Sonoma County’s reaction to Comey’s testimony divides along political party lines

To Herb Williams, a Santa Rosa Democrat, former FBI Director James Comey’s televised testimony Thursday proved Russia has been meddling in American politics and citizens should pay heed.

“Now we know it for a fact,” said Williams, a veteran political consultant. “We cannot turn a blind eye to it anymore.”

The Russians, he added, “would be foolish not to” play around with the nation’s democratic process.

Comey, who was fired by President Donald Trump a month ago, drew global attention with his voluntary testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee to tell his side of the story.

But there was a clear partisan divide in local reactions to the most highly watched TV show of the day, which CBS News said cost the nation more than $3 billion in lost productivity from workers tuning in on their computers and mobile devices.

Edelweiss Geary, chairwoman of the Sonoma County Republican Party, said the former top cop’s appearance before the Senate intelligence committee proved the Russia controversy is baseless.

“It really indicates there’s nothing there,” she said, noting that Comey admitted leaking memos on his meetings with Trump. “The soul of J. Edgar Hoover must be turning over in his grave,” she said, referring to the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who was instrumental in its founding.

“It’s my judgment that I was fired because of the Russian investigation,” Comey told the senators and the rest of the world.

Williams, who said he voted for Hillary Clinton without enthusiasm, said he “always thought Comey was a pretty upstanding guy.”

Geary, who voted for Trump, said she had no respect for Comey “and I think it’s a good thing he is out” of public service. “I don’t think he is honest.”

They agreed, without qualms, that Comey made no case for accusing Trump of obstructing justice.

“I don’t see it at all,” Williams said.

“Ridiculous,” Geary said. “What’s he obstructing?”

But Rep. Jared Huffman, a San Rafael Democrat, said Comey’s testimony - along with Trump’s own admission he was thinking of “this Russia thing” when he decided to fire Comey last month - “screams obstruction of justice.”

Comey may have been “a little political, self-serving,” Huffman said, but he made the case that Trump had told him his FBI job depended on his backing off the Russian investigation.

But Republican members of Congress are “going into spin mode” to cite portions of Comey’s testimony that tend to vindicate Trump, Huffman said.

The partisan divide on Capitol Hill underscores the need for a bipartisan, independent commission - envisioned in a House Democrat-backed bill - to investigate Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, he said.

Laurie Gallian, the county’s Democratic Party leader, said she thought Comey came across as “frank and honest.”

“We have got to solve this question about the election,” she said.

Gallian and Geary both said the issue needs to be settled and Washington needs to move on to major issues, such as tax reform and health care.

David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist, said the highlight of Comey’s testimony may have been his allegation that the Trump administration spread “lies, plain and simple” about him and the FBI in the aftermath of his abrupt dismissal.

“That makes it personal,” McCuan said.

Comey demonstrated political savvy by releasing a transcript of his remarks Wednesday, “capturing the news cycle” while Trump visited Cincinnati to promote his new waterways infrastructure plan, McCuan said.

Republican lawmakers could cite Comey’s account in distancing themselves from the president, a prospect that could occur should Trump’s approval rating dip from the mid- to low-30 percent range, he said.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, said in statement that Comey’s testimony “revealed a disturbing and repeated pattern on the part of the president.”

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457.