Tom Long: Don't let a court ruling get in the way of spinning an election

I've got to hand it to our friend, RPV Councilmember Tom Long. He really does persist through his political spin long after he's been proven wrong! He's like the attorney for OJ still arguing the case outside on the courthouse steps, long after they've carried his client away!

Even though our central committee went through the trouble of confirming with legal counsel (through a simple Lexis-Nexis search, by the way) that his partner-in-spin Councilmember Doug Stern was incorrect to state that political party committee are forbidden from participating in non-partisan elections, Long decides to send out a diatribe against my committee as follows:

"I encourage [RPV voters} not to choose candidates based on partisan labels. The California Constitution provides that city council races are non-partisan. True, a federal trial court judge has held that California cannot prevent parties from making endorsements. And in this RPV election one party central committee, led by a San Pedro resident, has done so. But the California Constitution is still on the books and reflects the judgment of our state's residents that partisanship is not valuable on the local level. Given the problems we sometimes see in the state legislature and in Congress, one has to wonder why anyone would want to bring partisanship to the city council. This year, as in past years, I am pleased to endorse candidates from both parties. I simply don't find local issues to be partisan."

Now, that "San Pedro resident" is none other than yours truly, one who was raised, received communion, confirmed by the Catholic church, graduated from high school in, and returned to get married in Rancho Palos Verdes. And oh yea, my parents still live there and own two homes in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Councilmember Long needs to stop deceiving Rancho Palos Verdes voters about the nature of local elections. All elections are partisan when it comes to endorsements. Just ask the unions throughout California. The fact that Tom makes endorsements as well shows that he understands the strength of them. And by the tone of the message he sent out this week, he realizes the renewed strength in the endorsement of this central committee. Thank you, Tom, for validating the awesome work that this committee, a majority of which are RPV residents by the way, is doing! And for most of them, their mutual disdain for both Tom and his cohort Doug Stern has been a unifying factor!

Thanks to the extensive research by these hardworking RPV residents, this committee has enthusiastically endorsed Brian Campbell & Anthony Misetich, two hard-working business men who will being fiscal sanity back to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council. A third Republican, Planning Commissioner Jeff Lewis, was not granted an extension to the invitation to solicit this committee's endorsement. It is my personal opinion that the close association between Long and Mr. Lewis weighed heavily into the RPV committee majority's decision to move forward.

But ladies and gentlemen, if you think that the Los Angeles Democratic Party is not participating in the Rancho Palos Verdes elections, you're blinder than Long. I have frequent conversations with my Democratic counterparts, the two leads for this district being from San Pedro as well, and I run into them in Rancho Palos Verdes frequently! In addition to their regular attendance at RPV City Council meetings and events like the last candidate forum, they assist with the Palos Verdes Democratic Club that meets every third Sunday at the PV Library, and are enlisting numerous San Pedro high school students to walk precincts for their candidates.

And so are we! I'm sorry that Long does not "find local issues to be partisan". When the wasteful spending called out by the late Dr. Gardiner was ignored and even challenged by Long, was that simply non-partisan? When residents try to defend their property rights at city council meetings, only to have Long call them "stupid" (which I witnessed two years ago in shock!), is that non-partisan?

The Republican Party leadership has decided that one of the biggest reasons why, as Long points out, there are big issues with Sacramento & Congress is that the Democrats have done a much better job building up "the farm team" for these seats when they open. These are your school board members, water board members, and yes, city council members. Look at the rush of candidates competing for the Democratic nominations to the 53rd Assembly seat being vacated by Ted Lieu, and you'll notice something...they're all current or former city councilmembers! When our previous Assemblymember, Betty rnette, was termed out last year, the Democrats had two Long Beach City Councilmembers vying for the seat.

This is what we in the Republican Party are striving for, and the myopic rants of a far-left Democrat afraid of his council swinging back to the Republican majority again isn't going to stop us.

So when you read Tom Long's e-mails about how elections should be non-partisan, I want you all to remember that this was the original position of the Republican Party when this law came about, and that it was the San Francisco Democratic Central Committee that fought and won the battle to have that part of the California Constitution removed.

But, to show Tom I can be bi-partisan as well, I will announce my personal endorsements of Greg Royston, Anthony Collatos and Heather Matson for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unifed School District. As a graduate of Rolling Hills High School and as a parent of two young children, I am extremely impressed by the courage and commitment of these three individuals to step up as parents of young children in the school district in order to make the system a better one. They're not doing it to continue any connections with the CA Teachers Association or with the "in-crowd of PV Politics". We need more parent involvement in our local school districts, and I believe that these three school district parents will make a real difference.

Oh, and none of them are Republican...they're just great candidates. Just like Brian Campbell and Anthony Misetich.

Thanks again, Tom, for continuing to be the unifying force for all of the Republican and Conservative watchdog groups throughout the Palos Verdes Peninsula! I look forward to returning my hometown of Rancho Palos Verdes back to the Republican majority again in 4 weeks!

Then the fun can really begin! 2010, here we come!

Judicial Endorsements for June Primary

Fellow conservatives,

In keeping with my commitment to getting out the word on all of the races for June 3rd, I wanted to talk a little about a friend of mine running for Superior Judge. Even better, I'll let her talk to you herself. She sent out a posting for me to use, and I've included most of it below.

Of note, Kathleen Blanchard has joined with superior judge candidates of multiple parties to create a true crime-fighting team of conservative judiciary candidates. Kathleen received the endorsement of the Lincoln Clubs of Los Angeles County, which is a true sign of a conservative candidate. Here is most of her message below, including the team of candidates I am endorsing for June 3rd. (The list includes both judiciary candidates endorsed by the Republican Party of Los Angeles County - Michael O'Gara & Michael Jesic.)

"Hi everyone! As you know, I am running for judge in the June 3rd election (seat 123). I am writing to solicit your help in getting the word out about the election. There are 11 superior court seats on the ballot, and not much else, so I fear that voter turn-out will be extremely low. What that means is that every vote counts A LOT.

I am asking that each of you send a mass e-mail to everyone you know in Los Angeles County, asking them to VOTE on June 3rd, and to vote for the best caandidate in each of the judicial races.

...(T)ell them about me (a career prosecutor, working in the Hardcore Gang Division, prosecuting gang-related homicides, endorsed by virtually every police officer organization in LA County, the LA Times, Antonovich, Knabe, Cooley, Baca, & more than 30 Superior Court Judges) and/or about my opponents (both of whom were rated "not qualified" by the Los Angeles County Bar Association), or you can simply refer them to my website at www.blanchard4judge.com where they can learn everything they need to know about my race.

In addition to my own race, I have some suggestions about whom to vote for in the other seats. These aren't just friends of mine; they are great prosecutors who have dedicated their careers to public service. Each of them would make an excellent judge. But, again, you don't have to believe me. Each has a campaign website where you can go to see their qualifications for yourself:

seat 69 Serena Murrillo www.murilloforjudge.com
seat 72 Hilleri Merritt www.merrittforjudge.com
seat 82 Thomas Rubinson www.tomrubinson4judge.com/
seat 94 Michael O'Gara ogara4judge.com
seat 95 Lance Winters www.wintersforjudge.com
seat 119 Jared Moses www.mosesforjudge.com
Seat 123 Kathleen Blanchard www.blanchard4judge.com
seat 154 Michael Jesic www.jesicforjudge.com

If you would please pass this information along to everyone you know, wherever they live in L.A. County, and ask them to do the same, I would really appreciate it. I'm trying to make it as easy as possible, so that people can just print out the list & take it with them to the polls. Thank you so much for all of your help! Please let me know if you have any questions."

I plan to compile all of my endorsements into one easy handout that I will send out, and will also try to set it up on this site to download it. This way, you'll have what you need for the polls.

Why the Central Committee elections matter...

Until I moved to San Pedro and got more involved with the County Party, I had never heard of County Central Committees. When I worked campaigns for gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren, Bush 2000, and congressional candidate Tim Escobar in 2002 and 2004, I never once heard of the central committee structure or how they were "supposed" to be working to get out the Republican vote. I have some theories why, but I think more importantly than why past committees have been pretty much irrelevant in the campaigns I have worked over the past 10 years, I want to instill in everyone that reads this why we need stronger and more effective central committees.

I was introduced to the central committee organization in 2006 working for Michael A. Jackson's campaign. My first impression was that the central committee's purpose was to give seven people plus ex-officios a status as being the "Republican authority" of their respective district. They were supposed to meet once a month and discuss opportunities to recruit more Republicans for office. What I saw throughout Los Angeles County were a few members in each district trying to do just that; but I also noticed those that ran for central committee strictly for their own agendas. They assumed that a position on the committee meant coffers of money would open up, and that they were "entitled" to support from every Republican in their district, if not through donations at least every Republican vote in the district. What they failed to do was reach out and ask voters and locally-elected leaders HOW they could earn their support.

My biggest priority for my first term was to learn HOW to earn the support of the local leaders and learn from them how to win elections in their parts of the district. The biggest lesson I have learned is that voters do NOT want activists as legislators, so much as they want leaders that have shown action in their activism. They also want intelligent legislators who work their way up through their local councils, school boards and community organizations. If you look at the Democratic leaders who have been successful, they all came from local elections; so have most of the Republican elected legislators. So it makes sense that we need to get more active in electing more Republicans to our local offices in the district.

So long as we play the Democrats game of "non-partisan" elections, they will continue to win majorities on our city councils. No where is this more evident than in our three primary parts of the 54th Assembly District. In Long Beach, the Democratic Party has engaged in a 12-year effort to maintain an ultra-high majority. They have done this through the unions & special interest organizations, and I have to commend one of my counterparts, Sergio Carrillo, for keeping the "non-partisan" message resonating well. Not only have local Democratic candidates been able to hide behind this, they've even been able to convince Republican voters that local elections are somehow non-partisan. So let me ask a few questions about "local issues" to see if we could afford a little partisanship:

1) Do you like paying MORE property taxes or LESS property taxes?
2) Do you prefer MORE social welfare programs or LESS programs?
3) Do you prefer MORE local government regulations on small businesses, or LESS?
4) Do you prefer MORE crime (through ignoring increasing crime trends), or LESS crime by getting tougher on criminals and gangs (think City of Los Angeles vs. City of Torrance)
5) Do you prefer MORE local government spending or LESS government spending?

I hope now you can see why promoting Republican principles and values in local races is essential. But who should be taking on the responsibility to promote these by finding and supporting local Republicans throughout each district? THIS is the official mission of your local Republican Central Committee, and one that I take very seriously.

So long as I am chairman of the 54th AD Republican Central Committee, local Republicans who seek to make a difference in their city, be it Long Beach, Signal Hill, Avalon, Los Angeles, Rolling Hills Estates or Rancho Palos Verdes, will have a group of Republican leaders behind them. This is why I am running for another term on the committee; because we have work to do in 2009 & 2010.

To close, I have learned of an effort by a few candidates to divide Long Beach (& Avalon) Republicans from those in Palos Verdes & San Pedro by marginalizing the importance of a cross-district level of support. These "Greater Long Beach" candidates are missing a key component in their campaign: Support from ANY Long Beach elected Republican. Meanwhile, I am pleased to state that two of our best Long Beach Republican leaders, Long Beach Councilman Gary DeLong and LBUSD Board member Jon Meyer, have endorsed me, as well as my friend Davina Keiser, for election on June 3rd. I have received numerous other endorsements from across the district, and I have posted them at the top of the left column. Many of these leaders have expressed a desire for our central committee members to work together across the district and help each other when each local race comes up. Those I have endorsed understand this purpose, and voting for these seven will increase the strength of our committee to seek out good Republican candidates and give them the necessary volunteer and operational support to win local election.

I hope you will make sure to vote on June 3rd for myself and my six friends, and spread the word to all of your Republican friends in Long Beach, Avalon, Signal Hill, San Pedro and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. We have a lot of work to do, and a divided committee will have the same problems in 2 years that past committees did. A united committee will be able to effectively take on the unions and special interests battling to take over our local governments and our local schools.

Your vote matters on June 3rd!

Central Committee Endorsements...and WHY

In my earlier post on central committees, I laid out the basics of its mission and objectives. Today, I will lay out for you the six other candidates you NEED to vote for (along with me, of course) this June in order to maintain the momentum of involvement and support for electeds and future electeds throughout the 54th Assembly District. (I have listed them at the top left, and will maintain this list through the June Election.)

Prior to my election to the central committee, the level of involvement by both this district's committee and others throughout Los Angeles County was sporadic at best. Personally, I had worked two congressional campaigns in Los Angeles County and had never HEARD of the central committees. To this, I give due credit to Mr. Jackson, who promoted the need for increased involvement by the district committees. At the time (February 2006), we were primarily concerned about his own race for Assembly, but he was correct to call out the lack of participation by these committees. In my opinion, the primary reason for the lack of involvement by these committees was the primary reason most people ran for these committees: Their own personal agendas.

I decided to be a candidate that was going to engage differently. It was time for a committee of members that had no specific campaign or candidate in mind, but wanted to get more Republicans elected throughout the district. Others that filed shared this vision, including James Crean (who is taking time away next term to focus more on family & business). James has been a phenomenal mentor of mine, and I hope I can continue working with him in future years to further the principles and values throughout the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

We have some great candidates who are eager to get involved from Palos Verdes to Long Beach, and I'll talk about each one now.

First, I hope that my fellow board member Davina Keiser is elected to the next central committee. Davina has been serving as an alternate, and also stepped up to serve as our committee Secretary. Employed as a teacher in LBUSD, Davina has been this committee's best resource for providing information about the political scene throughout Long Beach. While we have members from Long Beach, Davina has dove deeper into both the LBUSD races and the City Council races, and been a positive point-of-contact for Republican electeds there. I expect Davina to continue building her network within Long Beach, and make this committee's networking event stronger.

Two central committee members that have weathered the storms of the past and I hope will continue to be appreciated and supported throughout the district are Nancy Comaford and Al Han. Both are veterans of past AD campaigns, as well as critical races throughout Los Angeles County. Nancy has been a positive role-model for fellow Republican Women's Federated (RWF) groups throughout the county, and I have benefited much from her knowledge & experiences during meaningful telephone conversations. I very much hope I will continue to benefit from this, and the district will reap those benefits as well. Al has been a critical member of key election campaigns throughout the county, including the LA Community College District race last year and the Victory '06 campaign. Serving as the 2nd Vice-Chair to the County Party, Al has been able to bring increased attention to our district and continues to work hard to get campaign donations to key candidates. Al has also been a critical resource for me as I continue building relationships throughout the county in the best interests of this district.

For new members, I am endorsing a candidate from each of the three primary cities in this district: Chuck Michel from Palos Verdes, John Cozza from San Pedro, and Kevin Kunkle from Long Beach. Each brings a unique background and set of experiences that should help this committee take advantage of lessons learned from a diverse group. Chuck Michel is an attorney who brings contacts and connections throughout the district, including his representation of the American Flag flying at Trump National Golf Course. John Cozza has been involved in both local San Pedran business issues and those within the City of Los Angeles. He was the Legislative Analyst for Former Council member Rudy Svorinich, and has a deep understanding of the 15th Council District of Los Angeles, which is primarily located within the 54th AD. Kevin Kunkle was recently on the local leadership team for Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul, and brings with him experiences and lessons from his campaign. Kevin was very active in Get-Out-The-Vote efforts throughout Long Beach, and brings a lot of operational experience and motivation to this committee. Though I worked for a different candidate in the primary, I have a deep level of both respect and admiration for fellow Republicans that supported Ron Paul's high-energy campaign, and I hope we can take some valuable advice from Kevin and others on how to energize our other 2008 races.

Finally, I (John Stammreich) sincerely hope that I have proven to be a valuable player in the local politics throughout the 54th AD. From my neighborhood council election in San Pedro to chairing this committee (when no one else wanted to), I have worked hard to grow this committee back into a viable & credible committee that our Republican leadership has recognized as a key political force in the district again. Knowledgeable local candidates used to skip this committee and proceed directly to the county meetings when seeking endorsements, and many local candidates did not know about the capabilities and support that this committee can offer. Since December 2006, I have risen both the visibility and credibility of our committee, with the help of some great supporters mentioned earlier, and I ask for your vote for myself and the six candidates I have endorsed for the June 2008 Central Committee elections.

Please e-mail me at stammiam@yahoo.com if you have any questions about myself or those I look forward to serving with for the next 2 years.