Cottonwood's Stiglich challenges Herger again

Col. 'Pete' Stiglich

Cottonwood resident Pete Stiglich, 58, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, announced last week that he will once again challenge fellow Republican and long-time incumbent U.S. Representative Walter William “Wally” Herger, Jr., of Chico in the June 2012 primary election for California’s newly-defined 1st Congressional District.

The district contains all of Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Butte, Sierra, Plumas, Lassen and Modoc counties as well as a small portion of eastern Glenn County, more than half of eastern Nevada county and a small sliver of northwestern Placer county.

It will be the 14th time that Herger, a 66-year-old incumbent, will face an opponent for the Congressional seat that he has held since replacing Eugene Chappie in 1987.

Stiglich lost a primary race against Herger in 2010 by very nearly a 2:1 ratio.

With only registered Republicans casting ballots in 2010, Herger garnered 52,404 votes or 64.7 percent of the total while Stiglich received 28,632 votes for a 35.3 percent approval rating.

This time around, however, Stiglich is hoping that more voters, including those not affiliated with another political party, will be attracted to his platform in the now wide open primary election.

“I don’t trust these entrenched politicians on both sides of the political scale,” Stiglich said Tuesday over coffee in an Anderson café.

“Like never before, we need an emboldened Republican Party (candidate) willing to lay out a clear conservative agenda and (with) the leadership to stand up and fight for it,” Stiglich said, warming to his topic. “And I’m just the guy to do it.”

Stiglich, a native of California, retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2006 after 26 years of honorable service. He returned to his ranch in Cottonwood and has dedicated his spare time to advocating for veteran and community affairs.

"Frankly, I'm fed up. Fed up with Democrats who want the federal government to intrude into every facet of our lives and Republicans who go 50/50 on deals that are 100% wrong. And, hard working, patriotic Americans feel much the same way," he said.

“It’s long past time we returned to our Constitutional principles, a balanced federal budget and a limited government. The only way we’re going to do this is to replace career politicians like Wally Herger,” Stiglich added.

“Tough decisions have to be made and I don’t see these entrenched politicians doing that. Wally Herger hasn’t done that for 20 years,” Stiglich said as he hauled out a computer printout of Herger’s recent voting record on 19 issues affecting veterans.

As tracked by the Military Officers Association of America, the Oct. 6, 2011, voting record shows that Herger co-sponsored or supported just one of 19 House Resolutions affecting everything from employment transition support for veterans to terminating some taxes for disabled veterans; assisting spouses of active service military personnel who are transferred to health care coverage for reservists.

The one piece of legislation Herger did support, House Resolution 1297, which ensured pay for U.S. military personnel during the budget debate of 2011, was a “no brainer,” according to Stiglich.

“Of course we should pay our military when we are engaged in several active conflicts overseas,” he said. But the other key pieces of legislation supporting active military and veterans deserved attention as well, Stiglich insisted.

“The only tough decision for him (Herger) would be whether to vote like his party was telling him to vote or vote on what was right for his country,” Stiglich said.

Counting on “traditional conservatives” for the bulk of his support, Stiglich readily admits that his hard-line comments have lost him a few votes in the past.

“I’ve taken some flak locally for speaking out against the Republican Party. But we need to clean house and get back to our roots. There is a fight going on in the Republican party. A lot of people have left the party because it no longer reflects their conservative and patriotic ideals,” Stiglich said.

However, Stiglich insists that he does not pay attention to political labels such as the “Tea Party” or “Moderate Democrats.”

“I speak for myself. I don’t kowtow to the Tea Party and I don’t kowtow to the Republicans. Although I am usually somewhat reserved, I can get fired up. One of the best things one of my friends said about me is, ‘Pete’s known as someone who can get the job done,’” Stiglich said.

Stiglich currently serves as president of the Shasta County Republican Assembly, a “very conservative, Christian group” that Stiglich said is a subset of the state’s Republican Party.

He also serves on the Cottonwood Park Committee and recently helped that group get a grant of nearly $27,000 that was used to build a new picnic shelter, add basketball hoops, expand the paved parking lot and provide large boulders and graded berms at the Cottonwood Community Center to protect the playgrounds and landscaped areas.

“We also have plans to build a patio at the (Cottonwood) Community Center” Stiglich said.

Stiglich, who figures that his campaign against Herger could run $500,000 to $1 million for the primary in June, admits to be fighting an uphill battle against a well-entrenched opponent with a large campaign war chest.

“The system is so stacked against the independent candidate unless you have party backing and a lot of wealthy contributors,” he said. “I’m not one to be intimidated and I’m not independently wealthy, but I do believe in giving people a choice.”

Someone needs to challenge Wally Herger and hold his feet closer to the fire of public opinion, Stiglich said.

“This is good for America. This is democracy. This is why I served, to defend someone’s right to get into the fight. That is what democracy is all about,” Stiglich said.

While he is loath to compare his own accomplishments to Abraham Lincoln, the much-revered former President who is often seen as one of the founders of the Republican Party, Stiglich does admire a recent television ad that talks about Lincoln as a person who failed often.

“He started a business and it failed. He ran for state office and lost. He ran for Congress and he lost. He ran for Vice President and he lost. And then Lincoln was elected President,” Stiglich said, paraphrasing the commercial.

“I admire Lincoln’s tenacity and willingness to persevere,” he concluded.