PRESS RELEASE Gill CA09: GILL RIPS MCNERNEY’S “DIRTY POLITICS”

Ricky Gill (R-CA-9)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 15, 2012

GILL RIPS MCNERNEY’S “DIRTY POLITICS”

LODI, CA, January 15, 2012 – In a full-page newspaper ad, Ricky Gill’s campaign today ripped Jerry McNerney for his politically-motivated attempts to manipulate San Joaquin Valley Congressional boundaries drawn by the Citizens Redistricting Commission.

“Citizens’ redistricting was supposed to finally give the San Joaquin Valley our own voice in Congress,” the Gill campaign states in the ad. “Congressman Jerry McNerney tried to take that voice away.”

The ad refers to a report by the Pulitzer Prize-winning group ProPublica that revealed McNerney paid a consultant $20,000 to convince the citizens’ commission to draw district boundaries with an eye towards his re-election — not the interests of Valley and Delta residents. The ProPublica report clearly refutes McNerney’s false claim that he took a “hands off” approach to redistricting.

Gill’s campaign in August ran full-page ads featuring an open letter to district residents regarding McNerney’s decision to run for Congress in the 9th District, where he still has never lived. McNerney pledged in July that he would move into the 9th District — which he claimed was “his home” — but his staff recently acknowledged that he continues to live in the Bay Area community of Pleasanton, where he has lived for 20 years.

“Valley voters already are suffering from the catastrophic economic consequences of Jerry McNerney’s years of neglect,” said Gill consultant James Fisfis. “The ProPublica report confirms a disturbing truth: McNerney sees Valley voters as second-class citizens whose right to self-representation is secondary to his own political preservation.”

“Jerry McNerney has betrayed Valley voters with his own brand of ‘Jerry-mandering’” said Fisfis.

McNerney’s manipulation of the redistricting process comes on the heels of other ethical lapses, including his use of taxpayer funds to send political mailers and his refusal to release records of lobbyist meetings and privately funded travel.

“While Jerry McNerney ran for Congress on a platform of ethics reform, in reality he practices the worst kind of broken politics,” said Fisfis.

About Ricky Gill

Ricky Gill is a native of San Joaquin County, born and raised in Lodi, California. The son of immigrant parents, Ricky is a small business owner, a family farmer, and a former member of the California State Board of Education whose story speaks to the power of the American dream. Ricky grew up helping manage his family’s vineyard operation and serving the community as chair of the Greater Lodi Area Youth Commission. He has played an integral role in his family’s small business, which employs 60 people in the San Joaquin Valley, for several years. In 2004, he was appointed by the Governor to the California State Board of Education, where he served as the sole representative of more than six million public school students. He subsequently served as an adviser to the California Secretary of Education. Ricky now serves as a member of the Lodi Boys & Girls Club Board of Directors. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University, he will soon complete his Juris Doctor at the University of California, Berkeley.