The Political Landscape: Rep. finds new court cause

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), Navy SEAL Matthew McCabe and a group of former Special Forces personnel held a news conference March 4 on Capitol Hill calling on the Pentagon to drop charges against McCabe and two fellow SEALs accused of assaulting an Iraqi.

The Iraqi, Ahmed Hashim Abed, is an al-Qaeda leader who was behind the 2004 killing and mutilation of four American contractors, whose bodies were dragged through the streets of Fallouja, Iraq, and hung from a bridge there, according to a news release posted on the congressman’s website.

The three SEALs were arraigned in December and January in military court on charges of giving false statements to investigators and abusing Abed, according to the news release. Abed claimed he was punched by his captors.

Charging the three SEALs sends the wrong message to the troops, argued Rohrabacher, who was also joined at the news conference by U.S. Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.).

“We’ve turned logic upside down, with our government taking the word of a murderous terrorist over the word of our defenders,” Rohrabacher was quoted in the release as saying.

Census Bureau ramps up

Beginning Monday, the U.S. Census Bureau will mail out the 2010 census form. Everyone is encouraged to fill it out and mail it back.

The bureau will also be setting up a Question Assistance Center in the Costa Mesa City Hall lobby, 77 Fair Drive, beginning March 19. The assistance center will have bureau workers available to answer questions and provide census forms to those who lost them or did not receive a form.

Costa Mesa will also be posting on its website the 2010 census flier, which explains the importance of filling out and mailing back the census form.

Assemblyman gets backing

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) filed papers Wednesday with the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, officially becoming a Republican U.S. Senate candidate.

DeVore is hoping to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, this fall. But first he will have to face former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina and former Rep. Tom Campbell in the June Republican primary.

DeVore is popular with conservatives and polls show he’s gaining support.

Last weekend, DeVore was endorsed by the California Republican Assembly as its U.S. Senate candidate in the GOP primary. He received the endorsement during the assembly’s 75th anniversary celebration.

The California Republican Assembly is the state’s oldest and largest Republican volunteer organization.