District 3 San Diego Councilmember Toni Atkins on Fridayfiled a Form 501 Candidate Intention to raise money to run for the 4th District County Board of Supervisors, setting up what would be a significant showdown against incumbent Sup Ron Roberts next year.

Roberts no longer being in the hunt for an executive position at Centre City Development Corporation (see Duane Dichiara’s prior post) has scuttled Atkins’ hope for a vacancy on the Board of Sups. Yet, it is clear that her recent tenure as acting mayor in the wake of Dick Murphy’s resignation has bolstered her confidence in taking on Roberts.In recent days, Atkins indicated no interest in being city council presidentin favor of Scott Peters, thus ensuring the time needed for a campaign.

Add to this … the clear bet that… Read More

ITS ALL ABOUT THE LAWYERS… Well, the new candidate on the block for State Attorney General on the GOP side, Pierre Prosper, is finding out that making his case to the GOP faithful will be a tough one. The front-runner for the Republican nomination, Chuck Poochigian, starts with a seemingly insurmountable advantage, whether you look at endorsements (Poochigian enjoys unanimous endorsements from all of the GOP legislators, and a host of others), he had a tremendous amount of grassroots support acquired from years of toiling in the vineyards for causes dear to the GOP faithful, he has raised over $3 million with around $2.5 million cash-on-hand, and has ace political guru Ken Khachigan to make sure those funds are spend wisely. All of that said, it is certainly the case that Poochigian’s substantial support was garnered in the vacuum of an unopposed… Read More

Popular north San Diego Assemblyman Mark Wyland has opted NOT to run for the seat of retiring GOP Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Wyland, instead, will seek the open seat of termed-out State Senator Bill Morrow.

This is ‘hot off of the press’ from regular FlashReport San Diego Correspondent Duane Dichiara, who is Wyland’s Chief of Staff. Dichiara, who is having a busy day I am sure, called me long enough to say that Wyland has decided to run for State Senate. I’m sure we’ll hear more from Dichiara later on the FR blog.

As for instant analysis from me, here is something basic, leaving the rest Dichiara, and presumably FR blogger Joe Justin (who is running Morrow’s campaign)…

The field of candidates for the safe Republican Congressional seat is still a crowded one, including State Senator Bill Morrow and former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, who are generally considered the conservative candidates — and former Congressman Brian Bilbray and businessman Alan… Read More

A mail piece featuring Diane Harkey, candidate for the 35th Senate District has hit district mailboxes today. She apparently used personal money because the piece was for the CA Border Patrol Initiative, but it is clearly the beginning of her campaign.

First mail piece in the race for the 35th. Her only opponent, Assemblyman Tom Harman has been somewhat absent from the GOP political scene since Harkey announced. This is not necessarily a bad thing for his chances since his first race for Assembly was won with Democrat votes in that year’s ‘open primary’. He may be courting them now since the Special Election (which will feature an ‘open style’) for the seat (to replace soon to be Congressman John Campbell) will be coming up very quickly.

Tom, send us your first piece…

NOTE: The OC Power Brokers Series III – Lawyers Edition I promised will be… Read More

I got a lot of comments on my OC Power Broker Series published yesterday. So I am continuing with it today. I want to make a few things clear. 1) These people are listed in no particular order. 2) You can be important, elected and or rich but that does not make you an OC Power Broker. To be one, you have to possess extra-ordinary ability to navigate the political and more specifically the government scene.

So below is the list continued without numbers…

Brett Barbre. Elected member of the Municipal Water District of Orange County and chief-deputy to OC Treasurer John Moorlach. Barbre is a leader in the effort to build a tunnel between Orange and Riverside counties. With Moorlach running up-opposed for OC Board of Supervisor, watch for soon to be COS Barbre to gain influence.

Gary… Read More

Alternative ending to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back: It’s the climactic laser-sword fight between fledgling Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker and the sinister Sith Lord, Darth Vader. Young Luke is down to one arm, no weapon, and cowering precariously at the end of acatwalk when Vader lays the bad news on him: "I am your father."

Now at this point, instead of bugging out and throwing himself into the abyss, what if Luke had thought it through?

Alternative Scene One, Take One:

Vader: "I am your father."

Skywalker: "Get out. Dad wasn’t black."

Vader: "This is a mask, stupid. Join me."

Skywalker: "Well, o.k., but you’ll need to give me a hand, since you chopped off my other one."

The point is, maybe they could have worked together, as Vader suggested, whacked the Emperor, and Luke could have helped dad with some of his totalitarian and planet-destroying… Read More

NEW VERSION OF PAYCHECK PROTECTION? Lew Uhler, President of the National Tax Limitation Committee, and the ‘father’ of current Paycheck Protection movement is looking towards a new ballot measure for November of next year. This one would have a different twist to it. Here is a pull-quote from an interview that Uhler has in today’s George Skelton column (featured on the FR main page):

Now, the nurturer of Prop. 75, longtime anti-tax activist Lewis Uhler, is planning to create another version of the monster for the November 2006 ballot. Unlike Prop. 75, which would have required public employee unions to obtain annual written permission from members to spend their dues on politics, the reincarnated version will attack unions from a different angle. … Read More

Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is finding out that running statewide has its bumps.

First the story about his favors for "slumlords". Now the LA Weekly is exposing his firing of a tough deputy attorney that may have helped let a child molester go. Read it here.

And there is still 7 months before the primary!… Read More