Dr. Dora's Rose Colored Politics

2006-04-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

If Rome burns, no Nero here… Parsky succeeds as UC Regents’ Chairman

Americans applaud Roman virtues including gravity, resolution, temperance, self-control, authority, honesty, and justice when we find them. The Roman model of self-governance including reliance upon the rule of law, recognition of human dignity and freedom of choice form the basis for our own democracy. Don’t blink now… but the UC Board of Regents is showing signs of ‘going Roman’.

Initiatives to expand educational opportunities to minorities; to professionalize the business of academia and to continue the management of our national nuclear laboratories all bring exceptional economic benefits to the state. Accomplishing all three initiatives within a year or two’s timeframe is nothing short of extraordinary. Kudos to the UC Board of Regents. More kudos to the Chairman of the UC Board of Regents, Gerry Parsky, and from the Los Angeles Times, no less.

About Parsky, the LA Times states he is “Taking an unusually activist approach to the volunteer job, he has testified before — and helped calm — lawmakers angered by the compensation scandal. He arranged an outside audit of UC managers' pay and perks and proposed administrative and structural reforms to help the university's embattled president, Robert C. Dynes. He played a key part last year in UC's ultimately successful effort to hang on to a share of its historic contract to run the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab in New Mexico.”

With the Los Angeles Times singing hosannas to Gerry Parsky, where is the next ParskyWatch when the news is good?

2006-04-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

The game to watch tonight!

Think basketball is the game to watch tonight? Tomorrow Tom DeLay will announce his resignation and retirement from Congress. Today, in an exclusive interview with Time Magazine’s fabulous Chief White House correspondent, Mike Allen, Tom DeLay gave his rationale for leaving Congress and not seeking reelection.

First, CNN broke the story of DeLay’s decision to walk away.

Shortly, MSNBC followed with terrific reporting by Chris Matthews about a call he received today from Congressman DeLay… Chris spoke about his conversation with DeLay on both Joe Scarborough’s and Tucker Carlson’s shows this evening. Be sure to catch Mike Allen and Chris Matthews on rebroadcasts of the “Situation” on MSNBC.

Finally, FoxNews…. Well, where in the world is the FoxNews coverage? Fox didn’t have the story on air, even via a Fox Alert, for almost an hour after CNN and then only with a small announcement. Obviously Tom DeLay didn’t give anyone at Fox a heads up – but he did give a 90 minute afternoon interview to Mike Allen, called Chris Matthews AND his own Congressional donors this evening.

It’s been 90 minutes and counting just since CNN and MSNBC had details… and pictures up… but Fox is still talking about Aruba. Hey Fox, who are you hiring for your political intel these days? Too many folks watching the UCLA v. Florida game to be in touch?? We’ve got interesting stories happening in Texas and Virginia, not to mention control of Congress hanging in the balance, and still there is more news we need about a girl who went missing in ARUBA last summer?

If you’re waiting for FoxNews to cover the “DeLay Dynasty Ends” story maybe their coverage tomorrow will help recover the “Situation.” In the meantime, try instead wondering if MSNBC, having scooped Fox on coverage of the Republican Presidential beauty contest in Memphis last month, and now leading with great coverage of the biggest news to hit the Republican Congressional leadership this decade; wonder if MSNBC (and Time Magazine) aren’t turning into the “game” to watch for more than just tonight?

2006-03-29T03:18:00.000-08:00

So Frenchy... so ungrateful!

If you ever had any doubt that the French are way behind the times, read the April 1st issue of Socialist Worker Online. http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=8587

Watching the Paris protests, I am reminded of a childhood growing up ten minutes from People's Park and Berzerkley, CA. Crowd scenes and whistle noises, uncontrolled mob movements (police BACKING up to keep control), a lock down of public institutions all remind me of my childhood. Is it any wonder I am conservative when the first news I remember was filled with Black Panther protests, assassinations in Oakland including the School Superintendent, kidnapped oil executives' kids and a newspaper heiress?

Who can be sympathetic to a 'cause' when the protest is so destructive? Not me. Why do the French youth believe that their future will be advanced by transit strikes, violent marches and political gridlock? Not I.

Our socialist friends write: "Since last week this sense has been reversed – people feel that winning is possible. If we manage to beat the government on the CPE it will open a new space where demonstrations and mobilisations have been clearly proved as winning formulas, which in itself would be an enormous victory." © Copyright Socialist Worker.

Winning is possible? Beat the government? This is an enormous victory?? Who do they think is the enemy? Have the French forgotten that Marie Antoinette is long gone and the government is their own? Apparently, the French socialists have.

No one guaranteed me a job, not even after earning three college degrees. Why should the French guarantee their kids a lifetime of under-performance and an under-funded pension on the road to national economic decline? The French are so un-grateful.

2006-03-23T21:10:00.000-08:00

What's wrong with the Dem's
"Iraq veteran" strategy?

Rahm Emanuel's cynical ploy (see previous entry below) uses smoke and mirrors to equate anti-war veterans with strong support for national security. But voters in 2006 look to be having none of it, just ask Paul Hackett and Tammy Duckworth.

Voters in 2004 weren't buying this strategy either judging by the fortunes of John Kerry, a better known anti-war veteran, and the one who got Swift-boated right down the river. Clearly, the DCCC's candidate recruiting machine didn't pay any attention to Presidential politics or they might not need to be reminded that he who does not remember the past is doomed to repeat it.

Mensa man and GOP pollster, John McLaughlin, makes another argument for why the "Iraq veteran" strategy will fail... read on.

DEMS PUT BAD BETS ON VETS
by Deborah Orin of the New York Post

March 23, 2006 -- "There's a disconnect - the Democrats are trying to recruit people that have a strong support-the-troops image, when their base is anti-war and anti-military," said Republican pollster John McLaughlin.

Recruiting Iraq veterans blew up spectacularly for Democrats when they enlisted anti-war Marine vet Paul Hackett to run for Senate in Ohio, only to dump him for liberal Rep. Sherrod Brown. Hackett accused Democrats of "betrayal."

For original article, see http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/commentary/63512.htm

2006-03-22T22:28:00.000-08:00

Rahm Emanuel's cynical ploy...

Q: What do these wanna-be candidates have in common? Cindy Sheehan (California). Paul Hackett (Ohio). Tammy Duckworth (Illinois) Tim Dunn (North Carolina). Bill Winter (Colorado).

A: The DCCC Chairman (and former top advisor in the Clinton White House), Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel, has decided to recruit candidates for House and Senate seats who claim military affiliations yet hope to embarrass George W. Bush and cause the loss of a Republican governing majority by subverting support for our national security. There are at least 14 Iraqi war veterans filed to run as Democrats in 2006 currently raising BIG money from anti-war groups.

In my role as an instructor for campaign (and grad) school classes, I teach others to look for life’s patterns. (e.g.: Intelligence is pattern recognition and chaos merely a nonlinear dynamical system, yada yada.) Here’s a clue for my USC students, the 2006 Dem candidate recruitment strategy shows a decided lack of sophistication. Running disgruntled candidates who are former war veterans (or their relatives) for House and Senate seats will not convince a majority of Americans to compromise.

In politics, it holds that for every similar action there is an repetitious outcome. When Bill Clinton was President (and after Monica Lewinsky became a household name), the 1998 mid-term campaigns ignored usual candidate standards of personal conduct. Instead, voters were presented with “character issues” where once these egomaniacs would have shunned public scrutiny.

Many, Republicans and Democrats both, campaigned for legislative seats regardless of their bad marriages, mistresses, second families (pre- the Big Love series promotion) and more. My favorite flaunt-er of conventional wisdom was an Indiana candidate who campaigned proudly as an Evangelical Christian Conservative – never mind that the much photographed woman who stood beside him at innumerable political events was not the woman to whom he was partnered in business and marriage. He lost a “safe” seat that November and so did the other “character” candidates.

Lesson One: Americans may not have supported punishment for their morally challenged President, but that determination did NOT translate into putting up with bad behavior from their local candidates. 1998 became the year of electing the true blue Congressman.

I have news for Mr. Emanuel.

Lesson Two: Democrat candidates - and veterans - critical of the War on Terror will not confuse American voters in 2006 into thinking that some military affiliation is more important than real military support. No matter how cynical the DCCC recruitment efforts may be, Americans want a successful national security strategy and will vote accordingly this fall.

For more information: http://capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=207

2006-03-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

The difference a day makes….

House Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo) says about Democrats “their best day will be the day before they release their agenda.” We’re waiting….

There is an old axiom in Republican Party politics heard often at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis: Republicans win when they run on the issues. Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard reports “some Republicans insist it doesn’t matter whether Democrats finally offer a party agenda. ‘The question is not what they promise,’ (RNC Chairman Ken) Mehlman told Barnes ‘It’s what they are going to do’ that is important.”

With the helicopter Marine One at rest in the background on the South Lawn of the White House, the President outlined conversation today marking the third anniversary of coalition intervention in Iraq. On this beautiful day in Washington, Bush spoke of efforts to enable an Iraqi government that will successfully implement a democracy, build the peace and offer America the thanks, and relief, that will come from a victory in Iraq. We hope…

Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld today opined that the war in Iraq is in a Post-victory stage, terminology which is a naïve depiction of politics (and terrorism) better understood as a reiterative process. In politics, democratic - terrorist - or other, one deed begets another, end without end. In the Washington Post, Rumsfeld restated the rationale for a free and democratic Iraq: the search for deterrence to attacks on its neighbors, quelling conspiracies with terrorists, elimination of the funding for suicide bombers and death squads seeking American victims. We wish…

Experiences in Iraq serve to remind us that democracy is a rare, and fragile, form of self-governance. Ralph Peters writes about the media’s extrapolating daily crises from minor incidents. He argues we are being misled by a systemic reliance on local Iraqi stringers who enhance their own viability by bringing bad news to journalists whose distant editors know little of the reality on the streets. An author of 20 books, Peters believes “the Arab genius for failure could still spoil everything.” But being on the ground in Iraq, riding around with today’s U.S. Army, the former intelligence officer looked for evidence of the New York Times’ declared civil war and could not find it.

My favorite military friend may mock my six syllable academic terminology but I love a good ‘systems analysis’ when I read one. Find more Ralph Peters on www.realclearpolitics.com.

Perhaps another day, even tomorrow (the first day of Spring) brings a turning point? Lessening sectarian tensions, fewer ethnic provocations, greater momentum toward democratic institution building. As Ken Mehlman says, it’s not what they promise; it’s what they are going to do that is important.

2006-03-16T08:17:00.000-08:00

Still Republican after all these years.

Years ago as the Immediate Past Chairman of the California Young Republicans, I attended something called YRLC. Last weekend, during the Southern Regional Leadership Conference (SRLC) I saw many of those same folks at a reunion held in the Isaac Hayes lounge in Memphis, Tennessee. You know your crowd is serious about their politics when we're still at the bar 15 years later.

Sadly, one alone went missing when Audrey Merkin suddenly passed away just a week before we could all be together. At SRLC, a grown up version of YRLC, there was Roman Buhler greeting arrivals in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel. With Roman there were two items to discuss: remembering Audrey Merkin's passing away and acknowledging the long planned career move to put Kevin McCarthy into Bill Thomas' congressional seat.

A girlfriend has groused that my entire political frame of reference is defined by my Young Republicans' experience. It's true. For that matter, so far the 2008 Presidential race is more like a YR campaign than not.

What YRs learn fast is that (1) strong regional alliances can be overtaken by raw talent, (2) paid delivery services for voting delegates easily overwhelm an event, (3) good speechmaking presentations are always overshadowed by the bar's circus scene (with apologies to Chris Matthews and his fabulous live-from-Memphis MSNBC broadcasts), (4) good operatives commit public acts of political suicide AND (5) we're never too old to be this silly (with apologies to the Peabody Hotel's duck pond for renaming it a "No Cheney Zone.")

God bless Audrey, we will miss her for she understood what powerful politics can come from youthful silliness, public displays, circus scenes, day trips and surprising friendships.

Congratulations Kevin, welcome back to the national scene.

2006-03-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

Shall the South rise again?

Here in Memphis, the Republican Southern Leadership Conference has all the hallmarks of a Presidential nominating convention. Like a silver screen gem, the smooth story on tap for this weekend was "Dr. Smith Goes to Washington." The Frist operation, once non-existent at the RNC Convention's New York Marriott Marquis hotel, was extremely well funded ($175k would buy a couple of new Assembly seats for the California republicans) and they sported designer labels - "FRIST" - on their baseball caps and more. But the real greased lighting for this weekend came from Boss Hoggs' machine. That political operation this day ran right over the football toting, tobacco chewing, nail spitting George Allen to significantly damage Allen's favored son status. And guess who was promoting a "lame" duck at the expense of the sitting duck? By now you've heard Allen finished a distant third tied with a retiring George W. Bush in the Hotline straw poll conducted at RSLC.

Surprisingly, the RISING star is Mitt Romney. His speech was warm enough for the Southern hospitality crowd, savvy enough for the Bush crowd, and conservative enough for the evangelicals. The Massacusetts Governor made a big splash in the duck pond that is Memphis' Peabody Hotel. Romney's was the only name mentioned in ladies room chats. And in a Mr. America contest, Romney for President can only to be outdone by Texas Governor and major hottie Rick Perry. Mitt Romney's liabilities: Eastern... Mormon... Handsome... Wealthy (such drawbacks) were overcome with enough collaterals to lend comfort and grant permission to the 1500 hardened pols camped around the lobby bar watching MSNBC's Chris Matthews' Live beat Fox News all to heck and gone for coverage.

In another competition, imagine Bill Frist opening his remarks by suggesting that Mitch McConnell is the man to replace him as Senate Leader. While today Trent Lott demonstrated his superior public personae and vitality as an articulate proponent of the Republican agenda in this Congressional session, McConnell is the Leader's choice?

Finally, while Bill First hopes you believe that the Republicans' 2008 hopes rise with the South; it is worth noting that this weekend's political construction of one part famous politician to three parts Volunteers was an amazingly successful ratio for Mitt Romney and not George Allen.

2006-02-28T15:12:00.000-08:00

Paying It Backwards: Is Rob Reiner the new Chuck Quackenbush?

Leave it to the Wall Street Journal to point out the economic reality of Rob Reiner’s policies. In 2005, more native-born Americans left California than moved in, nearly a quarter million of them. And state finance records show that the number of Californians reporting million-dollar incomes fell from 44,000 to 25,000 in just four years. Should we miss a few hundred thousand residents or begrudge having fewer California millionaires? Frankly, my answer is yes. $9 billion a year goes uncollected in tax revenues from these lost souls. You can purchase a lot of really nice real estate out of state just from the annual tax savings gained by moving out of California – ask my friends now living in Las Vegas and Phoenix.

California’s Gold Rush should not be inverted. Reverse supply-side impacts aside, Rob Reiner is accused of a different kind of backwards action – once again using public funds for private advocacy. Oh, the memories of Chuck Quackenbush return!

“Quack” diverted Katrina-style public funds earmarked for the victims of the Fullerton earthquake to instead pay for advertisements to promote his own importance. Now we learn that Children and Families Commission Board member Rob Reiner has overseen $23 million of taxpayer money meant for pre-school programs but spent instead promoting TV advertisements for his own tax-and-spend ideals. The Los Angeles Times reports that $200 million of the children’s education fund actually found its way into the personal and corporate bank accounts of advertising gurus, some of which are friends of Reiner’s. What a surprise!

Unless Rob Reiner moves quickly… by first supporting another initiative to change the Elections Code, California’s state law still prevents the use of taxpayer funding of campaign activities.

Vote NO on the Reiner tax plan this June.

And to prevent another financial scandal from continuing, Rob Reiner should join his elitist friends and leave California -- not just public service.

2006-02-27T18:38:00.000-08:00

When does an activist become an addict?

The Governor’s speech Friday night to the GOP faithful in San Jose was a marvel of modern politics. Carefully constructed to be a direct communication of his administration’s political affairs, Schwarzenegger’s humility and appreciation were welcomed. His family first story lent a sentimental tone in recounting First Lady Maria’s efforts to reassure their young son who questioned “Mom, what happens if Daddy loses? Daddy always wins, but what if he loses? It will be embarrassing.' The Governor reported "And Maria said, 'my son, there is no shame in losing. The shame is in not trying.”

The Governor’s strong voice resonated well. It was encouraging to see new faces attending a State Party Convention for the very first time just to “see the Governor” even if he had to recruit them himself. State Senator Tom McClintock also sounded a strong note. Recalling the opportunities created by Congressman Darryl Issa’s effort in a combined team victory 2-1 over Democrats in October 2003, McClintock extolled his support for reinvestment in education and rebuilding infrastructure -- policies supportive of the very people and places which make our state great.

But clamoring in the back of the crowds were several high pitched commentaries on the taste, tone and technique of the GOP top twosome. While Maria Shriver encourages her children to do their best, my own mother concurred and encouraged her daughters to only speak when they had something worthwhile to contribute. So… when does an activist become an addict? When the cause for which you previously contributed your time and others’ money becomes less important to you than promoting the sound of your own voice and seeing your name in print.

Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator McClintock deserve a fair shake to win their elections this fall. Shut up and let it happen.

2005-10-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

What’s Old is New Again?

Jerry Brown’s campaign to be the next Attorney General got a big boast today with the announcement of his replacement’s candidacy in the person of Ron Dellums. In 1926, essayist Frank Moore Colby wrote “If a large city can, after intense intellectual efforts, choose for its mayor a man who merely will not steal from it, we consider it a triumph of the suffrage.” So today, what’s old is new again and several generations of progressive political activists support 69-year old Ron Dellums, former Congressman, to be the next Mayor of Oakland. One wonders, are there valuable insights to be gained by campaigning first in 1970 and next in 2006, 36 years in between?

The last time I focused on Ron Dellums was during my first stint in graduate school. During a semester long Washington, D.C. internship program, a Mills College alum would report weekly of her wonderful experiences on Capital Hill working in the Dellums’ office: the politics, the parties, the hot tub. The rest of us eager-beaver, wet behind the ears grad-students were merely consumed with days of drudgery on the fourth floor of the Department of Energy, at the Germantown offices of the fed’s nuclear programs and as a Congressional Fellow crunching numbers for the House Appropriations Committee. Following each week’s seminar, student colleagues would roll our eyes and groan with each blustering braggadocio we heard from Ms. Mills about Oakland Ron & Company.

San Francisco’s own former mayor, Willie Brown, another who retired from public life only to return as a Big City Mayor was quoted in the Chron about Dellums’ return to the campaign trail: “If he is running, I suspect that private life has run its course for Dellums, and now he’s looking at the Oakland mayor’s job.” That’s quite a statement, and it was quite a shock for young Ms. Mills to show up for work on Capital Hill one morning welcomed by a FBI agent armed with questions about that hot tub and those parties.

Apparently, in Oakland, “there is a certain amount of disorder that has to be reorganized.” (William S. Paley, founder, CBS) 35 years past his first campaign, candidate Dellums seeks to replace Jerry Brown who in turn, is seeking to replace Bill Lockyer, who in turn seeks to return to… Oakland. Wasn’t there a movie, Escape from Oakland? Oakland, Alcatraz, whatever… It’s a little like watching the lions and tigers and bears. Ronnie and Jerry and Willie, oh my!

Jerry Brown’s support of eminent domain put a once small business known as Revelli Tires in Oakland out of business. Jerry Brown’s support of land grabs forced a first generation immigrant, Tony Fung, to give up the American Dream and close his Autohouse on 20th Street. Jerry Brown’s City of Oakland is home to crime, poverty and educational failure – just ask Ron Dellums! According to the Oakland Tribune, Ron Dellums is looking forward to being the “one person who could solve the political, moral and social crises facing Oakland.” Gee, with friends like that, Jerry, who needs enemies?

2005-10-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

A Man in Full

I’m on a quotation kick thanks to Professor Lowenstein’s white paper. There is an entire room in my house hand-painted with antiqued quotations on the walls, in fancy shapes like a question (authority), circles talking about what makes the world go around (passion) and a kitchen utensil pondering what to do when you come upon a fork in the road (take it.)

As quotes go, national Bush-Cheney leader and former State Party Vice Chairman Mario Rodriquez made a strong one today. With the San Francisco Chronicle’s news of a potential entry in next year’s race for California Attorney General, Republicans are faced with a fork in the road. Consider Los Angeles attorney and Bush administration war crimes prosecutor, Pierre Prosper. About Ambassador Prosper, Mario said “Any minority that looks at his credentials and looks at him has to be proud. That definitely shows how open the party is to all people.” Prosper, 42, is black, first generation American born, conservative like the President and a defender of women, the victimized and the most vulnerable in society.

How do I know? Have you seen the movie Hotel Rwanda?

A colleague today said he hadn’t watched the picture show because the atrocities would be too hard to see… and then to try to forget. I’ll bet the Hollywood version of Rwandan Genocide is mild compared to Ambassador Prosper’s memories. The bonus features of that Hotel Rwanda DVD can’t convey the stench of death that was the killing fields of Africa.

Pierre Prosper was the lead prosecutor who sought (and won) convictions on behalf of the U.S., the U.N. and more than a million Tutsis who deserve justice. The first to succeed in obtaining convictions under the Genocide Convention of 1948, Prosper was also the first to seek and obtain international agreement that rape is a crime against humanity -- something women have known since the beginning of time. Prosper has convicted the perpetrators of rape, murder and mayhem in Compton and Inglewood, in California and around the globe.

His reward for these good deeds???

President George W. Bush appointed (and the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed) California’s own Prosper for a cushy Ambassadorial job at the State Department. Except that it wasn’t. 9-11 happened, Al Qaeda reared its ugly head, Saddam Hussein further terrorized another population. U.S. Ambassador At-Large for War Crimes Issues, Pierre Prosper, was on the front lines for all of these events, creating order where there was chaos, developing Rules of Law where there was anarchy, comforting victims where there was only pain and absolute destruction.

First Lady Abigail Adams believed “we have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.” I applaud Pierre Prosper’s willingness to take action. I applaud his willingness to take the fork in the road. And I applaud his willingness to travel from Compton through Rwanda to Washington, D.C. and full circle home again. Once his journey brings him back to California, we will all know he is a man in full.

2005-10-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

The importance of being Earnest...

As white papers go, a heavy one landed on my desk yesterday. It came with a title page and a quotation "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." Attribution was given to Groucho Marx but actually, Ernest Benn is credited with that rhetoric in Michael Moncur's Cynical Quotations dictionary. But who knows Earnest?

During the County Chairman's Association (CCA) meeting held at the CRP Convention in Anaheim last month there was plenty of rhetoric going on. What else would you call using a strategy memo provided by Bill Thomas' associate, Roman Buhler, to vote out a censure of House Republican Leader (and conservative) John Doolittle for having a divergence of opinion? The County Party chairmen and women, with a 16-14 affirmative vote, passed a unanimous motion supporting the Governor's Prop. 77 "yes" endorsement. If a two vote margin of victory says 'unanimous', then surely rhetoric is alive and well? But who is Earnest?

The redistricting reform itself is full of rhetoric. On the one hand, we have Arnold-isms and on another, UCLA Law Professor Dan Lowenstein's Iliad 'aka' white paper. The Governor tells us we need reform because process alone can guarantee results. Dan Lowenstein rebuts with more simplistic "rule of law" arguments: civil rights and the federal Voting Rights Laws; selection criteria for judges which are not random nor without the controls for qualifications or competence that were in place when Pete Wilson won a fair redistricting map in 1992; holding a public vote on new lines BEFORE implementation in the next election cycle. Who is Earnest, anyway?

Al Gore used to talk about reform too. In fact, he spawned an entire book about it, named a movement "reinvention" and lost an election. Perhaps Team Arnold needs to coin a new term for the Governor to win friends and influence the people. Surely the Governor's men don't want him to turn into Al Gore who invented the 'net? Should House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas find a way to send more than 77 cents of every federal dollar collected from Californians back to California to help us pay for safer roads, better schools and legal immigration enforcement? Yes? No? Who is... Earnest?

Some might argue a more appropriate quote for the white paper bomb on Proposition 77 might have been "Politics is the art of the possible" by Otto von Bismarck, founder of the German Empire. I love quotes, use them all the time. Quotes are like verbal caricatures, down and dirty. My Rhetoric professor used to ask, "If you can't make your point with one good quote, what use are you?" It wasn't his favorite saying, that one is even more appropriate to today's issue advocacy efforts, "You may not know anything, but if you can't talk about it, what good are you?"

2005-10-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Who gets protected when the Big Dogs byte?

For those of you who couldn’t tell, I am a fan of the partners from Meridian Pacific; the two I heard from today and the one I didn't. Discussed several things with those guys who will work to protect our identities, a few I can share. So let’s get started. Matt Rexroad is a fine American, a former Marine (not that anyone is ever really a former MARINE), and best of all, a sitting Republican Mayor (I've donated to more than one campaign to support him.) John Peschong is another fine American, a former RNC Regional Political Director, friend of Hawaii's Republican Governor Linda Lingle (a Fullerton, CA native) and best of all, father of two. Then there is Tom Ross, he's a father too, warm, friendly and completely personable. Sorry Matt and John, but you two are hard core; Tommy is the nice one.

I've been informed that Meridian Pacific’s work for the idenity theft ballot initiative has nothing to do with State Senator Chuck Poochigian's campaign for Attorney General. Plans are on to gather signatures to qualify this proposition for the November 2006 election. Apparently it's a conflict for any candidate to sponsor an initiative while their name appears on the same ballot, can you say Special Election? Next year, the Meridian Pacific folks want to avoid any sense of impropriety while Chuck attempts to change HIS identity from Senator to General Poochigian. Campaign or coordination with the Meridian Pacific folks is a no no for candidate Poochigian. Apparently the good Senator, or the newspaper accounts, got it wrong last month – can’t the media ever be trusted?

The USC School of Policy, Planning and Development (Matt's an alum, I'm adjunct faculty and alum both) teaches California Public Records Act rules, FOIA requests and good public meeting protocals. Recruitment suggestion: send the eager, young gentleman to grad school at USC, Matt. Accessing government documents is a tricky business. So is the distinction between intellectual property that is in the public domain and that which is protected. Surely Meridian Pacific is the right consultant to help explain the need for privacy to the California voters next year given their recent bad experience. Chuck Poochigian was right to give up on this issue and leave it in the hands of ones who have first hand knowledge.

Having reviewed the Meridian Pacific materials, I can vouch that the media got it wrong. Again? If I can protect my identity, who will protect us from the media? Meridian Pacific’s corporate identity needs protection from the charges made by PG&E against them with federal authorities and in the newspapers. I sure hope they get more money from PG&E, hired back to do good work or compensated for the "nightmare" that unfairly losing clients can become. Surely PG&E attorneys were overzealous and reactionary? And again, I ask, who will Senator Poochigian protect if he is to be elected Attorney General?

2005-10-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

Bakersfield is bad news.

There is a saying among certain political circles, if it's bad news in Republican politics, it must be from Bakersfield. At the Republican National Convention in Manhattan last year, that guy who threw his own cell phone down the bottom seven levels of an elevator bank - because his anger got so out of control - From Bakersfield. That Assemblyman who wore the green plaid suit his colleagues bought for him as a joke from the local sidewalk vendor? From Bakersfield. That Congressman who recruits candidates to 'primary' another (run against a sitting incumbent Republican) of his own Congressional leadership? From Bakersfield. The Consultant who complains anti-redistricting spokesman Frank Hill is a convict. From Bakersfield - the consultant not the convict.

Political consultant and associate of Congressman Bill Thomas, Mark Abernathy, told the Bakersfield Californian that he didn't want to bring up Frank Hill's involvement with the FBI "Scrimp Scam" sting operation while they both were participating in a Prop. 77 editorial board meeting. But Abernathy was comfortable enough to publicly complain that Frank Hill had abandoned former Party officer and legislator Trice Harvey during Trice's first bid for the State Assembly back in 1986. Why did Hill abandon Harvey according to Abernathy? Because Harvey might have been "too close" to the Thomas machine. Funny, I remember the political teams aligning quite differently for Trice Harvey, his former Chief of Staff, Jimmy Yee and Trice's lovely spouse, Jackie, during her tenure as Kern County Republican Central Committee Chair.

Mark Abernathy led the charge more than once (ok, for years) against Team Harvey. Legislative races. Young Republicans. County party politics. State party politics. Does anyone remember his talented Abernathy brother who passed away too early? Does anyone remember Pismo Beach and a certain YR state convention? Perhaps Mark's memory of political battles is just faulty or his sense of decorum greater than it used to be. Aging does strange things to the human body, just ask Governor Bodybuilder.

Still in vintage Abernathy form, the Bakersfield consultant believes "Just having sitting legislators of both parties running the campaign against Proposition 77 is bad enough, he said. "To bring back the old cosa nostra -- that makes it even worse." Bad enough for whom, Mark? Does a difference of opinion among elected leadership bode ill for the Bakersfield redistricting plan? Polls say yes. Does Prop. 77 have a better chance of passing in November than other California open primary and redistricting measures once did? Polls say no. Can one Bakersfield politician accept a difference of opinion among rank and file Republicans? Not in my experience.

To date, the Thomas Machine of Bakersfield has been responsible for five separate redistricting measures put before the California voters. Four have failed or been tossed out by the courts as unconstitutional and unworkable. The fifth is called "reform" and promoted by Team Arnold for consideration this November. Haven't the voters spoken already? Haven't we spent enough money yet to answer the "Open Primary" question? When is enough- enough in Bakersfield?

If anyone wonders if Bill Thomas' operation is running the Governor's horseshoe these days you just need to review their political tactics. It's a play book all too familiar to those who have held divergent opinions from the Bakersfield one. First, obscure the ramifications of the initiative. Second, mandate adherence to a single standard bearer. Third, if losing both policy analysis and process arguments; then attack the messenger and lead with personal diatribes. Not too many good folks are willing to see their names, their friends and their family put to the test when politics digress to the personal and petty. Mark Abernathy was right about one thing, Trice Harvey could stand the heat in that kitchen. This year there will be others targeted but undaunted, just ask me.

For more about the convict consultant & redistricting... read the article!

2005-10-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

Will the dog bark?

Chuck Poochigian is running for Attorney General, I wonder what that means to him? Apparently it means he cares about identity theft. The State Senator has taken a page (or two) from Arnold Schwarzenegger's book (no surprise.) The Arnold ran an education initiative and ran for Governor. That tactic was a tear sheet from Pete Wilson's playbook when his consultants ran statewide initiatives for fun and profit. Now it's Pooch's turn. to run a ballot initiative or are his consultants running him?

The Sacramento Bee writes "Matt Rexroad, who is managing the identity-theft ballot campaign said there won't be much legwork needed to sell the idea to the public. "This doesn't even require much of a campaign," he said." In Martha Stewart's lexicon, is that a good thing?

Rexroad, a former Marine, is a bit under the gun, shall we say? Rexroad's firm, Meridian Pacific, the architect of last year's amazing incumbent retention election in the Assembly (Republicans held just as many seats going in and coming out), is consulting for Chuck Poochigian. But the Sacramento News and Review tells us: "Now PG&E is accusing Meridian Pacific of unethical behavior. According to a letter from PG&E to SSJID officials, an unnamed Meridian Pacific employee used a laptop computer last week to access the district's wireless network while attending a public meeting at the SSJID's offices."

SSJID stands for the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, clearly not as powerful a regulatory agency as the California Department of Justice. But if this suspected electronic hacking job had been directed at the Cal DOJ, what would Poochigian do in his desired role as Attorney General?
Anthony York of Capitol Weekly and our favorite daily email, The Roundup, wrote "It's part CSI, part Twilight Zone. A PR firm says it has done nothing wrong, only to be accused by their client of corporate espionage. Attorneys are brought in, the FBI is called and computer forensic experts arrive to hack suspect laptops."

Perhaps Senator Poochigian IS worried about losing his identity in a high-tech electronic heist. But will he take aim at the consultants accused of corporate espionage? Is stealing intellectual property of a governmental agency not the same as stealing my identity? If he wins, how will he regulate the consultants who allegedly defrauded a public utility and the people? Who will Senator Poochigian protect?

2005-09-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

A Cold Case Reason...

...We need stronger leadership in California. Three strikes legislation was a good idea. Once. Bill Jones of Fresno talked Governor Pete Wilson and Wilson's Appointments Secretary, fellow Fresno resident Chuck Poochigian, into adopting a "tough on crime" mantra. All have taken credit for California's "Three-Strikes" law. Even gave Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger a 'crime fighting' merit badge to defeat partial repeal of the law. But where were these men when deceased killer Charles "Junior" Jackson went on an unchecked rape and killing spree against Bay Area women?

Jr. Jackson died in Folsom Prison without ever admitting to the murder of a young girl, a case which has languished for years in a small Northern California town nestled on the east side of the Oakland hills known as Moraga. Growing up there, we lived the "Saga of Moraga", slang for the fact that nothing much ever happened. Anxious to grow up as we were to experience 'the real world' -- it was shocking and scary that afternoon to see police lights and the Coroner's van while on the way to my Senior Ball on the eve of my eighteenth birthday.

The San Francisco Chronicle tells us "The Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office announced today that it has used DNA evidence to link Jackson, a onetime handyman, to the unsolved killing of Cynthia Waxman, an 11-year-old Moraga girl who was sexually assaulted and strangled in April 1978 while playing with a kitten in a field near her home. "I'm gratified that the sheriff's office continued to work on this case and find the killer," Lorin Waxman, Cynthia's father, said today in a prepared statement. "This gives some closure for the family. This also removes blight for the community of Moraga, which was hit hard by Cynthia's murder. I'm glad for the community as well."

In 30 years, there were eight East Bay slayings of innocent women Jackson allegedly committed while on parole for burglary, rape, assault and child molestation. Three strikes? How about seven? That policy initiative would have saved at least ONE women's life.

Won't the script writers for Cold Case have new material now? A month after Jackson's death in prison, DNA expert Rockne Harmon, a senior deputy district attorney for Alameda County, said that genetic evidence gathered at crime scenes - and recently tested -- had "conclusively" tied Jackson to the other victims. Harmon eventually became a national DNA expert saying "Jackson was known to drive around in an old beat-up truck looking for victims. "(Jackson) would go door-to-door looking for handiwork and yard work," Harmon said. "If there was a woman home alone, and she opened the door, she was dead."

It's been nearly thirty years since that night in 1978. I live in Sacramento now, in a gated community with twenty four hour security personnel and an alarm system for my home. Three strikes? I don't feel safe.

Instead of running for "top cop" or "eagle scout", I wish politicians understood these are women's lives hanging in balance. Isn't there someone out there who wants to hold public office who knows how to make a woman feel safe?

Read the entire article at:

2005-09-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hurricane DeLay...

...California's six top leadership posts in the House of Representatives may stand as historical precedent but the House Majority Leader will still not call California "home" today. House Chairmen of the Rules, Ways and Means, Appropriations, Resources and Armed Services Committees - as well as the Secretary of the Republican Conference Committee - are Golden State men. For a moment yesterday, after the indictment of Tom DeLay by a federal grand jury in Texas, it seemed to the AP wire service that the Speaker of the House would orchestrate election of our native son, David Dreier, to the prestigious (if temporarily vacated) job of Majority Leader and then perhaps, just perhaps, promote another, Bill Thomas, to lead the Rules Committee for a very long time.

What happened? The Republican leadership vote was moved up four hours earlier than scheduled. The House Speaker couldn't deliver his stated choice as leader. The Rank and File couldn't envision a blonde haired, blue eyed Majority Leader who might be more "moderate" than a minuteman border patrol just because California might be the leading edge of all things au current in politics? It was Hurricane DeLay yesterday on Capital Hill.

What Katrina did for the City of New Orleans; out of state politicians have done to flatten the Republican Party's chances for holding on to a Congressional majority in 2006. Elect a southern style politician to lead our Party's contingent? Why not elect Kathleen Blanco? I have nothing against Congressman Roy Blunt, he's a fine man I've never met, but he isn't a Californian.

Ill winds are blowing for the Republican Party. Ethics charges swirl around Tennessee Senate Leader Bill Frist. Charges of financial corruption involving the Republican National Committee surfaced in the Texas Grand Jury that moved against Tom DeLay. What is it with the South? And in Florida, a gang land style murder has floated Jack Abramoff & friends from College Republicans under indictment and investigations. Aren't hurricanes enough? Will the path trod by Katrina and Rita and Delay lead our Party into the abyss with them?