Two of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Young Guns” are near the Bay Area, but one of them might be shooting blanks.

Unofficial results from Tuesday’s primary in the 3rd Congressional District show incumbent John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, got 52.5 percent of the vote while “Young Gun” Kim Vann – a Colusa County supervisor – got 25.4 percent.

It’s true that Vann had to beat back three other Republican challengers, but the long and short of it is that Garamendi still managed to pull a majority of the votes in a low-turnout election that should’ve favored Republicans. In November, with the presidential election drawing many more voters to the polls and Democratic turnout improving accordingly, Vann’s going to have a much tougher time. The well-respected Cook Political Report agrees, listing Garamendi’s district – which has pieces of Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Sacramento, Solano, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties – as a “likely Democratic” win this fall.

Not that Vann is letting any grass grow under her feet. Here’s the video she released yesterday:

It could be somewhat different story over in the 9th Congressional District, listed by Cook as “lean Democratic” as incumbent Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, seeks re-election.

Unofficial results show McNerney got 48.4 percent of the vote, while “Young Gun” Ricky Gill – a Lodi native who just finished law school at UC-Berkeley – drew 39.5 percent; another Republican, Mountain House businessman John McDonald, got 12.1 percent.

Unlike Garamendi, McNerney didn’t manage to get a majority on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Lauren Smith told me late Tuesday night that he’s not worried; he believes stronger Democratic turnout in November will buoy him to victory. The district – with parts of San Joaquin, Contra Costa and Sacramento counties – is registered 43.8 percent Democrat, 36.5 percent Republican and 15.8 percent no-party-preference, which gives him a better edge than the tiny GOP advantage he overcame in his old district in November 2010. But Gill is playing up his local roots and has raised a lot of money, and McNerney certainly can’t kick back and relax this summer.

The House today voted 182-238 against a bipartisan amendment to H.R. 4310, the National Defense Authorization Act, expressing Congress’ view that no one detained on U.S. soil can be indefinitely detained and that every person deserves access to a lawyer and a fair judicial process.

All Bay Area members voted for the amendment except Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, who didn’t vote.

“Last year, when President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act, he laid out his concerns regarding provisions that would have allowed for indefinite detention of American citizens and required that certain individuals captured even on US soil be held in military custody,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said afterward.

“The Smith-Amash amendment would have addressed these concerns, righting a wrong that flies in the face of our commitment to protect the American people and have the proper balance between security and liberty,” she said. “I’m disappointed that Republicans in the House failed to join the vast majority of Democrats in supporting this amendment to realign detention policy with the U.S. Constitution.”

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, had co-sponsored the amendment.

“The NDAA allows the Executive Branch the power to detain individuals indefinitely without giving them their day in court,” he said. “Not only does this subvert the core principles embedded in our Constitution, this policy prevents our judicial system from trying and punishing anyone who would harm Americans. Instead of allowing terrorists to hang in legal limbo, we must bring them to justice.”

Among other amendments, however, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, scored a win with his bipartisan effort to speed up new and innovative treatments to servicemembers and veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“Our troops and veterans have earned the very best treatment and care that we can provide,” said Thompson. “But sometimes the best treatments aren’t available at military and veteran medical facilities. My amendment will make sure that our heroes who return from combat with TBI or PTSD have access to the highest quality care our nation has to offer.”

The amendment Thompson cosponsored with Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, creates a new five-year, $10 million pilot program to let military patients get treatment from health care facilities outside the VA that use cutting-edge, successful therapies for TBI and PTSD. Physicians and residential treatment centers can qualify for payment from the Department of Defense or Veterans Affairs through a “pay-for-performance” plan, meaning they must prove a patient has had demonstrable improvement. The amendment also requires an annual report to Congress on the results of the program, as well as a report on plans to integrate successful methods into Defense and VA medical facilities.

Ultimately, the House passed the NDAA today on a 299-120 vote; the only Bay Area member to vote for it was Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton.

Much of the Bay Area’s House delegation has asked top officials at Pleasanton-based supermarket giant Safeway for an apology after one of those officials told what the lawmakers say was a sexist joke about House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The letters the lawmakers sent today to Safeway CEO Steve Burd and General Counsel Robert Gordon takes issue with something Gordon, 60, of Orinda, said at the company’s shareholder meeting Tuesday in Pleasanton:

“You know, this is the season when companies and other institutions are interested in enhancing their reputation and their image for the general public, and one of the institutions that’s doing this is the Secret Service, particularly after the calamity in Colombia. And among the instructions given to the Secret Service agents was to try to agree with the president more and support his decisions. And that led to this exchange that took place last week, when the president flew into the White House lawn and an agent greeted him at the helicopter. The president was carrying two pigs under his arms and the Secret Service agents said, ‘Nice pigs, sir.’ And the president said, “These are not ordinary pigs, these are genuine Arkansas razorback hogs. I got one for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and one for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.” And the Secret Service agent said, ‘Excellent trade, sir.’”

(Thanks very much, he’ll be here all week, try the veal and don’t forget to tip your waiters.)

SO not funny, say the lawmakers.

“Poking fun at politicians is part of our culture, and TV comedians carry this out nightly. But sexist jokes told by a top executive of a Fortune 500 company to an international audience are completely inappropriate and demonstrate a shocking lack of respect, not only for two of the most important and respected people in our country but for all women,” they wrote to Burd. “Safeway owes an apology to Secretary Clinton, Leader Pelosi, and the country. It is up to the Safeway board to decide what action to take against its general counsel for his comments but let there be no doubt as to our strong disapproval and deep disappointment in your company for what he said.”

The letters were signed by George Miller, D-Martinez; Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto; Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose; Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma; Mike Thompson, D-Napa; Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton; Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento; John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove; Barbara Lee, D-Oakland; and Mike Honda, D-San Jose.

I’m awaiting a response from Safeway, and will update this when it’s received.

UPDATE @ 4:30 P.M.: “Both letters will be responded to shortly,” Brian Dowling, Safeway’s Vice President of Public Affairs, e-mailed me about an hour ago; he did not clarify whether this will be the extent of the company’s comment today, so I must assume that it will be.

UPDATE @ 4:48 P.M.: Dowling clarifies that the company will respond directly to the lawmakers, and Gordon also will write directly to Pelosi and Clinton.

Most of the Bay Area’s House delegation was among 101 members who signed a letter, co-authored by Rep. Barbara Lee, urging President Obama to announce an accelerated transition of security responsibilities to the Afghan government and security forces.

The lawmakers want the president to announce this at the upcoming NATO summit meeting in Chicago, in order to effect a speedier withdrawal of U.S. troops.

“Earlier this month you visited Afghanistan to sign a Strategic Partnership Agreement. As you stated at Bagram Air Base, ‘this time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end,’” the lawmakers wrote. “The core of al Qaeda has been greatly reduced in size and ability to attack Americans. Our brave men and women in uniform have done everything that we have asked of them. With over 17,000 dead and wounded U.S. servicemen and women, and long term costs estimated at $4 trillion for the past decade of unfunded wars, the overwhelming majority of American people want to bring the war in Afghanistan to an expedited end.”

The lawmakers wrote that while many of them would prefer an immediate full withdrawal, there’s broad bipartisan consensus that the process at least should be speeded up. “We also remind you that any agreement committing U.S. troops to Afghanistan must have congressional approval to be binding.”

The only Bay Area members who didn’t sign the letter – which Lee, D-Oakland, coauthored with Walter Jones, R-N.C. – were Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

Lee also this afternoon offered an amendment to H.R. 4310, the National Defense Authorization Act, which would’ve limited further funding for the Afghanistan war to only what’s required for the safe and orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops and contractors.

Lee’s amendment failed on a 113-303 vote. “My amendment provided members of the House the opportunity to stand squarely with the war-weary American people,” she said in a statement issued afterward. “I am disappointed that a majority of House members did not stand with seven out of ten Americans who oppose the war in Afghanistan.”

Two Central Valley congressmen from opposite sides of the aisle agreed on something and got it done.

Stop the presses!

Both Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, and Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, issued statements today praising a bill that President Obama signed into law Tuesday to grease the wheels for a solar-energy project in Tracy.

Tracy wanted to buy 200 acres of government land on Schulte Road as the site of a solar electricity-generation project, but Congress had conveyed the land to the city with the condition that most of it be used for recreational or educational purposes – a provision that held up the solar project for years. McNerney’s bill waived any remaining restrictions on the land’s use once it’s bought by the city.

“The City of Tracy will now be able to build a solar energy project that will create nearly 200 local jobs,” McNerney said today. “I welcomed this opportunity to reach across the aisle to pass this commonsense bill, especially in the current climate in Washington. I have been fighting for the City of Tracy on this issue from the beginning, and I am proud that we were able to come together to pass this bill.”

Denham noted the bill, which he cosponsored, passed unanimously through the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and, Emergency Management, which he chairs.

“Investing in this type of job creation project is key to the Valley’s economic recovery. It’s not a Republican issue, it’s not a Democrat issue – it’s an American jobs issue,” Denham said. “Today’s accomplishment is the result of a collaborative effort by a bipartisan group of members who worked hard to see this bill become law. I’m proud to have worked with my colleagues in the House and Senate from both sides of the aisle to put people back to work. I’ll keep fighting for jobs in the Valley as the solar project continues to advance.”

In fact, it was actually the Senate version of the bill – introduced by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and cosponsored by Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. – which made it to the president’s desk. Boxer last week said she’s pleased that Tracy officials “will now be able to move forward with their plan to develop land that has been vacant and unused. This is a wonderful economic opportunity that will bring needed jobs to the area.”

The Bay Area News Group’s editorial board met this morning in Pleasanton with the three candidates for the newly drawn 9th Congressional District.

Republican John McDonald, 44, a semiconductor executive from Mountain House, said he’s running because “America has a lot of structural problems, not stimulus problems, that need to get fixed.” He cited his experience in running three successful startups in the past 10 years, and said he’s grown concerned at increasing government intrusion into the private sector; an example, he cited capital gains taxes that drive venture capital overseas. He said he decided that rather than complaining about the state of politics “you’ve just got to go make a difference.”

Republican Ricky Gill, who turns 25 on Sunday, is a UC Berkeley law student from Lodi who said he’s running to provide native representation to his district; he noted that no sitting state or federal lawmakers lived within the newly drawn district when he declared his candidacy. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to a one-year term on the state Board of Education several years ago, he said, and he learned the value of a dollar in his family’s agriculture business. “I think we need a congressional representative who’s going to defend farmers. I’m going to be a friend, not a foe.”

Incumbent Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, 60, said he has built a lot of solid relationships in his five and half years in office, and wants to continue his “retail politics” – meeting constituents, and bringing federal resources home for local schools and infrastructure. He said he has focused on veterans’ issues to ensure those who serve the nation get what they deserve; on growing the local economy; and on protecting the Delta’s water resources. “Right now there are big forces aimed at taking our water.”

Lots more on specific issues, after the jump…
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Rep. Jerry McNerney asked the Department of Veterans Affairs yesterday why Northern California veterans are getting the short end of the stick.

At a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, McNerney, D-Pleasanton, sought answers about a backlog of veterans’ benefits claims at the VA’s Oakland regional office, which serves all of Northern California. He and other California House members also have written today to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki about the VA’s recent decision to deny added support for that office.

“I’ve heard from too many veterans in our region about the enormous and frustrating delays in processing their benefits claims,” McNerney said in a news release this morning. “The VA has a responsibility to help our veterans in a timely and efficient manner. As it stands, the delays are unacceptable.”

At the hearing, McNerney demanded to know why the Oakland office’s performance is so poor and what the VA intends to do about it; the VA couldn’t provide a concrete plan beyond retraining all of the Oakland claims representatives this June.

McNerney notes that although California is home to the most veterans in the nation and the Oakland regional office is among the worst in the VA system at processing claims, the VA excluded the Oakland office from plans for a system that would help reduce the number of claims. The VA is implementing this plan in 12 other offices across the country.

“We have a responsibility to the men and women who have sacrificed so much to protect our country and way of life to provide benefits to them when they return home,” McNerney said. “The delays at the Oakland VA office must be addressed, and I call on the Obama administration to take steps to rectify the problem,” said Rep. McNerney.

McNerney is the only Bay Area member on the Veterans Affairs Committee, but other than House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the entire Bay Area delegation joined him in signing today’s letter to Shinseki. Follow after the jump for that letter’s full text…
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Candidates have filed campaign-finance reports to the Federal Election Commission for the first quarter of 2012. Here’s a round-up of the news from the more vibrant races in or near the Bay Area:

15th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, raised $60,255 and spent $90,299 in the first quarter, and had $551,341.79 cash on hand with no outstanding debts as of March 31.

Dublin City Councilman and Alameda County prosecutor Eric Swalwell, also a Democrat, raised $100,930.24 and spent $96,592.16 in the first quarter, and had $93,311.05 cash on hand with $8,572.50 in outstanding debts as of March 31.

A report from Hayward businessman Chris Pareja, a conservative independent, wasn’t available Monday. “We filed last week, but noticed some of our supporting documentation was not included in the package,” he said. “I have notified the FEC that we identified the situation and are amending our report. It may be tomorrow or the next day before I can email you the info.”

Attorney and former Obama Administration official Ro Khanna of Fremont – who’d raised a startling $1.2 million in the last quarter of 2011, but said he wouldn’t run this year if Stark did – raised $15,929 and spent $41,266.10 in the first quarter of 2012, and had $1,109,715.90 cash on hand with $58.50 in outstanding debts as of March 31.

State Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro – who had explored a run in the 15th Congressional District this year but instead chose to finish her state Senate term in 2014 – raised $7,800 and spent $51,585.51 in the first quarter, and had $103,947.94 cash on hand with no outstanding debts as of March 31.

9th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, raised $264,592.85 and spent $108,140.08 in the first quarter, and had $937,802.55 cash on hand and $20,694.46 in unpaid debts as of March 31.

Lodi law student Ricky Gill, a Republican, raised $308,070.08 and spent $104,035.41 in the first quarter, and had $988,585.80 cash on hand with $179,151.91 in unpaid debts as of March 31.

Tech executive John McDonald of Mountain House, another Republican, raised $6,695.98 and spent $13,467.06 in the first quarter, and had $28,736.48 cash on hand and $25,300 (the amount he personally has loaned his campaign) in unpaid debts as of March 31.

3rd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, raised $261,183.09 and spent $308,387.76 in the first quarter, and had $255,448.26 cash on hand with $14,324.18 in outstanding debts as of March 31.

Colusa County Supervisor Kim Vann of Arbuckle, a Republican, raised $120,504.99 and spent $93,967.47 in the first quarter, and had $216,646.14 cash on hand with $5,409.97 in outstanding debts as of March 31.

United Airlines pilot and Air Force reservist Rick Tubbs of Vacaville, another Republican, raised $16,492.44 and spent $23,591.01 in the first quarter, and had $5,391.41 cash on hand and $11,622.23 (all of which he personally loaned his campaign) in outstanding debts as of March 31.

Retired U.S. Marine Charles Schaupp of Esparto, another Republican, raised $610 and spent $27,792.78 in the first quarter, and had $5,223.75 cash on hand and $50,179.32 (including $50,000 he personally loaned his campaign) in outstanding debts as of March 31.

As various national media reported over the weekend, House members are under pressure to ratchet down their office budgets – and one Northern California lawmaker is touting his frugality as a result.

USA Today presented the data on members’ 2011 budget allocations so that it could be arranged in order of the percentage spent – thereby telling us who’s been most tight-fisted with his or her office budget.

Nationally, the biggest spender was Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who overshot his budget by about $8,500; his office told USA Today he will be under budget once all books for the year are reconciled. (The data was as of Dec. 31.) And the nation’s most frugal House member appears to have been Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., who spent only 60 percent of the $1,453,472 he was allotted for 2011.

The average House office budget for 2011 was $1.45 million, USA Today reported, with different members allotted different amounts based on factors including a district’s geographical size, its distance from Washington, D.C., local office rental costs and so on. Also, lawmakers who’ve been in Congress for longer tend to have more experienced staffers who draw higher salaries.

Lawmakers must cut their budgets by 6.4 percent this year after a 5 percent cut in 2011.

Here’s how the Bay Area’s members stacked up with their 2011 budget allotments and the percentages they actually spent:

Garamendi issued a news release today crowing that he was more frugal than 395 of his House colleagues.

“I want to see less money spent on Congress and more resources paying down our deficit and investing in our schools, roads, health coverage, and veteran’s services,” he said in the release. “I’ve balanced the checkbook for the family ranch. I know how to make more with less. I’m proud that we managed to stay so under budget while still maintaining robust communications with and support for 10th Congressional District residents.”

But Garamendi – who’s running for re-election this year in the newly drawn 3rd Congressional District – was quick to note his frugality doesn’t mean he’s out of touch. He said he hosted more than a dozen in-person and telephone town halls last year or early this year, plus resource fairs for job seekers, veterans, seniors, social services and small businesses and other events.

Two dozen California House Democrats wrote to express support for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s investigation of whether the Feb. 26 slaying of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a self-styled neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla., “was motivated by racial bias and therefore a hate crime.”

“The family of Trayvon Martin deserves to know the truth and the American people expect justice to be served,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter, which was sent to Holder yesterday.

The letter cites unresolved questions about what led to Martin’s slaying by George Zimmerman, 28, and the Sanford Police Department’s failure to make an arrest.

“It is in the best interest of our constituents and the country that you conduct a thorough investigation that also determines whether this was motivated by racial bias and therefore a hate crime,” the lawmakers wrote. “History has shown that investigating these crimes and enforcing our laws against them bring the issue to light and help our society progress.”

Among those who signed the letter are Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto; John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove; Mike Honda, D-San Jose; Barbara Lee, D-Oakland; Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose; Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton; George Miller, D-Martinez; Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough; Pete Stark, D-Fremont; Mike Thompson, D-Napa; and Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma.

President Barack Obama said Friday it’s “imperative that we investigate every aspect of this,” and noted the case makes him think of his own kids. “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”