Week Wrap-Up

Things have been especially quiet on the Democratic political front these past few weeks. But are looking to heat up soon.

** Next week the Democratic Central Committee is scheduled to vote on an early endorsement of Mike Aguirre. Quite a few Central Committee members are balking at the idea because of Mike’s increasingly erratic behavior. A few people are even suggesting a possible Scott Peters run would be more acceptable to party insiders. The big unknown is if labor will take a position before Tuesday.

** Apparently Marti Emerald’s name id may be helping Marty Block in his Assembly Race for the 78th AD. A poll that has been circulated shows Block with unusually high name id, especially in areas where the 78th and the 7th City Council District overlap, and some are speculating it has to do with voter confusion. I am sure Marty will take the a primary win anyway he can get it.

** San Diego’s City Council Presidency looks like it will stay with a Democrat. According to the VOSD article today, Scott Peters will retain his position as Council President rather than letting a Republican take over the reigns. Kudos to the Dem Party for insisting the Dems on the Council act like Dems for once, maybe this will become a trend.

** Another Steve Francis sighting. This time, Francis was seen at the progressive environmental dinner for San Diego Coast Keepers. I guess he is really going for a full make-over. Maybe Jim Bell will drop out of the Mayoral race and endorse Francis.

** According to our conservative counterparts at Red County, San Diego City Councilman Brian Maienschein is considering a challenge to incumbent County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price. The best part of the post, which was up yesterday, were the now deleted comments. According to bloggers, Maienschein is getting a divorce and has been having an affair with a city hall staffer. I am all for free speech, so if anyone knows more FACTS, feel free to post here.

Friday – Quick Hits

From the arena of continued bad planning, city’s homeless shelter set to open next week at Tailgate Park near Petco Park. Will close one month earlier than normal so as not to interfere with Padres. So much for compassion! UT

FEMA to deliver trailers to La Jolla and Rincon Indains who lost their homes during the fires. I hope they are not the left over trailers from Katrina that have been sitting in the mud in Arkansas for two year. UT

Councilman Peters seeking third term as council president. VOSD

Raising their children to be model citizens, Poway school trustees confronted over klan costume and noose. UT

Chula Vista postpones decision regarding budget cuts until December. UT

District 3: Race Update

Last night the Chicano Democratic Association in a close vote endorsed Todd Gloria over Stephen Whitburn for next year’s Council District 3 race. The endorsement is another sign that most of the momentum in the race seems to be going in Todd Gloria’s direction. And it is hard not to think that Stephen Whitburn’s campaign has stalled a bit, especially considering that a few weeks ago he replaced his campaign manager. It is going to be interesting to see how this race continues to unfold in the coming months.

Filner supports bill to end Blackwater contracting

The UT is reporting this afternoon:

WASHINGTON – Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif. (San Diego), is backing legislation to replace private security contractors in Iraq, including Blackwater Worldwide, with military or State Department guards.

The proposal to replace hundreds of contractors within six months of passage of the bill ran into resistance from the State Department, which contends the federal governmentlacks enough trained specialists to take the place of private contractors who are protecting U.S. diplomats.
[Link]

It is good to see Bob Filner being responsive to the Blackwater issue. I wish some of the other members of the San Diego delagation were as responsive when it comes to the Blackwater issue.

Thursday – Quick Hits

Another causalty of the Harris fire, Chula Vista Fire Chief to retire after recieving “no confidence” vote from firefighters. UT

Council ignores most of the charter commission recommendations. UT

College faculty votes overwhelmingly to keep CTA representation. UT

Since his presidential campaign is going nowhere, Hunter tries to keeps his name in the news. UT

Fruit flies discovered in Escondido, could lead to a quarantine of area agriculture. NCtimes

Pannel Discussion on Media Consolidation

The Effects of Media

Consolidation on Our

Democracy

Common Cause Community Meeting
Mission Valley Library
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Noon to 2:00

Panel: J.W. August, Managing Editor of Channel 10 News I-team and Special Projects
Andrew Donohue, Co-executive Director at Voice of San Diego.org
John Eger, Executive Director Center for Communications at SDSU
Doug Myrland, General Manager of KPBS radio and TV

Fun and games in the 78th AD

An evite invitation from a host named NoFoolforAssembly is making the rounds among Democratic activists in the South Bay. The bogus evite invites the person to attend a one-year celebration for Assembly candidate Auday Arabo’s re-registration as a Democratic at Chevy’s Fresh Mex in Mission Valley on Friday November 16th.

It appears the evite has been sent to over 650 people. No word on who the actual sender was. You can see the entire evite here.

CDA Endorsement Meeting Tonight

Chicano Democratic Association General Meeting and Endorsement Meeting for San Diego Council District 3.

November 7, 2007 6:30pm

Location: Interamerican College
140 W 16th St.
National City, CA 91950-4413 [Map]

Wednesday – Quick Hits

Another Sanders adviser heading for the door. How many are left? UT

City approves density ordinance. But where are those extra units going to be built? And what about the extra infrastructure? UT

With destruction of vegetation in wildfires, concern now focused on soil erosion. UT

Classic NIMBYism, Del Mar doesn’t want train tunnel. UT

Sanders presents his Charter changes to council. Can you say power grab? VOSD

More on “America’s Sheriff,” now to take 60-day paid leave of absence as he fight corruption charges. LATimes

Former Irvine CEO of Great Park project had history of embezzling and cocaine use known as far back as 1989. LATimes

Mayor’s Charter Review Committee to Present at Rules Committee

The Mayor’s Charter Review Committee will be presenting their recommendations at the City Council Rules Committee meeting today, November 7th in about an hour. This issue will certainly be a major position of debate for the 2008 season.

You can see the committees proposed changes and what the changed proposals would mean to San Diego at: http://goodgovsandiego.blogspot.com/

The Mayor’s committee plan is to put these initiatives on the June 2008 ballot. The proposed changes to the charter include: the creation of three additional city council seats, making the strong-mayor form of government permanent, increasing the mayor’s veto power with a two-thirds super-majority of 8 council members in order to override a veto, making the mayor executive director of the Redevelopment Agency and the ability to make nominations to the Port District.

A couple of recent articles give an overview of the committee’s decisions and go into detail about the backroom style of the committee:

San Diego’s backroom ‘reform’ L.A. Times Op-ed by Steve Erie and Norma Damashek
What a Super-Size City Council Would Look Like VOSD’s Evan McLaughlin