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Soviet-born congressional candidate looks to make history
By Lee Ross
Published April 10, 2014
Igor Birman, shown here, is running for Congress in California.
During the darkest days of the Cold War, some in Washington feared a
Communist infiltration inside the highest reaches of the government. It
would have been unimaginable then that a man born and raised in Soviet-era
Moscow would mount a strong challenge for a seat in Congress, with a
rallying cry of freedom against government.
Yet that's exactly what's happening in suburban Sacramento where Moscow-born
Igor Birman, 32, is living his American dream and trying to become the
first-ever member of Congress born in the Soviet Union.
"As the elites in Washington abandon freedom as the cornerstone of America's
public policy, we see all of these academic and acrimonious debates,"
Birman told Fox News. "To me, though, this matter is personal. Freedom is
very personal to me. I've lived in a society where freedom was denied to
just about everyone but the elites."
Birman, a Republican who until last year worked on Capitol Hill, is in the
middle of a heated contest challenging Democratic Rep. Ami Bera. But his
critiques of Washington go beyond the incumbent freshman.
"You don't have to be a Republican or Democrat to dislike the NSA snooping
through your private and intimate records. You don't have to be a Republican
or a Democrat to realize that the most feared agencies in government, like
the IRS, should not be harassing ordinary Americans for simply disagreeing.
There are a lot of issues that transcend party politics these days."
As an immigrant, Birman knows intimately the struggles that come with being
new to America and is offering his own plans for reforming the immigration
system.
"Fix that legal immigration process, and I suspect you'll see illegal
immigration drop tremendously," he said.
Birman, now a U.S. citizen, is also running during a tense time for
relations between Washington and Moscow. On the conflict in Ukraine, Birman
said the bellicosity of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he calls a
KGB thug, is hardly surprising. "We should realize that the only strength
that Putin has is the exporting of natural gas energy."
Birman explains that Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas is the cause
of its timidity in challenging Putin. The American response, he says,
should be to aggressively sell U.S. natural gas on the world market, thereby
driving down Russian influence and at the same time promoting domestic
economic vitality.
At a recent gathering of eager campaign volunteers, Birman profusely thanked
them for their efforts and sprinkled in quotes from Reagan and Churchill.
"We don't need a new message," he told them. "It may be that we need new and
better messengers."
Also helping stuff and stamp envelopes are Birman's parents Alexander and
Emily. They were the ones who made the critical decision to leave Moscow in
1994 with Igor and his younger brother Eugene. With a stack of letters in
front of her, Emily held no doubt that her son will succeed.
"I told him whenever you decide to run for Congress or to be a public
servant, people will trust you because you speak from your heart."
Birman's path to Congress will not be easy. In June's "top two" primary --
in which candidates of all parties run against each other, and the top two
move on to the general -- not only does he take on Bera but also two other
more prominent Republicans: former Rep. Doug Ose and 2012 Senate nominee
Elizabeth Emken.
He has the backing, though, of eight members of Congress including Tom
McClintock, whom Birman worked for as chief of staff, and Republican Sens.
Rand Paul and Mike Lee, whom he calls his heroes. "They stand firm for
freedom, for those principles of individual liberty," he said. "
Constitutionally limited government and personal responsibility. Those are
the principles that are near and dear to my heart. Those are the principles
I want to champion in Washington." |
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