John Kerry "Swiftboats" Himself

John Kerry just changed the word swiftboat from a noun to a verb...i.e. as in he "swiftboated" himself with his slander of our troops yesterday serving in Iraq. The Yachtsmen in chief was speaking to students yesterday up at Pasadena City College and uttered this incredible statement...

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Nice job Senator. That's why you lost two years ago. Your contempt for our fighting men and women is breathtaking and on full display for voters to ponder as they think about who they might vote for next week.

Time For Cardinal Mahony to Resign

The time has come for Cardinal Mahony to resign or be removed by the Catholic Church. The evidence is clear now that he has single handedly endangered thousands of children during his tenure as Bishop of Greater Stockton and now as Cardinal of Los Angeles. Lynn and I will be attending the screening of Deliver Us From Evil this Friday at the Edwards University Theatre across the street from UCI. I recommend that all Catholics come see this movie. It's time for them to take the blinders off of what's been happening to children in parishes all across the country.

This is an email I received yesterday from my former classmate at Mater Dei(class of 1988) Joelle Casteix

Hello -

Attached is a link to a new online petition asking the Pope for the
resignation of Cardinal Roger Mahony.

While we understand that the Pope may not listen to us, it is our
hope to draw individual and media awareness to the public safety risk
that Cardinal Mahony poses to children in the United States.

Online Petition

Sincerely,

Joelle Casteix

Two More Great Pieces Of Mail For Team Irvine Today

Today I received two great mailers for Team Irvine. The first one was from the Duong and Mavity campaign It was the four page variety that hit Beth Krom and Sukhee Kang hard on no bid contracts, increased traffic congestion in Irvine, increased taxes, and soft on illegal immigration(the Cronies voted against cross training Irvine officers to assist enforcing immigration laws). The last page was a big picture of and an endorsement of John Duong, Bill Mavity, and Christina Shea by the OC GOP Party.

The second piece was another Prop 90 slate mailer, but styled a little differently than the last few. The theme was the same. Team Crony is against Prop 90 and Team Irvine is for it.

We also received a Prop 85 mailer from the CRP strongly urging the base to vote for parental notification of a minor's abortion. This is an eminently reasonable measure and I hope it finally passes next week.

UCLA Is A Bad Football Team

It's been a very busy last few couple of weeks for me and I haven't had hardly any time to vege on the couch and watch my favorite sport...football. My teams lackluster play has not gone unnoticed though. We lost a heartbreaker last week to Notre Dame on the last play of the game. You talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, damn. So this week we headed up to Eastern Washington to play the Cougars of Washington St. We got a nice good ass whupping. I didn't have a chance to see the game, but I can read the box score. We suck. It's time to fire Karl Dorrell before he does anymore damage to the program. You know it's bad when I can't remember when the last time we beat SC was. Seven years? Anyway, it's been way to long.

Speaking of those Trojans, they finally lost a PAC 10 game yesterday to the Beavers of Oregon St. It's about time. I don't care how good a team you are. When you lose a Matt Leinhart and a Reggie Bush, you are not going to be as good you used to be with them. I could see this loss coming for them, I just didn't think it would be against the Beavers. I'm getting tired of walking precincts around Irvine and seeing USC flags on every other house. USC needs to get back to the days of football mediocrity. I demand they bring back Larry Smith or Paul Hackett.

Two Great Letters In Today's Irvine World News

KRISPY KREME WAS ONCE HIGH-FLYING TOO

It seems we will get the last laugh on Election Day. As a former two-term Irvine Chamber of Commerce board of director, I was pleased with their recent council forum exit poll; finance commissioner John Duong vaulted way ahead of Beth Krom, 60 percent vs. 38 percent. Councilwoman and former two-term mayor Christina Shea, along with Planning Commission vice chair Bill Mavity, easily won too.
This Krom, Kang, Gaido meltdown reminds me of the once high-flying Krispy Kreme phenomenon. Remember? The donut shops were all the rave with huge lines of support representing a cross-cultural and economically diverse group of fans. But, eventually people saw beyond the sugary glaze. The craze chilled, the stores closed and its market value plunged.
Even as a Democrat and former Krom running mate (I lost to Shea in 2002 by 64 votes) I am voting for Duong, Shea and Mavity.
Mitch Goldstone


WE NEED A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
I’m glad we are voting for Irvine mayor and city council representatives in this November election. Irvine has received negative publicity for various reasons.
As I see it, one solution would be to change the council makeup. From my perspective three liberals control the city council and the two conservatives are overridden on most issues.
I think changing the dynamics of the voting bloc would be in the best interest of those of us who are conservative and grateful for the opportunity to live here.
A new mayor and a new conservative council member would give a breath of fresh air to the 3-2 deadlock in Irvine city hall.
I am taking advantage of the privilege to vote.
A.M. Burkett

Ditto Mr Burkett on needing a breath of fresh air. Even former Agran allies like Mitch Goldstone, Chris Mears, Mark Petracca, and others are voting for Team Irvine. 60 to 38%, now those are some blowout numbers.

Bush Signs Secure Fence Bill

I didn't think this day would arrive, but it has. I haven't had much to applaud about lately coming from the White House, but they got it right finally on this. This is also going to give Republicans running for re-election a shot in the arm that they desperately need right now. Would Nancy Pelosi have even let a border fence bill come up for a vote? Answer....hell no.

Beth Krom Loses Her Cool

So last night I was watching the Irvine City Council meeting on television. The last item on the agenda was a discussion of Measure M that was agendized by Christina Shea. The discussion moved quickly from Measure M into election season politics/campaign/slate mailers. A gentleman named Guy Mailly took to the podium and proceeded to rip Mayor Krom for the deceitful Hometown Crony Guide. As Mr. Mailly was trying to wrap up, the Mayor was literally yelling at him to finish up. It was quite a scene seeing Beth's face turn red. As the discussion was coming to a close, you know Larry would have to chime in and have his say. He proceeded to rip the Prop 90 slate mail pieces that have gone out to Irvine voters in the last week. Larry wants to have a "special meeting" Thursday to go on record as the council being against Prop 90. Beth, being the puppet that she is, of course sided with Larry on this.

Fed Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged

This decision is not surprising. There was only one dissenter on the Fed Board who wanted to raise another quarter point. This is more evidence that the Fed just gives lip service of wanting to control inflation.

Stop The Presses....Bush To Hold Public Signing Ceremony of the Secure Fence Act!!!

Isn't it amazing what happens when The White House & Republicans are against the eight ball for the coming election. They start doing things that voters actually want in a big way. Near the top of this wish list of voters is securing the borders and more specifically to do this with a long tall wall/fence to make it harder for illegal aliens to come here. Good fences make good neighbors. So The White House has relented and they will hold a public signing ceremony to get as much exposure on this issue as possible. Is would be Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a border fence? Oh wait that's right, she and her party are against enforcing the immigration laws.

More Irvine Political Mail

There were three more mail pieces today supporting Team Irvine that arrived in the Bartlett mailbox. One was a Prop 90 slate mail piece hammering Beth, Sukhee, and Mary Ann for their opposition to Prop 90. Keep it up guys whoever you are. Another pro Team Irvine piece was a mailer from the county GOP(thank you again Scott Baugh ). Lastly the county party mailed out an invitation to the election night party with a detachable postcard for people to mail in if they want to help volunteer with our state of the art GOTV operation. There was one Hometown Crony Guide piece, but it's not important because Irvine Republicans and DTS voters are finally getting the information they need to make an informed choice. Our voters want to know who the endorsed Republicans are for Mayor & City Council and they are getting it this cycle.

I also want to talk about some interesting info that I dug up about who is supporting the Hometown Crony Guide. We all know that Larry skirts the Irvine contribution limits, but this isgetting ridiculous. It appears that a Newport Beach Heiress Ann Getty Earhardt has donated $65k just by herself to Hometown Crony Guide. What say you Agran apologists? Here is a press release I would have written if I was in charge....

"Newport Beach Heiress, Anne Getty Earhardt, bypasses Irvine Election Contribution Ordinance. Gives $65,500 to help elect Krom, Kang, & Gaido."


A review of election report filings at the Orange County Registrar of Voters shows that another funding scam engineered by Irvine Councilman Larry Agran is again bypassing the local Irvine Election Contribution ($390) Ordinance.

A new committee, Planning 3030 Inc. was recently formed by long time Agran colleague Frank Lunding, from his Monterey office. The committee is listed as a General Purpose Committee dedicated to “Raise funds to support candidates and measures for voter education and awareness”. That committee received a $65,500 contribution from Anne Getty Earhardt and a $20,000 contribution from KB homes, which does business in Irvine. Those contributions intent, the only ones received, was not specified.

Planning 2020, Inc. Then contributed $48,000 to Agran controlled Hometown Voter Guide and Common Sense Voter Guide, ostensibly for Measure M. Measure M is stated as the fourth required client of Hometown and Common Sense to make their slate mailer legal by state law.

Mailers by Hometown feature only Irvine candidate Beth Krom for Mayor, and Sukhee Kang and Mary Ann Gaido for City Council. Prominent in the small space devoted to Measure M is a look-alike, but different, logo for Measure M. Thus it appears that the official Measure M committee is backing the same 3 candidates. Similar tactics were used by Hometown and Common Sense in the 2004 local Irvine election except that in that election Prop 51 was the ruse 4th client. In a filing this period, the widow of Ed Dornan is now listed as the “consultant” running Hometown. In the June 30 report she donated $12,000 in her own name to Hometown and $32,000 in the name of HPT Associates, her late husband’s political consulting practice DBA.

Hometown, Common Sense, Planning 2020, Krom, Kang, Gaido, Agran, the City Police and Civilian Employee Unions, all the other Agran candidate and issue committees all use Renata Smith, or her partners as Treasurer in a cabal of liberal organizations.

Anne Getty Earhardt is a long time Agran supporter, having given to Agran campaigns and causes over the years. Frank Lunding was an Agran appointee to the Irvine Transportation Commission, in addition to being the attorney of record in many of the Agran team’s court filings.

The Agran cabal believes “if it’s legal, it’s ethical”; all the while using legal loopholes to corrupt the whole process of election funding in Irvine. One more reporting cycle remains in the current election – through 21October, filed by 26 October. It is expected that the sham will continue with additional faux Measure M contributions and possibly other statewide proposition funding by Irvine developers will continue to undermine the Irvine $390 candidate contribution limit.

John Duong Fundraiser Tonight

We had a big fundraiser tonight for John Duong's campaign for Mayor of Irvine at Councilman Steven Choi's house. John has been like the energizer bunny ever since he decided to run two months ago. He's out walking precincts and raising money all day long. He's not re-inventing the wheel. He's doing exactly the things he needs to do to win per the Leadership Institute playbook. The job of a candidate is to raise money and meet voters.

So tonight at Dr. Choi's house, we had a lot of local, state, and federal Republican elected officials lending their name and support to John's campaign. Let's see how many people I can remember that were there. We had Congressman Ed Royce and Dana Rohrabacher, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, Past state GOP President Shawn Steel and his wife Michele Steel(who I might add is going to be our next representative to the State Board of Equalization), Council candidate Bill Mavity, and a host of other people all there to lend financial support to John Duong. We're now counting the days now until we can hang a sign outside City Hall that says "Under New Management".

Tan Nguyen Fiasco Thoughts

The haze is starting to clear on the infamous letter GOP candidate for the 47th CD Tan Nguyen sent out to potential 47th CD voters and a few things are clear. This is one of the worst self-inflicted wounds I've seen any candidate make for a long time here in OC. It was like taking a bazooka and shooting yourself in the foot. Hopefully Mr. Nguyen will take Chairman Scott Baugh's advice and withdrawal from the race as soon as possible. We still have not heard from Mr. Nguyen for his side of the story however convoluted it may be. In my inexpert legal opinion, he has put himself into legal jeopody with this stunt.

Once again the local blogosphere has led the way in reporting this story. Kudos to Orange Juice and OC Blog for staying on the cutting edge of political reporting. This just goes to show that anything a candidate does, be it fair play or foul play, will make its way onto the local blogs for all to digest.

This leads lastly to a rant about the 69th GOP Central Committee members and its leadership. It's time for adult supervision to happen. Between Tan Nguyen's f*** up, Ryan Gene pretending to be a candidate, running a non existent campaign and alledgedly not living in the district and putting himself in legal jeopody, Art Pedroza being a loose cannon....you get the picture. It's not pretty and it gives the entire party a black eye by the actions of a few people. Can we please have some serious candidates 69th guys for the next cycle? Is that too much to ask for?

Team Irvine Reception & UCI Candidates Forum

Your humble correspondent had a busy night tonight. I think I kinda know now what's it's like to be a candidate running for office. I went from one side of Irvine to the other trying to cover two events locally here. The first was a Team Irvine reception at Caspian Persian Restaurant. You'll never guess who showed up.... our newly minted State Senator Tom Harmon. I met his new District Director Cynthia Determan the other day at our Irvine Victory 06 headquarters and now I've met the man himself. The fact that he showed up speaks volumes to me. I appreciate his reaching out to us here in Irvine. It was a rough campaign against Diane Harkey, but I let both Cynthia and he know that I'm open to listen. So even though a zebra can't change its stripes IMO, I'm glad the Senator realizes that he has to morph into being more conservative to represent the district and position himself for re-election in a closed GOP primary where Democrats will not get a chance to select a Republican nominee like last time. Anyway, he also sent a fundraising letter on behalf of John Duong that came in the mailbox today and he's scheduled for an appearance at our Irvine Republican Council meeting this Thursday.

After this event I drove across town to UCI and caught the tail end of a candidates forum for the 68th, 69th, and 70th Assembly Districts. I walked in right as Democratic candidate for the 70th AD Michael Glover was berating Assemblyman DeVore about calling illegal immigrants "attractive nusances" and then saying illegal immigration is not a very big problem. I don't know what planet Mr. Glover has been on for the last twenty years, but I guess he can rationalize to himself all he wants that it isn't a huge problem(I guess he's never been to Santa Ana or Los Angeles). He's also a trial lawyer(another strike). Is it just me or are all the Democratic candidates running for office here in central OC lawyers(Steve Young, Mr. Glover, Larry Agran, etc)? I'm noticing a trend. Mr. Glover's closing statement made reference to a Republican House Speaker's letter from Kansas where he served in the legislature saying that he/she endores him for election. I think she endorsed him to make sure he doesn't return to Kansas, LOL. Just kidding, Mr. Glover was a nice guy, but he has no realistic chance of ever winning anything as a Democrat in this part of OC.

Official John & Ken Voting Guide(& Powder Blue Report)

I agree with the guys on every recomendation except I am voting NO on all the bond measures.

Proposition 1A. Transportation Funding Protection—State of California (Legislative Constitutional Amendment – Majority Approval Required)
Should the California Constitution be amended to further protect the state sales tax revenues for transportation purposes from general-purpose use and require any funds borrowed to be repaid to the transportation fund?

John and Ken say YES Allan says YES too

Proposition 1B. Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security—State of Calfiornia (Legislative Bond Act – Majority Approval Required)
Should the state sell $19.9 billion in general obligation bonds to fund state and local transportation improvement projects to relieve congestion, improve movement of goods, improve air quality, and enhance safety and security of the transportation system?

John and Ken say NO Allan says NO as well

Proposition 1C. Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006—State of California (Legislative Bond Act – Majority Approval Required)
Should the state sell $2.9 billion in general obligation bonds to fund housing for lower-income residents and development in urban areas near public transportation?

John and Ken say NO! NO! NO! An big emphatic NO from Allan!

Proposition 1D. Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities—State of California (Legislative Bond Act – Majority Approval Required)
Should the state sell $10.4 billion in general obligation bonds to fund repair and upgrade of public schools, including kindergarten through grade 12, community colleges, and state universities?

John and Ken say NO Allan says just say No

Proposition 1E. Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention—State of California (Legislative Bond Act – Majority Approval Required)
Should the state sell $4.1 billion in general obligation bonds to finance disaster preparedness and flood prevention projects at the state and local levels?

John and Ken say YES Allan says NO to another bad bond

Proposition 83. Sex Offenders. Sexually Violent Predators. Punishment, Residence Restrictions and Monitoring—State of California (Initiative Statute – Majority Approval Required)
Should California amend existing laws relating to violent and habitual sex offenders and child molesters to increase penalties and monitoring?

John and Ken say YES (to override the Sacramento Legislature “pervert protectors”)
Allan says YES to this much needed measure

Proposition 84. Water Quality, Safety and Supply. Flood Control. Natural Resource Protection. Park Improvements—State of California (Bond Initiative Statute – Majority Approval Required)
Should the state issue $5.4 billion in bonds for a wide variety of projects related to water safety, rivers, beaches, levees, watersheds, and parks and forests?

John and Ken say NO Again I agree...vote NO

Proposition 85. Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy—State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment – Majority Approval Required)
Should the California Constitution be amended to require notification of the parent or legal guardian of an unemancipated pregnant minor at least 48 hours before performing an abortion?

John and Ken say YES This is such a reasonable measure....Allan says vote YES

Proposition 86. Tax on Cigarettes—State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute – Majority Approval Required)
Should the state impose an additional tax of $2.60 per cigarette pack to fund new and expanded health services, health insurance for children, and expand tobacco use prevention programs?

John and Ken say NO! NO! NO! I call this the "Illegal Alien Emergency Room Subsidization Act...please vote NO NO NO!

Proposition 87. Alternative Energy. Research, Production, Incentives. Tax on California Oil Producers—State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute – Majority Approval Required)
Should California establish a $4 billion Clean Alternative Energy Program to reduce California’s oil and gasoline consumption by 25 percent through incentives for alternative energy, education, and training?

John and Ken say NO We need more taxes in this state like we need a plague...please just say NO

Proposition 88. Education Funding. Real Property Parcel Tax—State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute – Majority Approval Required)
Should the California Constitution be amended to levy an annual $50 real property tax on most parcels with the funds allocated to five K-12 education programs?

John and Ken say NO Another easy No vote reco from Allan

Proposition 89. Political Campaigns. Public Financing. Corporate Tax Increase. Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Limits—State of California (Initiative Statute – Majority Approval Required)
Should eligible candidates for state elective offices receive public campaign funding that is supported by new taxes on corporations and financial institutions, and should contribution limits be imposed on those candidates that do not receive public campaign funding?

John and Ken say NO I feel like David Spade in that Capital One ad...NO NO NO

Proposition 90. Government Acquisition, Regulation of Private Property—State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment – Majority Approval Required)
Should the California Constitution be amended to require government to pay property owners for substantial economic losses resulting from some new laws and rules, and limit government authority to take ownership of private property?

John and Ken say YES last but not least, Allan says to vote YES on this needed measure

Air Support Is Arriving In Irvine

So I get home today from work expecting another onslaught from Hometown Crony Guide and to my pleasant surprise was a slate mailer from some group named "Official Non Partisan Voting Guide" touting Proposition 90, all of our great local Irvine federal & state GOP elected officials(John Campbell & Chuck DeVore), and endorsements for all three members of Team Irvine(John Duong, Bill Mavity, & Christina Shea). YES, YES, YES! Finally we are getting smart about how to play in Larry's sandbox. The way to hit back at Hometown Crony Guide is to form your own slate mailer with things that appeal to our base here in Irvine. Prop 90 is brilliant because it exposes the politicians who oppose it as the land grabbers that they are. I need to get my scanner up and working so everyone can see this piece. Help me out Mr. Jubal or someone from OC Blog post this. I wish I knew how many people this mailer went out to. It probably just went to high propensity voters.

Weekend Roundup

It was a busy weekend for the Bartlett household. Lynn and I have both been working practically every day over at the Irvine Victory 06 headquarters. This weekend was no execption. I want to see the Great Crony Team of Krom, Kang, and Gaido defeated, plain & simple. I received the first negative piece of the campaign Friday by HVG against Christina Shea. It was your typical Larry Agran slimer accusing Christina of enriching herself by the fact that she is a lobbyist. The irony of it coming from Larry is rich beyond belief, but they are the first to go negative. Larry accusing Christina of being unethical is like Ted Kennedy accusing Dudley Moore or Mickey Rooney of being an alcoholic. Larry is trying to set himself and his cronies up to make huge profits by controlling all the contracting going on for the Great Park. Anyone who doesn't see this is kidding themselves.

The good news is that Team Irvine has a lot of great events & fundraisers planned for this week and John Duong has rolled out his first television ad on Cox.

Illegal Immigration Taskforce Field Hearing In Tustin

I was debating about whether I had the energy after a long day at the office to attend this important field hearing on illegal immigration that my Assemblyman Chuck DeVore held in Tustin today. The short answer is that I rallied and now you guys who read Powder Blue Report are going to get the scoop about how it went.

I saw a lot of familiar faces on the panel and in the audience when I arrived. Chuck had a posse of Assembly Republicans on the panel that included Audra Strickland, Van Tran, and Bob Huff. The vultures in the open border press were there as well(illegalalienvision errr I mean Univision and a chick from NPR wearing birkenstocks...I would have never guessed that a NPR reporter would be wearing birkenstocks, LOL). The first person to testify was Dr. John Eastman of Chapman Law School. This is one really smart guy. I now know after hearing him in person why Hugh Hewitt refers to him as such on his radio show. Dr. Eastman laid out the constitutional issues surrounding immigration law and a few Supreme Court cases that govern them. He surprised me by saying that only part of Proposition 187 was struck down and that other provisions in the law are still standing. He said there is a provision in the law that lets lawsuits be brought forward for people and businesses that have been harmed by illegal immigration(I'm paraphrasing...hopefully Chuck will put out a press release of what Dr. Eastman was explaining).

The next person to testify was Capt. Tim Bord of the OC Sheriff Department. He cited some figures that left me shaking my head in disbelief. He said that out of the 63,000 or so people that were booked last year(2005) by the OCSD, 23% or 15,000 of them were illegal aliens! That's right 15,000 illegal aliens not only here illegally, but they're commiting heinous crimes on top of their original offense of coming here illegally. It's a two-fer I guess. The cost to incarcerate these illegals is $100 per day per inmate X 15,000...do the math, it's huge. The feds only reimbursed about $6 million for this cost. Most of these illegal alien crimals are also released back into society when they've done their time. They're not deported like you'd expect because they're not allowed to ask them about their status!

Moving along, the next person to testify was also the most powerful one. Bill Doddridge is the CEO of the Tustin Jewelry Exchange. Over the years his company had been inadvertently been hiring some illegal aliens. He told us of how the Social Security Administration started sending him nasty letters back in 2002 letting him know that 35-40 of his employees SSNs were not valid, but he wasn't to do anything about this that would be adverse to the illegal alien employee lest he be sued for discrimination by the Labor Dept! He's in a quandry because if he keeps the employees, he's liable for a $400 per person per day fine for knowingly hiring an illegal alien or if he fires the illegal aliens, he risks lawsuits for discrimination. What's an honest businessman to do? Bill finally decided to pay more wages and benefits to his legal employees and now he is at a competitive disadvantage because his competitors are still using illegal alien workers. It was a very moving story.

Next up was the fine Mayor of Costa Mesa, Allan Mansoor. Allan spoke about what he is doing in Costa Mesa on a local level to get violent illegal alien criminals off the streets. He has been a trailblazer IMO for showing how cities can enforce the immigration laws to get violent offenders off the streets. It's not about sweeps like the MECHA/LA Raza crowd would have us believe, although it would be nice if ICE started doing their job a lot more zealously.

It's getting late and I'm tired, but the next person to speak was Robert Ming from Laguna Niguel. Robert was one of the people trying to get a ballot initiative qualified that would mandate voters to provide identification at the polls. As we know, this is like sticking up a cross at a vampire to the Democrats. They'll have none of it because they need all the illegals as possible to keep them in power. Mr. Ming did mention though that this issue has bipartisan support. Some Democrats support it because they think they were robbed in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. We need this law in the worst way here in California. I hope they can get the necessary funding to get it off the ground next time.

After everyone was done testifying, Assemblyman DeVore read some comments from the people in the audience. We were supposed to write down some suggestions/ideas for legislation to address this problem. My comment was that we need to cut off welfare benefits and just enforce existing laws. It's not rocket science what needs to be done.

I'm out

Quiet Down Bill

Bill Bradley over at New West Notes is letting the cat out of the bag so to speak about our get out the vote campaign here in California for the GOP. We have created one of the biggest and most sophisticated GOTV ops that has ever been done. We want California Democrats/liberals to keep thinking Phil Angiledes is the greatest thing since sliced bread. We want them to rest on their laurels and think all the downticket races are in the bag. We are microtargeting our voters and using over 70,000 volunteers to get our target voters out to the polls. So please Bill, no more of these articles, LOL.

Irvine Money Chase

It's been about seven weeks since John Duong decided to run for Mayor of Irvine. I want to announce that as of his latest filing, he will have raised over $100k in those seven weeks! This is a huge amount of money raised from individuals in that span of time. Keep in mind too that the contribution limit is only $390 per person here in Irvine. Lynn and I both gave the maximum amount. Beth Krom has been Mayor for almost two years and she has only raised $80 some thousand. Now I realize that Team Crony will have a few hundred thousand spent for them by Larry Agran's Hometown Voter Guide, but our fundraising is going to keep pace. BTW, the way Larry gets around Irvine contribution limits is by his HVG "slate mailing". I'm told by someone in the know(read as an attorney) that you need four candidates and/or issues to be a slate mailer. Isn't it funny that through the years Larry has always been pimping three candidates, a proposition, and/or a local Measure. This year Larry is pimping for Measure M as seen on his first HVG mailer. By doing this, Larry gets developers/businesses to give unlimited amounts of $$$ to his cause(keeping Larry in power) and he keeps himself in the gray area of the law. It's disengenuous as hell, unethical, or whatever other term you may want to use to skirt the spirit of the campaign spending limits, but it's not technically illegal I guess. This is the same Larry Agran that has been passing "ethics" ordinances like they grow on trees as long it doesn't affect him.

The response from my fellow Irvine residents has been tremendous. I have been knocking on doors and calling like a man possessed the last few weeks. Irvine residents are hungry for change. Team Irvine will provide the soothing tonic needed to transition back to honest and ethical representation.

Late Word About Bush Signing The Secure Fence Act(or lack thereof)

We're getting word today that President Bush still has not signed the Secure Fence Act yet. The signing ceremony last week in Arizona was for the funding of the fence, but not the authorization. I hope this turns out to be nothing, but if god forbid Bush does not sign this authorization bill for the fence and it is not built....well let's just say there is going to be hell to pay. I don't know why Bush is even messing around with this issue. Sign the bill already Mr. President! It's not like we trust you on this issue. Why are you giving me more reason to doubt you? I'll close with a famous line from President Reagan..."trust, but verify". In this case, we need to verify if the Secure Fence Act has been signed and if not when. Stay tuned.

Michelle Malkin has a roundup here.

Here is the article from Mickey Kaus that started this buzz

******************5:20 PM UPDATE***************************

I just spoke with a source in Congressman's Campbell's office to let him know what was happening on talk radio and the blogosphere. He is getting back to me tomorrow with an update.

****************6:11PM UPDATE*******************************

It looks like the bill hasn't been formally presented to the President yet, so the ten day clock to sign a bill has not commenced. Allah Pundit at Hot Air says that that a source on the Hill has told him that "the bill has been purposefully delayed so Bush can sign it closer to the election for maximum political effect". Now that makes sense. Forgive me if I thought Bush was trying to weasel out of signing the Fence Bill.

Mexico To Dispute Border Fence With The U.N.

I needed a good laugh today. When I read this story it was all the tonic that I needed to get me through the rest of the afternoon. Mexico is going to complain to the glorified debating society on the Hudson better known as the United Nations about us building a wall on the southern border. I was laughing so hard I was almost crying. I mean how ironic is this that on a day when North Korea is detonating a test nuke after being warned specifically not to do this by the same toothless UN, Mexico is running to the UN to protest us building a wall. We can all rest well tonight knowing that there will never be any action taken by the UN except for maybe some stupid resolution saying how mean the US is to put up a wall. How dare we get control of our borders. The nerve of us.

Evidence Mounts Against Cardinal Mahony

This is the story that keeps on giving. It's becoming apparent that Cardinal Mahony has been covering up for pedophile priests all the back to his days as Bishop of Stockton. Former priest Oliver O’Grady who now resides in Ireland has been singing like a bird lately about how Cardinal Mahony protected him during his heyday of abusing little boys and girls. Here's a quote from the NT Times article...

The former priest, who lives in Ireland, said he was able to continue abusing children in part because of actions by Cardinal Mahony, who now heads the country’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, here in Los Angeles, and is among the church’s most influential American leaders. Mr. O’Grady says in the film that as bishop in Stockton, the cardinal moved him from parish to parish in the face of abuse accusations.

The LA District Attorney's office has also taken an interest in this information...

The film does certainly charge the atmosphere here in Los Angeles,” said William Hodgman, the top deputy of the target crimes division of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, who coordinated prosecutions of priests in Los Angeles.

The film also “will fuel ongoing consideration as to whether Cardinal Mahony and others engaged in criminal activity,” Mr. Hodgman added.

Joe Scott, a spokesman for the district attorney, Steve Cooley, confirmed that characterization.

Bravo Escondido

The city of Escondido banned renting to illegal aliens yesterday in a contentious 3-2 vote. I applaud the city for coming up with a unique way of fighting the scourge of illegal immigration. It reminds me of when the US went after Al Capone for income tax evasion. I don't care how these illegals get deported or denied services. I just want the end result to be that the incentive for coming over here illegally in the first place to be less after all is said and done. The federal government has not been enforcing the laws. This has forced cities and municipalities to think outside the box and come up up with their own innovative solutions to the huge problem. I'm sure a lawsuit wil be filed the usual suspects i.e MALDEF, ACLU, etc to try and invalidate this ordinance by judical fiat. I wonder what would happen if Santa Ana or LA ever passed such an ordinance? The cities would become ghost towns!

The First Larry Agran Spam Piece Arrives In The Bartlett Mailbox

That's right, the first "Hometown Voter Guide" arrived in the mailbox today. Usually they start showing up right after Labor Day. This is the latest arrival of their first piece that I can remember. So let's go ahead and dissect it shall we. The first page has a letter from a dude named Edward Pope talking about how the late Ed Dornan founded the HVG and how it is such a great "non-partisan" grassroots voterguide. I'll give Larry credit for having a good grassroots organization, but non-partisan my ass. This current Council majority of Beth, Larry, and Sukhee has been one of the most partisan in Irvine history. The three of them have voted in lock step 99.9% of the time. Larry tells them how to vote and they do it.

The next two pages are just fluff about Beth, Sukhee and Mary Ann Gaido. Hopefully someone else can scan the mailer for all to see. Are you up to it Dan?

Interestingly, the last page at the bottom has a plug to vote Yes on Measure M. Nice. I so want my taxes raised "temporarily" for the next thirty years.

My Grade of the 109th Congress......."D"

This was an ugly 109th Congress from this conservatives point of view. The only bright spots keeping the grade from an outright failure was the passage of the 700 mile border fence at the last minute, stopping a full scale amnesty, and Bush's appointment of John Roberts & Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. Everything else was pretty much a disaster. The Mark Foley shame was the final insult to cap off a horrible two years(I'll have more to say on Mark Foley). I don't know where to begin with the sellouts. There were so many. The DC GOP has completely abdicated leadership on fiscal issues. I don't wanna hear how bad it would be under Democratic rule. The fact of the matter is that we were in control and we have completely failed on fiscal and monetary issues. It's that simple. Spending has never grown faster. I am really embarrassed. The Wall Street Journal also weighs in on the failed 109th Congress.

Speaking of Mark Foley...this guy should be put away for a long time. His ruse of entering an alcohol rehab clinic is just that...a smokescreen. Are we supposed to feel sorry for this scumbag ex-congressman now? You shouldn't get a get out of jail free pass just because you enter rehab. This is just super cynical crisis management ploy played at the highest level(and not that well if you asked me). This whole story is disgusting me. You got caught red handed Mark(no pun intended). You abused your high office to prey on vulnerable/impressionable underage pages. The irony of Mr. Foley being the leader of the "Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus" is just rich beyond belief. He might just have fatally sabotaged any chance the GOP had of holding the House.

This incident also shows the sheer hypocrisy of the GOP or anyone else moralizing to the electorate. Isn't it funny how some of the biggest bible thumpers are always the ones prone to get caught in the act doing things they are always speaking out against(Cardinal Mahoney covering up for pedophile priests comes to my mind). I just thought I would point that out.

*************************6:50PM UPDATE**************************

Drudge is reporting that tomorrow's edition of the Washington Times is calling for Speaker Hastert's immediate resignation for his role in the Mark Foley cover up errrr I mean incident. I get the feeling that this story is going to have legs and that Speaker Hastert may not be the only political causualty. I wonder what the bettors over at Tradesports think of the GOP's chances at retaining the Congress now? This couldn't have come at a worse time. Well I guess a few days before the election would have been even worse. I hope that every GOP congressman & staffer with knowledge of this story comes forward and tells the truth of what they know and when they knew it.