Roggio criticizes Gerlach for voting 'no' on bailout

Democratic congressional candidate Bob Roggio on Tuesday assailed opponent U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-West Pikeland) for voting against Monday's $700 billion financial bailout, saying the congressman lacked the "courage" to vote for an unpopular but necessary bill.

"It's very easy to say to people, 'I'm not going to spend your money," Roggio told reporters on a conference call. "But a congressman has to have the courage to say to people" what needs to be done.

The criticism twists Monday's prevailing logic that lawmakers fighting for re-election needed to oppose the bailout to give themselves political cover for a widely unpopular bill. Roggio seized on Gerlach's "political posturing" to argue his inaction, symptomatic of a broken political system, destabilized the markets and led to a nearly 800-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Gerlach's campaign shot back that Roggio's criticism stems from pure political opportunism made necessary by a staggering campaign in the 6th Congressional District.

Roggio argued "Bush and Gerlach's" economic policies helped create the county's financial crisis and now Gerlach lacks the leadership to take necessary, if unappealing, steps to dig the country out of it.

"This is about people, about taxpayers, wondering what their leaders are doing, or not doing, in Washington," Roggio said. "We have been left with no other choice -- we must act swiftly to fix this problem."

His opponent has been "derelict" as a congressman, he said.

"He deserves to be fired," Roggio said. "He's proven he cannot handle the business of America."

Gerlach's race against Roggio, despite the district's trend to the left, is considered a relatively easy contest for the incumbent after fending off challenger Lois Murphy by fewer than 2 percentage points in 2006.

Mark Campbell, Gerlach spokesman, called Roggio's accusations "humorous."

"Bob Roggio is nothing more than a political opportunist who knows nothing about the plan's details," Campbell said.

Gerlach's office received "several thousand" calls telling the congressman to vote against the bailout, he said, compared to three in favor of it.