Some passing thoughts on the political scene…
IDIOT OF THE WEEK: Francine Godoy is the former Deputy Chief of Staff to Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar. She has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her former boss. Huizar’s spokesman released a statement saying that allegations by Godoy are, “absolutely false and malicious.” — His version of facts? I wasn’t harassing her, I was having an affair with her! This guy has been hanging out too long with Anthony Villaraigosa. Huizar: Idiot.
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The fact that former Assemblyman and former Republican Nathan Fletcher has been revealed as a political quisling is a source of great personal angst for me, as he has been a friend for many years. When I read the questionnaire he filled out when seeking the San Diego Labor Council endorsement I got physically ill. When I heard that after taking max-out checks from Mitt and Ann Romney that he says he voted for Obama, I was surprised, but not shocked. There is a “you can run but you can’t hide from your past” bit of irony as liberal voters in San Diego, whom Fletcher is courting for Mayor, get mail like this.
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This week a coalition of local government leaders, headed up by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, announced that they were beginning the process of putting a public employee pension reform ballot measure on the November ballot for next year. This modest reform would allow state and local governments to adjust pension benefits for future years of service for existing employees, either through collective bargaining or by ballot measure. SEIU 1000’s Yvonne Walker has decried Reed’s effort as, “…a cynical ploy to divide working families and hasten the race to the bottom…” Public employee unions are are okay if streets go unpaved, or parks are unkempt, as long as the big bucks flow smoothly into their often outrageous retirement benefits.
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Since it’s Friday, in the “Follow Friday” (#FF) tradition of Twitter, here are five people you should follow: @RealJamesWoods @WilliamShatner @AHMalcolm @MichelleMalkin @ApplyArtOfWar
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The Great Wolf Lodge Resort company has built hotels centered around “indoor water parks” in many spots around the country where the weather can get yucky. Creative idea! How many “indoor water parks” are there in Southern California? If you guessed none, you would be correct. But it makes sense — since our weather is generally great year round, who would want to play in the water — indoors? The only way something like this pencils out is if someone can get a massive taxpayer subsidy to build it. Enter: The Garden Grove City Council. To “help along” the construction of this hotel, that will have 600+ rooms, ten minutes from Disneyland — taxpayers will be giving the developer a cool $49 million in cash — and for good measure, gifting them public land valued around $22 million. Good grief.
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Former GOP staffer and former FPPC commissioner Tony Quinn loathes conservatives. Often he writes columns were he opines as an “election expert” on why a, b and c need to occur, and how this just can’t happen without a “new face” for the GOP. Every once in a while, though, he goes literally off the rails, and starts to hyperventilate over conservative officeholder _________ (fill in the blank). Yesterday over at Fox and Hounds Daily, Quinn goes on a diatribe, at length, about why it is critical for Republicans to step up and recruit a GOP challenger to Congressman Tom McClintock and take him down. Quinn writes, “No Tea Party congressman is more deserving of defeat than Rep. Tom McClintock .” I hope that penning the column made Quinn feel good. For me it just reinforces about how nutty Quinn actually is, and why I never take him seriously.
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I won’t name names, but earlier this week in front of the better part of a hundred people (including me), a State Legislator took the opportunity to say that the analysts with the Assembly Republican Caucus were, “to the right of Hitler.” As a Jew, this sort of comment makes me ill. Since I consider myself, for the most part, to be ideologically in sync with many of my friends who work over there, I thought I would take the opportunity to see if this assertion could be true. I easily found the “How much like Hitler are you?” quiz on the web. After taking it, I was reassured that my views are “0% like those of Adolf Hitler.” Whew.
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It’s a little early for Halloween. But if you prefer “trick” over “treat” – this story is for you.