I finally got the names and numbers together today.
— Government editor Christine Bedell
Campaign contributions to Kern County supervisors from July 1 to Dec. 31 of 2007
Ray Watson — 4th District
Beginning cash balance: $0
Monetary contributions: $35,649
Payments made: $97.11
Ending cash balance: $35,551.89
Monetary contributions:
3-WAY AUTOMOTIVE GROUP $500
ADAVCO $500
ARCIERO $ SONS INC. $500
MARK AND LINDA ARNOLD $125
GARY AND JACQUALINE ATT $100
BAKERSFIELD-MOUNTAIN GATE LLC $500
BAKERSFIELD LAND CO. LLC $125
BAKERSFIELD LAND INVESTMENT II LLC $500
RAY AND PATTY BASS $250
BELLANAVE CORP. $500
GEORGE GARY BELTER $100
F. LYNN AND PATTI BLYSTONE $250
ANTHONY AND STACIE BOHN $500
BOLTHOUSE PROPERTIES $500
THOMAS AND CONNIE BRANDT HIS WATERS/TBS DISTRIBUTING $100
C.T. AND CATHERINE BURROW $125
CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENT PETROLEUM PAC $500
CARE INC., DBA COMMUNITY AMBULANCE SERVICE $500
W. MICHAEL AND DONA CHERTOK $125
JAMES AND AMY CHURCH $125
THE CLEVELAND REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST IRA C. CLEVELAND, TTEE CHARLOTTE L. CLEVELAND, TTEE $500
JEFFREY AND SARAH CROWLEY $500
DELANO AMBULANCE SERVICE $500
DERREL'S MINI STORAGE INC. $500
RAYBURN AND JOAN DEZEMBER $1,000
ALFRED EATON JR. $250
WANDA D. ENGLAND $500
JAMES AND JEANNE FILLBRANDT $125
DONALD AND BONNIE FITZGERALD $250
HOWARD AND SUSAN FRICK $250
GENE TACKETT CONSULTING $500
GENERAL PRODUCTION SERVICE $500
GEOSTAR CORP. $250
GRANITE CONSTRUCTION CO. $500
W.A. AND RUBAE GRIFFIN $1,000
H.M. HOLLOWAY INC. $500
HALL AMBULANCE SERVICE INC. $500
BOB AND JUDY HAMPTON $1,000
RODNEY AND SUSAN HERSBERGER $125
MILTON AND DORIS HUGGS $125
GARY AND CYNTHIA ICARDO $100
INDEPENDENT OIL PRODUCERS AGENCY $500
T.J. JAMIESON $500
CLAUDIA O. KEE JONAH $100
JSA COMPANY $250
KCBEX INC. $500
SHAWN AND LORI KELLY $200
KERN AMBULANCE SERVICE $500
KERN COUNTY AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION $500
KERN OIL & REFINING CO. $500
KLEIN, DENATALE, GOLDNER, COOPER, ROSENLIEB & KIMBALL LLP $500
DIANE LAKE $500
LAW OFFICES OF LEBEAU THELEN LLP $500
WILLIAM LAZZERINI JR. $500
BRUCE MACLIN $125
MANAGED CARE SYSTEMS, L.P. $500
JOSEPH MANSOUR AND MELANIE MANSOUR $1,000
WM. PATRICK MARCHBANKS $125
GEORGE MARTIN $1,000
LOUISE MCCARTHY $100
MESA MARIN RACEWAY $250
HORACE AND BARBARA MITCHELL $125
MMR BAKERSFIELD LLC $250
BOB AND RUTHANN MONTGOMERY $125
NICKEL FAMILY LLC $500
DANIEL AND SALLY PANERO $500
PETE AND MONA PANKEY $500
BRIAN AND KAY PITTS $100
LLOYD PLANK $125
DALE POE REAL ESTATE GROUP $500
LAWTON POWERS $500
ELMER AND ROBIN PRICE $500
WALTER AND RAMONA PRICE $500
PROGRESSIVE AMBULANCE INC. $500
R.L. ABBOTT AND ASSOCIATES $125
VINCENT ROJAS JR. AND LINDA $100
S.A. CAMP COMPANIES $500
BILL & PATRICIA SCRIVNER $125
JAMES P. SEARS $125
JOSEPH AND MARY KATHERINE SHELL $125
KENNETH AND ZELDA SHELTON $125
CHARLES AND JOANNA SMITH $500
SUPERIOR SANITATION SERVICE $500
TRC OPERATING COMPANY $1,000
JON VAN BOENING $500
VERNON VARNER $500
VINT AND KRISTIN VARNER $500
EUGENE AND LINDA VOILAND $250
LELAND AND SUSAN YEOMAN $250
MICHAEL AND SALLY YRACEBURN $250
ZACK SCRIVNER FOR CITY COUNCIL $500
Michael Rubio — District 5
Beginning cash balance: $86,686.82
Monetary contributions: $48,055
Miscellaneous increases to cash: $182.32
Payments made: $34,196.81
Ending cash balance: $100,727.33
Monetary contributions
KERN OIL & REFINING CO. $500
SALMA H. KHAN $500
TATANEH KHORRAMI $500
EVAN KING $250
OTTO C. KOOREN $250
MANAGEMENT SERVICES ORG. INC. $500
CECILIA E. MARSTON $500
ALLEN MILLER $500
SHARON N. MILLER $100
MMR BAKERSFIELD LLC $250
JOHN L. MORAN $500
NADER DEVELOPMENT $250
KAREN NALOS $500
EVELYN NYITRAY $500
OMEGA FINANCIAL AND INSURANCE SERVICES $250
LEE PALMER $105
PARAMOUNT FARMING CO. $500
PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES $500
R.L. ABBOTT & ASSOCIATES $100
REBECCA RIVERA M.D. INC. $500
REGIONAL HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS INC. $500
ARLINDA M. REYES $500
RAUL R. ROCHA $100
BEVERLY RUBIN $500
MEL RUBIN $500
SAG — SANGERA AUTO. GROUP $200
GONZALO R. SALDANA $500
STEVE SCHILLING $500
SEIU LOCAL 521 PAC $500
GEETANJALI SHARMA $500
LOUIS SIMPSON $200
ARUN SOFTA $500
SCOTT SUMMERS $500
SHERRY L. SUMMERS $500
THE PRINCETON REVIEW $500
ARTHUR R. TITUS $100
CAMERON A. TORABI $500
MIKE TORABI $500
SHAHRZAD TORABI $500
KENNETH C. TWISSELMAN $150
VALLEY MEDICAL GROUP OF KC INC. $500
WILLIAM NYITRAY $500
YANKEE COMMUNICATIONS $500
3 BRAND CATTLE COMPANY $500
3 WAY CHEVROLET $500
BARBARA ACKERMAN $500
LISA ACKERMAN $500
ONDREA E. ACKERMAN $500
RICHARD L. ACKERMAN $500
ADELANTE EDUCATIONAL SERVICES $500
JULIA R. ALANIZ $150
CARLOS A. ALVAREZ $500
AMBIKA SOFTA, M.D. INC. $500
AJAY ANAND $500
MADHU ANAND $500
VICTORIA ANDERSON $300
ANNSON CONSULTING $500
MARK A. ARNOLD $100
MIRIAM R. AUDELO $250
BAKERSFIELD WELL CASING $500
DIANE BASHIRTASH $500
FARHAD BASHIRTASH $500
FATEMEH BASHIRTASH $500
MASOUD BASHIRTASH $500
MONA BASHIRTASH $500
REZA BASHIRTASH $500
ANJU BHAMBI $500
BRIG BHAMBI $500
MANICK BHARDWAJ $500
ARCHANA BINDRA $500
BLUMER CONSTRUCTION INC. $500
BALJIT K. BRAR $500
JASVEER S. BRAR $500
IGNACIO M. BRAVO $100
CAMERON POINT LLC $500
CKY LLC $500
MORGAN CLAYTON $250
D.J. FOOD MART/SUBWAY $500
KIRIT R. DESAI $500
SUJATA K. DESAI $500
DAVID J. DMOHOWSKI $100
SANJIV SHARMA $500
ED ARIEY POOLS LCC $250
BONNIE ELLIS $500
STANLEY W. ELLIS $500
MELINDA K. FALLGATTER $500
THOMAS C. FALLGATTER $500
JOSHUA D. FINCH $500
ZOE F. FINCH $500
GOLDEN EMPIRE TOWING $500
GRANITE CONSTRUCTION $500
AMY HALL-BLAIR $500
HARPER ENTERPRISES $500
MARGERY K. HUBERLAND $500
TETSUO ISHIMORI $500
YUKO ISHIMORI $500
RUPINDER S. JHAJ $500
CHANDRIKA KATRAGADDA $500
DEVI KATRAGADDA $500
KCPA-PAC $1,500
KCSCA $500
Mike Maggard — District 3
Beginning cash balance: $2,918.10
Monetary contributions: $2,960
Payments made: $1,263.69
Ending cash balance: $4,614.41
Outstanding debt: $25,100
Monetary contributions
JAMES NICKEL $500
KATHLEEN NICKEL $260
MEL OWENS $500
FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL CARE OF KERN COUNTY $500
JANET LEDBETTER-BITTLE $200
S.C.O.P.O. $500
HEAT & FROST INSULATORS & ABESTOS WORKERS LOCAL 5-PAC $500
Jon McQuiston — District 1
Beginning cash balance: $1,476.20
Monetary contributions: $1,500
Payments made: $2,149.97
Ending cash balance: $826.23
Monetary contributions
WAN MO YOUN $500
BENZ SANITATION $1,000
No contributions:
Don Maben — District 2
Beginning cash balance: $10,064.82
Ending cash balance: $10,064.82
From a Capitol Weekly blog today:
The Skinny
By Capitol Staff (published Thursday, February 28, 2008)Some former staffers of Nicole Parra, who incidentally has publicly committed to Chuck Calderon for speaker, are planning a reunion. Let’s hope they’ve booked a big room. The invite went out to “Chiefs of Staff 1-6, Legislative Directors 1-9, Schedulers 2-14, and many other veterans of the Parra Experience for a celebratory dinner.” “The first 100 to RSVP get a ceremonial ‘I was fired by Parra’ pin.”
Here's the original post: www.capitolweekly.net/article.php
This L.A. Times poll really surprised me. Not the part about McCain winning in a hypothetical match-up with Clinton but in one with Obama as well. And that McCain has an advantage over the Democrats even on domestic issues.
It goes against everything else I've been reading. What do you think of the findings?
Here's the top of the TImes story and a link to the entire thing:
WASHINGTON -- As he emerges from a sometimes- bitter primary campaign, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain poses a stiff challenge to either of his potential Democratic opponents in the general election, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
The findings underscore the difficulties ahead for Democrats as they hope to retake the White House during a time of war, with voters giving McCain far higher marks when it comes to experience, fighting terrorism and dealing with the situation in Iraq.
You can read the full story at: www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-poll27feb27,0 ,5452138.story
In the final debate before the crucial Texas and Ohio primaries next week, Hillary Clinton went on the attack against Barack Obama, but Obama deflected the former frontrunner's jabs and Clinton couldn't score the knockout punch her faltering campaign needed.
Read an analysis of the debate here.
Do you think Clinton should pull out of the race if she doesn't win Texas and Ohio next Tuesday?
Assembly Speaker Fabien Nuñez weighed in on the latest twist in Parra-Florez, through his spokesman, on the Fresno Bee's blog.
"The Speaker fully expects her to support the Democratic nominee. Republicans shouldn't count on any assistance from any Democrat for their candidate that doesn't represent Valley values, period," wrote Steven Maviglio.
Meanwhile, at least one local Democrat is mad. Jon Johnston, a Shafter resident, sent me this over the weekend:
"As a Democrat and a personal friend and supporter of Senator Florez, and although Dean, and Nicole’s father were having some kind of difficulty I still supported Nicole for the Assembly Seat 3 elections. I always thought she was a bright young lady who would look out for the southern end of her district. Boy did I make a mistake!! Her name should be stricken from the Democratic Party. She might think elephants have long memories, however wait for her run for the State Senate or Congress, even Republicans do not like TRAITORS. And she has burnt that Democratic Bridge."
-- James Geluso
Opinion piece in the L.A. Times compares the John McCain/lobbyist brouhaha to that of Bill Thomas several years ago:
"It’s odd how one politician’s scandal tends to bulletproof the next politician who runs into the same kind of controversy.
(After talk of Dan Quayle and others it gets to this):
"And now there’s the New York Times story about John McCain and a woman lobbyist.
There’s some precedent there, too -– but this time the politician didn’t contradict the newspaper report: Bill Thomas, a Bakersfield Republican and Congressional veteran who ran in 2000 the House Ways and Means health subcommittee.
That year, as Thomas pushed and prodded and ramrodded to get a prescription drug bill through Congress, his hometown paper, the Bakersfield Californian, quoted unnamed sources to report that Thomas had a close personal relationship with a woman who lobbied for major drug and health care firms -– and that those sources had told the newspaper that Thomas’ chief of staff had said so to several people.
Thomas’ response, unlike McCain's, was not a denial: ``Any personal failures of commitment or responsibility to my wife, family or friends are just that -– personal.’’ His public duties meant he had sacrificed ‘’perhaps too often to be as good a husband or father as I should or could have been.’’ Thomas stayed on in Congress another six years, wrapping up as the Big Cheese of Ways and Means.
But curiously, it wasn’t Thomas who cushioned the blow for McCain –- it was Clinton, again. Monica-gate, and the Republicans’ shabby shot at impeachment over it, have generally raised the bar when it comes to the power of sexual misconduct accusations. The public shrug to the New York Times story seems to show that the sexual innuendo part of the story, and public distaste for it, somehow made the lobbyist part of the story inconsequential.
You can read the full piece at: opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2008/02/back-when-i n-be.html
According to the Drudge Report, Hillary Clinton staffers have circulated a photo of opponent Barack Obama dressed as a Somali elder on a trip to Kenya in 2006.
Read the story here.
You might remember a Clinton volunteer coordinator being asked to step down earlier in the campaign after forwarding an e-mail saying Obama is a Muslim.
Is the photo's release fair game in the race for the White House, or is it another example of Cinton's desperateness?
Assemblywoman Nicole Parra announced her last bills Friday, if you'd like to take a gander (she's about to be termed-out and recently announced she's dropping out of politics after that):
The six bills and one resolution introduced by Assemblymember Parra are:
AB 2342 – California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley. The Partnership was originally created by Governor Schwarzenegger's Executive Order S-5-05 in 2005 to improve the economy and well-being of the people of the San Joaquin Valley. The Partnership is a concerted effort to coordinate a creative response from leaders at all levels of government and the community to spur economic development in the Valley. The Partnership was extended via Executive Order S–22-06. There is currently no statutory authority for the Partnership, which is scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2008. This bill would establish the Partnership in state statute.
AB 2572 – Menu Labeling. This bill would require a restaurant chain, with at least 20 restaurant locations in the state to disclose certain nutritional information for each standard food item, including: calories, amount of fat, saturated fat, and trans fat, amount of carbohydrates, and total amount of sodium. This bill would ensure people can make informed dietary decisions when they eat out at restaurants.
AB 2061 – Compulsory Education. This bill would provide that a parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of a pupil who fails to comply with compulsory education provisions related to truancy, is guilty of an infraction punishable by certain fines. This bill would ensure parents take responsibility for their children and their academic well being.
AB 2219 – Developers Water Credits. Currently, whenever residential development is proposed, it must undergo a water usage study to determine if there is enough water to supply the future residents. This bill would allow developers to use water-saving features in the development (such as low-flow toilets, water efficient washing machines, and other technologies or building practices) as credits towards their final water-use impact.
AB 2063 – Smog Checks. This bill would require all vehicles currently registered in areas where smog checks are only required upon change of ownership to pass smog tests every two-years. Our Valley residents already must have their vehicles inspected every two-years. However, many other areas of the state only have vehicles smog-checked when a vehicle changes ownership. This bill makes sure all Californians share in the responsibility of cleaning the air pollution in the state.
AB 2217 – Tax Check-off Funds. This bill would clearly state that each of the 16 voluntary tax check-off funds would continue to pay out awards until all monies contributed are exhausted. Currently, these funds revert to the general fund after two years if the monies housed in the funds are not spent. This bill would make sure that the money people donate to charities in good faith, as portions of their tax returns, are received by those worthy causes.
ACR 97 – Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park and the town of Allensworth. This resolution commemorates the centennial of the founding of the Town of Allensworth. The story of Allensworth is inspiring, truly a story of the "American Dream," when a number of African-Americans, including Civil War heroes and ex-slaves, came to an isolated spot in the southern San Joaquin Valley to build a town where hard work, dedication, and faith would allow them the opportunity to control their own destiny in a discrimination-free environment. Allensworth is the site of Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park.
At last night's Lincoln Day Dinner, the annual Republican love-fest at the Doubletree, former Congressman Bill Thomas forgot to put his hand over his heart when the national anthem was being sung.
Big whoop, you say?
I didn't blink when I first looked at the photo.
But then I read Andy Kehe's column about Cal State Bakersfield basketball player Nikki West , who was recently painted in print (the Californian's letter page) as an unpatriotic heathen.
Her crime?
Not covering her heart during the playing of the national anthem.
I wonder if letter writers Bob Williams and Judith Mosier, and the Cal State students who jeered West to tears, will go after Thomas next.
Check out Andy Kehe's column on the sin of salute at:
http://www.bakersfield.com/...
- James Burger, Californian staff writer
This is not to be missed, either.
Lest anyone accuse this blog of being too serious, here's a video of President Bush dancing in Liberia Thursday.
Watch the video here.
Jeff Flores will be a Kern County Planning Commissioner.
Flores, a well-known Republican from the ultra-conservative Roy Ashburn camp, is being nominated for the post by Ashburn ally and Kern County Supervisor Mike Maggard.
Flores is a staffer in Ashburn's Bakersfield office.
Flores is perhaps most well-known on the blog-o-sphere for his he-she-said dust up (or would that be "grapple-up") with former Chamber of Commerce staffer Steve Teglia over drinks at Cafe Med.
Flores takes over for Kay Pitts on the commission — which reviews development projects and land use changes across the county.
Is Flores getting set up for a run for real political job?
Maggard said not.
"He’s exceptionally bright, he knows how government works and he shares my commitment to a better community," Maggard said. "It’s not a political thing,"
The Ashburn connection was "how I got to know him."
But Maggard said he made the nomination because Flores is "a perfect fit for the job."
BY JAMES GELUSO
Californian staff writer
e-mail: jgeluso@bakersfield.com
Party loyalty can’t beat a family feud.
Retiring Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, would rather support a Republican than a Democrat named Florez.
That works well for Danny Gilmore, who is running as a Republican for Parra’s 30th District Assembly seat. His most likely opponent is Fran Florez, a Shafter city councilwoman and mother of state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter.
Gilmore challenged Parra in 2006, getting 48 percent of the vote and winning each county except Kern. “It was a brutal race,” Gilmore said. “I said that night I would never run for office again.”
But other people convinced him to reconsider, so he decided he would run for the seat — if Parra didn’t. When she announced in early February that she is retiring from politics, Gilmore immediately got on the phone to raise money for his campaign.
Parra told the Fresno Bee that she would consider voting for Gilmore, and she won’t endorse Florez.
“I find it very interesting,” Gilmore said of Parra’s almost-endorsement. “I’m honored that she thinks I would make a great representative for the district.”
Parra declined to speak to the Californian, but her chief of staff said she isn’t endorsing anyone yet.
Fran Florez said Parra is directing her move at the wrong target.
“I think she has a problem with Dean,” she said.
Dean Florez said Parra’s move is a slap in the face to local Democrats.
“I thought she was going to support the very people who have kept her in office,” he said. “I think it shows, you know, a lack of maturity, political maturity.”
Florez said Parra is continuing a feud that has long ceased in his mind. But she can’t get over that he supported Michael Rubio’s successful run to unseat her father, then-Kern County Supervisor Pete Parra, in 2004.
The two sides were feuding long before, though, and both sides have offended each other side.
The 30th District includes parts of east Bakersfield, Lamont, Arvin, Shafter and northern Kern County, plus Hanford and Coalinga. Most of the district is also represented by Dean Florez in the state Senate.
Are you a Democrat who supported Nicole Parra? What do you think? Reach James Geluso at 395-7320.
... and this one by Vic Pollard is from Aug. 27, 2005.
SACRAMENTO -- The political feud between the Florez and Parra families hit a new level this week.
Fran Florez, the mother of Democratic Sen. Dean Florez of Shafter, confirmed that she is thinking about running for the Assembly next year against Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, a fellow Democrat.
"I haven't made a decision," said Fran Florez, who is the mayor of Shafter. "But I haven't ruled anything out."
Parra charged that the move is part of Dean Florez's bitter opposition to her and her father, former Kern County Supervisor Pete Parra.
"The comments I've heard up here is that this makes him look so petty," Nicole Parra said. "People say this guy's obsession with me is going to drive him crazy."
She also speculated that Dean and Fran Florez may not be serious about Fran Florez running next year, but are using it as a ruse to "clear the field" for her to seek the office in 2008 when Parra will be termed out of office.
"Smart move," Parra said.
Dean Florez said his mother makes her own decisions, but he would back her in a minute over Parra.
He said he considers Parra more of a Republican than a Democrat because she often votes with agriculture and business interests against what he feels are bills to benefit labor and consumers.
"Pragmatically speaking, I'm not sure Democrats can afford to have that seat held by a Republican for the next two years," he said.
Besides, Florez said, Parra herself touched off this latest episode weeks ago when she acknowledged that she was thinking about running against him for the Senate next year.
Florez said he would love to see that because he believes he could beat her, and it would clear the way for his mother to run for Parra's Assembly seat.
Responding to Parra's comment about his obsession with her, Florez said, "My only obsession with Nicole Parra is to get a real Democrat in that seat."
Fran Florez said although she has made no decision about running for the Assembly, "I have a real strong desire to serve the community and serve the residents of the 30th Assembly District.
That district covers parts of four counties on the west side of the valley. It also lies mostly within the 16th Senate District represented by Dean Florez.
Fran Florez is no stranger to politics herself. She was elected to the Shafter City Council in 1996, two years before her son won his first election to the Assembly.
She also serves on the California High Speed Rail Authority, where she was recently elected chairwoman.
How did it start?
That is unclear. Dean Florez has said it began when Nicole Parra once "cussed out" his chief of staff, Al Wagner, for something Florez had done. Nicole Parra and her father, Pete Parra, have refused to discuss its origins.
When did it start?
That is also unclear. Dean Florez and Pete Parra were once friends and political allies. The feud first surfaced publicly in May 2001 when Dean Florez and Pete Parra, then a county supervisor, sparred angrily with each other over flood control issues at a community meeting in Lamont.
How have they treated each other?
* When Nicole Parra first ran for the Assembly in 2002, Florez backed her opponent in the Democratic primary election, Jim Crettol.
* In 2003, Florez accused Nicole Parra of working behind the scenes with Assembly Democrats to try to scuttle his legislation --that eventually passed -- requiring agriculture to help clean up air pollution for the first time.
* About the same time, Florez went on the warpath against what he called wasteful spending of tobacco tax money by the First 5 Kern Commission, which was then headed by Pete Parra.
* Last year, an aide to Florez, Michael Rubio, ran against Pete Parra for county supervisor and defeated Parra.
Have they ever cooperated with each other?
On rare occasions. They both signed a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger protesting his plan to divert more money away from local governments to help balance the state budget. Parra also supported Florez's proposal to ban the import of sewage sludge for use as fertilizer in Kern County.
This is a Sept. 1, 2003 story we ran about the ongoing feud between the Parras and the Florezes, by Vic Pollard.
SACRAMENTO -- What are we going to do about Dean Florez?
That's the question fellow legislators in both parties are asking as they shake their heads over the latest set of unorthodox tactics the maverick state senator used to blast away a political roadblock threatening to stymie one of his bills.
Florez, D-Shafter, convinced Democratic members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee to vote for his big anti-smog bill even though he infuriated them in the process by publicly attacking a freshman assemblywoman who also represents Kern County.
It wasn't the first time Florez has gotten things done by ignoring the traditional political strategy of going along to get along.
He hadn't been in office more than a few months in 1999 when he rattled the Bakersfield political establishment by blocking money for the popular Kern River Freeway project until planners agreed to protect a groundwater storage facility important to farmers.
While that involved a local flap, he left the whole state gasping last year when he skewered Democratic Gov. Gray Davis' administration in hearings on its mishandling of a computer software purchase contract.
"I've always got a battle," Florez said in an interview. "That's my style."
But the story of how he got the smog bill through the Assembly Appropriations Committee marks a new high in the Florez record of bulldozer politics -- or a new low, depending on whom you ask.
It has plots and subplots like a Russian novel.
It wasn't always easy getting the highly controversial bill through the state Senate. For the first time in history, it will require farmers and dairy operators to shoulder part of the burden of reducing pollution-causing emissions. That sends shivers down their spines, given the complaints they hear from other industries.
But Florez said he always expected smooth sailing for it in the Assembly money committee. It is dominated by Democrats, most of whom are urban liberals who never met an environmental bill they didn't like.
But a couple of days before the scheduled Aug. 20 hearing, he said he was warned that the bill might be in trouble. That meant that there was unexpected opposition among Democrats, since the minority Republicans are automatic no votes on such a bill.
To Capitol insiders that had all the earmarks of a last-minute behind-the-scenes power play by somebody who wanted to scuttle or gut the bill for personal or political reasons. Those reasons may or may not have anything to do with the policy in the bill.
When confronted with that situation, the traditional response is for the author to quietly approach committee members -- or whoever's running the power play -- to see what's bothering them or try to work out a compromise. That may or may not be successful, depending on the influence or the feeling behind the play.
Florez quickly concluded that it was an effort by top Democrats to sidetrack the bill. They wanted toprotect Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, from having to vote on a controversial issue. It is commonly believed she will have a tough re-election battle next year and she doesn't need to make enemies among farmers or environmentalists.
The leader of the opposition among Assembly Democrats, Leland Yee of San Francisco, said he objected on policy grounds, but he told the Los Angeles Times that at least one colleague mentioned protecting Parra as the reason for his opposition.
Florez knew he was at a disadvantage if he tried to penetrate the circle of Assembly insiders surrounding Parra. He has few friends there.
His response was unique in the memory of many Sacramento veterans.
In the news media, he fired an angry blast at what he called a sneaky maneuver that disregarded the health problems of children in the valley to protect Parra politically.
It wasn't his first public jab at Parra, either. But for the first time, it exposed the entire Legislature to the ugly feud between Florez and Nicole Parra and her father, Kern County Supervisor Pete Parra.
The depth of bad feeling stunned most fellow lawmakers.
"There's a real war there," marveled Republican Assemblyman Richard Mountjoy, who got caught up in another Florez vs. Parra issue. That involved Florez's request for an audit of the way the county tobacco-tax commission -- headed by Pete Parra -- is handling its money.
Mountjoy initially agreed to a request from Nicole Parra to vote against the audit. But after a hallway conversation with Florez, after which a reporter heard Mountjoy say, "She lied to me," he switched and voted with Florez for the audit.
Mountjoy said Parra told him the audit was part of a political vendetta by Florez against her father and was unnecessary, Florez told The Californian.
Revealing details of such a conversation is a breach of political etiquette and it had a predictable effect.
Florez lost another friend.
"I think it was very vindictive of Dean Florez," Mountjoy said. "When I have a conversation with another legislator like that, it stays between him and me."
Although it cemented Florez's reputation for running roughshod over people's feelings, it accomplished his goal of getting it on the record that Nicole Parra had personally lobbied audit committee members to protect her father from a potentially embarrassing audit.
The Florez-Parra feud has overshadowed Kern County politics almost from the moment Florez was elected to the Assembly in 1998.
Its origin has been a bit of mystery, but Florez is now telling people, including reporters, that it began shortly after he first took office in 1999.
His version is that Nicole Parra verbally attacked him after he publicly criticized Ed Velasquez, who was then the embattled director of the Kern County Economic Opportunity Corp.
Velasquez eventually resigned under fire for collecting compensatory time-off pay in addition to his salary for work over 40 hours a week, although he was strongly supported by Pete Parra.
Neither Nicole nor Pete Parra responded to requests for comment for this article.
She is under heavy pressure from the Assembly Speaker's office not to respond to attacks or other comments from Florez, apparently in hopes that will allow the sparring to die down.
She finds that difficult, however.
She couldn't resist telling a Fresno Bee reporter that "Mr. Florez seems to think that attacking me will clean up the air in the Central Valley. I don't think that's right."
Whatever the origin of the feud, Florez and Pete Parra regularly sparred in public. Florez supported Jim Crettol against Nicole Parra in the Democratic Assembly primary election last year.
In Sacramento, the result of Florez's outburst was to expose the opposition to his bill and force critics to sit down in public and negotiate their points of difference. The negotiations did not produce an agreement with agriculture, but it eliminated the argument that Florez was obstinate. It also made it much more difficult for the environmentalists on the committee to vote against the bill.
None of them did and the bill passed the committee easily on Friday.
Another subplot is the question of why Florez is carrying not just one major environmental bill, but a whole package of measures to crack down on air pollution from farm and dairy operations, the biggest industry in his district.
For four years in the Assembly, Florez stood out as perhaps the most conservative Democrat in Sacramento. He drove fellow Democrats and legislative leaders crazy with his opposition to environmental and gay rights legislation and his support for business-friendly laws.
It all came to a head last July when Florez left the Assembly floor and flew home just before a crucial vote on the signature environmental bill of the session. That was the measure by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, to curb greenhouse gas emissions from SUVs.
Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson immediately fired Florez as chairman and member of the legislative audit committee, which had just completed the headline-grabbing investigation of the Oracle software scandal.
Although Wesson said the reason for the firing was Florez's break with party ranks on the Pavley bill, most people believed the Oracle hearings, with day after day of embarrassing revelations for the governor, was the real reason. For one thing, Florez's vote wasn't necessary for the Pavley bill. It passed without him.
Now, Florez is not only sponsoring a package of environmental bills opposed by agriculture, he also has been publicly beating up on the No. 1 industry in his district with almost daily criticism of their efforts to water down the measure.
How can he afford to do that politically, when he may have to seek re-election in 2006?
Florez says he's not worried because he has carried a great deal of political water for the agriculture industry in the last four years.
"I have a big bank account with agriculture," he said. "There comes a time when you have to withdraw something from the bank account in order to accomplish something."
Others in Sacramento have another theory: Florez makes no secret of the fact that he wants to run for state Treasurer at some point in the future and probably higher statewide offices later.
But he is likely to have a tough time winning a Democratic primary because of his previous votes against environmental bills, gay rights bills and his attacks on Davis in the Oracle hearing, they say.
Florez needs to polish his credential with the left-of-center elements in the Democratic party if he wants to stand a chance in a statewide primary.
Florez doesn't deny that's a factor, but he insists that his main goal is to clean up the air in the Central Valley.
The farm-pollution bills also have another key ingredient of a Florez crusade: newspaper support. The epidemic of smog-related asthma was the subject of a major report in the Fresno Bee last year.
No one in Sacramento jumps on a big newspaper headline like Dean Florez, and he makes no apology for that. "My style is to do things in the press and use that to get my message out," he said. He said it's the best way to let voters know what he's working on and it insures follow-up coverage by the media.
In fact, that was behind his angry outbursts to reporters over the committee's handling of the smog bill.
When something like that happens, Florez said he's not one to take it lying down. "I'll expose them with the hot light of the press," he said.
That's against the rules of political etiquette, but it works for Florez, one reason why they still haven't figured out what to do about Dean Florez.
Yee said he has a theory.
"I think the way to deal with Dean Florez is to confront him and don't backdown," Yee said.
But that didn't work either.
Florez got his bill through the committee.
John McCain attacked a new report on today's front page of The New York Times which revisits the Republican presidential candidate’s relationship with a female lobbyist. Click here for the Times story.
What did McCain say about the story this morning.
It's no secret that many newspaper readers consider the Times a liberal rag, but to counter claims that the story is a simple hit piece designed to derail McCain's campaign, the paper has been working on the story for many months.
However, the last word goes to McCain's campaign:
“Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career.”
As we compiled the figures from the latest filings, we noticed that a few elected officials owe a lot of money to Republican consultant Mark Abernathy's firm, Western Pacific Research.
Assemblywoman Jean Fuller owes the most, $103,228. She actually paid down about $60,000 in the previous six months. (We actually can't know for sure if her debt is all to Abernathy; it was six months ago, but there was some sort of snafu with her most recent online report, so for now it is theoretically possible she did a balance transfer or something. We printed out one page before the snafu, though, so we know how much she owes.)
Bakersfield City Councilman Ken Weir owes about $55,000 to the firm — $5,000 of that from his city council candidacy, and $50,000 from his BCSD run. The campaign committee for his council run has been paying down debt — $31,000 in the last half of 2007 — but the committee for his school board run has been sitting idle for a couple years.
Bakersfield City Councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan owes about $29,500. She's up for re-election this year.
So Obama made it 10 wins in a row Tuesday night and did you watch his loooong speech after Wisconsin was called? He was already talking like the nominee, setting himself apart from McCain. So the question is: Is it over for Hillary?
BTW, I thought it was so funny how Obama violated candidate etiquette by starting to speak before Hillary was finished speaking — apparently because she violated candidate etiquette by not conceding. I don't know if average people care, but I found it fascinating.
Barack Obama's wife is coming under fire for a speech Monday in which she said, 'for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm proud of my country.' Read the story here.
Don't trust this story from FOX? Here's the video proof.
And in the interests of fairness, here's a story about John McCain running into trouble while trying to use an Abba song in his campaign.
State Sen. Dean Florez caught us up on his pro-Barack Obama stumping with this press release today:
Senator Dean Florez, D-Shafter, a supporter of Illinois Senator Barack Obama who has been working hard to spread the word about his candidate to voters in the Latino Community, will travel to San Antonio this weekend to campaign in a state whose March 4 primary is considered pivotal in determing the Democratic Party's nominee for President.
Florez will attend the grand opening of Senator Obama's San Antonio campaign office and participate in a strategy session with other members of Obama's Latino Steering Committee before heading out to talk to Texas voters one-on-one.
"I think everyone understands that the name recognition enjoyed by Senator Obama's opponent means we have to work that much harder to get his message across," Florez said. "I am getting out there to tell the community that in Obama we have a candidate who understands the values and struggles of immigrant communities in America, and who can finally offer us a break from the status quo and get America headed in a positive direction."
Florez will campaign in San Antonio throughout the weekend.
I've finally gotten together the list of campaign contributions in the last reporting period to Bakersfield's City Council members. Some didn't have contributions in the July 1 to Dec. 31 (of 2007) time period and Irma Carson has not filed, citing a family emergency. (Her daughter recently died).
Below are the names and numbers. And stay tuned, we're in the process of adding Bakersfield City Council campaign contribution numbers (dating back to 1997) to our searchable contribution database, found at www.bakersfield.com/electionmoney/.
— Government editor Christine Bedell
Campaign contributions to Bakersfield City Council members between July 1 and Dec. 31 of 2007
Mayor Harvey Hall
Beginning cash balance: $10,434.88
Monetary contributions: $8,050
Non-monetary contributions: $1,700
Payments made: $874.46
Ending cash balance: $17,610.42
Outstanding debt: $3,534.78
Monetary contributions
THOMAS FALLGATTER $1,000
RAYBURN DEZEMBER $1,000
RAYMONDS TROPHY & AWARDS $1,000
TEL TEC $150
LOUIS AND SHERYL BARBICH $100
MCINTOSH & ASSOCIATES $250
GREG BYNUM AND ASSOCIATES $500
HOUSTON JEWELERS $1,000
EUGENE VOILAND $150
KERN REFUSE DISPOSAL INC. $2,500
INDEPENDENT OIL PRODUCERS AGENCY $250
JOHNATHON SURFACE $100
Non-monetary contributions
GURU RAM DAS ACADEMY $1,700
Ken Weir — Ward 3
Beginning cash balance: $4,572.63
Monetary contributions: $43,850
Non-monetary contributions: $140
Payments made: $40,177.24
Unpaid bills: $31,204.91
Ending cash balance: $8,245.39
Monetary contributions:
MOUNTAIN VIEW BRAVO, LLC $3,600
RAYBURN AND JOAN DEZEMBER $500
H.M. HOLLOWAY INC. $500
FRANK ST. CLAIR $500
HALL AMBULANCE SERVICE INC. $1,000
LAWTON POWERS $500
R.L. ABBOTT AND ASSOCIATES $125
NICKEL FAMILY LLC $1,000
BAKERSFIELD DODGE INC. $300
BOB HAMPTON $500
JOHN PRYOR INSURANCE CONSULTING $125
ERNEST A. SHIELDS $250
DIANE S. LAKE $1,800
KARPE REAL ESTATE CENTER $3,600
CASTLE PRINT AND PUBLICATION $250
JAMES P. SEARS $250
WALT AND RAMONA PRICE $1,000
STEPHEN S. SEWELL $500
VINT AND KRISTIN VARNER $500
DAN AND SALLY PANERO. $1,000
HIGBY AND GO INC. $250
KERN BODY WORKS INC. $500
WZI INC. $250
KCBEX INC. $1,000
SPICER WIRELINE SERVICE INC. $1,000
BAKERSFIELD POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION $500
GRIMMWAY ENTERPRISES INC. $1,000
DAVID A. CATES $1,000
BIPAC OF KERN COUNTY $250
CLYDE L. BARBEAU $500
BOLTHOUSE PROPERTIES, LLC $500
DEWALT CORPORATION $125
GOLDEN EMPIRE MANAGED CARE $250
STOCKDALE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT INC. $1,000
KLEIN, DENATALE, GOLDNER $1,000
JSA COMPANY $500
ACE HYDRAULIC SALES AND SERVICE $300
CONNI BRUNNI $100
SIERRA PACIFIC DEVELOPMENT INC. $500
S.C. ANDERSON INC. $1,000
LAW OFFICES OF BORTON, PETRINI, LLP $3,600
KENNETH E. VETTER $100
SAN JOAQUIN PARTNERS $125
WILLIAM K. LAZZERINI, JR. $500
MCINTOSH AND ASSOCIATES $500
GREGORY D. BYNUM AND ASSOCIATES INC. $500
BAKERSFIELD FAMILY MEDICAL CENTER $250
GOYENETCHE DAIRY $500
DIANA C. MESTMAKER $500
GREATER BAKERSFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. PAC $150
CUMMINGS TRANSPORTATION $250
CASTLE AND COOKE CALIFORNIA $3,600
STRUCTURE CAST $1,000
GENE TACKETT CONSULTING $250
WM. K. LYONS INSURANCE $200
INTERSTATE MANAGEMENT GROUP $250
WESTERN SERVICE INC. $500
DERREL'S MINI STORAGE $500
KERN RIVER PARTNERS LLC $500
AARON RIVANI $500
TRACY LEACH DBA PROVIDENCE CONSULTING $250
David Couch — Ward 4
Beginning cash balance: $30,000
Monetary contributions: $2,500
Miscellaneous increases to cash: $913
Payments made: $5,685
Ending cash balance: $27,728
Monetary contributions
KERN COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 1301 $1,000
KERN COUNTY PROSECUTORS ASSOCIATION $1,000
MCKITTRICK 5 $500
Harold Hanson — Ward 5
Beginning cash balance: $1,175
Monetary contributions: $4,500
Payments made: $2,084
Ending cash balance: $3,591
Monetary contributions
VERNON VARNER $1,000
SALLY PANERO $1,000
SUPERIOR SANITATION SERVICE INC. $1,000
VARNER & SON INC. $1,000
HOWARDS GARBAGE SERVICE INC. $500
Did not take contributions in the period:
Councilwoman Sue Benham — Ward 2
Beginning cash balance: $31,654.49
Payments made: $8,861
Ending cash balance: $22,793.49
Councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan — Ward 6
Beginning cash balance: $776.90
Payments made: $122
Ending cash balance: $654.90
Outstanding debt: $30,084.37
Zack Scrivner — Ward 7
Beginning cash balance: $27,827.38
Payments made: $11,061.34
Ending cash balance: $16,766.04
This post from the Fresno Bee editorial opinion blog is fun: Does Nicole Parra dislike the Florez family so much she'd endorse a Republican for her seat?
Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, spoke glowingly of Republican Danny Gilmore during an interview this morning with KMJ radio's Ray Appleton. It appeared to me that she was endorsing her former Republican opponent for her 30th Assembly District seat. She didn't say the word "endorse," but she came very close to saying Gilmore should be the next Assembly member in the 30th.
And Parra didn't duck the reason: Her enemy, Democratic Sen. Dean Florez, is running his mother for the seat that Parra is vacating at the end of this term, Parra said new blood is needed in the Legislature and Gilmore and his wife are fine people. She said the Valley doesn't need another Florez -- in this case Shafter Mayor Fran Florez -- in the Legislature.
Here's the full post: www.fresnobeehive.com/opinion/2008/02/did_nicole_ parra_endorse_a_rep.html
After the Lawrence Korb talk at CSUB, I stopped by Borders to pick up a CD. On the way past the calendars section — they're down to $1 — I noticed just one Countdown to Victory calendar still in stock. The Obama ones were gone, the McCain ones were gone, the Clinton ones were gone... but for some reason, people aren't scooping up the Giuliani ones.
Maybe if they lowered the price to $.911...
— James Geluso
I'm really intrigued by the impact super delegates are going to have on the Clinton-Obama race, whether these high-and-mighty folks are going to confirm or upend the vote of the people. And whether the Supreme Court is going to end up sorting all this out ala 2000.
What do you guys think — do you like the super delegate system? I guess it's the same debate as with the electoral college.
Anyway, I read another good story on the situation today and got to wondering what you all think. Here it is: www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-assess13feb13 ,0,1745410.story
In Thursday's paper, we tried to figure out why Kern County voted the way it did, including why Clinton whomped Obama. That included a spirited discussion of whether Latinos will vote for an African-American.
And it resulted in some interesting discussion on the TBC blogs.
Today, the AP ran a story that examines the issue from a national perspective.
Is Candi Easter wrong? Or is Dean Florez saying what we wants to believe, rather than what really is?
My friend and her husband attended a moderated discussion between Bob Dole and Tom Daschle in Dallas Wednesday night and the two former senators had some good dish on Mitt Romney, Barack Obama and the presidential race generally. I just had to share what she wrote to me:
The function was better than I thought it was going to be... I don't think you'd have guessed this but Bob Dole is a total comedian! He had the biggest laughs of the night with his witty little zingers. I was a bit taken aback by this!
There were only about 150 people in the ballroom and they were both sitting just a table away from us. They were funny, clear and had surprising things to say - 1) BOTH were VERY complimentary of Obama. (Daschle has endorsed Obama.) 2) Apparently there is talk that perhaps Daschle could be on a list for VP candidates for Obama if he gets the nomination (I hadn't heard that - but Dole made that comment.) 3) Both were extremely complimentary toward each other.
It was interesting to hear how complimentary BOTH were about Obama. Dole said that he thought the Republicans would do better if Hillary was the nominee. But going up against Obama would be a new game and they wouldn't know what to expect. Daschle commented about Obama's lack of experience by saying that he had good judgment - that Rumsfeld and Cheney had a lot of experience - but that didn't mean they had good judgment. Dole countered that if he were having brain surgery, he wouldn't want to be number one for the surgeon and that having experience isn’t always a bad thing.
Dole's best zinger was about Romney. There was some talk recently in the press about Dole by Romney. Dole said that Romney did call and apologize. Then Dole quipped, "Too late!" Dole hasn't endorsed anyone because Elizabeth is running for reelection in North Carolina. All of those running for Prez have helped out Elizabeth so he didn't want to get involved in endorsing anyone. I got the impression that he is very good friends with McCain, though.
Afterward I talked to Bob Dole for a few minutes about the WWII memorial in D.C. and thanked him for being one of the people that spearheaded the project and told him that my grandpa was in the Navy in WWII and I wished he could have seen the memorial. He was very gracious and very kind. Overall a pretty good evening - I was expecting something a little boring and stale, but it was actually really good. Lovely surprise.
The Kern County Young Republicans tried to turn their collective brains to predicting the primary results Tuesday night, and they came pretty close.
Ryan Leggio, who hosted the KCYR’s primary-night party, had attendees write down who would win the GOP primary in California, and with what percentage.
He based it on the “Wisdom of Crowds” theory, with its three components — an incentive (a gift certificate), diversity and aggregation. (The article he points to also requires independence, and he had that by having people write down their predictions on a slip and throw it into a cup.)
The results: 13 guessed McCain, 11 guessed Romney. The McCain guessers averaged 46.5 percent, “which was extremely close to the actual 42.”
The results would have been closer except for two guessers who put down 67 and 57 percent, skewing it very high. Throw those two out and you get 43.6 percent, which is even closer. (Plus, full credit to the Republicans: I think I was the 57, and I was there as a reporter, not as a Republican (which of course meant I couldn’t accept a prize on the off chance I won).)
The people who guessed Romney tended to guess lower than the McCain guessers, he said, perhaps figuring that Huckabee or Giuliani would pick up significant numbers.
Four people tied for the win, one picking 41 and three picking 43.
A lot of us in the newsroom were surprised by Kern County's vote in the presidential primary. Anyone else?
We were surprised Obama didn't do better since he seemed to have the only really active Democratic campaign effort in town. Were the Hillary folks hiding somewhere?
We thought Huckabee would do well among local evangelicals but Mitt Romney would win the Republican contest. But no, it was McCain's night.
Any thoughts on all that? Here are the numbers:
Dems:
Clinton: 56.3 percent
Obama: 32.3 percent
Edwards: 7.4 percent
Repubs:
McCain: 36.4 percent
Romney: 33.8 percent
Huckabee: 16 percent
The Obama campaign has a couple rooms at the Doubletree. TV is here and a whole bunch of people held up Obama signs abnd started chanting "Barack O-tack!" There's lots of Fired Up and Ready to Go in the room. Alison Perkins-Thomas and Bernita Jenkins are making sure there are signs behind every TV shot.
Obama just came on TV and the people cheered and then went really really quiet.
Megan Perez said she voted for Bush in 2000, then Kerry in 2004, and is now going for Obama. She considers herself a conservative Democrat, and she's still deciding what she would do if Clinton wins. She doesn't like Clinton, she said, but doesn't want Romney or McCain in the White House either.
David Winett saw Obama's speech in 2004 and was impressed. He read both books, and was, he said, "impressed that here was a man who was so incredibly literate." He said he gets a sense of authenticity from Obama he doesn't see from Clinton.
Obama just mentioned the mortgage crisis, and he got a shout from this room. "He's so right!" somebody said. But the line about the soldiers leaving "on a tour of duty that should have never been authorized" got more applause.
Obama keeps going, and people are getting louder. They're paying attention, but it's becoming almost a call-and-response to the speech.
Jenkins just said that when Obama wins a state, he wins big; when Clinton wins a state, it's narrow. I don't know if she's right, but that's the instant spin in this room.
MSNBC just put California results up - Clinton up 55-32, but only 14 percent reporting. The room didn't seem to notice. Dunno if they were too wrapped up in the speech or they just didn't want to be the one to point out bad news.
Oops, there it is! Someone noticed. I can see some frowny faces over there.
I just talked to two African-American gentlemen, Raven Mahdee and Art Powell, who have worked the phones and given rides. They said Obama is not especially exciting because of the color of his skin -- his mom was white, Powell pointed out.
"It's about people, not about color," he said. And Mahdee pointed out that Obama took in a lot of votes from whites in Georgia.
But they won't go for Clinton if she takes the nomination. They'd rather vote for a Republican -- well, Powell would vote for Romney, but he's not sure about McCain.
People are getting annoyed. "How can they call California?" someone said at 9:15. "The polls just closed in Alameda!" "How can they declare a winner with just 15 percent?" else said.
And yet people can spin it.
"I think he's had a great night, in terms of winning 11 states," said Sam Ramirez. (That's something Winett did too, pointing out that Obama has closed a big gap.)
"I think he represents the change that people want," Ramirez said. "I'm thrillied how it turned out, we had a good night."
-- James Geluso
Typing live from a table in the corner of the Nevada Room at the Doubletree off Rosedale Highway
FUN STARTS NOW
What political junkie wouldn't want to navel-gaze on a big election night?
Kern returns will start unfurling in about 5 minutes. Elections staffers have already counted most absentee ballots (they do it early but don't get to peek at results, chief Sandy Brockman says) and those will probably pop up first. In the past they've pretty much foretold how the night will go, she said. This isn't your typical election, so stay tuned.
MONEY MOMENT
But first: I just ran the latest local campaign contributions to presidential candidates. It only gives us through 2007 but the most recent report covers the final three months, so it's a big chunk.
Most interesting item: Hillary returned more than $80,000 to local Sikh contributors after her no-show at the November fundraiser. Still, she pulled in more than any other candidate, taking in more than $108,000 from locals. (Totals in tomorrow's paper and an in-depth report later this week).
The good stuff --- Obama's post-Iowa surge, for example -- won't be out until the end of February.
OUR TOWN
Most Kern voters will count as part of the 22nd Congressional District. That's the map. Our district will get 3 Republican delegates and 4 Dem delegates for the presidential nominating process.
For state and local measures, of course, we're our regular ol' Kern County selves.
You can watch local returns for yourself here:
http://elections.co.kern.ca...
Then hopefully come chat about them right here.
--- Gretchen
I have commandeered the kitchen island at the Young Republicans watching party. People keep telling me tghat most people will be here later, but there are already 13 people here, counting Zack Scrivner's 16-month-old son. The TV is on Fox News and the beer is Heineken. Huckabee is on TV right now, at 7:08.
Ryan Leggio just handed me some stats about the dire state of the Republican Party among youth. Both the Economist back in August and exit polls from today indicate that Republicans have been losing ground, That could have consequences in the general election, because Obama has led to a lot of young voter registrations, he said.
But, he points out, his party is proof that "you can get interested people who are young and Republican. We're really trying hard to energize people."
(Also, his family is Sicilian, just as mine. We could be related.)
Bryan Williams is the first vice-chair of the KCYR, and he says he's a Romney man. He points to the the business experience and his ability to work as governor of Massachusetts. With all the talk on the radio today about Romney as the "true conservative," I asked him if that could be true given his working across thge aisle. But Williams said he considers that a sign of Romney's pragmatism -- as a businessman, he gets results, and that's what he did as governor of one of the country's most Democratic-leaning states.
With Huckabee on the screen, one woman said "just drop out already!" Dana Culhane spoke up to defend him. But she says that's mainly just to poke at people here and have fun. She was a Giuliani supporter, but went for Romney today. McCain's positions on several bills have just been too far across the aisle, she said. (Williams said the same thing.)
The dress code took a dive here when a group of Romney supporters showed with their t-shirts. I'll post a picture as soon as I figure out how.
-- James Geluso
Roving partyblogger
They're trickling in; I'll update this post as they rumble past.
Obama pulls Georgia, predictions say.
(Huckabee, as we learned this a.m., took West Virginia).
The big one to watch (until CALIFORNIA arrives) is Missouri, a winner-takes-all harbinger. At least, so the pundits say.
This final bit of gratuitous uke-dom is the Dairy Queen axe commissioned by Warren Buffett (the investor; not Jimmy the Margaritaville singer). The Sage of Omaha is a big DQ shareholder and a uke devotee.
Check back and chime in often.
-- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer
LATEST EDITS, 7:35 pm:
Obama takes Illinois, Alabama, Delaware, North Dakota, Minn., Kansas, Georgia, Conn.,
Clinton snags Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mass., NY, Arkansas, New Jersey
McCain takes New Jersey, Conn., Illinois, Delaware, New York
Romney takes Massachusetts, Utah
Huckabee takes Arkansas, maybe Georgia, Alabama
Warning: Gratuitous ukulele content.
Why? No reason. I'm crazy for ukes.
I'm posting simply to keep our blog on the main page. It's election day.
I plan to be a blog hog.
My guess for Cali: McCain dominates R side. Obama...so hard to call...he was closing the gap. I predict it will be close but Hillary will edge him out by 5 percentage points or so.
(I tend to be wrong in any/all predictions. Anyone want stock advice?)
We're not a winner-take-all state so it's fertile ground here for everyone.
Nationally I have no idea. I'll be watching with everyone else.
Last I checked our 22nd Congressional District (that's most of us in Kern plus some folks on the coast etc) has 3 R delegates and 4 D delegates.
-- Gretchen
 http://images.jupiterimages... />
Here it is.
A few of us reporters/editors will be on hand all day and night to scribble down latest results/reactions etc.
Visit often as the day progresses...action kicks in most in the evening when returns start coming in.
Until then, anyone care to predict results?
If you're a Romney supporter reading this Monday between 4:30-5 pm, here's a message for you.
Romney-ites are meeting at the Liberty Bell (Truxtun/Chester) at 5 p.m.-dark today to rally and wave signs at motorists.
Blurb from e-mail:
We chose the Liberty Bell site to highlight the fact that Governor Romney is the one who wishes to save your liberties -- unlike Senator McCain and his disdain for the First Amendment, and total disregard for the gifts of liberty by trying to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants who reap the rewards of our country without regard for our laws.
MCCAIN SUPPORTERS, meanwhile, will meet at 6:30 AM TUESDAY to install themselves on various corners for an hour and wave signs at motorists; meet at Western Pacific Research, 4900 Calif Ave Suite 105-B.
Blurb from that e-mail:
We plan to be out at busy intersections with our McCain Signs in the morning. We want people to see that McCain has support right before they go to work.
p.s. Dress warmly for either event. It's cold out there!!
Gretchen
State Sen. Dean Florez has been campaigning for Barack Obama throughout the state, including with Ted Kennedy, as you see. He sent us a photo and some video from the trail.
So I gotta ask: How good do you think Florez is on the stump? Get a look here:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Here's a link to the latest Field Poll, courtesy Capitol Alert.
Prop. 93, the term-limit "reform" measure, is sinking....sinking....
(93 lets some termed-out pols hold seats longer [pols currently pumping money into 93's passage (though I'm sure they're shocked, shocked! anyone suspects a correlation between such financial support and career hopes)])
Tribal gaming still supported overall.
Here's the link:
http://www.sacbee.com/806/s...
-- Gretchen
It's Election Day eve, as if ya didn't know.
Me, I gots to put in photo requests for returns-watching parties Tuesday evening.
The Obama folks sent us a release (starting at 6:30 p.m. at DoubleTree).
Who else is getting together to watch results on Super Tuesday?
If you don't want to post publicly you can e-mail me at gwenner@bakersfield.com
Happy nailbiting!
-- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer
"Good morning fellow Democrats!...Isn't it exciting spending two days listening to people...the person who will be the next president of the United States address you!
"I'm thrilled. Ten months from now, on Feb. 5th..."
etc...
Someone just pointed this out to me, a video of California's top elections official (Debra Bowen, Sec of State) addressing fellow Dems at the state convention last year.
She doesn't endorse a specific candidate, but does she go too far by saying a Dem will win?
It's long, more than 7 minutes. She starts around 1:35, then at the end talks about not being able to endorse.
Is this eerie to anyone?
http://www.brightcove.tv/ti...
Gretchen Wenner, staff writer
Assemblywoman Nicole Parra definitely won't run for re-election if Proposition 93 passes next Tuesday, her spokesman said today. We reported last week that the Democrat was leaning against running again for her 30th District post if voters approve the term limits measure.
Her spokesman didn't know whether Parra was dropping plans to run for state senate in 2010 but she'll call us later to talk about that.
Her Parra for Senate 2010 committee took in nearly $150,000 in the last half of 2007 and spent $115,000, according to recently filed campaign finance reports. She had close to $175,000 in the bank on Dec. 31, 2007.
Do you care about political endorsements by celebrities?
Two of them, actresses America Ferrera and Amber Tamblyn, are scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. at Cal State Bakersfield today in support of Hillary Clinton.
The actresses are participating in several rallies where they will talk with students about getting involved in the upcoming primary and Clinton’s agenda for the youth of the nation, said Clinton Deputy Press Secretary Kamyl Bazbaz.
Ferrera and Tamblyn endorsed Clinton earlier this month and serve as national co-chairs of “Hillblazers,” the campaign’s youth outreach program.
Ferrera is the star of the TV show “Ugly Betty” and Tamblyn starred in “Joan of Arcadia” and the films “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and “The Grudge 2.”
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