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Happy Birthday San Diego Free Press – My Story

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By Doug Porter

Note: San Diego Free Press turned two this week. This is one of several remembrances and reflections we’ll be publishing over the next few days.  Back when we were first starting SDFP I wrote out this speech for somebody to read on my behalf at one of our early meetings. At that time I was recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous larynx and could not speak. What I “said” at the time still rings true for me today.  

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I was involved with alternative press in San Diego back in the early 1970’s and moved back to this place in 2008. Now I write a column 5 days a week for the Free Press.   [Read more…]

San Diego Chamber & Taxpayer Group Call for Ending Child Labor Laws

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By Doug Porter

A downtown press conference staged by the Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association called for the elimination of child labor laws today, based on a new study which details the impacts of raising the minimum wage.

“If child labor laws are enacted, I’ll have to close my hardware store,” said Harold Black, owner of Duece Hardware. “Besides, the little guys really like running the paint mixer.”

Okay. The part about child labor isn’t true. But it’s no more outrageous than some of the other claims promised at the today’s media event, carefully staged outside a hardware store. A transcript of the event replacing the words “minimum wage” with “child labor” would effectively demonstrate just how crass and craven these so-called representatives for the business community really are.   [Read more…]

2014 Primaries: It’s #Ididnotvote by a Landslide

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By Doug Porter

Yesterday San Diego non-voters elected a district attorney personally embroiled in a criminal case, a county clerk supported by anti-gay bigots and a supervisor known for using taxpayer dollars to support religious causes. Call it a resounding victory for apathy and a defeat for advocates of the two tier/jungle primary voting system as a near-record low number (I’m guessing 22%) of voters cast ballots.

Approximately 12% of the city’s registered voters agreed with a corporate campaign almost completely based on lies to overturn a five-year-long community planning process. Incumbents were triumphant everywhere.

There will be runoff elections in November for San Diego City Council District 6 between Carol Kim and Chris Cate, the 52nd Congressional District between Carl DeMaio and Scott Peters, along with Mary Salas versus Jerry Rindone vying for the Mayor in Chula Vista. A stealth campaign by teahadist Donna Woodrum for a seat on the San Diego Community College Board failed to unseat Maria Nieto Senour.   [Read more…]

Election Day Bombshell: DA Dumanis Penned Endorsement for Indicted Moneyman’s Son

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By Doug Porter

The race for County District Attorney got a little more interesting yesterday as a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Michael Anello revealed the existence of a letter, purportedly written by Bonnie Dumanis on official stationary on behalf of the family of foreign national Jose Susumo Azano Matsura.

While the judge ultimately denied a motion by defense attorney Knut Johnson to make the document public, testimony about a letter of recommendation on behalf Azano’s son written to the president of the University of San Diego suggests a more substantive the previously described relationship between the incumbent DA and the man accused of illegally donating funds supporting her failed mayoral campaign.

The incumbent DA has denied any knowledge of $200,000 in contributions –illegal because they came from a foreign national–made to organizations supporting her bid for mayor.  Half the money went to an independent expenditure campaign and the balance went to a rather shady DC social media campaign organization.   [Read more…]

New EPA Power Plant Rules: Here Comes the GOP’s Climate Change Denial Onslaught

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By Doug Porter

Climate change was a major issue in the 2008 elections. Both the Republicans and Democrats made proposals aimed at reducing carbon based emissions.

Here we are six years later and, after watching Congress dither around the topic, President Obama has issued an executive order to significantly cut carbon pollution from power plants. The goals proposed are modest compared to those supported by Presidential candidate John McCain and included in the 2008 GOP platform.

CNN was the only cable network of the big 3 covering the EPA announcement this morning. (Fox News was covering…Benghazi!)   [Read more…]

Ernest Dronenburg is a Terrible Choice for County Assessor/Clerk/Recorder

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By Doug Porter

Functionaries like County Clerk Ernest Dronenburg are important assets for the big money types that typically dominate local governments. Their behind the scenes efforts mean that policies get interpreted and enforced (or not) in a manner ensuring that “business as usual” remains Business As Usual.

That’s the reason why Dronenburg was among the earliest (along with Bonnie Dumanis) to get an editorial blessing from UT-San Diego. And they had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the truth to find a reason to support him. Or, as one astute commenter noted, perhaps they just penned the editorial based on a campaign press release.

Let’s face reality here; the position of  “County Assessor/Clerk/Recorder” is usually not likely to be of concern to most voters. Today I’ll take a look at why you might want to be concerned as you vote on June 3rd. The bottom line: There’s a lot not to like about Dronenburg.   [Read more…]

The Absolute Last Minute Voter Cheat Sheet for San Diego Progressives

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By Doug Porter

Okay, so I know the deal. You’ve been putting off doing your election homework and now you’re getting nervous because you have no clue about many of the contests on the ballot.

Don’t even think about not voting on Tuesday June 3rd. Here’s your one-stop shop for better candidates and issues on the left side of the aisle.

I’m going to skip over minor candidates for space reasons and Republicans because I’m mean that way. Plus there were a few races we just never got around to covering. Many of these contests were explained in more detail in our five part series, along with some features on issues and candidates; you can find them by going here.   [Read more…]

How Many Votes Will Two Million Dollars Buy in California? GOP Gubernatorial Candidates to Find Out Tuesday

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By Doug Porter

Republican Neel Kashari is about to find out whether or not two million dollars of his personal fortune is enough to win a spot in the November 2014 California gubernatorial contest.

The latest set of polls, via Stanford University’s Hoover Institute and San Francisco’s Public Policy Institute, point to a June 3rd victory by Tea Party favorite Tim Donnelly. Despite endorsements from GOP luminaries like Condoleezza Rice, Mitt Romney and ex-Gov. Pete Wilson, TV ads and huge financial advantage, Kashkari’s only hope at this point seems to lie in winning over undecided voters in the primary.

Donnelly is counting on grass roots support, saying the election is about a “divide between the common man and political elite.”  His campaign claims the unanimous endorsement of California GOP county parties and points to their 4,100 donations compared Kashkari’s slightly more than two hundred donations as proof of this point.   [Read more…]

Balboa Park 2015 Centennial: Rising from the Ashes?

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By Doug Porter

Let’s start with some good news for a change. (Because the last item in this column is truly depressing!)

Activist David Lundin, along with representatives from the Balboa Park Committee of 100, the Save Our Heritage Organisation and preservationist/developer Sandy Shapery have joined together to craft a major event for the Balboa Park Centennial celebration in 2015.

Today they’ll be talking up a Community-conceived, planned and organized long weekend event [dates to be determined] in Spring of 2015 to both celebrate the Park’s past and work to secure its future. While specifics have to be determined, subject to public input, the general idea is to “Spring to the Past” throughout the park.   [Read more…]

Vote Like You Mean It on June 3rd – The Bad Guys Certainly Will

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By Doug Porter

The 2014 primary elections in California are just a week away. I’ll go out on a limb here and predict victories for well-funded incumbents and many causes supported by a minority of the public. The reason is simple. People aren’t voting. When people don’t vote, bad things can and do happen.

It wasn’t supposed to work out this way. The “top-two” primary system opening the ballot to all voters, reformers told us, would increase turnout as decline-to-state voters, once excluded from partisan races, became more engaged.

What the experts haven’t taken into account is the collateral damage from increasingly cynical and factually challenged campaign advertising. Now that restrictions on campaign funding are largely absent, the noise level is rising and the bullshit is getting deeper. People are getting more conditioned to swallow the lies; it’s less work that figuring out the truth. And the course of least resistance is to do nothing, as in not vote.   [Read more…]

The Isla Vista Shooting, #YesAllWomen and Misogyny Writ Large

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Margaret Atwood famously said that men’s greatest fear is that women will laugh at them, while women’s greatest fear is that men will kill them. Misogyny and male entitlement are sustained acts of aggression against women that everyone should be invested in opposing. –Clementine Ford

By Doug Porter

Today’s column will be focused on media coverage of–and some observations about– the shooting Friday night in Isla Vista.

The coverage was predictable, ala: “a mentally disturbed young man went on a shooting spree. It seems as though he had some sort of problem with women.” A worldwide reaction via social media kept the “problem with women” part of the media equation from becoming an afterthought.

The Associated Press account featured in UT-San Diego got around to mentioning the “some problems with women” part about 10 paragraphs down, in keeping with the “if it bleeds, it leads” media mantra.   [Read more…]

Border Patrol Violence Report at Issue in ACLU Suit

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By Doug Porter

The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties filed a complaint in federal court yesterday against Customs and Border Protection claiming the agency has failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking the release of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) report analyzing the agency’s use-of-force policies and practices.

 The ACLU filed the FOIA on February 21, 2014, but says it has received no response—not even an acknowledgement of receipt of the FOIA.

“Custom and Border Protection’s failure to even respond to our FOIA request exemplifies the agency’s resistance to transparency and accountability,” said Mitra Ebadolahi, staff attorney for the San Diego ACLU’s Border Litigation Project. “The PERF report is an important document, one that details CBP’s problematic and potentially unlawful use-of-force policies and practices. The report should be made public in its entirety, immediately.”

  [Read more…]

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