Zig Zag Zaph

This article from CityBeat is a classic. Featured is Lorie Zaph, the local Republican Central Committee and Lincoln Club choice for City Council in Donna Frye’s District 6.

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/zig_zag_zapf/9037/

A class act. Wayne should walk away with this one.

Jerry Brown: California needs a governor with knowledge

From Today's Sac Bee:

Published Tuesday, Mar. 02, 2010
jchang@sacbee.com


Attorney General Jerry Brown made it official this morning that he's running for California governor, putting to rest months of speculation about his political intentions.

Brown, who served two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983, said in an online video posted on his Web site, "At this stage of my life, I'm prepared to focus on nothing else but fixing this state I love."

He pledged in the video that under his leadership, "there will be no new taxes unless you the people vote for them."

He also said the state could not take a risk on "an outsider who knows virtually nothing about state government.'

"We've tried that, and it doesn't work," Brown said. "We've found that not knowing is not good."

Brown does not have any scheduled public events today.

Brown will likely be the sole Democratic nominee and will face one of two wealthy, largely self-financed Republican candidates, Meg Whitman or Steve Poizner. Candidates for governor have until March 12 to file with the Secretary of State's office.

For months, Brown has avoided taking explicit positions on major issues such as the state's budget crisis, prisons or schools, arguing that he was not yet a candidate.

With today's announcement, Brown must start filling in the blanks with voters, said Democratic strategist Andrew Acosta, whose business partner Roger Salazar is helping to run an independent expenditure committee targeting Whitman and other Republicans.

"At some point, voters are going to want to know the vision that Jerry Brown has for the state moving forward," Acosta said. "Jerry Brown still conjures up a lot of images in the past because of his (history) in public office. This is an opportunity for him to articulate that."

Brown has revealed his views on some issues in recent months, such as saying tax increases are not politically feasible and supporting AB 32, which commits the state to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions.

Brown claims a 40-year political career in California, having served as California secretary of state, governor, California Democratic Party chairman, mayor of Oakland and attorney general. He's also run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate and president.

The 71-year-old enters a race that's already costing tens of millions of dollars, with the Whitman campaign saying she's prepared to spend up to $150 million of her personal wealth on the race.

Poizner, the current state insurance commissioner, has also put in $19 million of his own money into his campaign.

Brown's announcement caps a long-in-the-works political comeback after his career flamed out after his unsuccessful 1992 presidential run.

Brown retrenched in the mid-1990s, hosting a talk show on liberal radio network Pacifica and running a political action and spirituality center out of his warehouse loft near Oakland's Jack London Square.

He re-entered the public sphere in 1998 by winning election as mayor of Oakland and serving two terms there. Brown was elected attorney general in 2006.

Ernest Dronenburg Dazed and Confused in San Diego Assessor Race

The Union-Tribune is reporting that GOP Ernest Dronenburg, who is running for County Assessor is having problems understanding the campaign reporting laws. While many would agree the campaign laws are complex, but he has run five times for a multi-county office, been in elected office since 1978. So, he should have a better handle with some of these laws.

Questions: Two of the infractions were he did know you can't use PO Boxes for donors and collect interest on those donations. If he is making these types of mistake and wants to run an office he has no previous experience, then what issues can we expect from him there?

One Year Later California Democrats Praise Recovery Act

Bill Has Funded Thousands of Jobs in California and Saved Economy From Total Collapse


Sacramento — One year ago this week, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Since then it has funded up to two million jobs nationwide, including 70,745 jobs in California, and saved the nation’s economy from total collapse. As a result of the Recovery Act, California has received $21.5 billion in additional federal funding, with more than $7.7 billion received thus far.

“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Obama a year ago this week, has brought tens of thousands of jobs to California and helped to save our economy from total collapse,” said Timothy Paulson chair of the labor caucus for the California Democratic Party.

“California’s working families have seen a tax break because of this bill, and small businesses have received loans to help them build their businesses and create more jobs. President Obama and our Democratic leaders in Congress are working around the clock to get our economy back on track. There is still much work to be done to create more jobs here in California but it’s clear that the Recovery Act is doing its job.”

Democrats Endorse Term Limits Initiative

Reform Would Curb Political Free Rein on the Board of Supervisors

SAN DIEGO –- Joining a growing coalition of San Diegans who demand more accountability from their County government, the Democratic Party has endorsed a ballot initiative to impose term limits on members of the Board of Supervisors. Voters will decide the issue in the June 8 election this year.

More than 70% of the County Democratic Central Committee voted Tuesday to support the endorsement, which would restrict Supervisors to two four-year terms in office. Although Democrats now outnumber Republicans in San Diego County, such is the power of unlimited incumbency on the Board that it has consisted of the same group of five Republicans for the past 15 years.

Proponents of term limits argued that as a result, the Supervisors are disconnected from their constituents and have been derelict in their responsibilities to provide adequate health and social services, fire protection, environmental oversight, and transparency in government.

“This Board of Supervisors simply does not represent the interests of San Diegans,” said Jess Durfee, Chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party. “They have set up their own fiefdoms for life through slush funds, redrawing their own districts, large staffs, and keeping voters in the dark.

“Passage of term limits will lead to more competitive elections and a more responsive Board to tackle the County’s longstanding problems –- like a weakened social safety net, an outdated general plan, and an inadequate regional fire protection system,” added Durfee.

A list of all the County Democratic Party’s endorsements to date is available at www.sddemocrats.org/endorsements.

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Does something smell rotten: Dumanis doesn't want to get into endorsement

Did you read the voiceofsandiego.org article about District Attorney Dumanis had urged her deputies to remain neutral in the 2010 Sheriff race since her office deals with the Sheriff's Department regularly. Yet she endorsed appointed Sheriff Gore. Well, I started looking at their articles about Dumanis and found the article - She's Got Power and She's Willing to Use It where Dumanis admits she told her employees to stay out of the Sheriff race due to their working relationship with the Sheriff's office and she endorsed in it. What was really disturbing was the exchange the reporter had with the President of the San Diego Deputy District Attorneys Association. When president was asked whether Dumanis had asked the association to stay neutral he said no, then when confronted that Dumanis told the reporter yes, he then suddenly remembered it.

Exchange from voiceofsandiego.org article: The president of the San Diego Deputy District Attorneys Association at first said Dumanis has made no attempt to influence the association on the sheriff's race.

"She hasn't said a peep to us about the sheriff's race," said David Hendren, the association's president.

When a reporter told him later that Dumanis acknowledged asking the association to remain neutral, he said he'd forgotten about her comments. "Now that you say that, I do think she made a comment to that effect on a meeting on something else. That was my mistake then."

Question: I don't think this guy is so forgetful about these things. Shouldn't there be an outside investigation into whether Dumanis used her position in her office over her staff for political purposes?

San Diego County Democratic Party Votes to Endorse County Term Limits

This evening it is reported that the San Diego County Democratic Party voted to support placing term limits on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. It should send a shock wave about the determination the San Diego County Democratic Party has on challenging the status quo. You remember there are now more Democratic registered voters in the county, then Republicans.

Everyone at the meeting could agree one important thing, the Board of Supervisors are completely out of touch with the people they should be helping and do not represent the majority of the people of San Diego County.

Members talked about the supervisors $10 million a year slush fund (hmm, where did the previous community project fund lists go on the county website?) to reward their contributors, the large campaign war chests, the failed North County mental health outsourcing, need for campaign finance reforms, real redistricting reforms removing the Supervisors from directing the drawing of their personal fiefdoms and most importantly educating the voters about the real responsibility of the County Board of Supervisors - fire, social safety net and the topic missed, but still needed, was the badly needed revision of the outdated general plan for land use.

This evening the endorsement is already making the rounds on Facebook pages and status updates in the era of social networking. Interesting was the question about the Republican Party endorsing the term limits .

QUESTION:Does anyone know a term limit measure the San Diego County Republican Party or even the California Republican Party didn't support and were not asking about measures that would alter existing term limit lengths?

Controversy erupts over California GOP chairman's private life

From today's Sacramento Bee:

Controversy erupts over California GOP chairman's private life
By Charles Piller
cpiller@sacbee.com
Published Friday, Feb. 05, 2010

A long-simmering controversy about the private life of California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring has erupted into a divisive conflict within the party.

This week the San Diego Republican Party executive committee, led by Tony Krvaric, chair of the San Diego party, called a meeting for Feb. 8 to discuss the removal of Michael Crimmins, an ex-officio member of its central committee. The executive committee recommended Crimmins' expulsion, in part for sending an e-mail to state party leaders that raised concerns about behavior by Nehring and Krvaric.

Crimmins, a retired Marine Corps officer and congressional candidate in the 53rd District in San Diego County, referenced allegations, initiated in an anonymous e-mail broadly disseminated to the party and media last fall, that Nehring brutalized a former romantic partner.

In a memo mailed to central committee members this week, the executive committee called Crimmins' claims "malicious rumors and false charges."

A separate, anonymous counterpunch was distributed via e-mail Thursday among party activists announcing a news conference after the Feb. 8 meeting that purportedly would call for the removal of Krvaric and Nehring from their posts. One justification, the e-mail stated, was that the two men allegedly harassed Nehring's former partner for considering bringing her story to legal authorities.

Nehring and Krvaric have not yet responded to Bee requests for interviews. Barrett Tetlow, a San Diego Republican Party spokesman, said that the Monday press conference was not a party event and that he would have no comment about it.