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Bigger Than Watergate, Dumber Than Obamacare and More Dangerous Than a Leftist Bagman: Looking Back at May 2013

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By Doug Porter

 For the twelve days of Christmas I give you: The madness of 2013, one month at a time. A month by month recap of stories that appeared in the Starting Line over the past year.

#1 Nothing But Good News for Bike Riders

Things are looking so bright they gotta wear shades for bicycle fans these days, both nationally and locally.

The nomination of Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx’s for U.S. Transportation secretary on Monday has bike enthusiasts excited. The Hill quotes League of American Bicyclists President Andy Clarke as saying:

“When Secretary LaHood announced his departure, the bicycling community asked the White House to appoint a successor with a clear commitment to multi-modal solutions to local transportation challenges, and Mayor Foxx clearly checks those boxes,”

  [Read more…]

Cochella (Twice), Taxes, Terrorists, and Testing: Looking Back at April 2013

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By Doug Porter

For the twelve days of Christmas I give you: The madness of 2013, one month at a time. A month by month recap of stories that appeared in the Starting Line over the past year.

#1 Assemblywoman Toni Atkins vs the Poor Oppressed Developers

Sometimes it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

Let’s start with the California Coastal Commission story in today’s UT-San Diego.

San Diego Assemblywomen Toni Atkins is sponsoring a bill that moved out of committee yesterday giving the California Coastal Commission the authority to directly fine law breakers.

Paragraphs three and four of the UT-SD story tell us first about the reaction against the proposed legislation:

Her Assembly Bill 976 has drawn sharp rebukes from business interests, many of whom already regard the Coastal Commission as too arbitrary when it comes to issuing permits for development along California’s 1,100 miles of coast.

  [Read more…]

Sequestration, Taxifornication, Misinformation, and the Great Tourism Recession in San Diego: Looking Back at March 2013

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By Doug Porter

For the twelve days of Christmas I give you: The madness of 2013, one month at a time-A month by month recap of stories that appeared in the Starting Line over the past year.

#1 Sequestration Won’t Make the Sky Fall

Happy sequestration day.  The sky most likely won’t fall at 11:59pm tonight when President Obama signs the order implementing terms of a deal struck with Congress designed to be so odious that no person in their right mind would allow it to happen.

That should tell us a lot about the current mental state of the nation’s politicians. But it doesn’t.  The horrible deal, as it turns out, isn’t all that horrible, at least in the short run.   [Read more…]

Guns, Governors, God and the Gipper: Looking Back at February 2013

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By Doug Porter

For the twelve days of Christmas I give you: The madness of 2013, one month at a time-A month by month recap of stories that appeared in the Starting Line over the past year.

#1 Rick “Tex” Perry Rides into Town

Our local daily is featuring an article today hewing to its meme that the end is nigh for the Golden State in the wake of voter support for raising taxes in the last election. Here’s the lede:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry quietly came to San Diego last week to lure biotech companies seeking to escape from higher income taxes under Proposition 30 to the Lone Star State.

  [Read more…]

Ted Nugent’s Guns, Obama’s Gays, Manchester’s Minions and Huffpost’s Sideboobs: Looking Back at January 2013

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By Doug Porter

For the twelve days of Christmas I give you: The madness of 2013, one month at a time-A month by month recap of stories that appeared in the Starting Line last year.

#1 Elections have consequences:

Republican activist Ryan Trabuco took to the interwebs yesterday to announce his decision to re-register as “no party preference”. It’s not that he likes Democrats, it’s just that he can’t stand his old party:   [Read more…]

A Big Fat Job Killing Lie for Christmas from Jerry Sanders

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“The Recession’s Coming” and other pants-on-fire tales coming soon to a mall near you

By Doug Porter

Former Mayor Jerry Sanders, President and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, sent a holiday letter out this week to all Chamber members and partner organizations urging them to get on board with the latest campaign to overturn the City Council by referendum. 

Their “friendly” signature gatherers will be blocking your entrance into shopping malls around the region starting the day after Christmas urging people to sign the Stop the Jobs-Killing Tax petition. (I’ll gladly publish videos of their “sales” techniques if you’d like to email them in.)

The council’s decision to end a linkage fee (with plenty of exceptions) for bigger developers is being cast by Saunders and his cronies as a “massive tax increase” and a “jobs tax”.   [Read more…]

Happy Festivus! Airing of Some Grievances, San Diego Style

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By Doug Porter

Today, December 23rd we celebrate Festivus,“the holiday for the rest of us,” popularized via an episode of the Seinfeld sitcom. Frank Constanza (Jerry Stiller), father of George Constanza (Jason Alexander) supposedly invented the holiday as a reaction to the commercialization of Christmas and other December holidays.

First a little background is in order, via Festivusweb.com, for those of you scratching your head and going “huh?”

Frank Costanza, during a failed attempt to buy a Christmas gift for son George, realized that there should be a new holiday   [Read more…]

Saving San Diego from “The Paper Bag Tax” and Other Political Misnomers

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By Doug Porter

Paper, Plastic or Save The Planet? It’s about time we had that discussion in San Diego.

Apparently the approved strategy for the right wing in opposing just about anything these days is to call the thing that you’re opposing a “tax”. And, as is the case with the Neighborhood Market Association’s opposition to a proposed ban on plastic bags, any time the word “tax” is used is a good time to manifest a sudden concern for working class families.

It was this deep concern for the lives of “taxpayers, mothers, fathers, brothers and working class San Diegans” that prompted “community leaders, including Mark Arabo, president of the Neighborhood Market Association” to call a press conference yesterday in front of Rainbow Market in the Chollas Creek neighborhood.   [Read more…]

GOP’s Congressional Shutdown To Cause Delayed Tax Refunds

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By Doug Porter

It’s pretty easy to dislike the Internal Revenue Service; a fact of life exploited by Congress on a regular basis. Since 2010 the agency’s budget has been slashed by more than $1 billion. Staffing has been reduced by 8000 employees, including 5000 frontline personnel.

Those staffing cuts, combined with October’s 16 day shutdown of the government by Tea Party ideologues hoping the repeal Obamacare, are at the center of an announcement yesterday that the opening date for tax filing season will start on Jan. 31, instead of the initially-planned Jan. 21.

A little noticed press release by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) quotes union President Colleen M. Kelley saying, “As the holiday credit card bills come due early in the year, millions of Americans count on a quick refund to help cover those costs. This year, that money may not be there when they need it.”   [Read more…]

It’s Off to the Races! City Council Sets February 11th Mayoral Election Date, Barrio Logan Referendum Vote June 3rd -Plus Lots of 2014 Electioneering in Other Contests

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By Doug Porter

“Bring it on!”

That was the reaction of supporters of the Barrio Logan Community plan yesterday after the City Council voted to place a referendum sponsored by maritime industry interests on the June 3rd primary ballot.  Industry backers were hoping that a successful petition drive for the initiative would force the council to rescind the plan rather than face the costs and conflicts inherent in a contentious campaign.

The UT-San Diego wasted no time showing where its sympathies lie, running with a front page story using the industry’s un-provable contention that jobs would be lost in the lede of a supposed news article.  While a City of San Diego study projects more than 4,000 jobs would be created under the plan, opponents can do no better than quoting individuals who “think” jobs might be lost.

Framing the conflict as one of “jobs” versus “neighborhood planning” is exactly the strategy pursued thus far by maritime industry advocates, who’ve managed to twist both ends of that equation (46,000 jobs will be lost! Yuppie condos are coming!) into an narrative so unpalatable that gathering signatures for an initiative was a cakewalk.   [Read more…]

Putting the David Alvarez Mayoral Candidacy into a National Context

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By Doug Porter

While many of the issues at hand for San Diego voters in the upcoming mayoral runoff election may be local, there is a bigger picture being watched by political observers nationwide.

None of the top ten cities in the United States have Republican Mayors. Electing Kevin Faulconer in San Diego would be a double win for the GOP especially if the large Latino population is taken into consideration.  It would also serve as a counterbalance to the perceived trend of big city electorates shifting more towards the left end of the political spectrum.

One only needs to look to incoming mayor Bill de Blasio’s solid electoral win in New York to understand just how seriously the right is taking this trend.  An article in the New York Times last Friday catalogues right wing attempts to blame Mr. de Blasio for crimes currently being committed even though he’s three weeks away from being inaugurated.   [Read more…]

Rep. Issa’s Loose Lips Looking to Sink Security for Obamacare Web Site

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By Doug Porter

Congressman Darrell Issa’s investigation into HealthCare.gov’s dismal performance during its first two months online has turned into a full-blown executive-congressional confrontation over concerns raised about the security of documents under subpoena.

On Wednesday acting in his role as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Issa accused Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of criminal obstruction.  The administration has let the Republican Congressman know they won’t turn over documents related to the security of the Healthcare.gov website because they can’t trust him to keep secret information.

Congressman Darrell Issa’s game plan ought to be obvious by now. He announces a major investigation into an executive branch agency, holds a press conference or three implying this will be the scandal bringing down the Obama administration, leaks a bunch of partially redacted documents, holds hearings and… nothing ever happens because there is no scandal.   [Read more…]

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