I am pleased to offer this original commentary from longtime FR friend Ed Laning, a leader of conservatives in San Bernardino County…
A History Of Conservatives in San Bernardino County
Ed Laning
I have known Anthony since 1996. Anthony and I were putting up campaign signs for Jim Lindley when he ran for Hesperia City Council at that time. We were all very idealistic. We were all CRA members and hardcore conservatives. It wasn’t just Anthony Adams but there were Bill Postmus and Brad Mitzelfelt and many others. We all worked hard to move the conservative Republican agenda forward. We began by helping elect Postmus to county supervisor in 2000. He ran against a fellow Republican who had rolled over on us and teamed up with the Democrats on the county board of supervisors. It was difficult to run against a fellow Republican. We knew it wasn’t for the individual but to move our conservative agenda forward. Postmus won and served the county and the Republican Party very well. Working as a team, we turned San Bernardino County to a Republican majority in terms of voter registration. Something began to change with Bill Postmus around 2004. He lost sight of our common goal of promoting our conservative principles. He became more interested in his own picture rather than the big picture. Postmus situation continued to deteriorate until it finally became clear that he must either resign or be recalled Postmus to his credit resigned.
Now we come back to Anthony Adams. Anthony came to me in 2005 when he was preparing to run for the Assembly to ask me for my endorsement. I refused and he asked why. I told him point blank that I didn’t consider him a conservative and I would never support or vote for anyone other than a conservative. I had heard Anthony on a radio program several years prior and from his commentary I concluded that Anthony was and is not a conservative. Now Anthony is in a predicament. He signed a no tax pledge and has broken that promise. I can only conclude that he broke that pledge for pragmatic and cynical reasons. I believe the Governor persuaded him, using all of his celebrity to convince Anthony to break his promise. Anthony had "stars" in his eyes and now the people of the state have to suffer. The people are very disgusted and distrustful of him as a representative. This isn’t about Republican or Democrat, this about whether you keep your word or you don’t. Anthony, the best solution at this time is for you to resign your seat, like Postmus did. If you don’t you are no better than Bill Postmus. Also when you resign or are recalled if you have any integrity left you should not accept one of those commission or board positions that the Governor hands out to reward those who have compromised their principles.
**There is more – click the link**
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
A ground swell….tea parties….frothing web sites….Rush more than criptic….
What is going on….I guess it is important when producers are being hounded, taxed, regulated, hiring security guards, being pinned to the wall in their offices after layoff notices….sounds real important.
We need clean out the RINOS out of the California Republican Party NOW! They voted for bad fiscal policy at every turn…. we need to cut off donations to the RINO party to clean out the admin staff that is comfortable with a “loser” mentality just to keep their cushy country club memberships, perks and benefits…
It would be most enlightening to publish a complete line item audit of the RINO Party’s expenses for the last couple of years….betcha you will love those social expenses!!!!
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Just curious as an outsider. Did the name “Rino’s” apply to Howard Ahmanson who recently reregistered as a Democrat because he said Republicans were only attacking and not really trying to solve problems?
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
This article really shows how the Republican party has sunk to a new low. The first duty of any legislator is to do what is best for the state. I do not see that this person should be subjected to a recall. A real waste of money for San Bernardino County.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Mr. Kaptain, I think you exaggerate Mr. Ahmanson’s conversion. Read the column in which he announced his move. He said he re-registered Democrat because it is such a behemoth, unprincipled party that those of every stripe are in it. However, he also said that there were no current prominent Democrats that he could actually support.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Another far right wing politician going off the rails. But this is great news for the Democrat Party – they will pick up another seat in the legislature and then they have to knock off only 5 more Republicans to gain complete control with a veto proof majority. Way to go, far right wing Republicans.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Oh, I forgot Ken and Jim or John or whatever those blowhard right wing radio “prognosticators” in the LA area are named. They are doing more to help the Democrat Party elect more Democrats than any two guys I’ve ever heard of. Way to go, blow hard radio guys.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Mr. Evans,
Why bother to replace these socialists in Republican clothing with Democrats? Don’t you know that you can just buy them off and then blame them when convienient — the alst thing any Dem would want is to be fully responsible for their own actions!
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Daniel, our Republican legislators are far superior in every way than any Democrat legislator I’ve ever met, heard about or read about. Frankly, any “Liberal” Republican is far superior to any “Conservative” Democrat. I know of no Republican who can truthfully be called a Socialist. I know of a lot of Democrats who are Socialists. It is true that some of our Republican politicians have been on the take. But if you line up all the Republicans on the take and all the Democrats on the take, I think you could line up the Republicans in a telephone booth but you’d need Carnegie Hall to hold the Democrats.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Bob, you obviously don’t listen to John and Ken because if you did you would know that they aren’t Republican, and aren’t even really that convervative. They can simply do the math, and they can sense insincerity from a mile away, especially from turncoats.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
As far as Ahmanson’s conversion, I wasn’t trying to make him out to be some kind of converted liberal. I was simply asking if the fact he thought raising taxes was necessary and was so upset about the attacks on Republican legislators who voted for the budget that he reregistered, put him in the category of a RINO and if conservatives were basically telling him “don’t let the door hit you on the way out”.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
I should add for those who haven’t looked ahead that the reason I am so curious is that if the Governor’s ballot measures fail in a few weeks as seems likely, then Adams and all of the others are going to have another go around on the budget, but with substantially less money to spend. Most economists are estimating for example that Sacramento will have to cut the money they send back to local government by at least 20% and I am wondering how they are going to get there. I realize the Governor has suggested ways the budget could be passed on a simple majority vote, but a lot of people don’t think that’s legal. So how does it get done or does it?
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Isn’t this what the republican leadership say when we were thinking of recalling Gray Davis. Look who we ended up with Arnold Kennedy (closet Democrat)
Adams and Governor Arnold Kennedy have identical principals.
In my opinion anybody will be better than Adams. Adams has betrayed Republican principals too many times. Plus it will send the message to other Republicans “there are consequence for acting like a Democrat.
I am so angry at Adams and Republicans acting like Arnold, that I prefer a Democrat who calls himself a Democrat than a Republican who acts like a Democrat
April 6th, 2009 at 12:00 am
I agree Vera, at least a Dem will look you in the eye and tell you thy plans to raise your taxes, take away your property, seize your guns and regulate your business into BK. Rat-bastards like Adams will lie to you to get your vote and then do all of the above after being elected.