The books are almost closed on the Special Election in SD 35. Almost 300 votes stand between conservative Diane Harkey and a seat in the California legislature. Assemblyman Tom Harman is sitting in an enviable position – especially when you consider that only 600 or so provisional ballot stand left to counted.

Nevertheless, if you took a vote here on the public side of the counter at the Registrar, Harkey would win overwhelmingly. There are about 30 Harkey volunteers here led by Scott Hart, Jimmy Camp, Adam Probolsky and former FEC member/elections attorney extraordinairre Daryll Wold.

The Harman folks, all five of them, are led up by Duane Dichiara, Jen Jacobs and former FPPC commissioner/legal beagle Ben Davidian.

Of course, the outcome is more or less assured today. I’ve been doing this stuff for too long.

But my counsel to Team Harkey will be to look into a recount. Recounts are never bad because they just provide a microscope to the process. Will it change the outcome? Probably not. But it will give peace of mind to thousands of Harkey supports who will want to know that every avenue was persued in ensuring that… Read More

LIVE from the OC Registrar of Voters…

There are no votes left to count. So the unofficial final count in SD 35 is 37,840 (38.76%) for Harman, 37,604 (38.52%) for Harkey and 22,176 (22.72%) for the Democrat, Caballero.

So, while there are no more votes to count, there are almost a hundred thousand votes to be RE-counted. Which is what I think will happen now.

A .24% difference (236 votes) seems like a small number of votes to pick up, but as someone who has worked a lot of recounts, it would be impressive if Diane Harkey could make this up. that said, improbable is not impossible.

Acting Registrar Neal Kelley will certify this election soon, and then it will be Team Harkey’s call, on whether to finance a hand-count of the ballots…

Stay tuned!… Read More

Today’s Bee profiles the Valley Taxpayer’s Coalition and three of its leaders. Former Fresno City Council members Chris Mathys and Ken Steitz form the nucleus of this group, with the assistance of former City Manager and current Lincoln Club of Fresno County officer Jeff Reid. Reid is the policy guy, and no one read more and understands better the quagmire of government information than he.

Actually, this is my favorite "thing" about the taxpayer groups. They actually read legislation and fine print and when they point out the details it makes people crazy.

That having been said, I don’t support all of their viewpoints. But they are a critical counterweight to those in local and county government that would tax and spend without a thought, and an even better counterweight to business men and women that get a little wild on the spending side as well, with government money, of course.

So, let’s not be afraid of or hold taxpayer groups in contempt. We… Read More

As devoted FR readers know, elections took place in areas outside San Diego and Orange counties. You can see a previous post on Arcadia here.

The big city to have municipal election was Long Beach. The three-term Mayor Beverly O’Neil is retiring. There will be a runoff between SCE Exec Bob Foster and Councilman Frank Colonna. Colonna is a registered Republican. He has a steep hill to climb. Foster got 48.5% of the vote.The flasher cop cameup very short..See my post here. In the hotly contested city auditor’s race Laura Dowd was successful in paying back incumbent Gary Burroughs. You can see my last post on that here.

Finally there are a couple elections too close to call still. See here. Will the Long… Read More

There are two leading Democrats running for the 18th Assembly district: Bill MCCammon, the Alameda County Fire Chief, and Mary Hayashi, the former director of the California chapter of the American Public Health Association and a major advocate of Prop. 63.

According to the Oakland Tribune, carpetbagging may be issue in this race.

It seems that Hayashi and her husband have spent a little time district shopping. After living in Sacramento, the couple moved to Castro Valley in 2001 and Dennis Hayashi, a civil rights advocate/attorney and former Clinton appointee, ran for the 20th Assembly District in 2004. After losing, the couple relocated to a part of the Castro Valley that was in the 18th district and Mary Hayashi filed for as a candidate for the 18th.

McCammon, on the other hand, is a life-long resident of Alameda County. McCammon counts Senate President Don Perata as a key supporter, while Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez appointed Hayashi to her post on the Board of Registered Nursing. Both… Read More

Education is a critical issue for America, and for California. As a political professional, I spent the 1998 election cycle 100% dedicated to the education issue, first as the campaign coordinator for the successful Proposition 227 (to end the failed practice of bilingual education in public schools) and then as Campaign Manager for Gloria Matta Tuchman, who narrowly lost against former Democratic State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin.

I am a graduate of the California State University System and served as a member of the California State Students Association representing my university, and I also volunteered on a statewide commiteee of the CSU System.

It pains me to no end to know that during five long years, now-disgraced and recalled Governor Gray Davis appointed some very liberal Democrats to the important and impactful position of being a Trustee for the California State University system. There are only a few of these appointments. One of the painful appointments was when… Read More

Jill Buck is the Republican candidate running for the 18th Assembly district which is currently held by Assemblyman Johan Klehs. The common wisdom in this area is that the general election for this district is just a formality after the Democratic primary is over, given the area’s heavy Democratic registration (54% Democrat vs. 21% Republican). But Buck doesn’t buy that common wisdom.

Buck doesn’t believe that the district is a guaranteed Democratic win.

"The fact is when you look at voter turnout, we’re neck and neck," she said. When Buck talked about wanting to run for the State Assembly, she said lots of people encouraged her to run…in another, more Republican district. But she decided to throw her hat in the ring for the 18th distric at this past CRP convention in San… Read More

The decision by Governor Schwarzenegger to oppose Proposition 82 shouldn’t surprise anyone. The fact that he distanced himself from the announcement by leaving it to a campaign spokeswoman to deliver the news shouldn’t be that surprising either. The only surprise is that it took so long.

Way back in 2005, Rob Reiner’s ballot initiative to raise taxes to pay for pre-school programs looked like a pretty sure bet to pass. Taxing the wealthy is a proven vote-getter (for ballot initiatives, not candidates, Mr. Angelides,) Everybody loves pre-school. And Reiner seemed to be on track to putting together a stem cell-ish coalition to fund and pass it. California’s business community leaders announced their opposition, a number of existing preschool providers warned of its harm to their existing programs, and policy analysts began to point out that the initiative would… Read More