George Rebane
This morning Jo Ann and I drove to Folsom to attend Igor Birman’s announcement of his candidacy for Congress from California’s 7th congressional district. We were not the only Nevada County residents to make the trek. Even though we can’t vote for him, many of us who live up here see Igor’s candidacy as adding to the conservative cohort from our state that can help bring our country back on course. (Igor’s website)

Igor Birman has been Congressman Tom McClintock’s chief of staff, and is one of the youngest to hold such an important job in Washington. Igor was born in the USSR and got out when his parents took advantage of the window that President Reagan created with the agreement to let Russian Jews emigrate from a land in which they have been third class citizens for generations. While I have a definite affinity with Igor’s odyssey – my parents also escaped communism when I was a youngster (cf My Story) – we support Igor’s candidacy because he is very smart, has high moral standards, and recognizes way better than most the tragedy that socialism cum collectivism brings into human lives.
Some years back Tom McClintock introduced us to Igor, and since then he has become our friend, often spending meal times at our house during which we have delved into some very interesting topics of state and national interest. Igor’s job in Washington has always brought perspectives to bear on the topic that are accessible only to one who knows and operates in the belly of the beast. Igor’s understanding of the nation’s problems, especially in public education and its contribution to systemic unemployment in a shrinking workforce, is thorough and deep. His overall ideology and politics also make him a desirable candidate for the tea party faction of the Republican party.
Congressman McClintock delivered an eloquently bittersweet introduction to Igor, acknowledging the loss of an extremely valuable aide while celebrating his promising and needed candidacy for Congress. I am heartened by the potential of adding Igor Birman to the team of conservative northern Californians comprised of Doug LaMalfa, Tom McClintock, and Dan Logue (who is running for the 3rd congressional district seat) – the four horsemen of socialism’s apocalypse.


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