Bilbray Dynasty in the making?

The father: Brian Bilbray (running for Congress vs Francine Busby).

Editor: In our quest to find and highlight other local San Diego County blogs with progressive bents, we came upon this South Bay located blog, Blue San Diego, uncovering more than sand castles – a new, budding dynasty of the Bilbray family?  First, there were the Hunters, now the Bilbrays? Apparently, South Bay Democrats are running away from going up against someone with such a well-known family name and history as “Bilbray.”  Please check out Blue San Diego and welcome Pepe to the OB Rag.

by Pepe / Blue San Diego / August 8, 2010

An interesting tidbit caught my eye last week. Brian Patrick Bilbray, son of current congressman Brian Bilbray has taken out papers to run for City Council in Imperial Beach. It isn’t clear yet if he has qualified to be on the ballot but he is apparently aiming for the special election to finish the remaining 2 years of the 4 year term for Fred McLean who passed away earlier.

The son: Patrick Bilbray (in an earlier pose on that damn social networking site).

This would be very interesting to watch as Congressman Bilbray himself got his start in politics as a young IB City Councilman before moving up to the Board of Supes and then onto Congress. I haven’t heard much of Pat Bilbray around IB.

I knew his sister, Briana, was still maintaining residency in IB as she continues to remain on the GOP Central Committee for the 79th AD. It will be interesting to see if Pat plans to follow in his father’s footsteps and try to make his way to the Board of Supervisors after serving several years in IB city government. It would be very difficult to repeat the meteoric rise that Congressman Bilbray made back in the early 80?s.

The demographics of South Bay are not the same as they once were. It will be harder for any GOPers to break through above local city seats once Greg Cox leaves office. Cox will likely be the last GOPer in a while to represent South Bay in any seat higher than local municipal government so I am not sure what Pat Bilbray is hoping to achieve unless he is hoping Cox will be able to beat off Mary Salas and/or Denise Ducheny (another IB resident) in ’12 for another go around on the Board of Supervisors and then perhaps resign late into his term to allow the Board to handpick another GOPer (Bilbray?) to replace Cox.

Don’t forget that Steve Danon, current Chief of Staff for Congressman Bilbray, is the front runner to beat Pam Slater-Price for a seat on the Board of Supes in ’12. It wouldn’t be far fetched to imagine Danon going to bat to have Bilbray appointed as a Cox replacement if Bilbray is able to pull off a successful career as an elected official in IB.

Pat Bilbray and sister Briana (Briana is on GOP central committee).

It will be worth watching this race closely if Pat does officially qualify on the ballot. I am not sure if his name ID will help. It doesn’t hurt that there are many long time residents in IB. I will post updates once I get confirmation whether not Pat Bilbray makes it on the ballot as an official candidate. If he does then it will be a race worth watching.