Reading the reports, I see Tony Strickland truly is a clone of good old “Take the Buck” McKeon but has surpassed his mentor’s ability to raise campaign funds from outside of the district.

In fact, about 95 percent of all of the money Strickland has raised is from folks outside of California’s 25th Congressional District. That figures, since Strickland also lives outside of the 25th District. In one of “Take the Buck” McKeon’s elections, I noted that nearly 80 percent of his funding came from outside of the district and-or the state.

We could get a new congressman who will vote for the people who gave money to his campaign. If he follows form, he will figure a way to get the money for himself or his wife. He has done that in the past and paid some fines, too.

You want to vote for a guy who is bought and paid for by folks not in our district? Or maybe you want to vote for someone who commits campaign finance violations in an election? Or maybe you think we should have a representative who doesn’t live in our district?

For me, the worst endorsement someone could have is that of Howard “Take the Buck” McKeon. While I think of it, Strickland has pocketed $1,000 from the folks at Cemex, too. We all know how much we love that company.

All of these political races would be much more fair and make a lot more sense if we could get some simple laws passed about campaign reform. I know, it is all going to fall on deaf ears, especially those of our current congressman. So here it goes anyway.

1) Funding for any political campaign cannot come from any source outside of a political district, whether city, county, congressional district, state or the United States and – I almost forgot – school districts, too. That includes political action committees or PACs, political parties, organizations, institutions, companies, corporations, individuals outside of those political boundaries, etc.

2) No matter what state, the candidate for U.S. House of Representatives must live in the district in which he or she is standing for election. If you don’t live in the district, you cannot be a candidate for Congress there.

But this idea will never happen. Folks like “Take the Buck” like the money. They pay their wives from that money to be a “treasurer” or “campaign staff member” and keep the money. Plus, there are always those campaign expenses of parties, hotel bills in out-of-state areas, and anything else they don’ get caught for along the way.

All that money in the primary got Strickland a few hundred votes more than his competitor, Steve Knight.

It really appears that folks outside of our district are attempting to buy our representative. They are on about the ethical level of the current senior senator from Nevada or maybe that historical great in politics, Huey P. Long. If you don’t know about him, try Richard Nixon, any politician from Chicago or New York City, and those from New England.

The political process in our country has taken some strange twists and turns, but what is happening here in California’s 25th District is going to go down in history as what not to do.

Just how did this screwed-up process get started here in the formerly great state of California? It has effectively disenfranchised a lot of folks and weakened the process along the way. We can show how it helps outside interests to buy an election. What were they thinking up there in Sacramento?

And Oliver says, “That’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into, Stanley.” It seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Maybe our early members of Congress had some better ways to stop the roadblocks in the legislative branch. They had fights on the floor of Congress. They challenged each other to duels. They yelled and screamed and had all kinds of altercations.

Most of all, they represented folks back home. I don’t live in the 26th District; I live in the 25th. Why would I want someone who lives in the 26th to be my congressman? Why would I want someone who gets 95 percent of his campaign funds from outside of my district?

Obviously I cannot vote for someone like that. I’ve cast my ballot and my lot with Steve Knight. He has a strong record in the state Senate, and he lives in the district. He is a veteran, a family man and a former LAPD officer.

The other guy is a paid lobbyist.

That explains it all.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].