I love San Diego. I’m very grateful to have been given the privilege of serving as its mayor for eleven years. During my administration, the phrase, “America’s Finest City” was more than a slogan. It was the goal and mission statement that drove every decision we made. Our city continues to offer such great promise, but it will need strong, …
Unions Don’t Seem to Bug Dumanis Much
Anyone else notice the “union bug” on the donor envelopes Mayoral candidate Bonnie Dumanis is handing out? Well, at least I’m sure they cost more.
The Surfing Madonna in the News Again!
This press release went out today. The level of interest regarding the outcome of this issue has been amazing to experience, and I wanted the Rostrafarians to see the full and reasonable resolution that was reached and announced today. Whatever her future, it appears that this chapter in her saga is coming to a conclusion. June 21, 2011 Mosaic Mural …
CA Controller Withholds Legislators’ Pay
CA State Controller John Chiang has declared that the legislative budget passed was not balanced, and hence does not satisfy the requirements of props 58 and 25. Bottom line — no pay for CA legislators from 16 June until they submit an actual balanced budget… http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/06/controller-chiang-halting-pay.html Chiang just made a HUGELY popular decision. While it may not stand legal challenge, …
Breaking News: Sweetwater School Board Terminates Superintendent
After the close of a marathon 7-hour meeting at Southwest High School, the Sweetwater Union High School District Board on a 5-0 vote decided to terminate Jesus Gandara’s employment as superintendent. A big round of applause and kudos must go out to the board members and Board President John McCann for making the right decision and working to get the …
DeMaio Announces Support of Over 1,400 San Diegans in First 14 Days of Campaign
Mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio today announced that his campaign has received the support of over 1,400 individuals in just the first 14 days of his campaign.
“As other candidates curry favor with entrenched politicians, government labor unions, and special interests, I’m seeking support from the people who really count: rank-and-file San Diegans,” declared DeMaio.
“San Diegans are not impressed by entrenched politicians, labor union bosses, and lobbyists who pat each other on the back and support candidates who will preserve the status quo,” DeMaio noted.
“I’m thrilled to have so many supporters this early in the campaign,” said DeMaio when the total number of early supporters was released. The announcement was made in a video released earlier today on DeMaio’s Facebook page utilizing Donor Tube, which allows supporters to make donations directly through the online video.
Assemblyman Steiner? Good News from the Third Floor
When a good friend calls you on his first Father’s Day, you think of one two things: it was an accident or he’s about to tell you something big (and you hope it’s good). So, imagine my surprise when Supervisor Bill Horn’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Dustin Steiner, declared he’s considering a run for Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher’s seat. NOTE: If …
Journalists Don’t Connect Dots Between Bias, Poor Readership
As a card-carrying member of the once-powerful mainstream media, I keep reading various laments on journalism sites about repeated layoffs and how horrible this is for journalists and democracy. (The two are identical, you see). I sometimes feel sorry for my peers, but also exasperated when they continue to churn out articles predictably biased toward the left. As the example …
Reform the antiquated colleges of America
I particularly liked this column (below) by my friend Larry Stirling. It’s a blunt, unflattering assessment of San Diego State University’s retiring president Stephen Weber. While this may seem too esoteric for all but my local readers, the op-ed presents some reforms that certainly have almost universal applicability to conventional colleges everywhere. The benefits would be widespread to taxpayers, students …
Comic Relief for Rostrafarians: Thor Rocks
San Diego’s annual cultural carnival Comic-Con is less than a month away. One of this year’s star attractions promises to be Rostra’s own Mighty Thor. Author and artist Walt Simonson, who produced “The Mighty Thor” for Marvel Comics for 25 years has produced a limited artist’s edition which will make its debut at Comic-Con. A preview is available on the …
Don’t Call RedState ‘Ultraconservative’, Traitor Lover!
Erick Erickson has taken umbrage at WaPo “Right Turn” columnist Jennifer Rubin, in a post about an anti-abortion pledge, for using that adjective for the conservative group blog. RedState, Erickson says, is not “ultraconservative,” it is a right-of-center blog that allows a wide range of views among its writers. Moreover, just because a writer takes a position doesn’t mean that …
What We Now Know About The Harding Quote
In my previous post, I raised the question of how authentic Harding’s quote was about being unfit for the presidency – a quote widely repeated without any sourcing and time element. I could find just one possible source, which I described thusly: “The closest I’ve been able to find as a source is Wikiquote, which cites a 1939 book by …
Democrats, political favors and guns — Fabian Nunez leads the way in Sacramento
It hasn’t taken former Assemblyman Fabio Fabian Nunez much time to embroil himself in another controversial piece of legislation. First, the assemblyman used his close personnel relationship with Governor Schwarzenegger to get his son’s sentence commuted for the murder of a fellow college student, and now the disgraced state lawmaker has taken on the airgun/Airsoft and BB gun industry. When …
Wow! A state budget passed on time! Wow! But what kind of “wow” is it?
Once again we’re left with a “smoke and mirrors” budget that doesn’t solve the problem and just passes the deficit to the next year. SO far Governor Brown has stood behind his campaign pledge and vetoed this budget because of the usual “Smoke and Mirrors,” but how long will he do so? What we need are politicians that instead of …
Tea Party Endorsement for DeMaio for Mayor of San Diego?
Carl DeMaio’s candidacy for Mayor of San Diego is exciting to me as a member of the Tea Party. (And no, there is no official membership, it is a matter of self identification.) He has taken aggressive stands to bring spending under control in San Diego, and gained my personal gratitude for his work against Proposition D. Further, by consolidating …
Early Impressions of 2012 Mayor’s Race
Donna is San Diego’s political rock star. She is John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Eminem rolled into one. San Diego’s mayoral primary is a year away but it comes up just about every day. So please bear with me as I share a few thoughts. Let’s call it, “Early Impressions.” Early Impression No. 1: Too many people have written off …
Bertha Lopez Received Money From Contractors and Law Firm Connection
It’s interesting that Board Member Bertha Lopez keeps throwing stones at everyone else for taking money from contractors and the law firm for Sweetwater Union High School District. Most concerning, however, is her complete lack of forthrightness when it comes to her own campaign donations. Lopez attacks other board members for their donations, while continuing to say her votes are …
The Liberal Debate Playbook In Action By Local Journalist
Maass’s only attempt to argue historical economic facts doesn’t go beyond a few sentences where he bizarrely references pirates and kidnapping, but he wisely doesn’t dwell on this too much as he’s far more capable of winning a historical discussion on what someone said about Harding.
Be Encouraged Mr. President
President Obama has admitted with a chuckle that his “shovel ready” projects were not nearly as shovel ready as they had hoped. Many are upset with the president for seemingly laughing off the many people out of work as he seeks to create government jobs all the while exhibiting zero concern (or perhaps limited understanding) of a failing private sector …
Cap Alert Reports Garrick arrested on suspicion of drunken driving
From Capitol Alert… Ex Assembly GOP leader Martin Garrick arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Garrick is termed out in 2012, with long term plans to run for Mark Wyland’s term-limited Senate seat, somewhat dependent on redistricting maps being finalized.
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