Category: Election

Last Saturday, April 28, I attended an hour and a half coffee Q&A with Toni Atkins, the State Assembly Representative for the 76th District, of which OB is a part. The small turn-out was not an indication of interest, but rather limited to those who had been invited to the small venue; Newbreak Coffee Co. on Abbott Street. In other words, it could not have been a more perfect venue and environment to talk with the Majority Whip regarding issues which affect us all.

After introductions to a very diverse klatch of constituents and before Ms. Atkins jumped into some more important issues, she discussed the district changes and how it will affect OB. She will continue to be our representative in the State Assembly, but the district which ended in Bird Rock will now extend north to Solana Beach. While she will continue to represent those east to the I-15 and south of I-8, she will no longer represent Clairemont & Kearny Mesa. From what I could tell, the reformation opens up new areas and the elections will not simply be a formality in strictly Republican and Democratic districts.

Filner’s endorsement of Scott Peters for 52nd Congressional District sets up dilemma for progressives. Peters fails to reciprocate.

It’s tough being a progressive in San Diego – known for its conservatism and military-influenced politics. It’s been years since the City by the bay had a Democrat for mayor, and it’s rare that true liberals or progressives actually get elected to local office. It does occur – but not often.

That’s why progressives, liberals, and Democrats have been encouraged by Bob Filner’s bid for the City’s highest executive office. If elected, Filner would not only be the first Democrat since Maureen O’Connor had the seat, but he would clearly also be the most liberal mayor the city has ever had in its history. This would – in some eyes – be a god-send.

One of the reasons it’s so tough being a progressive politician in this town and county is that Democrats often go after each other or support Republicans. For instance, in the mayoral race, heavy-weight Dem and former Congresswoman Lynn Schenk came out early for DA Bonnie Dumanis – without waiting to see what Dems were running.

“I’m leaving party politics. I’m leaving behind a system that is completely dysfunctional.”

Nathan Fletcher, announcing his mayoral run as an Independent

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“Is you is or is you ain’t my baby
Maybe baby’s found somebody new
Or is my baby still my baby true?”

Louis Jordan

Nathan Fletcher’s recent decision to leave the Republican Party and campaign as an Independent has resulted in two interesting responses. A group of local executives, inspired by Fletcher’s decision, has formed a “Movement to the Middle.” Their pledge declares “I am not a Democrat. I am not a Republican. I am an American.” It is worth noting that these shakers and movers also support Fletcher’s candidacy.

The U-T San Diego’s editorial board, clearly in the Carl DeMaio camp, took Fletcher to task for what they perceived as the muddle of mush in the middle. Did this mean Fletcher would negotiate with those evil labor unions? Does Independent mean “compromise is always good?”

My column last week, “The Fletcher Flim Flam,” got a lot of attention and many comments, the most interesting one coming from Democratic Assemblyman Isadore Hall sent not by the politician himself but by a worried Fletcher campaign staffer who forwarded it to the OB Rag asking that it be posted in response to my blog. Here it is:

On the same day that Jim Miller published his piece against Nathan Fletcher, the right wing group Americans for Prosperity was doing a press conference to attack him as well.

You may have heard about this group, the front group for the Koch brothers. This is the same group that supported the chaos and dysfunction in Wisconsin–a model and vision that Carl Demaio has laid out as his vision for San Diego.

It’s unfortunate that Jim Miller doesn’t know Nathan Fletcher, but I do.

By East County Magazine / April 26, 2012

April 26, 2012 (San Diego) — U.S. Congressman and Mayoral candidate Bob Filner spoke in front of the San Diego Planning Commission today to oppose the “Quail Brush” Power Plant, slated for construction next to the San Diego Mission Trails Regional Park. The site is within the City of San Diego, but will have negative impacts in neighboring Santee. The Planning Commission was deliberating on the decision to re-zone the proposed location from “open space” to “industrial use.”

Filner joined environmental groups, community organizations, and the entire Santee City Council in opposing the power plant.

By Frank Rich / The New Yorker / April 22, 2012

The first 25 conservative donors to give $1 million or more to super-PACs this cycle, either on their own, with their families, or with companies that they or their families control. Others have likely given millions more to 501(c)(4)s, “social welfare” groups that are not required to disclose their donors. (Based on filings through February 29.)

Sheldon Adelson, casino developer, his wife, Miriam, and their family

$16.5 million: Gingrich

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Harold Simmons, leveraged-buyout pioneer, his wife, Annette, and his holding company, Contran Corporation

$15.4 million: Crossroads, Perry, Gingrich, Santorum, Romney

By Frank Rich / The New Yorker / April 22, 2012

If you want to appreciate what Barack Obama is up against in 2012, forget about the front man who is his nominal opponent and look instead at the Republican billionaires buying the ammunition for the battles ahead. A representative example is Harold Simmons, an 80-year-old Texan who dumped some $15 million into the campaign before primary season had ended. Reminiscing about 2008, when he bankrolled an ad blitz to tar the Democrats with the former radical Bill Ayers, Simmons told The Wall Street Journal, “If we had run more ads, we could have killed Obama.”

It is not a mistake he intends to make a second time. The $15 million Simmons had spent by late February dwarfs the $2.8 million he allotted to the Ayers takedown and the $3 million he contributed to the Swift Boat Veterans demolition of John Kerry four years before that. Imagine the cash that will flow now that the GOP sideshows are over and the president is firmly in Simmons’s crosshairs.

Nathan Fletcher is not a man of great political courage. He isn’t even a particularly independent thinker. But he is politically clever, and he knows that San Diego’s Democratic base has a long history of being bamboozled by wolves in sheep’s clothing from the days of Pete Wilson to the present.

Fletcher’s recent move to leave the Republican Party and become an Independent clearly banks on this tradition continuing. Indeed, if I were Fletcher’s campaign manager I would have advised him to do exactly the same thing. After losing the GOP endorsement to Carl DeMaio, Fletcher was sitting at 13% in the polls in third place with only a slight lead over the absolutely hopeless Bonnie Dumanis. And if you are a genuinely affable, good-looking, war veteran with big ambitions and the strong conviction that the world needs you now, that is not a good place to be sitting.

By Andy Cohen and Annie Lane

Longtime Congressman and current candidate for Mayor of San Diego Bob Filner discusses mayoral race in an exclusive in depth interview.

On Friday mayoral candidate Bob Filner sat down with the OB Rag to discuss a wide range of topics, including sharing details on a pension plan that he has been promoting that as of yet has not been formally presented for examination.

The plan is an alternative to Prop B, the pension alternative plan developed and promoted by fellow mayoral candidate and current city councilman Carl DeMaio, outgoing mayor Jerry Sanders, and city councilman Kevin Faulconer. The “Comprehensive Pension Reform” plan that has been aggressively promoted by DeMaio calls for all new city employees to receive retirement benefits in the form of 401(k) style plans instead of a defined pension benefit package as is currently the norm.

By Dirty DeMaio / April 9, 2012

There’s been considerable attention paid recently to the secrecy around the hotelier vote to impose a new tax on the public. Those looking for the origin of the secret hotelier vote that apparently can’t be shared with the public can look back to October 10th last year, when the city council voted to make it secret. Thanks to a motion by Carl DeMaio, the city’s municipal code was altered specifically for this purpose: …

Van Jones reflects on his time in – and out of – the White House.

By Van Jones / YES! Magazine –RSN / April 3, 2012

The 2008 campaign was a campfire around which millions gathered. But after the election, it was nobody’s job or role to tend that campfire. The White House was focused on the minutiae of passing legislation, not on the magic of leading a movement. Obama For America did the best that it could, but the mass gatherings, the idealism, the expanded notions of American identity, the growing sense of a new national community, all of that disappeared.

It goes without saying that clear thinking and imaginative problem solving are easier in hindsight, away from the battlefield. I was in the White House for six months of 2009, and I was outside of it afterward. I had some of the above insights at the time, but many did not come to me in the middle of the drama and action. Most are the product of deeper reflection, which I was able to do only from a distance.

On Wednesday, April 4th, at their regular monthly meeting, the Ocean Beach Planning Board will elect new officers for the next year. The selection of Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary – the principle positions – is an annual ritual completed after the latest annual Board election. The election was held on March 13th, and the Board will presumptively certify the election results.

Also on the agenda is Scott Peters, who ostensibly, is giving a report on news from the San Diego Port District because he is a Port Commissioner. But as we all know, Scott Peters is also running for the Congressional seat in the 52nd District, which does include OB. So, he’ll be there to expound on his campaign. Peter’s Democratic opponent, former Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, will not be there. Peters is expected to report on the Convention Center expansion and the North Embarcadero “Visionary Project”.