Local Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack is planning her re-election strategy. Redistricting resulted in some adjustments to her old 45th District, but the foundation of the desert and Hill communities remained together and unchanged.
“I’m really not worried right now,” she said Thursday. Ten months prior to the election, Dr. Raul Ruiz is the announced candidate for the Democratic nomination for the House seat.
Bono Mack has begun her fundraising. As of Sept. 30, 2011, more than a year before the election, she has more than $400,000.
This year, 2011, her fourteenth in Congress, was unique for Bono Mack. After the Republicans captured the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2010 election, Bono Mack became the chair of the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
This role places her in the center of the current debate over privacy, the Federal Communication Commission’s spectrum allocation, data and cyber security decisions.
“I’m liking it very much,” she said. But she admitted the attention is good and bad at times.
The security issues are very difficult and seldom generate public attention unless there is a major hacking incident. Even then most people are unaware, she said. Bono Mack compared public concern over Internet security to water users oblivious to water supply issues as long as water flows out the tap.
As the 2012 campaign heats up, Bono Mack promised to visit the Hill later this year.
