A12 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2019 WSCE LATIMES.COM
who declined to give his last
name, fretted over the influ-
ence of “the Squad” — fresh-
man Democratic Reps. Al-
exandria Ocasio-Cortez of
New York, Ilhan Omar of
Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley
of Massachusetts and Ra-
shida Tlaib of Michigan —
and whether it could cost
Democrats the White
House.
“I’ve been a liberal Demo-
crat my entire life, and I’m
really, really concerned
about how far left they’re
pushing the party. We can’t
afford to lose this next elec-
tion,” he told Cisneros.
“Democrats have the
House [of Representatives]
right now because of moder-
ates,” Cisneros replied. “The
other side is really pushing
to make you think that
there’s four individuals and
that’s really who’s control-
ling the party. It’s not the
truth. That’s the furthest
thing from the truth.”
A recent Morning Con-
sult/Politico national poll
appears to show a little more
than half of voters agree with
Cisneros on that — 58% of
voters polled think House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi repre-
sents the views of Demo-
crats in Washington, com-
pared with 40% of voters who
think the same of Ocasio-
Cortez, Omar, Pressley and
Tlaib.
In an interview, Cisneros
sought to distance himself
from the four progressive
congresswomen. He bristled
at a recent attack from a
conservative group compar-
ing his voting record to that
of Ocasio-Cortez.
“As if I’m really kind of
considering how she’s going
to vote,” Cisneros said.
“They’re four intelligent,
bright young women, and we
don’t agree on everything,”
he said of his colleagues.
“But to kind of portray it as if
somehow they’re the new
leaders of the Democratic
Party ... and that what
they’re doing is somehow
changing the direction of the
party, it’s not.”
Cisneros called squab-
bles among the so-called
Squad, Trump and Pelosi
“distracting” but added that
the Democratic caucus
needed to do a better job of
honing its message.
During his meetings with
constituents, Cisneros
talked about a bill he intro-
duced to require the print-
ing of information on veter-
ans’ benefits in Spanish and
Tagalog; another that would
extend a program helping
women in the military tran-
sition to the veterans’
healthcare system after
leaving active duty; and his
vote for legislation that
would block the sale of arms
to Saudi Arabia, which was
vetoed by Trump days later.
“We’re talking more
about Trump and about
comments that he makes
than we are talking about
the issues and what we’re
moving through the House,
and that’s a problem,” he
said. “We have to let the
American people know what
we’re working on in the
House and what we’re ac-
complishing, and that’s
what’s really going to take us
to victory.”
That same weekend,
freshman Democratic Rep.
Mike Levin of San Juan
Capistrano held a monthly
town hall 40 miles to thesouth — his seventh since
being sworn in in January —
to discuss his signature
campaign issue, the envi-
ronment.
He opened the event by
acknowledging that the dis-
course in Washington
“seems to be getting worse”
and repeatedly complained
about media coverage of in-
side-the-Beltway controver-
sies. Levin mentioned fund-
ing he helped secure for
Camp Pendleton and a bi-
partisan bill he introduced
to promote wind and solar
energy on public lands.
“While you hear all this
noise and garbage on televi-
sion, on cable news, there’s a
lot going on that isn’t re-
ported,” Levin told more
than 150 people who had
gathered at San Clemente
High School. “There’s a lot of
good things happening,
things where we’re working
across the aisle, focused on
our local communities and
where we’re getting things
done for you.”
Later, a constituent
asked a question about “all
the infighting and name-
calling” in Washington.“How do you think that
we could get anything ac-
complished there?” the
woman said.
“The press likes to sell
newspapers, they like clicks,
they like Facebook ‘likes,’ ”
Levin responded. “The
Washington that I see on a
daily basis when I go there is
a far cry from the divisive,
toxic place that the media
portrays” it to be.
Levin, who recently an-
nounced his support for an
impeachment inquiry, said
in an interview that he spent
much of his time in Washing-
ton trying to find areas of
common ground with Re-
publicans.
“When I sit down with
residents, they don’t neces-
sarily want to talk about
what’s going on with the
mess in Washington,” he
said. “They want to talk
about how policies in Wash-
ington impact the local com-
munity.”
Rep. Katie Porter (D-
Irvine) said that, for the
most part, the same was
true of her constituents. But
she doesn’t mind fielding
questions about her col-leagues in Washington.
“I get asked questions
about [Republican Rep.]
Chip Roy from Texas and
why he was holding up votes
on disaster appropriations. I
get asked questions about
Alexandria [Ocasio-
Cortez]’s approach to immi-
gration,” Porter said. “I try
to explain to people that, you
know, part of this difference
of opinion is the vibrancy of
our democracy. ... I’m not bo-
thered by these questions. I
want my constituents to be
thinking about Congress,
caring about its work and
fully engaged.”
Porter says the high level
of interest in what goes on in
Washington doesn’t keep
her from doing her job.
She recently invited con-
stituents to an event at a lo-
cal coffee shop, where more
than 100 people showed up.
They discussed the increas-
ing costs of prescription
drugs and the use of pesti-
cides on local playgrounds,
but she was also asked about
the status of an impeach-
ment inquiry, which she sup-
ports, and comments Pelosi
made about Ocasio-Cortezand others.
Porter says she works
hard to reach out to her con-
stituents by updating them
on legislation at town halls,
hearing their concerns at
community meetings and
putting out videos on social
media to explain her deci-
sion-making. “I think it’s in-
cumbent on each repre-
sentative to be reaching out
consistently and creatively
to get their message out to
their constituents,” she said.
For his part, Levin said
that in addition to his town
halls, he sends frequent
email updates and has or-
ganized house parties at
which he talks to a few dozen
constituents at a time.
“I’ve come to the realiza-
tion that the noise is going to
be there, regardless of if I’m
frustrated or not frus-
trated,” Levin said. “I just
have to operate within that
structure and try to get
things done for my constitu-
ents here.”
At his town hall, which
was organized by his cam-
paign, an exchange with a
voter drove home just how
hard it could be to avoid talk
of Washington.
Throughout the event,
the largely friendly audience
listened as Levin talked up
his work in trying to block
offshore oil drilling in Cali-
fornia, his support for ban-
ning a toxic pesticide, and a
bill he introduced to in-
crease the number of elec-
tric vehicle charging sta-
tions in national parks.
On the topic of the shut-
down San Onofre nuclear
plant — a key concern for
many residents in his dis-
trict — he detailed how the
remaining nuclear waste
could be transported, where
it could be stored and the
seismic risk factor involved.
“We need a permanent re-
pository where we can store
it for the next 10,000 years,”
he started to explain before
being interrupted.
“Mar-a-Lago!” yelled a
voice in the audience, refer-
encing Trump’s Palm
Beach, Fla., resort. The
crowd erupted in laughter.
Levin winced through a
smile and shook his head.
“For the people watching
live on Facebook, I’m not go-
ing to repeat that.”Is focusing on Trump counterproductive?
[House,from A1]
REP. GIL CISNEROSmeets constituents at his office in Fullerton. Cisneros, who flipped a GOP district in
2018, says talk about President Trump or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez distracts from the Democrats’ goals.Allen J. SchabenLos Angeles TimesSALT LAKE CITY — U.S.
Ambassador to Russia Jon
Huntsman Jr. has submit-
ted his resignation, signal-
ing the end of a stint during
what he called a historically
difficult time in relations be-
tween the two countries.
Huntsman is planning to
return to Utah amid specu-
lation that he may again run
for governor, said Salt Lake
Chamber President Derek
Miller, who served under
him during his previous ten-
ure.
Huntsman, a Republi-
can, left the Utah governor’s
office in 2009, when Presi-
dent Obama tapped him as
ambassador to China. He
was popular in the state andhad been elected to his sec-
ond term the year before.
Huntsman mounted a
brief run for president in 2011.
In 2017, President Trump
named him ambassador to
Russia, as the U.S. investi-
gated Moscow’s meddling in
the 2016 election.
In a resignation dated
Monday and first obtained
by the Salt Lake Tribune,
Huntsman said he was hon-
ored by the trust Trump
placed in him “during this
historically difficult period
in bilateral relations” that
has included expulsions and
forced departures of his
staff.
In the letter, Huntsman
also urged the U.S. to hold
Russia accountable for be-havior that threatens its al-
lies. He said he wants to
leave to reconnect with fam-
ily and home responsibili-
ties.
Huntsman is expected to
serve through Oct. 3.
In Russia, the state-run
Tass news agency quoted an
unnamed spokesperson in
the foreign ministry as say-
ing Huntsman is a profes-
sional, but “the domestic po-
litical state of affairs in the
U.S.” made it impossible to
fully develop bilateral ties.
After his expected return
to Utah, it’s unclear whether
Huntsman would seek to re-
turn to the governor’s man-
sion in 2020, but if he did step
into the race he would have
immediate credibility and
popularity, Miller said.
“I think he’s looking at it
very closely,” he said.
A recent poll from the
Salt Lake Chamber found
Huntsman nearly tied with
the first declared candidate,
Republican Lt. Gov.
Spencer Cox, in a hypotheti-
cal general election, but
trailing him among GOP
voters who will decide the
party nomination, Miller
said.
Cox said in a statement
Tuesday that he was glad
Huntsman had decided to
return. “If he decides to run
for governor again, it would
make me a better candi-
date,” Cox said.
Other potential guberna-
torial candidates include re-
tiring U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop
and former Utah House
Speaker Greg Hughes, both
Republicans.Huntsman, Trump’s Russia
ambassador, to step down
associated pressJON HUNTSMAN JR.
urged the U.S. to hold
Russia accountable.Alex BrandonAssociated Presstwitter.com/latimes
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