The Crazy Campaign of Amardeep Kaleka

Last fall, while endorsing Rob Zerban for Congress, I pointed out to some of the bizarre doings from his primary opponent, Amardeep Kaleka.  Among the oddities were the fact that Kaleka was running his campaign from California and some personal beliefs that one might not expect from a serious candidate.

Since then, Zerban has been running a solid campaign - attending events, fundraising and calling out Paul Ryan's nonsense and maleficence at every turn.

Meanwhile, Kaleka appears to be running more some sort of stunt than a serious political campaign.

Over the past month or so, he has sent out not just one, but two, fundraising emails with the same curious sales pitch on why people should donate:

For $10, he'll get one vote? What, is he planning on paying people to vote for him? That might work in California, but it's definitely against the law in Wisconsin (with Republicans thinking that they are exempt, of course).  And he needs $2 to have someone knock on doors? Don't most politicians have volunteers to do that?

Kaleka doesn't end the crazy there either.

On his Facebook page, he's been touting this:

Look past the curious choice of using a picture of a debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon for a minute to look at the wording.  He's saying that the first 100 people can watch this debate for free, but then what? He's going to charge everyone after that to see him lose his butt to Zerban?

Oh, and Kaleka has another problem with this. Zerban has not agreed to anything with Kaleka.  Kaleka is selling a false bill of goods...sort of like his campaign.

It would seem that Kaleka is pretty obsessed with raising cash.  While money, unfortunately, still place way too large of a role in politics, this trickery is way beyond the usual fundraising gimmicks.  Maybe he's still trying to raise money for his UFO documentary.  Maybe it's something else.  

All I know is that he is an unfortunate distraction from the important work that Rob Zerban is doing there in getting a real, progressive message out, supporting working people and small business owners and putting the power back in the hands of the people.

If you can, please help support Rob Zerban as he finally gets rid of that twice-damned fool, Paul Ryan.  

You can learn more about Rob Zerban at his website and you can help support his campaign by donating here.

Kaleka Is Getting Warmer, Zerban Is Still Hot

A couple of months ago, we learned that there would be a primary in the First Congressional District to see who would get to take on Paul Ryan.

One of the candidates is Amardeep Kaleka.  At the time that Kaleka was announcing his candidacy, I noted that several concerns about his campaign, one of which was that his exploratory committee was based in California:

Just like almost every other political candidate and every group, Kaleka sent out an email begging for that end of the year contribution before Tuesday night's reporting deadline.

The email in itself isn't anything unusual as far as these sorts of emails go.  However, I did notice that there was a new address for Kaleka's campaign:

Now, instead of being based in California, the campaign is now headquartered in a post office mailbox in Franklin.  That seems legit, doesn't it?

Fortunately, the voters in CD 1 has a better choice in Rob Zerban, who has not only resided in the district all this time, but has been there standing with the people through the hard times.  His positions has been clearly laid out and he has a serious agenda on how to turn things around for not only the district but for the entire state and the country, bringing back good paying jobs and restoring our rights.

We all agree that Paul Ryan needs to go for the good of the state and the country and Zerban is the person to make it happen.

Zerban for Congress!

During his tenure as a US Congressman for the First District in Wisconsin, Paul Ryan has done much.

He drank $350 bottles of wine.  He's introduced a Medicare plan that is more expensive than anything else out there.  He's tried to get Grandma to learn to appreciate cat food as a nutritional, tasty meal.  He's washed empty pans.  He had run - and lost - in a campaign to be Vice President of the United States.  He's made it easier for people to bring in trophy polar bear carcasses to our country.  He's ran in marathons at super human speeds.

About the only thing Paul Ryan hasn't done is represent the people of Wisconsin.

If he is again reelected, we can only expect more of the same from him, with the exception of the a possible run to be the President of the United States.

But there is hope.  There is a man that is willing to not only represent the people of Wisconsin, but to fight for them.

Rob Zerban

That man is a Rob Zerban and even as I write this, he is currently in Southeastern Wisconsin announcing that he is going to take on Paul Ryan in 2014.

For those that read Cog Dis regularly, Zerban should be a familiar name.  He ran against Ryan in the last cycle and damned near beat him then.  In fact, Zerban trounced Ryan in Ryan's hometown of Janesville.  The only thing that saved Ryan's butt that day was the gerrymandered voting districts that gave Ryan the deep red area of Walkersha County.

But unlike some candidates who also lost that year, Zerban did not sit back and just shrug his shoulders.  He did not give up or lose interest.

If anything, he did the opposite.  He got more invested in the district and in state.  Whether it was a labor event, a call for immigration reform or standing up for women's rights, Zerban was there, with his sleeves rolled up and working hard.

I would say that it's a fair statement to say that in the last two yearrs, Rob Zerban has done more for the district than Paul Ryan has done in his entire career as their so-called representative.

It is Zerban's passion for his community, his common sense and very doable solutions to the issues crippling his district and the state and his eagerness to do the right thing that makes me proud to support his candidacy.

You can find Zerban's website here.  He also has a Facebook page.

To be fair, there is another person considering a run against Ryan as well.  That person is Amardeep Kaleka.  Kaleka became known when his father was tragically murdered in the mass shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek.

Kaleka has made some passionate calls for peace and his very motivational.  He seems like a genuinely nice person.

But I'm not sure he would be a good choice as a congressional representative or what his level of investment would be.

When one goes to his website, there is immediately a problem as that there is not the legal disclaimer on who is paying for the website.  But it gets worse.

If one were to sign up for emails at the website, one would get a confirmation email to make sure that it was not spam.  That's where another red flag pops up.  This is what I received both to sign up and to confirm:

Yes, you read that correctly.  The headquarters for Kaleka's headquarters is in California.  I know the Republicans have really fouled things up with their gerrymandering, but the last I checked, there was not one part of the First Congressional District that is in California.

I also have to express some skepticism on Kaleka's motivation for running for office in the first place.  Is he running to make things better for the people in Wisconsin or is he running to raise his own name recognition?  You see, he has this film about UFOs that he is trying to raise money for.  (BTW, skeptics are not impressed with Kaleka's claims.)

Clearly, Rob Zerban stands head and shoulders above the rest in his bid to be the Congressman for the First District.  He is strongly invested in his community, has clear and viable solutions to the problems plaguing his district and the rest of the state and is committed to serving the people he would represent, not the big money special interests that want to maintain the status quo which plainly isn't working.

I am proud to offer my support and endorsement to Rob Zerban.  He is one of the few candidates that I can actually be excited about supporting instead of just because he's not the other guy.