Kiley Wants You to Believe He’s Actually Getting Things Accomplished

By George Boardman, As published in The Union

Like a well behaved child, first-term members of Congress are expected to be seen and not heard. They have no power to set the agenda or decide what bills will get a vote. Rather, they are expected to tow the party line and provide dependable votes.

For an upward striver like our congressman, Rep. Kevin Kiley, that is not good enough. Kiley must be seen accomplishing things of importance, or at least appearing to be doing so, as he prepares for his next big move in politics.

Take, for example, his May 20 representative report to constituents: “I am also asking the U.S. Supreme Court to enable California communities to limit homeless encampments in public places like sidewalks, parks and schools. We are expecting a decision in the case, Grants Pass vs. Johnson, later this year.”

You might think Kiley is directly involved in the case, which challenges the right of local government to remove the homeless, but you would be wrong. He’s not a party to the case–after all, Grants Pass is in Oregon–and he hasn’t even bothered to file a friend of court brief regarding the case.

But there is a picture of him appearing on the steps of the Supreme Court on the day of oral arguments, according to his blog “Capitol Quagmire.” The item doesn’t say he was actually inside the building to hear the arguments. So much for “asking” the U.S. Supreme Court.

Then there’s his May 6 report: “I called on California universities to end encampments, enforce university rules, and restore order. SINCE THAT TIME (emphasis mine), UCLA, USC, and UC San Diego have acted accordingly and cleaned out the encampments.”

I’ll bet you didn’t realize he has that kind of clout, especially since Kiley is merely a member of the House Education Committee, which has been hauling a series of educators before the committee to grill them about their responses to campus protests over the Israeli-Hamas war.

Kiley is no doubt hoping for his own Elise Stefanik moment, when she got national attention with a question about antisemitism that tripped up the presidents of Harvard, Penn, and MIT. You can’t build a national brand just appearing on Fox News.

Finally, there’s Kiley’s ongoing campaign to block the confirmation of Julie Su as secretary of labor, never mind that confirmation of cabinet officers is the responsibility of the Senate.

Kiley first tangled with Su when he was a member of the California Assembly and she was the state’s labor commissioner charged with implementing AB5, the state law passed in 2019 that limits when employees can be classified as independent contractors.

Su’s job was to implement a law passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor–she didn’t write the law, she just enforced it. Su’s real failure was the blatant fraud in the state’s attempt to distribute emergency unemployment funds provided by the feds. Nobody knows for sure how much money was ripped off–most think it was $20 billion to $32 billion.

But Kiley seems to be obsessed with AB5, making Su’s nomination and AB5 a key focus of his time in Washington. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Kiley has spoken about Su and AB5 on at least 14 separate occasions, has sent at least 14 press releases about Su, and has posted to both his official and campaign X accounts about her nearly 100 times. That was just through the end of February.

Su was confirmed as the deputy labor secretary in July 2021, and was nominated for the top post in February 2023 when Secretary Marty Walsh left. Her nomination was approved by a Senate committee in April of that year, but has been stalled since then.

Care to guess who’s been taking credit for that? On his blog, KIley wrote: “Focused on our success stopping Julie Su’s confirmation as Labor Secretary. After exposing her role in Newsom’s disaster governorship, we flipped votes and defeated her nomination.”

Kiley specifically took credit for flipping the vote of Senator Joe Manchin, D-WVa. When the Sacramento Bee asked Manchin about that, he said: “Who’s Kevin Kiley?”

Kiley also hinted in his blog that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee held a secret meeting to send Su’s nomination to the Senate a second time for confirmation.

The meeting in question was listed in the Congressional Record and on the weekly schedule on Government.gov in advance, and the media received an advisory about the meeting. Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., announced the meeting on the floor of the Senate. Some secrecy.

As for defeating her nomination, Su is still acting Secretary of Labor and will remain in that position until at least the end of the year.

All of this is a windup to his next big move. While Kiley’s representative report is full of the usual grip-and-grin moments designed to show he’s involved in his constituents’ lives–after all, it’s not everyday you’re named grand marshal of the Bishop Mule Days–he saves the red meat politics for his blog, “Capitol Quagmire.”

There, Kiley has something bad to say about every elected Democrat in California and on the national scene. None of this does any good building political bridges that can advance the interests of his constituents, but that’s not Kiley’s game–he has his eyes on 2026 when the governor’s race is wide open and a senator few people can name is up for reelection.

Kiley would prefer running for Senate, but he would have to face incumbent Democrat Alex Padilla in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican to state-wide office since 2006.

But with Gavin Newson termed out, Kiley would have to face a collection of down-ballot Democrats such as Lt. Governor Elani Kounalakis and ex-Controller Betty Yee. Other possibilities include Vice President Kamala Harris and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, both likely candidates if Biden loses.

Whatever Kiley decides to do, you can bet he’ll be more focused on the state and not the third Congressional district. Kiley’s heavily Republican district should feel insulted, but members of a party that embraces Donald Trump are beyond that.

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