James Bordonaro says he has a positive view of his political opponent, Rep. Jerry Moran — just like the lion’s share of voters in Kansas’ 1st Congressional District have had since Moran’s first election in 1996.
So why is Bordonaro, an Emporian since 2005, beginning his political career by waging a campaign for Moran’s seat in Congress?
“I have no doubt that it’ll be difficult,” he said. “But I feel that the Democratic Party owes the voters of Kansas a nominee, and that nominee owes the voters a polite discussion of the issues. That’s what I intend to do.”
Results of recent elections in the 1st District — including 2006, when Moran received nearly 80 percent of the vote — indicate Bordonaro’s got a lot of work to do to avoid becoming the latest grass-roots candidate squashed under the weight of Moran’s popularity and spending ability. But Bordonaro thinks he can win, thanks in large part to what he sees as a call for change in the presidential race.
“There’s the opportunity ... to have a transformational election that will affect down-ballot races that makes even Kansas competitive again,” he said. “I don’t think it’s just wishful thinking. I’m looking at the hard numbers coming out of the caucuses and primaries. Every state I’ve seen, the Democrats are overwhelming the Republicans in turnout. They’re getting the independents to go their way.”
Bordonaro was born in Rhode Island and grew up in Connecticut. He later lived in Ohio, where he graduated from high school, and went to college at the University of Central Florida and law school at Florida State University.
In Florida, Bordonaro briefly worked in a private firm, then as a prosecutor with the state’s board of nursing, and later founded his own firm focusing mostly on family law. He and his wife, Gaelynn, moved to Emporia in 2005 when she became the director of Emporia State University’s art therapy master’s program.
Bordonaro substitute-teaches occasionally, volunteers for the Buck Animal Welfare Fund and is planning to take the bar exam in Kansas. Last year from April through July, he had a business called the Emporia Garden Center in which he rented the parking lot at Daylight Donuts and sold plants and shrubs, but he said he won’t be doing it again this year because he won’t have time.
Though he’s working on Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Bordonaro considers himself a conservative or moderate Democrat. The two issues he feels are most important in this campaign are national security and immigration.
Before Sept. 11, 2001, he said, “We really had a very easygoing national security apparatus. We weren’t prepared. I think we’re much better today. But I do think that Al Qaeda is out there, and others, and they’re continuing to plot.”
He said he doesn’t believe in a “war on terrorism,” because “terrorism is a tactic. We need to address the fundamental ideology, and why is it so appealing to a large number of young Muslims?”
Moran has always faced at least one opponent in his reelection campaigns, sometimes collecting more than 90 percent of the vote. He said he had heard about Bordonaro’s candidacy but didn’t know anything about him.
“It’s a good system that allows people to come forward, people to get acquainted with candidates and for choices to be made,” Moran said. “... I’ve always had opponents, expect to have an opponent, and think that it’s beneficial to Kansans to have the opportunity to hear points of view and make choices that they believe are good for the country.”
Bordonaro admires Moran’s ability to make the rounds in the 1st District and the town hall meetings he holds each year in each of the district’s 69 counties. One criticism he has of Moran stems from the Congressman’s voting record on renewable energy.
“He voted against an energy bill in Congress that would have taken away some of the money for the large oil companies in terms of tax breaks,” Bordonaro said. “... (It would have taken) some of those subsidies away from them and put it into credits for research and renewable resources.”
Bordonaro leans toward opposing the expansion of the Holcomb coal-fired energy plant and thinks tax credits should be issued for a range of renewable energy options. Moran said he is a supporter of renewable energy and thinks wind and solar power and biofuels are an important part of changing the country’s energy policy. He said he supports legislation that creates tax credits for the use of wind and solar power.
Bordonaro thinkss Moran, who’s running for a seventh term, has been in Washington too long. He said he would prefer a constitutional amendment to put term limits on representatives and senators and eliminate career politicians.
If elected, Bordonaro said, he pledges to serve no more than four terms in the House.
“Everybody goes to Washington with good intentions,” he said. “At some point along the way, they get caught up in the flattery, and of course indulgence, and the attention that they’re given. And it’s difficult to get yourself back out.”
Moran, who comes back to Kansas to be with his family almost every weekend after working in Washington during the week, said he supports term limits and has voted for them in the past. He said part of the reason he holds town hall meetings in each county is to make sure he remains a Kansan.
“When you spend time with Kansans instead of time with people who are in Washington, D.C.,” he said, “I think it makes certain that you stay focused on what’s important and (are) less likely to become kind of the creature of the nation’s capital.”
For Bordonaro, mounting a campaign against Moran means getting out and talking to district voters about the issues, putting together a campaign Web site that will outline his platform, finding ways to raise money, and networking, which he has already begun to do with local Democrats. He plans to go to community events and reach people from other parties as well.
“I anticipate a lot of church suppers, a lot of chili feeds, rotary meetings, chamber of commerce meetings, that type of thing,” he said.
admireed (anonymous) says...
Yes, Jerry has been there too long.
March 7, 2008 at 7:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dougmarshall (anonymous) says...
It sounds like Bordonaro is the type of politician he wants to eliminate. It appears he hasn't had a steady job since he moved here, maybe longer. "Plans to take the bar exam in Kansas..." Is that a three year process? He moved here and hasn't taken the exam that would allow him to work in his profession, now he wants to represent me? That is a bold stance to take. I'll take my chances with someone else.
March 10, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )