CA-26: Julia Brownley Flip Flops on Support for Israel?

Screenshot from DavidCruzThayne2012

According to the press release from fellow Democrat David Cruz Thayne:

Assemblymember Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica), a candidate in the Congressional District 26 race, asserted at a Monday night candidates’ forum: “As I said once, I’ll say it twice, and I’ll say it again, I will defend Israel and oppose nuclear proliferation…and will work hard in Congress to protect [the relationship between the United States and Israel].”

But in recorded remarks when speaking with Democratic Party activists just last month, Brownley repeatedly stated that she “would not support Israel” if it determined to use force in its attempts to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.

“The duplicity and double-talk of career politicians like Julia Brownley on this issue should concern all voters in the district,” said Alex Thompson, campaign manager for Democratic candidate David Cruz Thayne. “She is playing the same old political games of telling different groups of voters what they want to hear instead of what she really believes. And since she has lived in Santa Monica the past 25 years, how are Ventura County voters supposed to know which is the real Julia Brownley? The voters of Ventura County deserve better.”

Here is the video:

Unless this video is widely disseminated, I see a very limited impact on this race.

In the meantime, California Assemblywoman Julia Brownley has been racking up the endorsements of national and state Democrats.

If there was ever much doubt that Assemblywoman Julia Brownley is the choice of national Democratic leaders for an open Ventura County congressional seat, recent campaign developments should have pretty much erased it.

Late last week, the House Majority PAC, which is raising and spending money to elect Democrats to Congress, began running a cable television ad supporting Brownley, a Democrat who moved from Santa Monica to Oak Park for the race.  The group spent about $156,000 on the ads, which are scheduled to run for a week.

On Tuesday, California’s two U.S. senators, both Democrats, announced they were endorsing Brownley.  Sen. Dianne Feinstein called Brownley “a champion for education in California.”  Sen. Barbara Boxer said Brownley  could be counted on “to protect California’s environment, women’s health and Medicare for our seniors, which have been under unprecedented attack by the extreme right.”

There are three other Democrats in the race—Realtor/entrepreneur/CEO Albert Maxwell Goldberg, Oxnard Harbor Commissioner Jess Herrera and independent small businessman David Cruz Thayne.

Now, all Brownley has to do is make sure that David Cruz Thayne does not siphon off enough votes from Democrats to enable NPP Linda Parks to sneak into second place.