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Projected Low Turnout in Mayoral Special Election Favors Faulconer

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By Doug Porter

Two studies released this week appear to validate the decision made by big money Republican donors to boost the candidacy of City Councilman Kevin Faulconer.

A poll by Republican leaning Competitive Edge Research & Communication of 504 likely voters (Sept. 26-29) shows Faulconer running essentially even with Nathan Fletcher (26-27%, with a plus or minus margin of error of 4.4 percent).  Candidate David Alvarez was favored by 13%, Mike Aguirre got 7%, 20% of those polled said they were undecided and while 8% backed one of the seven other candidates in the race.

Following “push” polling questions, wherein surveyors read politically leading statements to respondents, support for Faulconer jumped to 34%, with Alvarez moving into second place with 22% and Fletcher support dropping to 20%.

Probable voter turnout in the Competitive Edge survey was pegged at somewhere between 35 and 40%.   [Read more…]

Tea Party Wet Dream Forces Shutdown of San Diego’s Miramar Air Show

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“The reign of morons began with the triumph of bullshit.”  Charles Pierce, Esquire Magazine

By Doug Porter

Over the last few days the conservative pundit class has been preaching the message that the government shutdown was much ado about nothing. A ‘slim down’ became the Fox news codeword meant to belittle the ever-growing cumulative effects of the Congressional Republican’s efforts to hold the country hostage.

Word came out this morning that this weekend’s Miramar Air Show, already truncated by sequester mandated cutbacks in military spending, would now be cancelled.  I have no doubt that the local Tea Party set will soon be announcing the closure was personally ordered by President Obama.

  [Read more…]

Fletcher, Faulconer, Peters and the Bi-Partisan Shuffle

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By Doug Porter

For better or (mostly) worse our country runs (or doesn’t) on a two party system.

Despite the “everybody knows” wisdom that says partisanship is becoming more extreme, some of San Diego’s politicos aren’t playing that game.

Of course “everybody knows” about Nathan Fletcher, who made the transition from Republican to Independent and then Democratic Mayoral candidate in less than 500 days.

Despite those die hard partisans in both camps who try to make the point that Fletcher’s migration was somehow aberrant, I actually believe him when he says his life experiences led him to make the switch(es).

I’ve personally seen plenty of life long Republicans ditching their party as it lurches towards irrelevancy. And the declining percentage of the electorate willing to associate themselves with the likes of Tony Kvarick (locally) and Michelle Bachman (Nationally) are proof of this trend.   [Read more…]

Despite Government Shutdown, ObamaCare Starts Today

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Survey says nearly three fourths of the population thinks the GOP’s tactic is a bad idea

By Doug Porter

The crapola has hit the fanola.  Eight hundred thousand Americans are officially furloughed. Another million or so are being asked to come to work without pay.

Why? Because Congress passed a health care law after debating it for 18 months. The President signed the law. The Supreme Court (mostly) upheld the Constitutionality of the law. And now a group of three dozen or so extremists in the House of Representatives say “no way”.   [Read more…]

Teahadists’ Budget Bomb Ticking Down

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Local leaders fly to DC to watch truly dysfunctional government at work

By Doug Porter

There’s only one story that counts today: the confrontation on Capitol Hill over passing a continuing budget resolution allowing the government to function for another 45 days.

Mini-Mayor Todd Gloria, along with members of the City Council and a Chamber of Commerce delegation headed by former Mayor Jerry Sanders are on the Hill this week “to advocate for policies vital to the region.”  This trip has been on the books for some time—in fact it’s the same outing that former Mayor Bob Filner was uninvited from by Sanders back when reports of bad behavior surfaced.   [Read more…]

The War on Pensions: Workers Lose, Wall Street Wins

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By Doug Porter

Three recent news stories and one older account tell the tale of what’s really going on behind the current public sector pension “crisis” in the United States.

To make a long story short: there are good pension systems and bad pension systems.  Some are broke and need to be fixed. Some aren’t. But all public sector pension plans are under attack as part of the conservative goal of reducing government and the greed of Wall Street hedge fund managers seeking to get their hands on a huge pot of money.

Frying Pan News published an account this week about a group of pension policy advocates here in California working on a until now secret ballot initiative that would cut State and local government employees off at the knees, retirement wise.

At Salon.com we learn about the for Enron executive whose been working hard to craft the argument that defined pension benefit programs need to be scrapped no matter what shape they’re in.

At Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi takes a sharp tongued look at the profits being made by corporate ‘management’ of pension plans.

Inside: Pigs Fly Over Ocean Beach

  [Read more…]

Sweet Tweets, Cold Cash and Barrio Logan on San Diego’s Mayoral Campaign Trail

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By Doug Porter

 Tuesday night’s vote by the San Diego Democratic Central Committee was a clear victory for backers of Councilman David Alvarez’s mayoral aspirations.  If for no other reason, the endorsement was important in raising the councilman’s name recognition, both for the headlines it produced and the cash that will now flow from Democratic Party coffers boosting his candidacy.

Others with skin in this game reacted in differing ways.

A much heralded spat between United Food and Commercial Workers President Mickey Kasparian (who supports Alvarez) and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (Nathan Fletcher’s booster), appears to have passed.  After all, the vote is over, and the party did vote to support whichever of those candidates wins the November 19th primary.   [Read more…]

Alvarez Gets The Nod from Democratic Party as Mayoral Election Takes Shape

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By Doug Porter

San Diego’s Democratic Central Committee met last night to consider the question of endorsing a candidate in the upcoming special mayoral contest.

Former City Attorney Mike Aguirre, civic activist Bruce Coons, former assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and City Councilman David Alvarez all pled their case behind closed doors in Kearny Mesa.

The Dems could have voted not to endorse at this point in the process. Or they could have endorsed more than one candidate. But either move would have effectively left the party’s ability to raise unlimited funds at the sidelines for the Nov 19th primary.

So in the end City Councilman David Alvarez won the endorsement with a 63-40 40-24 vote over Nathan Fletcher. In the event of a runoff after the special election, the committee agreed to back whichever Democrat advances, whether or not it’s Alvarez.   [Read more…]

The Sky Hasn’t Fallen: San Diego Tourism is UP

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By Doug Porter

One of the most frequently told tall tales during the Filner administration had to do with the consequences of San Diego Tourism Authority’s reduction in advertising and promotional expenditures.  Doom and gloom studded media accounts, like one just published in UT-San Diego on September 8th, warned that falling hotel occupancy would have widespread impacts on the local economy.

This most recent account had Tourism Authority CEO Joe Terzi ominously warning the number of room nights generated this fiscal year in San Diego will fall by as much as 350,000.

The latest reporting by industry analysts at Smith Travel Research indicates San Diego’s hotel occupancy rose by “only” 1% over July levels and is up year-to-date.

I have no doubt the local tourism tax dollar welfare recipients downtown will wail none-the-less by pointing out that tourism in other California coastal cities increased by a larger amount.   [Read more…]

Say No to Paying San Onofre Nuke Shutdown Costs: “You Break It, You Buy It”

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By Doug Porter

The shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was a significant blow to the nuclear power industry. Although the twin reactors were licensed to operate until 2022, a new steam generator system installed in reactor unit 2 in 2009 and unit 3 in 2010 failed less than two years after vibrations caused heavy alloy tubes in each steam generator to rub against one another.

Critics of Southern California Edison contend the utility and its supplier Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, hid the risks of the new system they installed. Hoping to sidestep the potentially lengthy process of obtaining a license amendment, the company appealed to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board for permission to restart unit 2 at 70 percent of capacity.

Following a negative ruling by the Board, the company announced plans for permanently closing the facility.

Now they’d like the California Public Utility Commission to grant them permission to make consumers pay for the utility’s mistakes.   [Read more…]

Stagnation in San Diego – CPI Asks “What Economic Recovery?”

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By Doug Porter

The Center for Policy Initiatives (CPI) released its annual number crunching report for San Diego yesterday based on 2012 Census data, and picture painted within isn’t pretty.

Despite media reports about how “things are getting better”, CPI’s data point to the reality that the economic recovery has passed by most households and employees in the San Diego region.

“People have less money to spend, even those working full-time,” said CPI Research Director Peter Brownell in a press release. “The wealthiest saw their incomes increase in 2012, but when we hear talk of economic recovery, it hasn’t reached most people in our region.”   [Read more…]

Congressional Countdown for a Meltdown in Progress as Republicans Draw a Line in the Sand Over ObamaCare

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By Doug Porter

As part of their ongoing drive to drive their party’s plummeting polling numbers off a cliff, Congressional Republicans have declared that now is the time to engineer a shutdown of the Federal government.

Two separate showdowns are slated for the coming weeks, following a revolt by Tea Party Representatives last week which left the “reasonable” voices in the GOP on the side on the road.  Coming Friday will be a House vote for a continuing resolution for funding to allow government operations to proceed. Three weeks down the road a legislative showdown is expected over a bill allowing the debt ceiling to rise.

As things stand today both actions will likely result in GOP sponsored majority votes in the House, rejection by the Democratic-led Senate of odious portions of those legislative packages and a probable shutdown of the government.   [Read more…]

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