Two words used most often to describe the U.S. illegal immigration problem are – divisive and political. However a new documentary, Southern Exposure, provides a balanced look at the U.S./Mexican border and sheds light on America’s porous southern borders. If you want a bird’s eye view of the tale of two countries and their respective border problems this two-hour documentary …
A Sit Down with Roger Hedgecock Part I: Thoughts on The City, 2012 Mayoral Election & Pension Reform
My wife and I first met local talk show host turned nationally syndicated host Roger Hedgecock (heard locally on KOGO 600 AM) and his wife in December 2009. We were waiting in a long valet line at U.S. Grant after the Lincoln Club Annual Dinner. They were very gracious and chatted with us — a young, recently engaged couple — …
CA Green Reg Machine: Saving the Planet or Killing Jobs
Below is a link to a 9 minute professionally produced video that details the fraud and dishonesty underlying the devastating new California laws against diesel engines. It includes a rigged government agency (the California Air Resources Board a.k.a. CARB), with the story of the bogus PhD state “scientist” who authored the flawed report used as the basis for the new, …
Bonnie, calm down there — just smoke a joint and relax
Wow, Bonnie Dumanis shuts down one of her Facebook pages, and someone inhaling a bit too much ganja believes the pot-heads single-handedly scared her out of the race for mayor… http://nugmag.com/2011/03/bonnie-dumanis-considering-dropping-out-of-mayoral-race/ They might have checked first to see if her actual campaign website is still up. Which it is… http://www.bonnieforsandiego.com/ Unfortunately, Dumanis decided she needed to react on Twitter to …
The San Diego Pension Reform Power Play: Is the Mayor a Lame Duck?
Three weeks ago Mayor Jerry Sanders and his top staff were smug. They were sure they had the financial backing to get their pension reform measure on the ballot. They were sure they had the power to strong arm the Lincoln Club and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association into not backing a more stringent version of pension reform. The …
Breaking News: Mike Aguirre says he will Run for Mayor
Admit it. Former City Attorney Mike Aguirre hopping in the San Diego mayoral race would make the contest a Donnybrook, more fun than a barrel of proverbial monkeys. Or is it a proverbial barrel of monkeys? Does it matter? Admit it, you were saying wow, or at least you were intrigued. Move along, nothing to see here. Have a nice …
The Election File — (1) Yes-on-Sales Tax group Disbands and (2) Dan Mc Allister will seek a New Term
The Committee that urged a vote raising SD City Sales Taxes last Fall, has now disbanded with the filing of an official form. Voters defeated Prop. D with a 62% majority, in part owing to the asymmetrical campaign waged by our own Gayle Falkenthal and GOP Chairman Tony Krvaric. In a 2nd happy note for local Taxpayers, fiscal watchdog Dan Mc Allister signalled this week he will …
Senator Grassley alleges Project Gunwalker has ties to murdered U.S. agents
Two federal law enforcement agents are dead and new documents show Jamie Avila was in possession of two of the guns that were found at murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s crime scene. Questions from Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) point to Alcohol Tobacco and Firearm’s (ATF) Project Gunwalker as possibly being involved in the killing of the agents. In a …
Booting Central Committee Elections from the Ballot
The following piece appeared on the FlashReport as last weekend’s Sunday San Diego. This is good timing to cross-post it here, following Ryan Darby’s excellent Rostra entry on the same subject… Sunday San Diego (and California): Booting Central Committee Elections from the Ballot by Barry Jantz March 27, 2011 Comparing them to Kiwanis Club elections, San Diego County Registrar of …
KEEP CENTRAL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS ON THE PRIMARY BALLOT
San Diego County Registrar Deborah Seiler’s well intentioned proposal to remove central committee elections from primary ballots would centralize political power in the hands of party insiders, and ultimately undermine the power of the average voter to select candidates for the general election. I have interacted with Ms. Seiler in the past while monitoring the ballot counting process, so I …
Key DeMaio CCDC Proposal Wins Council Approval
$228 million of debt transferred from General Fund to Redevelopment By a vote of 7 to 1, a proposal by Councilmember Carl DeMaio was approved today to transfer 30 years of debt service on the Convention Center from the General Fund to the Redevelopment Agency. The action saves taxpayers $228 Million over 30 years. “In these difficult times when we …
At 18-Months-Old, Will Rostra’s 5,000th Comment be Yours?
Since August of 2009, when SD Rostra launched, the site has been blessed with over 1,700 individual blog entries from our more than 50 contributors, covering a host of issues, opinions, rumors and breaking political news stories. At this writing, exactly 4,976 comments have been posted as a result … and that’s just the legit ones, mind you. We don’t …
Fool Us Once, Shame on You; Fool Us Twice and It’s Called Governing
Taxpayers in San Diego County and beyond have made their anger crystal clear over unsustainable public employee benefits and pensions that threaten to decimate municipal budgets. There can’t possibly be an elected official within cyber-shouting distance of San Diego Rostra who’s unaware of this. So when pay and benefit increases are approved without a bit of public discussion, is it …
President Obama’s Clear Position On Libya
“America cannot stand by and watch evil happen to innocent people without taking action, but we must do it in such a way that it doesn’t commit us to a war, so yes we plan to stop Muammar Gaddafi from killing more people, but no, we do not intend to remove him from power, however, (And this is very important) …
Is Fletcher In or Out?
Is Nathan Fletcher in or out for Mayor? This is the question it seems everyone is asking downtown, and the view is growing (downtown) that Fletcher may not take the risk. But over and over again, Fletcher insists that in fact he is running. He’s told numerous people that he will declare for the Mayor’s race in March. According to …
Man Behind Internet Technology Passes Away
It must be a sad day for Al Gore, since this gentleman had to have partnered with him when they worked together as inventors: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110328/D9M8957G0.html
Follow Up — Reaction to Elvira Vargas succeeding Cathy Glaser in key Registrar of Voters’ post — Major Kudos to Deborah Seiler
The reaction of San Diego’s political community to the Vargas promotion is a Collective Sigh of Relief since Ms. Vargas commands the same respect and trust [on both sides of the political aisle] as enjoyed by Cathy Glaser, her longtime predecessor. Contacted today, Cathy Glaser told SD Rostra, “I’m very happy about Elvira’s promotion. She certainly is worthy and has the right …
Elvira Vargas Selected as ROV Elections Processing Supervisor
SD Rostra contributors have previously gushed on these pages about the great work of the San Diego County Registrar of Voters office (rightfully so), in particular noting the long public service of Cathy Glaser following her retirement as Elections Processing Supervisor late last year. Candidates and campaign workers of all parties and stripes know how much easier things go for …
Self-Congratulations? Among California Republicans?
Yesterday, Jim Sills congratulated Tony Krvaric on his election to the Vice Chairmanship of the California Republican party. I do not dispute that San Diego will have more influence in the state party as a result, but I take exception to the self-congratulatory description of the 2010 election results in San Diego. Many of the touted successes were officially non-partisan. …
Is E-Verify Unnecessary?
According to today’s North County Times editorial, the use of E-Verify by cities or local businesses is unnecessary and a “political” act unless it is mandated by the State or Feds. Along those same lines then, do cities need to wait on the State and Feds for every other decision they make? This argument doesn’t hold water, especially when …
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