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Assemblywoman Jean Fuller said Friday she's leaning toward running for the state Senate and not for re-election to her current post.

If she indeed goes that way, other candidates' plans should firm up, too.

Bakersfield psychologist Dean Haddock, Kern High School District Trustee Ken Mettler and Taft College instructor Harold Pease have said they will run in the 32nd Assembly District Republican primary if Fuller does not. Most of Bakersfield is in that district.

"Constituents have been coming forward to encourage me to run for State Senate in 2010 and because of that encouragement, I am leaning more towards running for the Senate than the Assembly," Fuller, R-Bakersfield, said in a statement.

Fuller would be vying for the 18th Senate District seat now held by the terming-out Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield.

Former Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, has also filed intent to run papers for the 18th District Republican primary.

Fuller has said she will make her final decision after a water deal is done in the Legislature. Assembly and Senate lawmakers approved a package earlier this week.

"Now that the water package has passed, I am focused on ensuring that officials and constituents understand the impact the water bond would have on their area," Fuller's statement also said.

"Because of my active involvement in the water deal, I was invited by the Governor to join him at a signing ceremony this morning in Los Angeles, and will also join the Governor on Monday in Fresno as he signs the water bond."

- Government editor Christine Bedell

UPDATE: Bakersfield’s Stan Ellis, who owns the Bakersfield Jam and about a dozen other businesses, announced Friday he’s endorsing Mettler in the 32nd.

Ellis unsuccessfully sought the same seat in 2006.

“Ken Mettler is a strong candidate who will fight for the things that I care about in a representative - less regulations, lower taxes and real accountability to the voters who put you there in the first place,” Ellis said in a news release.

“Ken will provide principled representation for our community. I intend to support Ken all the way in order to gain a real fighter for us up in Sacramento.”

It’s Thursday afternoon, California time, and Rep. Jim Costa still hasn’t decided how he’ll vote on health care come Saturday.

The Fresno Democrat, whose district includes parts of Bakersfield, Arvin, Shafter, Wasco and Delano, is one of the moderate and conservative “Blue Dog” House Democrats whose yeahs and nays could determine the outcome of their party’s proposed reforms.

“We’re still reviewing and listening to concerns from Valley residents,” said spokesman Bret Rumbeck.

There’s been plenty to hear. Staffers in the D.C., Fresno and Bakersfield offices have been swamped with e-mails and phone calls in recent days. Input is coming from around the country.

Costa was in D.C. Thursday, where he is still “speaking and negotiating” with party leadership to make legislation better for the Valley, Rumbeck said. Two things are on his wish list: a medical school at UC Merced and getting more health professionals to the Valley.

Folks on both sides are vying for the congressman’s attention.

On Wednesday, a labor group rallied outside Costa’s Bakersfield office urging him to support reform. Thursday, a Virginia-based limited-government group issued a press release urging him to vote against it. Reporters, meanwhile, keep wanting to know where he stands.

One key figure is staying quiet. President Barack Obama hasn’t called, Rumbeck said.

The latest Capitol Hill rumors say a vote is likely around 6 p.m. Saturday, Eastern time, with legislative business starting in the morning.

- Staff writer Gretchen Wenner

For a good story on what's going on with other Blue Dogs, read this Politico piece.

Got this from McCarthy's office, if you're so inclined to watch:

Tune in: Congressman Kevin McCarthy (CA-22) along with Congressman Chris Van Hollen (MD-08) will appear on CNN’s Situation Room <http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Prog...> today, November 3rd, at 3:45pm PST (6:45 pm EST). 

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Pete Parra and Fran Florez will face off in the Dem primary for the state Assembly's 30th District seat.

Question for the day: Who'll win, and why?

Bonus content! A little background for the uninitiated:

Kern's long-running Parra/Florez feud started eons ago. Pete Parra and Dean Florez, Fran's son, were once allies. They had a falling out, though I've never heard exactly why.

Dean Florez went on to become a state legislator; he's now termed out and making a run for Lt. Gov. His former staffer, Michael Rubio, successfully knocked Parra from his county supervisor's seat. Rubio is now running for Florez's state Senate seat.

Parra's daughter, Nicole, went on to win three terms in the state Assembly. Before terming out there and launching a Sacramento consultancy, she shunned fellow Dems and endorsed Republican Danny Gilmore for her former post. Opponent? Fran Florez, Dean's mother. Gilmore won, though he's expected to quit after his first term.

Nicole's father and Dean's mother will now face off in the June primary.

-- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer

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Conservative R's must be getting out the message to pile on Kevin McCarthy for donating to a centrist R candidate (endorsed by the NRA, btw) in a New York congressional race.

First we got the release (pasted in below) from the local chapter of the California Republican Assembly, sent early Monday. Then today, our Opinion editor got an e-mail from a woman grousing about the same issue.

(For another perspective, here's a blog post from an area NPR reporter on endorsements and a Washington Post blog on whether, with a Palin vs Gingrich divide, the special election is a litmus test for 2012.)

Here's what's come in so far:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
Contact:   Martin Bertram
October 25, 2009         & nbsp;       &n bsp;       &nb sp;       &nbs p;         ;                 & nbsp;       &n bsp;     
 
Kevin McCarthy Backs Liberal for Congressional Seat
 
Bakersfield—Congressmen Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) is backing a liberal Republican candidate, who favors abortion and homosexual marriage, has close ties with ACORN, and supported Obama’s trillion dollar stimulus package, for New York’s 23rd Congressional District seat in the coming special election.  Her main opponent is Doug Hoffman; a social and fiscal conservative who is favored by conservatives including Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson. 
 
This conflict is indicative of the current battle for the identity of the Republican Party, with one side standing upon immutable conservative principles, and the other side willing to sell out on principles in order to build a larger party. 
 
“We applaud the conservative Republicans who are supporting the principled candidate,” stated Martin Bertram, First Vice President of the Republican Assembly of Kern County. “A party without principles is not worth having.  It appears that Representative McCarthy favors party growth over principles.”

“The Conscience of the Republican Party”
Social and Fiscal Conservatives
www.RepublicanAssemblyofKernCounty.com
 
P.O. Box 20141
Bakersfield, CA 93390-0141
United States
 
##############
 

Here's the email:

Subject: Mr. Price, you may remember me from post-9/11....

...
I wanted to let you know that Bakersfield's Congressman, Kevin McCarthy, is supporting a Very Liberal Republican running in a special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District. The woman's name is Dede Scozzafava.  Her opponent, running on the Conservative line, is a Republican who is socially conservative, a CPA and backed by many other conservative Republicans who know we need a Republican like him in Congress. Today, Rep. Dana Rohrbacher endorsed Hoffman.
Below is today's NY Post endorsement of Hoffman and an article from The Hill with McCarthy's support of Scozzafava.  I think the people of Bakersfield need to know that their Congressman is supporting someone who would be considerable a radical leftist in Bakersfield...
If you would like more information, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Julie

Here are stories e-mail links to:

New York Post endorsement of Hoffman

The Hill story  includes this graf mentioning Kevin:

Just 17 members — about 10 percent of the GOP conference — have written checks to Scozzafava’s campaign. They include House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is in charge of recruiting candidates to run next year.

---

-- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer

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Jean Fuller and two other Republican state Assembly members have authored their own water bill, the Capitol Weekly reported.

Here's the text of CW blurb:

Assembly Republicans, unhappy with the water-reform package authored by the Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, introduced their own water plan that they said would curb the authority over groundwater monitoring contained in the Senate plan.

The bill, AB 1 7x, was introduced hours after a closed-door meeting Monday of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Republican and Democratic leaders of both houses. During the meeting, Republicans said they were unhappy over the regulatory powers that the Steinberg bill authorized for illegal diversions, including up to $5,000-per-day fines. Republicans said the provisions were particularly difficult for small farmers in the delta.

The authors of the bill are three the Assembly's Republican negotiators on the water conference committee - Jean Fuller of Bakersfield, Jim Nielsen of Yolo and Kevin Jefferies of Riverside.

The Republicans, which deals with policy and not fiscal issues, was introduced on the same day that legislative hearings began on the Steinberg bill, SB 1 7x, which was the product of months of negotiations between water interests and environmental groups.

That bill seeks to expedite and stabilize water deliveries while providing enough water to protect the environment of the delta.

I spoke briefly this morning with first term Hanford City Councilman David Thomas. He confirmed he plans to run for California's 16th Senate District seat.

So far the only candidate who has confirmed he's running — and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the fight — is Kern County Supervisor Michael Rubio.

Hoping to talk to Thomas more in a bit.

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While political types might savor the idea of an Assembly race between a Parra and a Florez, Pete Parra said Friday that potential drama may be one reason he DOESN’T run for the 30th District post.

“That’s one of the reasons I hesitate,” Parra, a former Kern County supervisor, said. “I don’t want to bring their family and our family into that situation. It’s not healthy.”

Parra is considering running for the seat his daughter, Nicole Parra, held from 2002 to 2008 if current incumbent Assemblyman Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford, does not.

Pete Parra’s a Democrat but supported Gilmore for the seat in 2008 and continues to back him. He’d potentially face former Shafter City Councilwoman Fran Florez in the June 2010 Democratic primary; Florez has filed intent-to-run papers.

She lost to Gilmore in 2008.

Gilmore hasn’t announced publicly whether he will seek a second two-year term.

According to the Fresno Bee, he released a statement Thursday saying that while the filing deadline to run is not until March, “I would probably not seek reelection if I had to make that decision today.”

Gilmore did not return calls from The Californian Thursday and Friday. In a story published last Sunday, he told The Californian he’s had a really tough time dealing with the fallout of the state’s budget troubles and Sacramento’s grueling partisan politics.

Pete Parra said he’ll probably make his decision in a couple weeks. What he needs to figure out, he said, is whether he’d have the needed support locally and in Sacramento, if he really wants more time away from his growing family (grandkids are in the picture now), and if he wants to be part of more Parra vs. Florez drama.

(It’s a long story. Suffice it to say Nicole Parra and Fran Florez’s son, state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, haven’t liked each other nor gotten along for a long time).

Oh, and there’s the little fact that Pete Parra doesn’t live in the 30th District, which includes a lot of northwestern Kern County plus the Arvin and Lamont area and parts of Bakersfield.

No problem, Parra said. He can move there, just like he moved into the 5th Supervisorial District to run for and hold that office.

Parra said if he did run it would be to tackle job creation, water and economic development issues in the economically struggling district.

He’s been serving on the California Workforce investment Board, which assists the governor on workforce development issues, and the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, which promotes economic development.

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A Sacramento man has qualified a...unique...ballot measure to collect signatures for the 2010 ballot.  The 2010 Marriage Protection Act would protect marriage — by outlawing divorce in California.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen just certified it today.

John Marcotte needs the signatures of 694,354 voters to get the measure on the ballot.

He's got a slick website that adopted the blue and yellow theme colors from the sucessful Yes on 8 campaign of Nov. 2008.

But, as the Huffington Post notes and a video for the measure sarcastically states, Marcotte isn't really prompting the abolishment of divorce.

It's his opinion that divorce is a bigger threat to marriage than gay marriage.

- James Burger, Californian staff writer

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Yes, we've heard the rumors too.

The California Target Book's Allan Hoffenblum has reported in his subscription Hot Sheet e-letter that Assemblyman Danny Gilmore won't be seeking re-election.

Hoffenblum told us he heard it from two reliable sources. We have calls in to Gilmore and his staffers and hope to have it confirmed or denied by the end of the day.

Gilmore's frustration with Sacramento was made clear in a piece by (supposedly retired, ha!) Dianne Hardisty in Sunday's Californian.

If the news is true, this means even more political opportunities (and shuffling) in 2010, which is turning out to be a fun-to-watch season for political junkies.

Fran Florez, Dem, has already filed papers to run for Gilmore's seat. If he's out, who will step up from the Republican side?

-- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer