Marty Block Fails to Get Dem Endorsement

Once again Marty Block came up a few votes short on getting the Democratic Party endorsement for the 78th Assembly district primary race. By coming up short for a second time, the big winners tonight were Arlie Ricasa and Auday Arabo. Speaking of Arabo, tonight the assembled delegates he announced that he had gained the personal endorsements of Speaker Fabian Nunez and Speaker-to-be Karen Bass. The timing of the announcement obviously helped to deny Block the party endorsement, but was nowhere enough to get Arabo the party endorsement himself.

One final note: Since the CDP has officially taken no position on the 78th race, it now falls to the San Diego County Democratic Party if they want to take a position on the race.

Can Marty Do It?

Two weeks ago at the Region 21 pre-endorsement caucus, Marty Block came up two votes short of the 70% required for the Democratic Party endorsement in the 78th Assembly race. In a matter of hours, the Region 21 caucus will be meeting at CDP Convention in San Jose to vote again for the Democratic Party endorsement in the 78th Assembly race. This time threshold for endorsement is only 60%. It will be interesting to see if Marty can get the endorsement this time.

Also, on the agenda at the Region 21 caucus, will be the endorsement in the 53rd Congressional race, between incumbent Susan Davis and challenger Mike Copass. Congresswoman Davis easily won the endorsement two weeks ago, but because of a snafu on the part of the CDP, enough delegates challenged the results to force another vote at the convention.

Friday - Quick Hits

City of San Diego credit rating improves from negative to positive. UT

District-3 candidate John Hartley arrested on indecent exposure charge. UT

City Attorney Mike Aguirre notifies SDG&E that they might violate their franchise agreement with city. UT

Camping fees for the Cleveland National Forest may rise. UT

Judge orders county to rewrite rules on county medical program for the poor. UT

City of Chula Vista to consider mandatory green building standards for new homes and business. UT

Largest hotel on West Coast proposed for East Village. UT

Novel concept, improving mass transit to airport. UT

Thursday - Quick Hits

Another roadblock for controversial Sunrise Powerlink. UT

If voluntary cutbacks don't work, maybe the county water authority should try mandatory cutbacks. UT

La Mesa council member says mayor Art Madrid should foot bill for police investigation. UT

The Port Commission is moving ahead with lighting project for Coronado Bridge as it seeks submissions from artists. UT

Logan Heights eyed as the next area for redevelopment. VOSD

Dirty DeMaio

San Diego needs real leadership - not more mismanagement and dirty politics. We need leaders who look beyond their own personal gain and work for all San Diegans.

What we don’t need is more dirty politicians – but that’s exactly what we would get with Carl DeMaio.

When DeMaio showed up at City Hall in 2002, nobody knew what was behind his buzzword-driven proposals for “cleaning up City Hall.” It turns out that it’s DeMaio’s own record that needs cleaning up. The truth is, Carl DeMaio is just one more dirty politician. And his record proves it:

DeMaio claims to be a fiscal watchdog. In fact, he can't even balance his own books and has regularly violated tax laws.

DeMaio says he’s running to represent fellow San Diegans. In fact, he recently said in a sworn affidavit that he is a resident of Arlington, Virginia.

DeMaio has criticized City Hall corruption and special interests. In fact, he is a lobbyist and consultant who represents corporations and special interests.

See for yourself. Get the facts on DeMaio's dirty record and help clean it up. Go to DirtyDeMaio.com.

This message was paid for by the thousands of firefighters, nurses, teachers and other workers of the San Diego Labor Council.

Wednesday - Quick Hits

Pot selling pastor given pardon by president. UT

Art Madrid saga in La Mesa continues. City manager hires investigated to look into police action on the night of the incident. UT

County moves closer to new libraries in Fallbrook, Ramona, and Alpine. UT

County looking at creating a fire warden position. UT

Riverside county board of supervisors approve affordable housing plan. UT

County home prices in practical free-fall. NCTimes VOSD

Tuesday - Quick Hits

Street Scene set to return to the downtown streets that give it its birth back in 1983. UT

Not a good sign, Agurrie falls short on fundraising. Has only raised $7400 between Jan 1 and Mar 17. UT

Council approves mini-dorm ordinance. UT

Scripps Research Institute plans first new medical school in U.S. in 40 years. UT

City council committee pushes forward with recommendation to hire 17 more auditors. UT

Marti Emerald raises more money than April Boling in D7, Steve Whitburn barely out raises Todd Gloria in D3. UT

Steve Francis is outspending Jerry Sanders 4 to 1 in mayoral race. UT

President of Vista Unified School Board to run for Oceanside city council. UT

Monday - Quick Hits

UCSD is planning on building another biomedical research building on campus. UT

Housing crisis continues. County homes sales drop 17.9% compared to same time last year. UT

Wow, the D.A. discovers that juries tend to be overwhelmingly white. UT

Another example of failure of modern conservatism as a governing philosophy. Report states city needs an audit staff five times its size to adequately do its job. UT VOSD

I'm shocked! Bill Horn is doing the right thing? Supervisor Horn taking on role to preserve Rancho Guejito from development. NCTimes