California

More than a year ago, the Office of Congressional Ethics began investigating whether Rep. Michael M. Honda’s staff crossed congressional duties with campaign activities. The case was later referred to the House Committee on Ethics, which in September indicated it would take up the review indefinitely.  

That has left the California Democrat open to constant hammering from his primary opponent’s campaign, which is stating allegations as fact and pointing to the nearly $100,000 that Honda has spent defending himself.  

It’s time again for Take Five, when HOH talks with a member of Congress about topics relatively unrelated to legislative work.  

This week, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., talks about Golden State hoops,  being a Capitol Hill intern and how her garden grows in the drought. Q : I’m told you enjoy gardening, what do you like to grow when you’re home?  

A California House hopeful’s plan to reward donors with handguns days after last week's mass shooting in San Bernardino has caused one House member to distance herself from the event.  

Johnny Tacherra, the GOP candidate hoping for a rematch against incumbent Democrat Jim Costa, told Roll Call he cooked up the “2nd Amendment BBQ ” — scheduled to take place within the Full Spectrum Firearms showroom in Fresno on Saturday — after bumping into FSF founder Jon Rains at an NRA dinner earlier this fall. To boost fundraising, FSF agreed to furnish up to a dozen 9mm or .40-caliber pistols to contributors that reserve an entire table, at $2,700 for eight seats.  

As 2016 quickly approaches, Republicans are struggling to find top recruits in a trio of competitive House districts in California — a state where the party has suffered defeat at the congressional level for decades.  

The National Republican Congressional Committee sent a staffer out to the Golden State last week to search for and meet with potential candidates and convince them to run in competitive districts in San Diego, Palm Springs and Sacramento, according to a source with knowledge of the visit.  

Getting attention for a House race in Los Angeles in a presidential year is hard.  

So two Democrats running against one another in an open-seat primary in a California House race are seeking to drum up attention for their candidacies by staging events to protest the one candidate sucking up all the oxygen in 2016: Donald Trump.  

This week we have a belated nod to 4/20 with a peek at Mary Jane's history on the Hill. Along the way, we found a few other tidbits — like a non-human lobbyist and other Hill creatures. Previous #tbts can be found here . Want more? Follow along !  

Q: What 1987 NPR news story caused members of Congress to admit to their own use of marijuana?

It’s time again for Take Five, when HOH talks with a member of Congress about topics relatively unrelated to legislative work.  

This week, Rep.-elect Ted Lieu, D-Calif., House Democrats' freshman class president, talks about his turbo technology, hotel points and celebrities in prison. Q. What was your first car? Any great memories of it? A. It was a Ford Thunderbird Turbo. It was a black and ... the inside was red, and it looked really cool.