimation, quite liberal.

        Our Democrat Legislature has enacted no law against carpetbagging. So, if I was a resident of District 11, I’d be voting for Pegram because I think that, regardless of his residency situation, he would better represent MY interests than would Mr. McNerney.
        Reader, if you are against carpetbagging then you should let your (Democrat) representatives know about it.

        • John, YOUR interests?  That’s sums it all up.  It’s scary to me that anyone could feel that Larry Pegram represents their interests, but it is clear his interests do not support the common good.

        • Um, “do not support the common good?” By whose definition?

          If he supports a responsible government that lives within its means, doesn’t that support the common good? Or is a doubling of national debt in the next 8 years more indicative of the common good?

        • We’ll see if the deficits serve the common good.  Most economists believe deficit spending is important in leading the economy out of the doldrums it is in.  So if the economy turns around, then the deficit was in the common good.

          However, hindering free speech (filtering the internet), opposing civil rights progress, trying to control a woman’s body, ignoring the uninsured, injecting god into the public sphere, as just a few examples, are in my opinion counter to the common good.  And those are the things that Larry Pegram publicly advocates for.

        • scary & Kathleen,
          I think Pat hinted at the idea that a fiscally conservative government would serve not only my and his interests, but would be serving both of you too though you might not choose to recognize it.

          PS- The last time I checked, George Bush is no longer President. And anyway, he was anything but a fiscal conservative so invoking his legacy as an example of the only alternative to an Obama proves nothing.

        • Like I said, we have suffered much in the past 8 years. Our lovely Governor has dam near bankrupted us too! I guess credit ratings don’t matter to anyone unless you’re a working Joe. Yeah, we’re in great shape~

        • It’s the assembly and senate that have damn near bankrupted us, K; with a little help from the leftie judges who think recidivist felons in prison ought to have an easy life while locked up.

  9. Our “lovely governor” is not alone in blame. The “girly men” of Sacramento are also culpable. There is a reason that California is one of the least business friendly states, and that businesses are fleeing the state. For instance, the CSAA call center is no longer located in the state. How sad is that?

  10. Among Pegram’s supporters is Mario Bouza, Santa Clara’s ten dollar candidate.  Forgot health care concerns, McNerney is safe.  Bouza and Pegram will be stopped dead in the tracks if Jerry brings simple math flash cards to the debate.

  11. Kathleen, I put this down here because with this new format it’s the only place that I have any confidence that anybody will find it and read it.
    I’ve always felt bad for Arnold because I really thought that he came into the governorship with ideas that I agreed with. He was rather an innocent political neophyte when he entered office but I felt his instincts were good. Unfortunately, after all 4 of his ballot initiatives were rejected by the voters in November ‘05, he took that as a sign that he would need to alter his political philosophy in order to conform more with the political mainstream in this state.
    I’m wondering if, in hindsight, you believe that the four propositions that Arnold brought to the voters in 2005 would, had they passed, have had any positive influence in averting the current budget situation that we now face in California.
    I’m not being smart-alecky here. I’m just totally frustrated in understanding what the average voter thinks is the cause of our budget problems.

  12. John Galt,
    “I’m wondering if, in hindsight, you believe that the four propositions that Arnold brought to the voters in 2005 would, had they passed, have had any positive influence in averting the current budget situation that we now face in California.”
    Could you please remind me what they were? It has been awhile since we voted. I remember voting to cut raises to our reps. but that’s about it.

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