Here's something you might be interested in.
Obviously elections are unbelievably confusing. We have all grown very weary of sneaky and dirty political tactics employed by special interests. Often times the name of a proposition is the exact opposite of what the title of that proposition implies. (This is certainly how I feel about Prop D which claims to demand accountability and all it really does is really empower our developer and Black Water friendly mayor to make ALL decisions behind closed doors).
Anyway, it can seem quite overwhelming so I like to start by looking at who San Diego's and arguably California's most powerful special interest group is pushing. (If you have any doubt about their power just take a drive up the 15 or the 5 and you can see the devestating impact that their powers of persuasion have had on California's landscape.)
Yes, I am speaking of the BIA...the Building Industry Association. They like to say they are "home" builders as if they are magnanimously and altruistically building breathtaking homes for all of us, but we know they are "housing" developers intent on expanding their banal and depressing empire into oblivion.
So anyway, just take a trip to their website
http://www.biasandiego.org/politicselections/candidateballotmeasures
(and don't get fooled by the gorgoeous home on the site that we are supposed to believe is their architectural signature), Go to their political action page and click on "ballots and measures".
http://www.biasandiego.org/pdfs/voteguide2010final_1.pdf
I love it because I can look at this and cross every single one of these candidates and propositions off my list and study the remaining candidates and propositions more seriously.
Here it is straight from their own mouths.....
"Candidate endorsements and proposition recommendations by the BIAPAC and BuildSD Pac are determined after extensive interviews by the Political Communications Committee and their responses to core industry issues including: the land use and permit process, redevelopment and urban infill, housing affordability and infrastructure financing. The endorsed candidates possess the skills and effectiveness necessary to excel in their desired office and have committed to ongoing communication with the industry on policy issues up for consideration."
In other words....these are the shills. These candidates will make sure you and I NEVER get any say in things like historic preservation of neighborhoods like South Park and University Heights (You can see the damage that has already been done by developers to Hillcrest and North Park), no say in height limits. We will never receive demolition notification or be able to protect 6th avenue across from Balboa Park from being demolished for new shoddy skyscrapers. We will continue to hand over our property taxes directly to developers through "Redevelopment Agencies" and the special powers they have given themselves to destroy the community character and build WalMart style Condos like the Renaissance at 30th and El Cajon all over the city's most wonderful historical neighborhoods.
So again, here it is. These are THEIR recommendations not mine. This is who and what I will NOT be voting for....
SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL
Kevin Faulconer, District 2
Tony Young, District 4
Lorie Zapf, District 6
SAN DIEGO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Ron Roberts, District 4
Bill Horn, District 5
SAN DIEGO COUNTY TREASURER
Dan McAllister
SAN DIEGO COUNTY ASSESSOR
(co-endorsement)
Ernie Dronenburg
Jeff Olsen
CHULA VISTA MAYOR
Cheryl Cox
CHULA VISTA CITY COUNCIL
Rudy Ramirez, Seat 1
Humberto Peraza, Seat 2
CHULA VISTA CITY ATTORNEY
Glen Googins
POWAY CITY COUNCIL
John Mullin
OCEANSIDE CITY COUNCIL
Lt. Col. Lloyd Prosser
“Restore Oceanside’s financial health and City Council stability”
CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY
Kevin Jeffries, 66th District
Diane Harkey, 73rd District
Martin Garrick, 74th District
Nathan Fletcher, 75th District
Brian Jones, 77th District
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Darrell Issa, 49th District
Brian Bilbray, 50th District
Duncan Hunter, 52nd District
LOCAL BALLOT INITIATIVES
Prop. B - OPPOSE
No county supervisor term limits
Prop. D - SUPPORT
Preserve San Diego strong mayor form of government
Prop. G - SUPPORT
Chula Vista open and fair competition
So of course they want Prop D. The developers already have a "Technical Advisory Committee" that advises the mayor on land use issues, basically they advise the mayor on how to make US pay for things that they should. They advise on how to change permit procedures to completely circumvent the public and height limits and so on and so forth.
"Prop. B - OPPOSE: No county supervisor term limits". This one sort of scares me because it implies to me that the BIA already has an enormous amount of control over election results. Why else would they want a system that could keep a Supervisor on the Board indefinitely? That is a whole other can of worms that I wrote about last election. You would be astonished at the amount of power the Sups have over how our elections are run and you may be shocked to learn they reached out to Micheal Vu to hire him as the assistant Registrar....Michael Vu, who ran the Ohio elections.....yes the election where people are now in jail for fraud, where the registrar actually dumped 1000s of ballots in dumpsters.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/ive-got-issues/2008/nov/04/is-san-diegos-voting-system-secure-ask-questions/
Im so glad I at least got that cleared up for myself. Now I can look at the remaining candidates and ballot measures with an eagle eye and try and see what and who is really working for the greater good and not special interests.
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obviously elections are unbelievably confusing. We have all grown very weary of sneaky and dirty political tactics employed by special interests. Often times the name of a proposition is the exact opposite of what the title of that proposition implies. (This is certainly how I feel about Prop D which claims to demand accountability and all it really does is really empower our developer and Black Water friendly mayor to make ALL decisions behind closed doors).
Anyway, it can seem quite overwhelming so I like to start by looking at who San Diego's and arguably California's most powerful special interest group is pushing. (If you have any doubt about their power just take a drive up the 15 or the 5 and you can see the devestating impact that their powers of persuasion have had on California's landscape.)
Yes, I am speaking of the BIA...the Building Industry Association. They like to say they are "home" builders as if they are magnanimously and altruistically building breathtaking homes for all of us, but we know they are "housing" developers intent on expanding their banal and depressing empire into oblivion.
So anyway, just take a trip to their website
http://www.biasandiego.org/politicselections/candidateballotmeasures
(and don't get fooled by the gorgoeous home on the site that we are supposed to believe is their architectural signature), Go to their political action page and click on "ballots and measures".
http://www.biasandiego.org/pdfs/voteguide2010final_1.pdf
I love it because I can look at this and cross every single one of these candidates and propositions off my list and study the remaining candidates and propositions more seriously.
Here it is straight from their own mouths.....
"Candidate endorsements and proposition recommendations by the BIAPAC and BuildSD Pac are determined after extensive interviews by the Political Communications Committee and their responses to core industry issues including: the land use and permit process, redevelopment and urban infill, housing affordability and infrastructure financing. The endorsed candidates possess the skills and effectiveness necessary to excel in their desired office and have committed to ongoing communication with the industry on policy issues up for consideration."
In other words....these are the shills. These candidates will make sure you and I NEVER get any say in things like historic preservation of neighborhoods like South Park and University Heights (You can see the damage that has already been done by developers to Hillcrest and North Park), no say in height limits. We will never receive demolition notification or be able to protect 6th avenue across from Balboa Park from being demolished for new shoddy skyscrapers. We will continue to hand over our property taxes directly to developers through "Redevelopment Agencies" and the special powers they have given themselves to destroy the community character and build WalMart style Condos like the Renaissance at 30th and El Cajon all over the city's most wonderful historical neighborhoods.
So again, here it is. These are THEIR recommendations not mine. This is who and what I will NOT be voting for....
SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL
Kevin Faulconer, District 2
Tony Young, District 4
Lorie Zapf, District 6
SAN DIEGO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Ron Roberts, District 4
Bill Horn, District 5
SAN DIEGO COUNTY TREASURER
Dan McAllister
SAN DIEGO COUNTY ASSESSOR
(co-endorsement)
Ernie Dronenburg
Jeff Olsen
CHULA VISTA MAYOR
Cheryl Cox
CHULA VISTA CITY COUNCIL
Rudy Ramirez, Seat 1
Humberto Peraza, Seat 2
CHULA VISTA CITY ATTORNEY
Glen Googins
POWAY CITY COUNCIL
John Mullin
OCEANSIDE CITY COUNCIL
Lt. Col. Lloyd Prosser
“Restore Oceanside’s financial health and City Council stability”
CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY
Kevin Jeffries, 66th District
Diane Harkey, 73rd District
Martin Garrick, 74th District
Nathan Fletcher, 75th District
Brian Jones, 77th District
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Darrell Issa, 49th District
Brian Bilbray, 50th District
Duncan Hunter, 52nd District
LOCAL BALLOT INITIATIVES
Prop. B - OPPOSE
No county supervisor term limits
Prop. D - SUPPORT
Preserve San Diego strong mayor form of government
Prop. G - SUPPORT
Chula Vista open and fair competition
So of course they want Prop D. The developers already have a "Technical Advisory Committee" that advises the mayor on land use issues, basically they advise the mayor on how to make US pay for things that they should. They advise on how to change permit procedures to completely circumvent the public and height limits and so on and so forth.
"Prop. B - OPPOSE: No county supervisor term limits". This one sort of scares me because it implies to me that the BIA already has an enormous amount of control over election results. Why else would they want a system that could keep a Supervisor on the Board indefinitely? That is a whole other can of worms that I wrote about last election. You would be astonished at the amount of power the Sups have over how our elections are run and you may be shocked to learn they reached out to Micheal Vu to hire him as the assistant Registrar....Michael Vu, who ran the Ohio elections.....yes the election where people are now in jail for fraud, where the registrar actually dumped 1000s of ballots in dumpsters.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/ive-got-issues/2008/nov/04/is-san-diegos-voting-system-secure-ask-questions/
Im so glad I at least got that cleared up for myself. Now I can look at the remaining candidates and ballot measures with an eagle eye and try and see what and who is really working for the greater good and not special interests.
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!