Tim Donnelly | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theCalifornia State Assembly | |
| In office December 6, 2010 – November 30, 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Anthony Adams |
| Succeeded by | Jay Obernolte |
| Constituency | 59th district (2010–2012) 33rd district (2012–2014) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Timothy Michael Donnelly (1966-05-09)May 9, 1966 (age 59) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Rowena Donnelly |
| Children | 4 |
| Residence(s) | Twin Peaks,California, U.S. |
| Education | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor University of California, Irvine (BA) |
Timothy Michael Donnelly (born May 9, 1966) is an AmericanRepublican politician who was a member of theCalifornia State Assembly, representing the59th and33rd districts.[1] Before his election to the Assembly in November 2010, Donnelly was a small businessman. He resides inTwin Peaks, California.[2] On January 22, 2013, Donnelly announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination forGovernor of California in the2014 election. He placed third in the open primary, behind incumbentgovernorJerry Brown and investment bankerNeel Kashkari, who contested the election in November 2014.
Donnelly was born inAtlanta, Georgia and raised inBerkley, Michigan, the third of 14 children. Donnelly graduated fromSouthfield Christian School in 1984. He attended theUniversity of Michigan for a year and earned abachelor's degree in English from theUniversity of California, Irvine in 1989.[3][4] After college he worked in a family business. Five years later, Donnelly started his own company.[5]
Donnelly is married to Rowena Donnelly who is ofFilipino descent. They have five children.[6]
During his political career, Donnelly was an "unabashedsocial conservative popular among the most conservative GOP stalwarts" and was a favored candidate of theTea Party movement.[7] He was known as "the Legislature's most outspoken gun rights advocate and opponent of illegal immigration."[8]Olivia Nuzzi described Donnelly asfar right.[9] His home region, theCalifornia High Desert, is "arguably the most conservative part of the state."[10]
In 2005, Donnelly became involved with theMinuteman movement,[3][11] and founded the Minuteman Party in California. He stepped down from the Minutemen to return to private life in 2006.[3]
In 2009, following the announcement that embattled 59th District AssemblymanAnthony Adams would not seek re-election, Donnelly announced his candidacy. Appealing toTea Party voters, he ran in the 2010 semi-closed primary election,[12] and narrowly won the Republican nomination overCovina City Councilman Christopher Lancaster, son of formerstate AssemblymanWilliam H. Lancaster. He won the general election on November 2, 2010, with 57.3% of the vote, to the Democratic Party nominee's 36.8%.[13]
In March 2011, Donnelly drove three hours from Sacramento toFresno to appear before theCalifornia State University, Fresno student senate committee, in an attempt to oust thestudent body president Pedro Ramirez, a student in good standing at the university. Ramirez was brought by his parents to the U.S. from Mexico at the age of three. He had been injured after a car crash with a tree in January 2011, and was investigated by authorities for driving without alicense, a minor infraction; illegal immigrants were not permitted to hold driver's licenses at the time.[14] Donnelly called for Ramirez's removal, saying that the "This issue is about breaking the law and driving without a license." Donnelly was heckled by students at the hearing.[14]
In September 2012, Donnelly spoke at ananti-vaccine movement "Medical Freedom Rally" with actorRob Schneider, urging GovernorJerry Brown to veto AB 2109,[15][16] legislation that required parents seeking an exemption for vaccination of their children "to first talk with a health care provider about the risks and benefits of vaccines."[17] The legislation aimed to encourage vaccination and improve vaccination rates in the state.[17] (The legislation retained the ability of parents to reject vaccination for their child on the basis of "personal belief.") Brown signed the bill into law, although he added a signing statement indication that parents "whose religious beliefs preclude vaccination" should not be unduly burdened.[18]
In 2015, after outbreaks ofwhooping cough andmeasles the previous year,[19] Governor Brown signed into law SB 277, a mandatory vaccination law that eliminated the "personal belief" exemption from school vaccination requirements, leaving a physician-granted medical exemption as the only exemption from vaccination requirements.[19][20] One day after Brown signed the bill into law, Donnelly—who by this point had left the state legislature and become a conservative talk radio host—filed paperwork to begin signature-gathering in an attempt to place a referendum on the November 2016 California ballot to reverse the legislation.[19][21] Donnelly characterized the issue as government intrusion on parental rights,[22] and said that concerned over what he claimed was "the inherent risks of an ever increasing schedule of vaccinations," although scientific evidence shows that vaccines are safe and effective.[19] Donnelly's referendum failed to make the ballot, having collected well under the required number of signatures.[20]
Donnelly called for an audit of California'sChild Protective Services along with AssemblymanMike Gatto, following the case ofSammy Nikolayev, who was removed from his parents' home after his parents wanted a second opinion regarding medical treatment.[23] The Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted unanimously to audit CPS in three counties in the state of California on June 5.[year missing][24]
In 2013, Donnelly authored AB 351, the "Liberty Preservation Act." The law prevents "local entities from knowingly using state funds ... to engage in any activity that aids an agency of the Armed Forces of the United States in the detention of any person within California for purposes of implementing Sections 1021" of theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. The bill achieved overwhelming, bipartisan support in the California Legislature, and was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.[25] The Liberty Preservation Act prevents any state agency from indefinitely detaining American citizens.[25] Donnelly stated, "Indefinite detention, by its very definition, means we are throwing away the basic foundations of our Constitution." He added, AB 351 "will prevent California from implementing indefinite detention for any reason."[25]
On January 4, 2012, Donnelly had a loadedColt handgun while attempting to board an airplane atOntario International Airport.TSA security screeners discovered the gun in his carry-on luggage.[26] The gun was not registered to Donnelly.[27] Donnelly said the incident was a "regrettable" and "innocent and honest mistake."[27] In March 2012, following aplea bargain with prosecutors, Donnelly pleadedno contest to twomisdemeanor offenses: one count of carrying a loaded firearm into a city without a concealed weapons permit and one count of possession of a prohibited item in a sterile area. He was sentenced to three years of probation, a $2,215 fine, and is prohibited from using, owning or possessing any firearm that is not registered to him.[27]
A 2006 speech by Tim Donnelly surfaced in April 2014, in which Donnelly referred to a "Hispanic insurgency" which he compared to the war in Iraq.[28]The speech drew strong rebuke from former U.S. TreasurerRosario Marin, who said "I am just appalled. It's an embarrassment not only to himself but to the party and the efforts I am involved in at the national level … to elect Latino Republicans. This … makes my job that much more difficult." Primary Republican opponentNeel Kashkari reacted with a statement, ""Once again Assemblyman Donnelly's comments are outrageous and divisive. This is not who we are as Republicans and is not who we are as Californians. We need positive leadership that unites us to tackle the serious challenges that California families face."[29]
In January 2013, Donnelly announced his bid forgovernor of California. Donnelly was endorsed by Hollywood actorRob Schneider.[30]
In May 2014, during his campaign, a Donnelly campaign associate posted comments on Donnelly's official campaign Facebook page claiming that his Republican primary opponentNeel Kashkari had "supported the United States submitting to the Islamic, Shariah banking code in 2008" when Kashkari served asUnder Secretary of the Treasury and administered the2008 bank bailout.[31] Donnelly's claim drew swift rebukes from other Republicans and Muslim groups.[32][31] RepresentativeDarrell Issa, Republican of California, said: "As far as I'm concerned, this type of stupidity disqualifies Tim Donnelly from being fit to hold any office, anywhere.[32] California Republican Party vice chair Harmeet Dhillon said that Donnelly's attempt to tie Kashkari (aHindu ofIndian descent) to Islamic law was an attempt "to trade on bigotry, racism, hatred of the other, hysteria."[31] The California chapter of theCouncil on American–Islamic Relations condemned Donnelly's anti-Muslim comments and said, "It is a shame that an elected official uses xenophobic and anti-Muslim rhetoric to discredit a member of his own party."[32] Donnelly stood by his remarks.[31]
In the June 2014California open primary, Democratic incumbentJerry Brown won with 54.5% of the vote and RepublicanNeel Kashkari came in second with 19.0% of the vote, qualifying for the general election. Donnelly came in third with 14.8% of the vote.[33] Although Kashkari called for Republican unity, Donnelly pointedly refused to ask his supporters to support Kashkari.[34] Brown subsequently won the general election.
In 2015, Donnelly claimed that President Barack Obama was"secretly following" Islam and that he wanted to see the United States punished. Donnelly referred to Obama as "Ayatollah Obama". He pushed the conspiracy theory that the Obama administration is staffed with Muslim Brotherhood members, saying that he was starting to believe "more and more" that Obama himself was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.[35]
In 2016, Donnelly ran forCalifornia's 8th congressional district against incumbent RepublicanPaul Cook.[36] He finished third in the blanket primary behind Cook and Democrat Rita Ramirez, with 20.7% of the vote, thereby failing to advance to the general election.
Donnelly ran again for the8th district in 2018. He emphasized support for PresidentDonald Trump, and advocates for awall to be built along theMexico–United States border. He also supports repealing thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ending mandatoryvaccinations, andoriginalism. During his campaign announcement in October 2017, Donnelly criticized members of Congress for their alleged failure to support the agenda of President Trump.[37] He finished second in the blanket primary behind incumbentPaul Cook and advanced to the general election for a Republican vs. Republican battle. Cook defeated Donnelly in the general election.
In 2019, incumbent RepublicanPaul Cook announced that he will run for theSan Bernardino CountyBoard of Supervisors in 2020 rather than seek reelection. Donnelly announced that he would be a candidate for the8th district.[38] He ran on the same issues he emphasized in the last two campaigns he waged. Donnelly came third in the blanket primary, behind RepublicanJay Obernolte and Democrat Christine Bubser, thereby failing to advance to the general election.
On June 21, 2007, Donnelly appeared onThe Colbert Report.[39] In a satirical segment entitledDifference Makers, Donnelly and his Minutemen group were videotaped building a small fence along the United States border with Mexico.
On December 5, 2011, Donnelly was interviewed byJohn Oliver, a correspondent forThe Daily Show withJon Stewart in an appearance where he discussed California's budget shortfalls along with formerstate SenatorJohn L. Burton, the chairman of theCalifornia Democratic Party regarding direct democracy in California.[40]