Editor:

Reading the opinion-page letter of Alexandria Mauricio in the Brentwood Press of Aug. 31, I just had to laugh at her assertion that Jerry McNerney “fights to balance the budget” and “from experience knows the troubles that accompany unemployment.”

Per Wikipedia, Jerry McNerney is an engineer by trade, an energy consultant, a Vietnam War protester, a West Point dropout and lives in an upscale neighborhood in Pleasanton. None of these facts lend any credence to Jerry “knowing” anything about the troubles of the unemployed of Brentwood or East County, not to mention he is a Nancy Pelosi coattail rider who has never balanced a budget in Congress; he only continues to vote for more spending and taxation as per Queen Nancy’s directives. Jerry is just another rich liberal from Pleasanton who believes the government knows what’s best for the rest of us.

Many voters here in Brentwood and the surrounding area may have missed the investigative article in the Stockton Record on Aug. 1 detailing the investigation of McNerney’s claim he has “moved” to Stockton from Pleasanton to live with his new constituents due to redistricting.

While it’s not illegal to not live in your congressional district, it is illegal to vote in a district that you do not actually reside in, and that is what the investigation has inferred happened when McNerney voted in the primary election by absentee ballot in April from a Stockton address (a property he “rented” shortly before) but the investigation has shown he apparently still lived in Pleasanton.

The investigation reported that McNerney only “visited” his rental house occasionally to mow the lawn but trash was never put out, cars were never parked there and other than the lawn being kept up, it looked like no one lived there. Meanwhile, McNerney was spotted strolling out for his morning newspaper at his home in Pleasanton, his car was always parked in its driveway and state records show the car is still registered there.

Also, although Stockton neighbors have reported to have seen McNerney at the house in Stockton “occasionally” to mow the lawn, they have never seen his wife there. It sure doesn’t sound like he lives there to me!

Of course, McNerney’s camp says that Jerry is “in transition” of moving from Pleasanton to Stockton, whatever that means. U.S. law states that if you have more than one house in the district, you must vote from is where your “domicile” is, which apparently for McNerney is in Pleasanton, not Stockton, where he in fact did vote from, and many of McNerney’s constituents are calling on the state to investigate this possible illegal vote.

You can see this investigation for yourself by going to the Stockton Records website and search for “McNerney” and then filter the results with the date of Aug. 1, 2012.

Is this the kind of person we want representing us in Congress: another tax-and-spend Pelosi crony who will say and do anything to remain in office? I say no.

I encourage you to visit Ricky Gills’ website to see a young, energized and vibrant man who is a lifelong citizen from this district, is a farmer, a Princeton graduate and was the youngest person ever appointed to the state school board. Ricky knows what needs to be done for our area and is committed to reducing the deficit and get our economy back on track.

Ricky was the only candidate for any office from California invited to speak at the Republican convention last week, and I urge everyone reading this to look closely at who Jerry McNerney really is and then vote for Ricky Gill.

Mike Dawson, Brentwood