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Juan Vargas Tries to Muscle Pro-Lifer Out of Primary Race

Pro-Life Democrat Daniel Ramirez Won't Quit

BY STEPHANIE HOPPING

Daniel Ramirez, a Catholic, pro-family Democrat, has entered the June Democratic primary race for the 51st Congressional District (South Bay and Imperial County). He is challenging the long-time incumbent, Congressman Bob Filner, and Assemblyman Juan Vargas, both of whom have strongly anti-life and anti-family voting records.

Ramirez, a well-known pro-life activist and businessman in his native Calexico, first ran against Filner in the 2002 Democratic primary race. In Imperial County he garnered about 60 percent of the vote. Ramirez won about 29 percent of the entire district, which includes a portion of San Diego County. In 2004, he again ran as Filner's only competitor and won 35 percent in Imperial County and 23 percent district-wide. In both races he operated on a shoestring campaign budget.

As Ramirez filed to declare his candidacy at the Imperial County Registrar's office on March 6, he encountered a young man whom he later learned was working for the Vargas campaign. Ramirez said that, on the evening of March 7, a representative of Juan Vargas named George Bresnahan came to his home. "I know the guy; he goes right here to our church in Calexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe," Ramirez commented. "He told me in December 2005 that he was going to be here six months campaigning for him."

According to Ramirez, Bresnahan said that Vargas sent him to ask Ramirez to withdraw from the primary race. "He [Bresnahan] said, 'If you run, Juan Vargas will probably lose.'" Ramirez says he replied, "Absolutely, that's the plan. It's a lot easier to get Juan Vargas out now than later. So I've got to get him out first, then work on Filner. Juan is young, and he'll be there forever [if elected]. I can't have a pro-abort being my representative in Congress."

Ramirez said that, after this exchange, Bresnahan said that Vargas was willing to assist Ramirez in running for the 80th Assembly District, if he withdrew from the congressional race. Ramirez replied that he was not interested. "Then he started to push Juan Vargas as pro-family and pro-life," Ramirez said. "He said that Vargas hates abortion. I said, 'Look, his voting record says differently. He is liberal and has a pro-homosexual agenda.... He's got a 100 percent scorecard with Planned Parenthood. He's endorsed by NOW and NARAL and he's pro-life and pro-family?'"

Ramirez related that friends in El Centro had informed him that Vargas came to their door and told them that he personally opposes abortion. "So then my question to Bresnahan was, 'If we were to legalize slavery and also legalize child abuse, would Vargas still vote for it but say that he's personally opposed to it. Abortion is the highest form of child abuse, so why doesn't he try to stop it?'"

Ramirez asserted that Bresnahan did not directly answer his questions, but instead used "all kinds of rhetoric, you know, the same thing you hear from all these guys, Filner and Vargas. They're cut from the same cloth. He told my wife how wonderful Juan is and that he's such a beautiful man."

Ramirez said that he told Bresnahan that he would withdraw from the race on one condition, "That Juan Vargas publicly repents of his pro-abortion stand, his pro-abortion voting, his anti-family stand, all of his homosexual agenda. If he does this publicly and tells everybody in black and white -- newspapers, radio, media, sending out flyers -- that he is sorry that he ever did that and he wants to really serve God and be a 100 percent pro-life Catholic, then I will help him, and I will withdraw, and we'll bounce Filner right out. I told George that. You know what he said? 'He'll never do it.' I said, 'Too bad for him.'"

Bresnahan seemed nervous and stayed about 45 minutes, Ramirez recalled. At the end of his visit, "He just didn't have anything else to say to me."

Two calls to the Vargas campaign office requesting comment on Ramirez' account of his meeting with Bresnahan had not been returned by press time. Ramirez reports that thus far there has been no further contact with Bresnahan. However, he ran into Vargas unexpectedly on April 1, when he saw him campaigning at the door of his mother-in-law's house, which is nearby. Ramirez was driving up to the house and had his wife and two young grandchildren with him at the time. "We introduced ourselves to each other and shook hands. We just talked about family things, not politics. We talked for ten minutes," Ramirez recalled. "I thought it was great for that moment to happen ... because I had never met the man."

Ramirez believes Filner has become more vulnerable because constituents "are tired of Filner's demagoguery, and Filner hasn't done one thing. Everybody knows that. The most natural thing to happen was for Juan to defeat Filner because he supposedly is more in line with these constituents in this district because he says he's a moderate. He's no moderate; he's a liberal. Juan is going around pacifying everyone, telling people what they want to hear. I'm over here telling them, 'No, no, no, it's not true.'

"I never wanted to run in the first place," Ramirez disclosed, "but the Lord keeps pushing me there, because only He knows my heart."

Ramirez was also encouraged by other pro-lifers. "I hate this stuff, because there's so much hypocrisy in it; I don't want to get contaminated by it. But how can I not expose these deeds of darkness? Like Saint Paul says in Ephesians 5:11, expose them; bring them to light. If I don't run, I don't get the pulpit. But since I'm registered, they've got to give me the same time as these other candidates. I get press, I get media, I get all these interviews, and I'm able to expose them."

For more information on the Ramirez campaign, call 760-357-3006 or e-mail: dcramirez@aol.com. Volunteers and donations are welcome.

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