Porter’s Tough Questioning Earns Attention During Her First Year in Congress

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Porter's Tough Questioning Earns Attention During Her First Year in Congress

"What do you want government to do for your life?" That's the question Peggy Huang asks prospective voters at a Starbucks in Yorba Linda, California. Huang is a Republican running against first-term U.S. Representative Katie Porter, who last year became the first Democrat ever elected in California's conservative 45th district.

Since then, Porter has gained national recognition through her sharp questioning of CEOs and government officials during congressional hearings in Washington.

"She's more national," admits Huang, but says in California, "we know politics and in all things, politics is local."

Republican Challenger Greg Raths meets with his Campaign Manager Blake Allen to plan door-to-door canvassing in California's 45th District.

Greg Raths, a retired United States Marine Corps fighter pilot, is another Republican candidate running against Porter. He says Porter doesn't "fit the mold" of the area. Raths, the mayor of the largest city in the district, Mission Viejo City, contends it's a "very conservative" district where "all 10 cities are run by Republican mayors and councils."

Reelection realities

For a freshman member of the House of Representatives, it can be a shock having to concentrate on reelection before the first year ends. Already six Republicans and one Democrat have filed election papers to run against her, but one of those Republicans has already dropped out because of lack of funding. 

According to third-quarter reports from the Federal Election Commission, Porter leads the pack with $2,461,688 raised for her campaign, three times that of her closest competitor.

California Rep. Katie Porter is facing a number of challengers. According to third-quarter reports from the Federal Election Commission, Porter leads the pack with $2,461,688 raised for her campaign.

Impeachment vs conservative area

During her first year, Porter has proved to be a formidable force. In her first interview with VOA at the beginning of this year, she said she wanted to champion "issues of economic opportunity for working families, and for working parents, including thinking about how people can afford homes, build wealth, save for college, and save for retirement."

As she arrived in Congress and was named to the House Financial Services Committee, she carved a niche for herself through tough, blunt questioning, often playing the role of a low- to middle-income American to highlight the witnesses' inattention to regular citizens. This earned her kudos from the House Democratic leadership and an aspect of fame through regular appearances on cable TV news programs.

Porter connected to her constituents by regularly conducting town halls during the first half of the year, but has held them less frequently since then. She told VOA it is a challenge to find "venues that are large enough to accommodate everybody who would like to attend."

WATCH: Rep. Porter Reflects on Successes, Failures of First Year

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In June, Porter became the first freshman House member from California to announce her support of an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Her competitors accused her of sowing seeds of divisiveness with her Twitter announcement. They predict it will cost her the election.

Ted Denney owns Synergistic Research, a niche research and technology company that employs 30 and has annual sales of $10 million. He says if Porter wins the district again in 2020, he will move his audio business elsewhere, part because of her support of impeachment.

"I don't want this wall of resistance against the president," Denney says. "I support his policies. Is he a perfect guy? No, but I don't care. He's effective."

In a videotaped message to constituents, Porter acknowledged that launching an impeachment inquiry would be divisive but said she believes it is necessary.

"I know deeply what this means for our democracy," she said. "But when faced with a crisis of this magnitude, I cannot with a clean conscience ignore my duty to defend the [U.S.] Constitution."

Rep. Katie Porter with her guest for the State of the Union speech, constituent Helen Nguyen. Nguyen's husband Michael — a small businessman in Porter's district — has been held by the Vietnamese government since June 2018. (Carolyn Presutti / VOA)

Courting the young vote

Heidi Hu is asking about a clipboard. She's sitting at an iron table outside a coffee shop in Santa Ana, California, learning about voter registration. She is being trained by Field Team 6, a nationwide group of volunteers, registering new voters for Democrats in 2020.

Hu drove an hour south from Los Angeles to sign up college students at the University of California at Irvine. Young voters helped propel Porter to victory in 2018. State figures show voters ages 18 to 24 rose by nearly 20% more than the previous midterm election in 2014.

Hu says the key to Porter's reelection will be again turning out large numbers of college students. 

"Their values are more aligned with the Orange County of the future," Hu said.

Porter prevailed in Orange County, an historically conservative portion of the 45th Congressional District, but Hu knows that Porter is vulnerable in that area and must build up her Democratic support among college students to offset Republican voters.

One of those students is Bryan Pham who will be voting for the first time in 2020. He says even though his family is conservative, "I have certain beliefs of my own and I identify with the Democratic party."

Bills sponsored

In less than a year, Porter, a former law professor, has sponsored 23 bills in the House. In last year's congressional session, the average for a first-year representative was 14 and the most introduced was 31, so Porter is well ahead of the curve.

One of Porter's bills has passed the House but has yet to be introduced in the Senate. The "Help America Run Act" would give candidates more freedom to use campaign funds for child care, health care premiums and elder care. Porter, a single mother of three children younger than 12, said the bill would have helped her when she was a candidate. 

"The goal here is to make our Congress more diverse and to make it possible for any American who's qualified and wants to serve in the U.S. Congress to have the opportunity to do that," she said.

Porter report card

A number of special interest groups — conservative and liberal — have sharply criticized Katie Porter's voting record.

Nonprofit and special interest groups rate lawmakers' voting records.

For first-year representatives, these are the first grades published during their two-year tenure. For Porter, the first two grades run along party lines. The conservative Heritage Action for America, typically aligned with Republicans, rates members' votes on key conservative legislation. It gives Porter a zero.

Freedom Works, another conservative group, gives her a score of 8 out of 100, based on her votes on issues dealing with economic freedom.

The surprise was an "F" given by the group Progressive Punch, based on a formula that compares the voting record of a control group of 33 dominant progressive members of Congress with the representative's voting record.

Most other groups will wait to publish grades at the end of the year.

Competitors will typically use the voting record and bills sponsored in their challenge to the incumbent. The incumbent uses the voting record to show how they are supporting the constituent needs in the district.

Reflecting on a hectic first year in Congress, Porter said, "I feel like I'm getting my sea legs under me ... there is a learning curve to this job. And there should be. This is a big task [legislating] that the American people have trusted us with."

The California primary to determine Katie Porter's Republican challenger is in early March with the general election in November 2020.

November 24, 2019 at 06:57PM

Massive Turnout in Hong Kong Elections Amid Unrest

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Massive Turnout in Hong Kong Elections Amid Unrest

Hong Kongers voted in record numbers Sunday in a local election that is widely seen as a de facto referendum on recent pro-democracy protests.

Voters formed long lines that snaked around city blocks outside polling stations across the territory, many waiting more than an hour to vote in local elections that are usually viewed as relatively inconsequential.

District Council members who are being elected by Hong Kong voters have no power to pass legislation. But the election is the first chance for Hong Kongers to vote since a wave of anti-government protests erupted in June, creating bitter divides in Hong Kong society.

A record 4.1 million Hong Kongers registered to vote, and it appears a record number will turn out. By midday Sunday, the number of voters had surpassed that of the previous District Council election in 2015, according to government figures. By 3:30 p.m., nearly 2 million had cast their ballots.

Disqualified candidate and pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong stands in line to vote in the district council elections in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019.

"This amount of people I've never seen. There are so many people," said Felix, who works in the real estate industry and voted in the central business district.

Mr. Ma, a voter in the South Horizons West constituency, said he sees the election as a continuation of the protest movement.

"It's a way to show whether the Hong Kong people support democratic or conservative pro-establishment candidates. Many would like to have a change. So this election is very important," he said.

"The district councils have been dominated by the pro-establishment for years. We want to have more democrats to be elected to the district councils," said Ms. Kwok, another voter.

The territory is on edge following intense clashes between police and groups of mostly student protesters, though the violence has subsided in the past few days.

Police promised a heavy security presence at voting locations. But outside many polling stations, there was no visible police presence. At others, teams of riot police stood by in nearby vans.

An electoral staff member helps a voter at a polling station during district council local elections in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019.

Sending a message

Hong Kongers are choosing more than 400 members of 18 district councils scattered across the tiny territory. The district councils essentially serve as advisory bodies for local decisions such as building roads or schools.

"I think the political message is more important than anything else," Ma Ngok, a political scientist and professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said. "If the democrats really score a landslide victory, it will show very clearly that the public is in support of the movement."

Hong Kong has seen five months of pro-democracy protests. The protests initially took the form of massive demonstrations against a reviled extradition bill, which could have resulted in Hong Kongers being tried in China's politicized court system.

The protests have escalated in recent weeks, with smaller groups of hard-core protesters destroying public infrastructure, defacing symbols of state power and clashing with police. Protesters defend the moves as an appropriate reaction to police violence and the government's refusal to meet their demands.

Protesters address the media at the campus of the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019.

Despite the protester violence, polls suggest the movement still enjoys widespread public support. Meanwhile, the approval of Hong Kong's Beijing-friendly chief executive, Carrie Lam, has fallen to a record low of about 20%.

Quasi-democratic system

Under Hong Kong's quasi-democratic system, district councils have little power. But the vote could affect how the territory's more influential Legislative Council and chief executive are selected in the future.

"That's a big deal," said Emily Lau, a former Legislative Council member and prominent member of the pro-democracy camp. "Because of this constitutional linkage, it makes the significance of the district council much bigger than its powers show you."

FILE - Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Emily Lau talks to a girl, Aug. 24, 2016, while she campaigns in Hong Kong. After two decades as a pro-democracy lawmaker, Lau expects to step down to give priority on the ballot to the party's younger faces.

The pro-democracy camp has tried to use the protests as a mobilizing force ahead of the vote, and is fielding an unprecedented number of candidates.

But they have a lot of ground to make up. Pro-government forces make up the majority in all 18 district councils, with the so-called "pan-democrats" taking up only about 25% of the overall seats, Ma said.

Hong Kong has seen a major surge in voter registrations, particularly among young people. Nearly 386,000 people have registered to vote in the past year — the most since at least 2003 — according to the South China Morning Post.

Many Hong Kongers are concerned about what they see as an erosion of the "one country, two systems" policy that Beijing has used to govern Hong Kong since it was returned by Britain in 1997.

November 24, 2019 at 06:12PM

At Nagasaki Ground Zero, Pope Calls for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons

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At Nagasaki Ground Zero, Pope Calls for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons

Pope Francis, speaking in one of only two cities hit by atomic bombs in history, appealed Sunday for the abolition of nuclear weapons, saying their mere possession was perverse and indefensible.

He restated his support for a 2017 treaty to ban nuclear weapons agreed by nearly two-thirds of U.N. members, but opposed by big nuclear powers who say it could undermine nuclear deterrence, which they credit with averting conventional war.

"The possession of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction is not the answer (to longings for peace)," Francis said, after having closed his eyes in prayer and lighting a candle in memory of the victims.

"Our world is marked by a perverse dichotomy that tries to defend and ensure stability and peace through a false sense of security sustained by a mentality of fear and mistrust," he said in a somber voice, amid driving rain and strong wind.

Pope Francis greets wellwishers at the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park in Nagasaki, Japan, Nov. 24, 2019.

"Peace and international stability are incompatible with attempts to build upon the fear of mutual destruction or the threat of total annihilation," he said.

Francis, who was speaking at Nagasaki's Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park, ground zero of the bomb the United States dropped Aug. 9, 1945, instantly killing 27,000 people, also decried what he called a dismantling of non-proliferation pacts.

Nagasaki was the second city hit by an atomic bomb during World War II. Later Sunday, the pope was to visit Hiroshima, site of the first blast, which instantly killed about 78,000 people.

About 400,000 more eventually died of radiation illness and injuries caused by the bombs dropped by the United States in an effort to end the war.

"Here, in this city, which witnessed the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences of a nuclear attack, our attempts to speak out against the arms race will never be enough," Francis said in his emotional appeal.

Better uses for 'arms race' money

Resources spent on the "arms race" should be used for development and protection of the environment, instead.

"In a world where millions of children and families live in inhumane conditions, the money squandered and the fortunes made through the manufacture, upgrading, maintenance and sale of ever more destructive weapons, are an affront crying out to heaven," he said.

Last August, the United States pulled out of one landmark strategic arms accord, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), citing violations by Russia that Moscow denies.

Nuclear experts said it also appeared doubtful that agreement on a full-fledged replacement for the New START nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States will be in place before it expires in February 2021.

Pope Francis places a wreath during his visit to the Martyrs' Monument at Nishizaka Hill, in Nagasaki, Japan, Nov. 24, 2019.

Collective memory

The bombing is seared in the collective memory of the people of the green and hilly harbor city of Nagasaki and has been passed on through the generations.

"We can't have any more atomic bombings. It'd be great if that message would get across to the world. I'd like it if nuclear weapons were eliminated and there wasn't any more war," said Chizuko Hisamatsu, 66, a housewife. "I think I may cry."

The pope delivered his appeal standing near a large print of a famous photograph taken by an American soldier shortly after the blast, showing a Japanese boy taking his dead younger brother to be cremated.

Monument to faithful

After his address, Francis spoke at a monument to faithful martyred during the 250 years in which Christianity was banned in Japan, forcing believers to go underground or face death.

"Hidden Christians" blended Christianity with Buddhism and native Shinto beliefs to survive, and Francis may meet several members of the aging, dwindling population later.

Jesuits brought Christianity to Japan in 1549, but it was banned in 1614. Missionaries were expelled and the faithful were forced to choose between martyrdom or hiding their religion. The ban was lifted in 1873.

November 24, 2019 at 02:15PM