Pacific Beach Democratic Club Newsletter

April 2007

PacificBeachDems.org

At our March meeting you voted to raise the general membership dues from $25 to $30 effective January 2008. Students and couples dues remain the same. The members heard Marilyn Riley talk about the California Legislature and the problems posed by term limits.

Politics, PB and Beyond By Bill Collins

Assemblywoman Shirley Horton of Chula Vista, termed out in 2008, is raising money to run for the State Senate seat now held by Denise Ducheny. 

Denise wants to run for Superintendent of Public Instruction (Jack O’Connell is termed out in 2010), and if she does so, that means her Senate seat (Chula Vista, southern part of the City of San Diego, I.B., National City, Coronado, Imperial County and Coachella Valley) would be open in 2010 - (Denise is not termed out then, and is eligible for another 4-year term in the Senate). Juan Vargas, who is well known in much of the district from his run for Congress, could also run for State Senate. The district leans Democratic.

That means that freshman Assemblywoman Mary Salas would have to run for the Senate in 2010, or have no place to go when she'd normally be termed out in 2012. This could be a Horton vs Salas race in 2010. San Diego Councilman Ben Hueso and Chula Vista Councilman Rudy Ramirez are possibilities for Salas’ South Bay assembly seat.

Add to the growing list of those considering running for Superintendent of Public Instruction: Assemblywoman Betty Karnette of Long Beach. Karnette is a retired teacher in the Los Angeles USD, and has represented the Long Beach area in the State Senate and Assembly for over a dozen years.

Assemblyman Mark Leno’s candidacy against incumbent State Senator Carole Migden for the State Senate in San Francisco/Marin next year is official. Leno is hosting a $1,000 to $3,600 fund-raiser in Sacramento, and as he Chairs the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the “third house” lobbyists will be there, many also hedging their bets by buying tickets to Migden’s funders as well. Go to http://www.capitolweekly.net/news/article.html?article_id=1322 for more on this.

Do You Know – What are the occupations of the spouses of the leading 3 Democratic presidential candidates? (see below)

Not for Credit: Legislators often do their work in the public eye, with recorded votes, but Assemblywoman Lori Saldana also works for a progressive agenda behind the scenes. Recently the PBDC member urged the Food CoOp Board (in OB) to discontinue allowing stacks of The Reader to be available there. (The PBDC voted to endorse the “Don’t Read The Reader” campaign due to the owner’s funding of anti-choice ballot initiatives in 2005 and 2006 and the paper’s refusal to acknowledge rights for the LGBT community.

Also, Lori urged Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to make a pro environment appointment to the Coastal Commission from San Diego.

“Duh special interest money comes, duh fav-uhs go out. Game Ov-uh!” (Remember that line from the recall?) Governor Schwarzenegger has proven more adept at playing the money game than any predecessor. Want your photo with the Gov? That’ll set you back $5,000 at his “debt retirement” funder at the Hyatt Regency, across the street from the capitol.

Want to sup at the head table? You can be a dinner co-host for a mere $22,300 (“head table seating with the Governor for one person, four additional dinner tickets with premiere seating, five photos with governor-one person, per photo”). No AARP discounts, we gather. For that kind of money, could they mean, retiring the debt of the state?

Brace yourself – presidential candidates may be on the air in California as soon as this winter, as the presidential primary election is moved to February. That means three elections in ’08 – the February presidential primary, the regular June primary, and the November general election. If you live where Phyllis McGrath lives (north PB/La Jolla area), you’ll have had eight elections over a period of about two years, due to special elections for mayor, city council and congress and the governor’s ill-fated 2005 ballot initiatives.

The spouses of John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama: Elizabeth (UNC); Bill (Yale) and Michelle (Harvard), respectively – are all attorneys.

Traveling? You might like to know that Travelocity, Expedia, Starwood, Wyndham and Loews Hotels give almost exclusively to Democratic candidates. Big GOP givers are Southwest, Wynn, Marriott, and Las Vegas Sands hotels.