Union Now!… While on vacation, I did take note that the fellow travelers in attendance at the first annual dailykos convention a couple of weeks ago called for a bloggers union.  They don’t get compensated for their blogging, no fringe benefits, not even an employer for most of them … but they want a union.  Kinda difficult at the bargaining table when there’s no management sitting across from you.  Maybe they want the government to pay for their web opinions.  This, apparently, is another example of that referred to as "the dumbing down of America."  Or, perhaps, Amerika.

Jon, waddayya think, do you have a large enough blogpen of correspondents here at FR for us to form a union?  Mike Spence can be Johnny Friendly, and in between Jim Lacy and Mike Houston we’ll have the legal waterfront covered.  I coulda been somebody, if you had only paid me.

Kudos to North County Times on GOP Budget Holdouts…. It’s worth repeating that a local paper gets it.  From Thursday’s NCTimes:

Despite what you may have heard, Republican state Senators aren’t blocking the door to a budget deal out of petulance or to score petty political points. Nor are they needlessly and recklessly jeopardizing the fortunes, finances and fates of all those relying on reimbursement from the state. Nor, for that matter, are 13 GOP senators holding up a long-overdue budget compromise so they can gut California’s environmental laws.

The baker’s dozen holdouts — including the local state senators, Mark Wyland, R-Carlsbad, and Dennis Hollingsworth, R-El Cajon, who visited our editorial board Wednesday — are taking a principled, critical stand on behalf of a balanced budget and traffic relief North County desperately needs.

Read it all.

VoiceofSD on Krvaric… Last Saturday, VoSD puts up an excellent, in-depth interview with SD GOP Chairman Tony Krvaric.  Good stuff, worth the read, especially Tony’s memory of writing to Ronald Reagan from Sweden as a teen and how it resulted in his eventual U.S. citizenship.  Read "From Import to Household Brand" here.

Scott Barnett Re-enters the Fray… As if he ever left, but it is safe to say that SD Unified School Board will be his first run for office in more than 20 years.  I think he got elected to the Del Mar City Council when he was 14 or something … and then he parlayed that into an ongoing post-elected political career wearing various hats in San Diego, including exec at both SD Taxpayers Association and the Lincoln Club.  He hasn’t been afraid to be independent at times, ticking off the GOP establishment with "Republicans Against the Recall" (the Gray Davis one) a few years back.  Hey, that ticked me off too (I think I was quoted referring to the group as "all three of them" at the time), but I also know Scott Barnett as a seasoned operative.  SD Metropolitan’s Daily Business Report breaks the latest a couple of days ago:

Two decades after getting a taste of elected life as a 21-year-old member of the Del Mar City Council, and deciding he’d had enough after a single four-year term, Scott Barnett is preparing to run for the San Diego Unified School District board. Barnett is seeking the seat now held by Mitz Lee, who is running herself for the District 5 seat on the San Diego City Council being vacated by termed-out Councilman Brian Maienschein.

Scott says he already has the endorsements of SD Councilman Kevin Faulconer and Assemblyman Joel Anderson.  SD Unified is the second largest district in California and eighth in the nation.  "San Diego Unified is a bloated bureaucracy" he told me. "Out of 38 school districts, SDUSD teachers are 35th in pay.  Why is that when all the Districts receive essentially the same per student funding from the state?  Obviously it’s because SD City schools spends more of its money on district and school site administrators then the rest. I intend to return more money to the classroom."

The Latest in the Hunter Seat… Prior to last Monday night’s County GOP Meeting, a reception was held for Duncan D. Hunter, running for his dad’s open seat.  Keith Barnett, executive director of Adam Smith of CA and Hunter supporter, weighs in:

Duncan D. Hunter’s campaign for his father’s 52nd congressional seat appears to be steamrolling, all while serving our country in Afghanistan.  I attended Monday night’s fundraiser at the Town & Country and noticed quite a few prominent leaders in show of support; by my count close to 100 in attendance.  Hunter’s wife, Margaret, delivered a heartfelt, crowd-pleasing speech coming from a mother of three with a deployed husband.  She’s become such a good stand in for Duncan, he just might consider staying a little while longer!

This, of course, is coming off the heels of last month’s kick-off fundraiser with Congressman Ed Royce asserting his endorsement in front of 250 guests.  Congressmen Jim Saxton and Trent Franks phoned in to pledge their support during the event.  Hunter’s support seems to be large and far-reaching, presumably the early front-runner.

Thanks for the update, Keith.  Aside from Duncan D., the other filed candidate is Santee Councilman Brian Jones, who is sending regular email updates and seems to be working the district pretty well.  Businessman Ken King is still in play, and the County Board of Ed’s Bob Watkins is looking hard.  Longtime SD radio host Mark Larson seems to be leaving his options open, even with a new gig.

There’s also some conjecture on the 52nd going on at Red County/San Diego.  Read it here.

From the "What is he thinking? Department… Mark Hanson, suicide nominee against Senator Dennis Hollingsworth last year, has filed a Form 501 Candidate Intention to take on County Supervisor Dianne Jacob in 2008.  During his ’06 senate foray, Hanson was quoted as hoping to raise a cool million against Hollingsworth, but came in at just under $121,000.

Of further interest, Hanson has been in the media of late for other reasons.  Proving that he can raise a million bucks, albeit not in campaign funds, in 1999 he reportedly convinced the El Cajon City Council to loan him $1.3 million in federal funds for a non-profit job training program.  The loan is now in default, causing continuing news stories and heartache for El Cajon:

‘Enough,’ El Cajon says of deal with nonprofit

Council to huddle about Heartland lease

El Cajon’s nightmare is a lawyer’s dream

Dianne better watch herself against a candidate with such a stellar track record.  On second thought, I’m going to place Hanson’s 2008 plans on suicide watch as well.

Let’s Not Just Support Abortion, Let’s Drink to It… That’s the message of Planned Parenthood of San Diego & Imperial Counties with their first annual "Cocktails for Choice" to be held next week.  Imagine that.  So much for the lip service PP gives to "wanting to reduce the number of abortions."  No, instead, they’re going to get together and lift a glass to their victories.  Nothing should be surprising, not ever since PP started using the Christmas season to send out "Choice on Earth" greeting cards.

I note the PP website also indicates to "Please e-mail our Marketing Coordinator if you have any questions about this event."

On a Light Note… Thanks to FR friend Roger Covalt for sending along a great video, especially for those of us who would be lost without the web … or the blogs:

The Great Web Crash of 2007.

Have a great week!

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 19th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.