I had the opportunity to join 54th Assembly Republican candidate Gabriella Holt at San Pedro High School yesterday to talk to the senior class about the 54th AD campaign and opportunities to get involved. Also attending the day-long session were the two Democratic candidates, Long Beach Vice-Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal & Long Beach City Councilmember Tonia Reyes Uranga. All three candidates, and their campaign reps, were very cordial & we enjoyed a day of listening to each other speak to six separate government classes about the 54th Assembly seat race.
What impressed me the most about the sessions were the great questions that the seniors asked the candidates. My assessment of the three candidates' performance could be summarized as this: The Democrat candidates talked to the students like they were 8th graders; Gabriella & I talked to them like they were adults. Not that we talked over their heads; I think both Democrats did that at times, especially Ms. Lowenthal. Our focus when we talked to them were on issues that they could relate to & would affect them directly. I'll give an example.
We made sure that the primary topic of discussion was the state budget. We did not shy away from talking about the education portion of the budget, and we pointed out to the students that the Democrats have had the last 12 years in charge of both houses of the Legislature to spend wisely, and have chosen not to. We used two analogies to make our point: First, we talked about their own budgets. We asked them how many would be able to go ask their parents for more money simply because they had spent all of theirs. Knowing how San Pedrans raise their children to be accountable and independent, we knew the answer would be none. Second, we asked them how much businesses like Starbucks pay in taxes. (Any fan of Tom McClintock knows this answer...NONE.) When I asked them why businesses don't pay taxes, most of them knew the answer...that businesses flow their tax increases to consumers in the price of products, like that cup of coffee. We then drew the relationship to the jobs they will be looking for in the very near future, and it made sense.
When it was Mrs. Uranga's turn to speak, she focused on Air Quality issues and the education budget as well. For the Air Quality discussion, she talked about "little particles" in the air, using her fingers like she was plucking them out of the air. She made a few good points about the need to be cleaner, but then she talked about how those "mean Republicans" wanted to take money away from schools. She talked about the Governor cutting the budget, but had no answer for fixing the budget besides raising taxes. Gabriella was able to talk about how her school district had the same problem in 2002, and found wasteful spending that resulted in saving EVERY teacher's salary. Among these was over $60,000 a year for bottled water for the administration. This is a teacher's salary saved from just this one savings action. Democrats are not willing to cut their wasteful spending in order to save teacher salaries. But they're willing to tax you more instead!
Ms. Lowenthal's discussion points kept changing during each of the six sessions. She was extremely defensive each time, and seemed to be trying to anticipate what Tonia and especially Gabriella were going to say. She would often turn around to Gabriella and state to the current group one of the points she thought Gabriella wold make, and then try to refute it pro-actively. Of course, because Democrats are used to misrepresenting Republican positions even to each other, Ms. Lowenthal often got the point wrong. This opened the opportunity for Gabriella to quickly re-introduce the topic (correctly) and then use a different example to prove the same point. Bonnie grossly underestimated the scope of the event, originally showing up with only a handful of fliers by herself. When she noticed that the other two candidates had more material and support, she made a quick phone call and got her campaign manager over there. When she talked, she listed all of her endorsements (people and groups these students never heard of) and
then tried to convince them how "greedy luxury boat owners and recreational vehicle owners needed to pay their fair share." Easy enough, but more proof that Bonnie does not know much about San Pedro. Boating and Sport Fishing are big with San Pedrans, and many of these students own their own ATV's or Sea-Doos. So when we got a chance to talk about these, it was simple. When these get taxed higher, fewer get sold, which means fewer get built. This means fewer people employed to build them.
Overall, the students who paid attention were smart and analytical. Questions like "If you don't cut the Education part of the budget, what part DO you cut?" and "How do you plan to deal with the gang violence in L.A.?" showed me that they were thinking extremely logical. Another question I liked was " What are you going to do to ensure people get off of welfare?". I watched as each Democrat candidate fumbled around in their head, probably searching for which talking point was appropriate. Meanwhile, Gabriella and I stood back and smiled as we waited so Gabriella could complement the students asking the questions and give them the intelligent answers they deserved.
In the end, we signed up a huge number of volunteers who are excited to get their volunteer hours working for Gabriella Holt. Despite the presence of two Democrat candidates (meaning there was twice as much time for the Democratic platform to be pitched), these students were able to sort out the truth from the talking points. We even received interesting comments from the Democratic candidates; both confessed that they did not expect a Republican candidate to come to the school. Both have been underestimating the Republican chances because of our past history in the district. If there's one thing Gabriella Holt did on Wednesday, it was to put a little fear in both Democrat candidates that the election for this seat will not nearly be over after June 3rd.
If you want to learn more about the Republican candidate making her two Democrat challengers squirm nervously when they're together, go to http://www.gabriellaholt.com/.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Green Energy available NOW, but Democrats do not support
Growing a bit lazy this week, I wanted to share with you the efforts of the great California crusader who is working to bring safe, nuclear power plants to California, just as the rest of the world is doing. Assemblymember Chuck DeVore has been putting it all out there for all legislators to address, and finally, Governor Schwarzenegger understands how nuclear power will help save us "billion & billions of oil".
Here's a copy of his e-mail to subscribers. (If you don't subscribe to his e-mails yet, I highly recommend them.)
The Honorable Chuck DeVore:
I had a long conversation with a member of the O.C. Register editorial board yesterday about modern nuclear power. He was very interested in Gov. Schwarzenegger's public embrace of nuclear power. This is the editorial that came out of that conversation and recent events.
Chuck DeVore, California State Assemblyman, 70th Districtwww.ChuckDeVore.com
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nuclear-power-energy-2001597-percent-california
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Editorial: Nuke the energy crisis
Gov. Schwarzenegger endorses a nuclear future
An Orange County Register editorial
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have signaled a new era of common sense for California regarding energy matters by announcing last week that nuclear power has "a great future" and should be considered, rather than "just looking the other way and living in denial."
We hope this points to a change in attitude among policy-makers, and to overturning a statewide ban on nuclear power plants imposed in 1976. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, who last year unsuccessfully authored a nuclear energy bill, is encouraged by Mr. Schwarzenegger's endorsement of the concept.
"I'm delighted to see Gov. Schwarzenegger now out front on this vital issue," Mr. DeVore said. The Irvine Republican again has introduced two bills in the current session to repeal the nuclear power-plant prohibition.
Mr. Schwarzenegger and Mr. DeVore are joined by public opinion that increasingly looks favorably on nuclear energy. A 2006 poll of likely voters, for example, showed those favoring nuclear power to be equal to those opposed, each drawing 46 percent of responders. That's an impressive increase from just one year before when opponents were 55 percent and those in favor only 37 percent. That's all on the plus side.
On the negative side, the usual suspects are in opposition. "Nuclear power has no future in California's new energy era because of its monumental dangers to the health and welfare of Californians," declared Democrat Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, chairman of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.
Contrary to Mr. Levine's assertion, there are at least 434 operating nuclear reactors worldwide meeting electrical needs of a billion-plus people, according to a report by the National Center for Policy Analysis. If those have resulted in "monumental" dangers, we must have missed that story.
Nuclear power provides about 75 percent of France's energy, and even 20 percent of U.S. power from 103 nuclear plants, including two California plants in San Onofre and Diablo Canyon. China plans 30 new nuclear reactors in the next five years. For 30 years there were no applications processed for nuclear plants in California, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received seven applications in the last year alone and expects another dozen by year's end, representing a total of 22 reactors, according to the Sacramento Bee.
A single, quarter-ounce pellet of uranium creates as much energy as three and a half barrels of oil, 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas or 1,780 pounds of coal – without CO2 emissions, according to the NCPA. The nuclear option is a perfect opportunity for Democrat obstructionists and radical environmentalists to support clean power generation without burning fossil fuels that generate the dreaded greenhouse gas, CO2.
Or will Democratic and radical environmental interests keep California in the dark while the rest of the world taps this reasonable, economical and environmentally clean option?
Here's a copy of his e-mail to subscribers. (If you don't subscribe to his e-mails yet, I highly recommend them.)
The Honorable Chuck DeVore:
I had a long conversation with a member of the O.C. Register editorial board yesterday about modern nuclear power. He was very interested in Gov. Schwarzenegger's public embrace of nuclear power. This is the editorial that came out of that conversation and recent events.
Chuck DeVore, California State Assemblyman, 70th Districtwww.ChuckDeVore.com
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nuclear-power-energy-2001597-percent-california
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Editorial: Nuke the energy crisis
Gov. Schwarzenegger endorses a nuclear future
An Orange County Register editorial
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have signaled a new era of common sense for California regarding energy matters by announcing last week that nuclear power has "a great future" and should be considered, rather than "just looking the other way and living in denial."
We hope this points to a change in attitude among policy-makers, and to overturning a statewide ban on nuclear power plants imposed in 1976. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, who last year unsuccessfully authored a nuclear energy bill, is encouraged by Mr. Schwarzenegger's endorsement of the concept.
"I'm delighted to see Gov. Schwarzenegger now out front on this vital issue," Mr. DeVore said. The Irvine Republican again has introduced two bills in the current session to repeal the nuclear power-plant prohibition.
Mr. Schwarzenegger and Mr. DeVore are joined by public opinion that increasingly looks favorably on nuclear energy. A 2006 poll of likely voters, for example, showed those favoring nuclear power to be equal to those opposed, each drawing 46 percent of responders. That's an impressive increase from just one year before when opponents were 55 percent and those in favor only 37 percent. That's all on the plus side.
On the negative side, the usual suspects are in opposition. "Nuclear power has no future in California's new energy era because of its monumental dangers to the health and welfare of Californians," declared Democrat Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, chairman of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.
Contrary to Mr. Levine's assertion, there are at least 434 operating nuclear reactors worldwide meeting electrical needs of a billion-plus people, according to a report by the National Center for Policy Analysis. If those have resulted in "monumental" dangers, we must have missed that story.
Nuclear power provides about 75 percent of France's energy, and even 20 percent of U.S. power from 103 nuclear plants, including two California plants in San Onofre and Diablo Canyon. China plans 30 new nuclear reactors in the next five years. For 30 years there were no applications processed for nuclear plants in California, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received seven applications in the last year alone and expects another dozen by year's end, representing a total of 22 reactors, according to the Sacramento Bee.
A single, quarter-ounce pellet of uranium creates as much energy as three and a half barrels of oil, 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas or 1,780 pounds of coal – without CO2 emissions, according to the NCPA. The nuclear option is a perfect opportunity for Democrat obstructionists and radical environmentalists to support clean power generation without burning fossil fuels that generate the dreaded greenhouse gas, CO2.
Or will Democratic and radical environmental interests keep California in the dark while the rest of the world taps this reasonable, economical and environmentally clean option?
Monday, March 17, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Why Jenny Oropeza is NOT a businesswoman
Sorry for the week off. I enjoyed a weekend at the California Republican Party Convention in San Francisco, and was planning to write about the results. But I HAD to respond to the editorial in the Thursday Daily Breeze by State Senator Oropeza, who believes that your mortgage tax deduction is a "loophole" that needs to be filled.
In other works, you STILL don't pay enough taxes!
Senator Oropeza states in her editorial that "Leadership means solving problems." She continues..." government leaders must make difficult public service funding decisions with a fixed amount of revenue, and single parents must balance food, clothing and housing needs within the limits of their paychecks. Leaders of all kinds cannot afford to ignore reality; instead, they must make hard decisions with the information at hand." When I first read the editorial, I thought she had literally switched parties, or at least had a VERY good dinner meeting with fellow Senator Tom McClintock. But then she goes on to state "Beyond a few small fee increases, the governor has not proposed new or higher taxes to help balance revenues - echoing the party line issued by legislative Republicans." Thank you, Governor Schwarzenneger!
Democrats continue to miss the basic point of Senator McClintock: The business community does not pay taxes! Furthermore, rich individuals and families are not the most hurt by increased taxes; the poor and missle class are! For businesses, sales tax and other expenses are collected through the price of their products. Any increase of either are readily transferred to the consumer through increased prices. As for the rich, the costs of increased taxes are paid through less spending, whether it's eating out, traveling, purchasing nicer clothes, etc. Those employed in these industries that are dependent upon rich spenders are the hardest hit. This means restaurants, hotels, retail stores & other employers of low and middle class Americans.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported it better today: "With the state still facing a massive budget deficit, lawmakers have launched an effort to examine how many of the estimated $50 billion in tax credits and deductions they can reduce or eliminate to help balance the books. Those credits - sometimes called 'loopholes' by critics - range from the mortgage interest deduction to research credits for business to enterprise zones in the inner city. Many of them represent politically popular benefits that analysts say will be very difficult to eliminate when a two-thirds vote is required."
I'm surprised that those in Senator Oropeza's district, which includes Carson, El Segundo, Torrance, the Beach Cities and my portion of San Pedro, have tolerated someone who believes that her constituents need to sacrifice their tax deductions, which I'm sure are used primarily on essentials & retail (aka, economic stimulus). Jenny had a cake walk to get elected her first term; with these types of comments and liberal opinions, she needs to have a true challenge in 2010. Maybe something for the 53rd and 54th AD committees to work on together.
I may know someone interested...
In other works, you STILL don't pay enough taxes!
Senator Oropeza states in her editorial that "Leadership means solving problems." She continues..." government leaders must make difficult public service funding decisions with a fixed amount of revenue, and single parents must balance food, clothing and housing needs within the limits of their paychecks. Leaders of all kinds cannot afford to ignore reality; instead, they must make hard decisions with the information at hand." When I first read the editorial, I thought she had literally switched parties, or at least had a VERY good dinner meeting with fellow Senator Tom McClintock. But then she goes on to state "Beyond a few small fee increases, the governor has not proposed new or higher taxes to help balance revenues - echoing the party line issued by legislative Republicans." Thank you, Governor Schwarzenneger!
Democrats continue to miss the basic point of Senator McClintock: The business community does not pay taxes! Furthermore, rich individuals and families are not the most hurt by increased taxes; the poor and missle class are! For businesses, sales tax and other expenses are collected through the price of their products. Any increase of either are readily transferred to the consumer through increased prices. As for the rich, the costs of increased taxes are paid through less spending, whether it's eating out, traveling, purchasing nicer clothes, etc. Those employed in these industries that are dependent upon rich spenders are the hardest hit. This means restaurants, hotels, retail stores & other employers of low and middle class Americans.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported it better today: "With the state still facing a massive budget deficit, lawmakers have launched an effort to examine how many of the estimated $50 billion in tax credits and deductions they can reduce or eliminate to help balance the books. Those credits - sometimes called 'loopholes' by critics - range from the mortgage interest deduction to research credits for business to enterprise zones in the inner city. Many of them represent politically popular benefits that analysts say will be very difficult to eliminate when a two-thirds vote is required."
I'm surprised that those in Senator Oropeza's district, which includes Carson, El Segundo, Torrance, the Beach Cities and my portion of San Pedro, have tolerated someone who believes that her constituents need to sacrifice their tax deductions, which I'm sure are used primarily on essentials & retail (aka, economic stimulus). Jenny had a cake walk to get elected her first term; with these types of comments and liberal opinions, she needs to have a true challenge in 2010. Maybe something for the 53rd and 54th AD committees to work on together.
I may know someone interested...
Friday, February 15, 2008
Why John McCain can help us win the 54th AD
The past two weeks have proved to be both unpredictable and opportunistic. As most of you know, I was the CD 46 chair for Rudy Guliani, whom I believe would have given voters of all demographics someone to consider. We also saw the biggest flaw in the "big state" strategy during his campaign: the early primaries offer free media coverage that literally feeds one's campaign. McCain, Romney & Huckabee figured this out, and were hence the three that survived to Super Tuesday. (I don't consider Ron Paul a serious candidate; send me a comment if you'd like me to debate this on a future posting.)
After Super Tuesday's performance by Senator McCain, I noticed something that may have been lost on most ultra-conservatives of our Party. Despite our state Party's exclusion of non-Republicans from our primary, McCain took an overwhelming majority of California's delegates. The hypothesis of the state leadership was having solely Republican votes in the presidential primary would yield a more conservative presidential nominee. I believe that California Republicans know what the state Republican activists haven't comprehended yet; that having a moderately conservative candidate gives us the best chance of not only winning the White House, but also many of our closer legislative battles by competing for independent voters.
Our Congressional, State Senatorial, and Assembly candidates will appear on their respective November ballots directly after the presidential candidates, meaning that a voter's choice for President will be immediately followed by their choices for the state-level races. Because of this, our nominees will have a significant portion of their vote intertwined with that of our presidential nominee within their districts. If our nominee does well in a district, so will our state-level nominees there. If our nominee cannot lure the independent vote, currently estimated at 22% in our own 54th Assembly District, then our district and others currently held by Democrats will have little chance of changing hands.
The one thing John McCain brings over all else is his ability to attract the growing number of independent and third-party candidates throughout California, as well as traditional Democrats (aka. JFK/Reagan Democrats) that have turned away from the MoveOn.org activists controlling their party. In the 54th AD, the Democratic registration advantage is still close to an 8% gap at 43%-35%. This means that with even split of independents, our nominee still loses in the 54th 54%-46%. Where we stand a chance to win is by winning more independents & some Democratic voters. This requires both a presidential nominee able to capture independents, and an assembly nominee who can hold on to those independents when they reach the assembly member portion of the ballot.
The liberal press will continue to "report" that Senator McCain needs to focus on patching up the conservative voters and making his platform more appealing to our own Party members. I think most of us would attest that neither Clinton nor Obama will be luring many Republican voters to their camp; what they can do is lure more independent and moderate voters if McCain is forced to make his platform ultra-conservative to the point where he alienates most of the independent vote. The Democrats are relying on the far-right activists within our party to create dissention within it. Because of their current situation with Obama & Clinton both garnering 49% of their delegates, they can only hope that Republicans also continue to battle within. DNC Chairman Howard Dean has gone on record as being concerned about their eventual nominee only having 8 short weeks to campaign for the independent vote due to having no clear nominee until their convention. If we are foolish enough to wait until then to ally ourselves around one nominee as well, then we've taken away the opportunity to start talking to the independent 22% in our district, as well as the independent 30% state-wide.
I hope our party leaders have realized the opportunity we now have; not only to keep the White House in safe Republican hands, but a genuine opportunity to take batteground legislative districts, like our own 54th AD, by giving 22% of our district a presidential candidate worth voting for. Issues like the economy, taxes & national defense are those we've been successful at luring independent voters; issues such as abortion, gay rights and illegal immigration will only keep our candidates pinned down in a quagmire of debates that will take moderate voters away. There's a difference between "staying true to all of one's principles" & having to live in a world where any of those principles cease to exist. Senator McCain may not have been the most ultimate conservative in the past few years; but this may be the very characteristic that keeps our country out of the hands of the Democratic Party.
And having a nominee who can get independent voters gives us the opportunity to have them continue down the ballot to our other fine candidates.
After Super Tuesday's performance by Senator McCain, I noticed something that may have been lost on most ultra-conservatives of our Party. Despite our state Party's exclusion of non-Republicans from our primary, McCain took an overwhelming majority of California's delegates. The hypothesis of the state leadership was having solely Republican votes in the presidential primary would yield a more conservative presidential nominee. I believe that California Republicans know what the state Republican activists haven't comprehended yet; that having a moderately conservative candidate gives us the best chance of not only winning the White House, but also many of our closer legislative battles by competing for independent voters.
Our Congressional, State Senatorial, and Assembly candidates will appear on their respective November ballots directly after the presidential candidates, meaning that a voter's choice for President will be immediately followed by their choices for the state-level races. Because of this, our nominees will have a significant portion of their vote intertwined with that of our presidential nominee within their districts. If our nominee does well in a district, so will our state-level nominees there. If our nominee cannot lure the independent vote, currently estimated at 22% in our own 54th Assembly District, then our district and others currently held by Democrats will have little chance of changing hands.
The one thing John McCain brings over all else is his ability to attract the growing number of independent and third-party candidates throughout California, as well as traditional Democrats (aka. JFK/Reagan Democrats) that have turned away from the MoveOn.org activists controlling their party. In the 54th AD, the Democratic registration advantage is still close to an 8% gap at 43%-35%. This means that with even split of independents, our nominee still loses in the 54th 54%-46%. Where we stand a chance to win is by winning more independents & some Democratic voters. This requires both a presidential nominee able to capture independents, and an assembly nominee who can hold on to those independents when they reach the assembly member portion of the ballot.
The liberal press will continue to "report" that Senator McCain needs to focus on patching up the conservative voters and making his platform more appealing to our own Party members. I think most of us would attest that neither Clinton nor Obama will be luring many Republican voters to their camp; what they can do is lure more independent and moderate voters if McCain is forced to make his platform ultra-conservative to the point where he alienates most of the independent vote. The Democrats are relying on the far-right activists within our party to create dissention within it. Because of their current situation with Obama & Clinton both garnering 49% of their delegates, they can only hope that Republicans also continue to battle within. DNC Chairman Howard Dean has gone on record as being concerned about their eventual nominee only having 8 short weeks to campaign for the independent vote due to having no clear nominee until their convention. If we are foolish enough to wait until then to ally ourselves around one nominee as well, then we've taken away the opportunity to start talking to the independent 22% in our district, as well as the independent 30% state-wide.
I hope our party leaders have realized the opportunity we now have; not only to keep the White House in safe Republican hands, but a genuine opportunity to take batteground legislative districts, like our own 54th AD, by giving 22% of our district a presidential candidate worth voting for. Issues like the economy, taxes & national defense are those we've been successful at luring independent voters; issues such as abortion, gay rights and illegal immigration will only keep our candidates pinned down in a quagmire of debates that will take moderate voters away. There's a difference between "staying true to all of one's principles" & having to live in a world where any of those principles cease to exist. Senator McCain may not have been the most ultimate conservative in the past few years; but this may be the very characteristic that keeps our country out of the hands of the Democratic Party.
And having a nominee who can get independent voters gives us the opportunity to have them continue down the ballot to our other fine candidates.
Friday, February 8, 2008
California Voters choose wisely...Los Angeles Voters fall for "Phony Phone Tax"
This week's Super Tuesday showed us that a majority of statewide voters saw behind the deceptive wording of Proposition 93. Unfortunately, two-thirds of voters in the City of Los Angeles showed all of us that they could be convinced that a tax preservation was actually a tax reduction simply because they can be told that police & fire departments would be affected. It is a shame that Police Chief Bratton & Fire Chief Barry, both dedicated to serving their departments, could be politically naive in serving the interests of the tax-and-spend liberals of the Los Angeles City Council.
Did they honestly feel that the Mayor & members of the city council would actually make budget cuts to the police force & the fire department before looking at their boon-doggling programs and lavish travel expenses? Because of the deceptive measure of 2007, Measure R, most of the city council members are going to run for re-election in 2009; how many of them would have been so bold as to tell voters that because Measure S failed, they had to cut police and fire departments?
Neighborhood councils throughout the City of Los Angeles tried to get the word out to voters about this deceptive measure. I found myself working side-by-side with San Pedro Democrats who understood it wasn't that we were being asked to preserve (or rescue) a tax that had been ruled unconstitutional by the courts; it was how the City Council and the Mayor wrote the measure to be something that it wasn't. We were all burned by how deceptively Measure R was written as "Lobbying Activity Resitrictions", and, oh by the way, an extension of term limits from two terms to three. (shhhh!)
So I assume that Councilwoman Janice Hahn's $30 million anti-gang tax measure will be on the November 2008 ballot for voters in Los Angeles to consider, probaly as "Measure T". I'm curious to see how it is written to ensure it plays on our heart strings and shared conservative principles to vote for it. Don't be surprised to see a "Support the Troops" clause added to it or, even more appealing to the Randon Lengths crows in San Pedro, a "Get us out of Iraq now" clause. (Should we start a pool now?)
I am extremely thankful, though, for the voters throughout the state who saw through the similar deception going on with Proposition 93, the "Nunez/Perata Preservation Proposition" (oh, I mean "term limit reduction"), and voted to end the terms of these two horrible politicians. Thanks to the leadership of these two, our state budget is far worse than it was when they were elected, nanny legislation has run rampant & our Legislature has become the laughing stock of the country. Voters in both parties saw the opportunity to get rid of them and 42 other ineffective politicians, including our own assemblymember Betty Karnette, and replace them with some fresh members who will hopefully bring fresh ideas and energy to solving problems that have lingered on as unimportant to either Nunez or Perata.
A special thank you must go out to our Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who saw the need to step in and provide both organizational and financial leadership in defeating Proposition 93. Steve Poizner brought the same drive and vigor that he has shown in going after individuals & companies submitting fraudulent claims since being elected, and we are very blessed to have him in Sacramento.
So congratulations to the great state of California, who will have new members in both the State Senate and the Assembly in 2009! Our objective now is to ensure we work hard to get new leadership in these houses, including Gabriella Holt in our own 54th AD & Thomas Vidal in the 53rd AD. Let's take advantage of our progress to ensure we send members who will truly work for a balanced budget and a successful California.
Did they honestly feel that the Mayor & members of the city council would actually make budget cuts to the police force & the fire department before looking at their boon-doggling programs and lavish travel expenses? Because of the deceptive measure of 2007, Measure R, most of the city council members are going to run for re-election in 2009; how many of them would have been so bold as to tell voters that because Measure S failed, they had to cut police and fire departments?
Neighborhood councils throughout the City of Los Angeles tried to get the word out to voters about this deceptive measure. I found myself working side-by-side with San Pedro Democrats who understood it wasn't that we were being asked to preserve (or rescue) a tax that had been ruled unconstitutional by the courts; it was how the City Council and the Mayor wrote the measure to be something that it wasn't. We were all burned by how deceptively Measure R was written as "Lobbying Activity Resitrictions", and, oh by the way, an extension of term limits from two terms to three. (shhhh!)
So I assume that Councilwoman Janice Hahn's $30 million anti-gang tax measure will be on the November 2008 ballot for voters in Los Angeles to consider, probaly as "Measure T". I'm curious to see how it is written to ensure it plays on our heart strings and shared conservative principles to vote for it. Don't be surprised to see a "Support the Troops" clause added to it or, even more appealing to the Randon Lengths crows in San Pedro, a "Get us out of Iraq now" clause. (Should we start a pool now?)
I am extremely thankful, though, for the voters throughout the state who saw through the similar deception going on with Proposition 93, the "Nunez/Perata Preservation Proposition" (oh, I mean "term limit reduction"), and voted to end the terms of these two horrible politicians. Thanks to the leadership of these two, our state budget is far worse than it was when they were elected, nanny legislation has run rampant & our Legislature has become the laughing stock of the country. Voters in both parties saw the opportunity to get rid of them and 42 other ineffective politicians, including our own assemblymember Betty Karnette, and replace them with some fresh members who will hopefully bring fresh ideas and energy to solving problems that have lingered on as unimportant to either Nunez or Perata.
A special thank you must go out to our Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who saw the need to step in and provide both organizational and financial leadership in defeating Proposition 93. Steve Poizner brought the same drive and vigor that he has shown in going after individuals & companies submitting fraudulent claims since being elected, and we are very blessed to have him in Sacramento.
So congratulations to the great state of California, who will have new members in both the State Senate and the Assembly in 2009! Our objective now is to ensure we work hard to get new leadership in these houses, including Gabriella Holt in our own 54th AD & Thomas Vidal in the 53rd AD. Let's take advantage of our progress to ensure we send members who will truly work for a balanced budget and a successful California.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
2007-2008 Accomplishments & Objectives
In an earlier posting, I introduced the general purpose of the Republican Central Committee. But I'd like to do a quick run-down of the accomplishments of the current committee and the remaining objectives for this term. The current membership of this committee has done more to get involved in local elections than in recent history, and has built opportunities for the next committees to build upon.
Shortly after being sworn in at the December 2006 RPLAC meeting, we quickly got involved in the Signal Hill city council elections, particularly the campaign to elect Nancy Long, a Signal Hill activist working to get more transparancy from the current council. Thanks to efforts by this committee in both phone banking & walking precincts, we helped Nancy quickly become more competitive; Nancy was actually leading by 23 votes for the final seat prior to provisional ballot counts. Of course, this margin never holds for a Republican candidate like it does for a Democratic one. By the time the provisionals were done, Nancy had fallen short of election. After consulting with my San-Pedran raised friend Steve Baric, president of the CA Republican Lawyers Association, Nancy decided not to pursue a lengthy recount or lawsuit, and will instead hopefully run for one of the three open seats in 2009. I've saved my yard sign from her campaign, and look forward to working as soon as she files to add a Republican to the Signal Hill City Council.
In February, I had to make a decision to work with a local friend & conservative Democrat Richard (Dick) Vladovic in his election bid for the local LAUSD seat. No Republican filed for this seat, but two far-left Democrats, UTLA activist Jesus Escandon & Progressive (aka Cindy Sheehan) Neal Kleiner, had filed to challenge Vladovic. I made the decision that it was more important for Republicans to step up and have an effect on every local election, rather than have Republicans stay home & hope that local Democrats will choose the most conservative candidate. Dick Vladovic won election in May, and has been a great leader for the community. Because I worked closely to help him win election, we now have a connection that will help us in future elections. This is the "big picture" in furthering our principles and values.
In August 2007, this committee stepped up its commitment to the state party's mission of getting more involved in local races by supporting four Palos Verdes Republicans in the November elections for Rancho Palos Verdes City Council & the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, my former hometown & high school district, respectively. A critical mistake we made was underestimating the influence of the local teacher's union (PVFA) & the Democrat incumbents. While Republican RPV City Councilmember Steve Wolowicz received the most votes of any candidate, our Republican challenger for the 2nd seat, RPV Traffic Commissioner Paul Wright came 80 votes short of the third and final seat. Paul ran a great campaign, and has already been encouraged by many, including myself, to run in 2009. In the PVPUSD race, we were unsuccessful in defending incumbent Dave Tomblin's seat and electing challenger Paul Neights. Both candidates were ironically painted as "union candidates" by the local union activists themselves, and unlike the City of Los Angeles, Palos Verdes residents do not exactly endorse the "union label". I learned a lot by participating in these races, and am still proud to have supported all four. I am already looking forward to the opportunities for both RPV City Council and the PVPUSD board for 2009.
For Tuesday's election, I have personally been working with San Pedro activists to fight Propositions S & 93, including ironically the local Democratic club. Most of their members also see the problems with these measures and worked with my local neighborhood council to hold a local information forum on Proposition S, the communications tax "preservation" measure. The forum was great for our side, and we recruited about 40 volunteers who walked their neighborhhods this past weekend to encourage voters to vote "NO". San Pedro is a great town, and has a lot of conservative Democrats that know "when to say when" to higher taxes.
We are currently engaged in the Long Beach Unified School District elections by encouraging Republicans to get involved in the campaigns for both incumbents Jon Meyer & Felton Williams. We'll continue to do so through their April re-election. We also support the recall effort of LBUSD Board member and TALB loyalist Michael Ellis, and will continue gathering signatures.
For the remainder of this year, once the Long Beach local elections are completed, our primary focus will be on winning the Assembly seat currently held by termed-out Assemblywoman Betty Karnette. We need to ensure our strongest candidate emerges to take on the strong Democratic candidate, likely LB City Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal. Bonnie is going to have a "machine" similar in structure to the Clinton one, and our nominee will need to be ready to spend and do what it takes to win. Bonnie will be a full-time candidate, so our nominee must be as well. This is primarily why I am asking ALL Republicans to get behind two-term PVPUSD Board Member Gabriella Holt, who has dedicated herself full-time to building the strongest campaign now to take on the Democrat nominee.
I'll go into a more detailed analysis of Gabriella Holt in a future posting.
For now, I encourage everyone to learn more about this committee and how to get involved in local elections, including Gabriella Holt's. 2008 offers numeroud opportunities for Republicans to make a difference; I hope we all find at least one and get involved.
Shortly after being sworn in at the December 2006 RPLAC meeting, we quickly got involved in the Signal Hill city council elections, particularly the campaign to elect Nancy Long, a Signal Hill activist working to get more transparancy from the current council. Thanks to efforts by this committee in both phone banking & walking precincts, we helped Nancy quickly become more competitive; Nancy was actually leading by 23 votes for the final seat prior to provisional ballot counts. Of course, this margin never holds for a Republican candidate like it does for a Democratic one. By the time the provisionals were done, Nancy had fallen short of election. After consulting with my San-Pedran raised friend Steve Baric, president of the CA Republican Lawyers Association, Nancy decided not to pursue a lengthy recount or lawsuit, and will instead hopefully run for one of the three open seats in 2009. I've saved my yard sign from her campaign, and look forward to working as soon as she files to add a Republican to the Signal Hill City Council.
In February, I had to make a decision to work with a local friend & conservative Democrat Richard (Dick) Vladovic in his election bid for the local LAUSD seat. No Republican filed for this seat, but two far-left Democrats, UTLA activist Jesus Escandon & Progressive (aka Cindy Sheehan) Neal Kleiner, had filed to challenge Vladovic. I made the decision that it was more important for Republicans to step up and have an effect on every local election, rather than have Republicans stay home & hope that local Democrats will choose the most conservative candidate. Dick Vladovic won election in May, and has been a great leader for the community. Because I worked closely to help him win election, we now have a connection that will help us in future elections. This is the "big picture" in furthering our principles and values.
In August 2007, this committee stepped up its commitment to the state party's mission of getting more involved in local races by supporting four Palos Verdes Republicans in the November elections for Rancho Palos Verdes City Council & the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, my former hometown & high school district, respectively. A critical mistake we made was underestimating the influence of the local teacher's union (PVFA) & the Democrat incumbents. While Republican RPV City Councilmember Steve Wolowicz received the most votes of any candidate, our Republican challenger for the 2nd seat, RPV Traffic Commissioner Paul Wright came 80 votes short of the third and final seat. Paul ran a great campaign, and has already been encouraged by many, including myself, to run in 2009. In the PVPUSD race, we were unsuccessful in defending incumbent Dave Tomblin's seat and electing challenger Paul Neights. Both candidates were ironically painted as "union candidates" by the local union activists themselves, and unlike the City of Los Angeles, Palos Verdes residents do not exactly endorse the "union label". I learned a lot by participating in these races, and am still proud to have supported all four. I am already looking forward to the opportunities for both RPV City Council and the PVPUSD board for 2009.
For Tuesday's election, I have personally been working with San Pedro activists to fight Propositions S & 93, including ironically the local Democratic club. Most of their members also see the problems with these measures and worked with my local neighborhood council to hold a local information forum on Proposition S, the communications tax "preservation" measure. The forum was great for our side, and we recruited about 40 volunteers who walked their neighborhhods this past weekend to encourage voters to vote "NO". San Pedro is a great town, and has a lot of conservative Democrats that know "when to say when" to higher taxes.
We are currently engaged in the Long Beach Unified School District elections by encouraging Republicans to get involved in the campaigns for both incumbents Jon Meyer & Felton Williams. We'll continue to do so through their April re-election. We also support the recall effort of LBUSD Board member and TALB loyalist Michael Ellis, and will continue gathering signatures.
For the remainder of this year, once the Long Beach local elections are completed, our primary focus will be on winning the Assembly seat currently held by termed-out Assemblywoman Betty Karnette. We need to ensure our strongest candidate emerges to take on the strong Democratic candidate, likely LB City Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal. Bonnie is going to have a "machine" similar in structure to the Clinton one, and our nominee will need to be ready to spend and do what it takes to win. Bonnie will be a full-time candidate, so our nominee must be as well. This is primarily why I am asking ALL Republicans to get behind two-term PVPUSD Board Member Gabriella Holt, who has dedicated herself full-time to building the strongest campaign now to take on the Democrat nominee.
I'll go into a more detailed analysis of Gabriella Holt in a future posting.
For now, I encourage everyone to learn more about this committee and how to get involved in local elections, including Gabriella Holt's. 2008 offers numeroud opportunities for Republicans to make a difference; I hope we all find at least one and get involved.
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