Brown Attends Fundraiser For Republican D.A. In San Bernardino

Brown was elected statewide in 2006, as well as 1974 and 1978. (0.00 / 0)

I'm not sure what to make of Brown's connections here -- if they mean he is cozying up to right-wingers and changing his views to suit them, that's alarming.  But if it means that he's such a strong candidate that he draws support from independents and Republicans, that's a good thing.  Worth keeping an eye on, but based solely on these instances, not much of a problem for him.

As for the Mark Leggio donations:  do you have any evidence, or any reason to believe, that the district attorney was aware of any illegality in the donations?  If not, that's an extraordinarily cheap shot -- and a bank shot at that, since you are trying to discredit Brown by smearing Ramos.

According to authorities quoted by the Press-Enterprise, none of the candidates who received donations from Leggio "is suspected of any criminal conduct and there was no evidence they had any idea the contributions may have been illegal."

http://www.columbia.org/pdf_fi...

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by: DavidT @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 12:44:33 PM CDT

Are Brown's positions best suited to help California, or himself? (4.00 / 2)

Whether or not Jerry Brown's center right focus is savvy or not isn't the issue for me.  I'm looking for a candidate who is absorbing the lessons of the past years, and will govern as a Democrat.  Not seeing this in Brown.

Disclosure: Union staff, former staff for Manuel Perez, elected DSCC delegate for 80th AD, board of Democrats of the Desert

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by: soyinkafan @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 13:39:04 PM CDT

Similar Problem (0.00 / 0)

We have a similar problem with State Senator Lois Wolk (SD-05).  Wolk endorsed two Republicans in the "non-partisan" Fairfield City Council race, John Mraz and Catherine Moy.  

If Moy's name sounds familiar, that's because she is associated with Move America Forward, the pro-Iraq War group.  She and another person were appointed to fill two vacancies on the Fairfield City Council that arose when one council member was murdered and another committed suicide after being convicted of a felony.  That is how a city that is 50%+ Democratic ended up with a city council that is 80% Republican.  The council is now 60% Republican now that the Mayor left them.  (The mayor holds a seat on the five-member council.)

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by: Airpower @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 13:48:12 PM CDT

More two cents (4.00 / 1)

Non-Partisan races are actually partisan in nature because they are the minor leagues of politics. My county political party endorses in non-partisan races.

And the money Ramos can use for his campaign does not have to be spent on his campaign, Sam Clauder a leading Democratic Party activist says there are no strings attached to this money the DA raised with Jerry Brown where it can be spent to the San Bernardino County Republican Party if the DA wanted to.

This story can be damaging to Brown just as much as Whitman donating 3000.00 to Boxer and ENDORSING her.  

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by: mmunson @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 14:22:31 PM CDT

You make a good point here (0.00 / 0)

Too often there is an assumption that just because party affiliations aren't listed on the ballot in many local races, then it's somehow wrong or inappropriate for parties to get involved in those races.

Which isn't really the point. "Non-partisan" races only exist to allow Republicans to win elections they would otherwise lose, and that's been the case since those kind of races were created in the early 1900s.

You can check out any time you like but you can never leave

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by: Robert Cruickshank @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 14:46:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Alleged non-partisan elections (0.00 / 0)

"Non-partisan" local races is a subject that needs to be explored more.  Something smells rotten.  I have spent some time looking into the bizarre alignment of the players in the City of Fairfield:

- the Republican-endorsing police officers association that successfully put two retired officers on the council

- the Republican-dominated council that motivated a recently-hired police chief to resign, much to the pleasure of the police officers association

- a Democrat (at least at one time) and former Fairfield resident who has donated over $20,000 this cycle alone into city council races.  This individual also donated a bundle in the last race, both to candidates and a Republican-focused smear group set up to take down a Democratic member of the council.  The "donor" just happens to hold a lucrative contract for the Fairfield city bus operation.  Our traffic and transportation problems haven't improved one bit -- for example:  it is not possible to get to the local AmTrak station by city bus before the first commuter train leaves

- local and out-of-town developers and related construction companies who pour money into local elections year after year

- a locally-headquartered business that has funneled $40,000 so far into the campaign accounts of three of the current candidates (they've done this in the past, too.)

- the relationship between the local dead-tree newspapers (The Fairfield Daily Republic and The Vacaville Reporter)  Note: one of their ex-columnists was recently appointed to the council

- the relationship between a council member and the local trash collection company

I could go on.

And off-year elections don't help.  If the even-numbered years are good enough for the President, the U. S. Congress, the Governor of California, and the state legislature, then even-numbered years should be good enough for the Fairfield City Council and local school board, too.  Maybe state law should be changed to synchronize local and state elections.

 

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by: Airpower @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 15:58:56 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And the press ... (0.00 / 0)

Our local press shares this bias.  For example, the Vacaville Reporter has criticized a local political club for objecting to Democratic State Senator Wolk endorsing two Republicans.  

Among the many facts missing from their distorted editorial is that one of the Republican candidates, Catherine Moy, used to be one of their columnists.  This photo (Moy is the one on the right) says more about her friends and views than anything else can.

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by: Airpower @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 16:21:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Everybody's been wondering which Jerry Brown is running (0.00 / 0)

Governor Moonbean or Crusty the General. This goes some ways toward answering that question.

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by: cfinnie @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 16:17:33 PM CDT

Fairfield election (0.00 / 0)

I don't know what is going on in Fairfield, but the alignments in nonpartisan elections are usually across party lines.  They tend to split with slow-growth Democrats and anti-tax republicans opposing pro growth Democrats who are generally more concerned with jobs and things like low cost housing and pro-business Republicans and it is not unusual for legislators in both parties to endorse nonpartisan candidates who are registered in the other party because of those splits and in fact when I checked about a year ago, I went through 25 members of the Assembly and could find records of all but two having endorsed members of the other party in competitive nonpartisan races where they were opposed by a serious candidate who was a member of the legislators party.  As always, elections are still about choosing between individuals, not parties and that is even more pronounced in nonpartisan races.

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by: doughnut70 @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 23:04:27 PM CDT

But that's just not true (0.00 / 0)

Elections in the United States are very much about choosing between parties, as well as individuals. Just because the party affiliation isn't listed on the ballot doesn't mean that the parties aren't involved, that the individual isn't building the power of that party or isn't part of a broader strategy to build a partisan bench.

I do think you are right about the kind of coalitions that get built in CA local elections. Which to me is another argument against nonpartisan elections. Slow-growthers aren't actually Democrats - or at least, their views are inherently conservative and run counter to Democratic values. Perhaps a more partisan election process for local races might enable that fact to become more prominent, and could allow Democrats to have a more robust debate about the ways slow-growth politics strangle the California Dream by channeling its benefits to a small privileged few.

You can check out any time you like but you can never leave

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by: Robert Cruickshank @ Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 11:09:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I disagree (0.00 / 0)

Your assessment is, in my opinion, incorrect.  There is nothing Democratic about plowing under orchards, farms, and open space for yet another tract of McMansions.  On the contrary, the suburban sprawl that "slow grothers" battle is the very unsustainable development the main article talked about.

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by: SolanoVoter @ Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 22:47:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ooops -- I Correct Myself (0.00 / 0)

The article I was thinking of was the one referring to the failure of the California Dream.

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by: SolanoVoter @ Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 22:48:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Political Parties (0.00 / 0)

Our founding fathers including Thomas Jefferson whom for all intents founded our first political party expressed concern in various forms for the idea that parties would be more important in voters decisions that jdugements made by individuals.  Jefferson felt that parties were a necessary evil so that there was always a base for outsiders to build on when they wanted to challenge the establishment.  Franklin Roosevelt, surely as partisan a Democrat as ever held the oval office stated that any voter was foolish if he made party registration the most important factor in deciding his vote.  You can go on and on.  Parties are supposed to be an indicator about where a person stands on the issues and a chance for likeminded people to work together to effect change, but it was never intended to be (and in our system of government cannot be) something that overrides the importance of choosing the individual who best represents your point of view.

As for the comment about slow growth candidates not being good democrats, I guess that's all a matter of opinion.  I don't agree with you, but some people do.  However, many if not most of our elected Democrats started their careers as slow growth candidates for local office and if you choose to cut those people out of our party, you are losing most of our leadership (Nancy Pelosi has given speeches comparing neighborhood groups fighting developments with the original American Revolutionaries whom also said, "Enough is enough.") and an awful lot of voters.  

Democrats tend to be united only by the fact that we believe government has a role in solving our problems, but what problems it should solve and how it should solve them are decisions that vary from voter to voter and from elected official to elected official which is why the way the system is really supposed to work is you elect like minded people at your neighborhood level and they represent their views at the next level up, all the way to the top.

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by: doughnut70 @ Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 14:22:14 PM CDT