John Kanno thinks Rep. Dennis Cardoza's voting record is his Achilles' tendon.

The Modesto Republican has announced he's taking on the Merced Democrat for next year's 18th Congressional District race.

Kanno paints Cardoza as out of sync with his mostly conservative district, saying Cardoza has supported gay marriage, opposed President Bush's tax cuts and failed to stand by the president in waging war against Iraq by voting against the $87 billion war package made famous through John Kerry's flip-flop.

"I'm a Valley conservative," said Kanno. "I'm very much against same-sex marriages. I'm for a constitutional amendment that recognizes heterosexual marriages."

Cardoza has consistently said he, too, is opposed to gay marriage but has stopped short of supporting a constitutional amendment declaring that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

Kanno said he also is supports a ban on partial-birth abortions.

Kanno, a 45-year-old Assyrian activist, says he has more foreign policy experience than the two-term congressman.

From 1995 to 2003, Kanno hosted "This Week in Politics," a public affairs show on KBSV Channel 23, the Assyrian TV station in Ceres. Kanno also served on the Assyrian Cultural Center of Bet Naharain board. Kanno was one of the country's most vocal opponents of Saddam Hussein prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Two years ago Kanno left the station to join Corn Products of Stockton to oversee its electrical system. His experience as an electrical engineer led to his appointment to the Future of Iraq Project. He helped expand Iraq's power grid, bringing power to over 90 percent of the country. Saddam Hussein, he said, even hoarded the country's electrical supply.

"I was one of 260 people that decided what's going to happen to an entire country the day after there was a change in leadership," said Kanno.

Kanno doesn't buy the arguments of Democrats and others who say Bush wasn't justified in warring with Iraq on the basis of a lack of weapons of mass destruction.

"Saddam Hussein was a weapon of mass destruction," said Kanno. "There's no one weapon that's killed more people than Saddam Hussein."

Kanno was one of Gary Condit's most ardent supporters during the Ceres Democrat's scandal involving intern Chandra Levy. He defended his support of Condit, saying Condit was a strong supporter of the Assyrian community.

Kanno's political adviser, Carl Fogliani of Spinnovation Strategies in Stockton, acknowledged that the 18th district is stacked in the Democrats' favor even though Republicans are gaining in registration. The political junkie said the last count showed 48.06 percent Democratic and 38.88 percent Republican. But most of those Democrats are conservative enough to vote Republican who is with them on the issues.

"All we have to do is expose my strengths and his weaknesses," said Kanno.

Fogliani said Cardoza may "come home and tell everybody how conservative he is when his record doesn't match up to that."

The district, carved during Condit's political troubles, includes Ceres, parts of Modesto, and Patterson, all of Merced County and parts of San Joaquin, Madera and Fresno counties. The district includes a very liberal section of south Stockton, which helped sink then state Senator Dick Monteith's bid against Cardoza.

Kanno is the youngest of nine children born to an Assyrian Christian family in pre-Saddam Hussein Iraq. His parents fled to England shortly before the assassination of King Faisal in 1958. Kanno came to the United States in 1981 after undergoing the two-year process of citizenship.

He said he has contempt for those who break the law by illegally entering the country. He supports strengthened border protection.

Kanno said the Assyrian community in the U.S. will be supporting his campaign. He recently returned from a visit with Assyrian-Americans in Chicago and Detroit and expects financial support.

In the last election cycle, Cardoza had only a token opponent in Republican Charles Pringle who spent approximately $3,000 in the very low key race.

"John is committed to running a grass roots campaign on issues and Dennis Cardoza is going to have to stand on his record," said Fogliani. "He's going to have a long record to defend in his time with the state Assembly," said Fogliani. "He was right-hand man with Gray Davis in the leadership of the state Assembly while they ran the state into the ditch. Now he goes to Washington and now he's got a record and he's going to have to defend it."

By Jeff Benziger
Ceres Courier