Feb. 5, 2013 — Doug LaMalfa, the newly elected congressman from California’s newly reformed first congressional district, visited Susanville last week.

The Lassen County Republican Central Committee sponsored an open-to-the-public reception at Lassen Steaks Monday, Jan. 28. An estimated 100 local residents attended the reception and got to mix and mingle with the congressman, staff members and each other while enjoying south-of-the-border finger food prepared by the staff at El Tepeyac Grille.

While LaMalfa said he wanted to avoid partisan politics at the public meeting, he expressed his allegiance to the Republican Party talking points.

“I’m here to help do battle for all of you,” LaMalfa told the crowd. “We have choices.”

The former state senator, assemblyman and Central Valley rice farmer said he has always enjoyed Lassen County.

“I love the area, and there are a lot of great people up here,” LaMalfa said.

He called his election to “the people’s house” a “tremendous opportunity and a privilege,” but he added Congress faces many difficult decisions, and he expects the honeymoon will be short.

He said he attended President Obama’s inauguration, an American tradition he was proud to witness. But he added the president’s agenda “does strike a little fear in me.”

According to LaMalfa, the Republican Party has its work cut out for it because he characterized the president’s inauguration speech as anti-Republican. He also acknowledged Obama and the Democrats have momentum on their side, and the Republican majority in the house is up against the president, a majority of Democrats in the senate and the influence of the big media.

“The problems are huge,” LaMalfa said. “It’s not all fun and games.”

He even compared the 233 Republicans in the House of Representatives to the Spartan warriors led by King Leonidas who opposed the Persian King Xerxes in the movie “300.” He said those 233 Republicans in the house are all that stands between “them and you.”

King Leonidas was believed to be a descendant of Hercules, and he and his soldiers all died in the battle of Thermopylae fought in 480 B.C., but their pyrrhic victory is often cited as an example of heroism.

Citing all the uncertainty facing businesses in Lassen County, LaMalfa urged the county’s Republicans to stand behind the majority in the house.

“If you believe in us, we need you to stick with us,” LaMalfa said. “It’s awful tough,” the freshman congressman said of issues he sees on the horizon such as the Affordable Health Care for America Act (he refuses to call it ObamaCare). He also warned California Democrats may be coming after the tax advantages granted by Proposition 13, approved by the voters in 1978.

He said one of the first bills he voted for was $60 billion in relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy, but he added, “It’s the people’s money, and we have to be accountable for it.”

Other upcoming issues include the debt ceiling, passing a budget and entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare that take up nearly half the federal budget and will be bankrupt by 2035.

LaMalfa said despite the results of the recent election, the American people still want smaller government, but the Republicans need to determine “What face are we going to present as a party.” He said the party has many new leaders who can step up including vice-presidential candidate Rand Paul and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio.

When one resident questioned the wording included in a newspaper announcement of the event — that LaMalfa was “opposed to any new restriction of Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans by gun-grabbing elitists protected by armed security,” the congressman said he did not write the announcement and it did not come from his office.

LaMalfa said although the announcement did not come from his office, and he would not have used those words, he supports the Second Amendment and a citizen’s right to bear arms.

            “I serve you,” LaMalfa said of his term in the house. “You don’t work for me. I work for you.”