Liberal activist Jane Fonda and other high-wattage Hollywood celebrities are reportedly digging deep to unseat veteran GOP California Rep. Darrell Issa in next year's midterm election.
Fonda — infamously dubbed “Hanoi Jane” for her controversial 1972 visit to North Vietnam — gave $100,000 to “Flip the 49th! Neighbors in Action,” which recently registered as a political committee to defeat Issa, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Issa has held California’s 49th congressional district seat — home to Camp Pendleton, where nearly 100,000 Marines are stationed — since 2001.
Comedian Bill Maher — who had Issa as a guest on his show twice — gave $15,000 for the effort, the news outlet noted. Academy Award winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio forked over $2,500 — as did former Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. — and actor Ted Danson donated $1,500, the Union-Tribune reported.
Comedian Jay Leno also contributed $2,500 through his JDM Foundation, an organization that Leno funds along with contributions from auto-racing companies, the Union-Tribune reported.
But Issa campaign spokesman Calvin Moore told The Washington Free Beacon the big donation from Fonda might backfire.
Issa’s district of northern San Diego County has a strong military presence, in addition to being the home of Camp Pendleton, the Free Beacon noted.
“Especially for a district that’s home to Camp Pendleton and so many Marines and veterans who’ve served our country honorably, having protesters and political opposition funded by Jane Fonda — who sided with North Vietnam government over our men and women in uniform — isn’t really going to play very well for them, “ Moore told the Free Beacon.
The political group gave the Union-Tribune a list of donors more than a month before its required disclosure to the Federal Election Commission.
“We will continue to work tirelessly to defeat Darrell Issa, one of Congress’s wealthiest members, and we call upon patriots from across the country to support our efforts,” spokesman Jeremy Addis-Mills told the Union-Tribune.
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