I’m getting strange emails from Republican Kevin Kiley, and they keep getting worse | Opinion

Press releases from congressmen used to be pretty straightforward propositions, boring even. But boy has that changed since Placer County’s own Kevin Kiley, our favorite fake rancher and Trump sycophant, was somehow elected to the California’s Third Congressional District.

Kiley usually doesn’t speak to any media outlet that would require him to, you know, answer a real question. But his press releases? Wow. Well done, sir.

The pleasure of being on your mailing list is like having my own private right-wing website.

Opinion

This is where some apologists would say I have a problem with conservatives. I really don’t.

My problem with Kiley is that his spin is so patently dishonest given his gold-plated education, that you just have to roll your eyes — or suppress your gag reflex.

What’s Kiley’s problem, you might ask. Truthfully, it would take a professional therapist to peel back the layers of that onion. But my Reader’s Digest answer is simple: The smarmy little lad has no self-awareness and everybody knows it, even members of his own Republican party.

For example, I recently asked state Sen. Brian Dahle, a conservative, a recent gubernatorial candidate and a real rancher, if Kiley was a rancher, as Kiley has repeatedly stated.

Dahle laughed and said, “No.”

So Kiley’s press releases are especially intriguing because they blindly go where no self-aware — or intellectually honest — person would ever go.

His office sent this baby out recently:

“Last year, under one-party control, Congress passed legislation funding 87,000 new IRS agents. The purpose was to target small business owners and middle-class families with audit after audit to fund more reckless spending.”

First of all, the claim that the IRS is going to hire 87,000 agents is an exaggeration wrapped in a half-truth. As CNN recently reported: “The 87,000 figure comes from a 2021 Treasury report that estimated the IRS could hire 86,852 full-time employees over the course of a decade with a nearly $80 billion investment — not solely enforcement agents.”

“The reality is the $80 billion boost would be spread throughout the agency, with money flowing to enforcement, taxpayer services, operations, and modernization,” wrote Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Aside from the distortions that Kiley is sharing within his mailing list, here is a question I’d love to ask him if he ever responded to my interview requests: If the IRS agents handle your return quickly and efficiently, isn’t that good government? Aren’t we taxpayers following the rules so that Kiley’s salary and other government functions are funded?

Another doozy from Kiley’s office covered his speech on the House floor about the recent storms in California: “My office is working to ensure the greatest measure of Federal assistance is available to the affected communities. My office is in constant communication with FEMA, and I have spoken personally to FEMA Regional Administrator Bob Fenton.”

Did Kiley ask Bob Fenton if there were insufficient IRS agents to collect taxes in order to cover the federal assistance and, if they didn’t, would that assistance get there? Federal assistance takes money, you know.

Kiley also sent out a press release about the Caldor Fire, and noted this without irony: “Although that promise remains unfulfilled one year later, President Biden still retains the power to unilaterally provide assistance and Rep. Kiley will continue to advocate for the victims to receive the compensation they deserve.”

Gotta get that tax money, guys. It’s an IRS agent thing.

Oh, well, I’m sure the citizens of Grizzly Flats and other affected communities will understand your desire to eliminate revenue from the federal government.

For his part, Kiley offered up this canard the other day to McClatchy DC congressional reporter David Lightman: “(Gov. Gavin Newsom) is putting out propaganda. It bears zero resemblance to reality. We need to make sure that does not go unanswered.”

Yes, indeed. It should not go unanswered.

Meanwhile, Kiley keeps shoveling his propaganda almost daily — and on your dime.