Yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle had a lengthy Ed Epstein piece on Speaker Pelosi marking 20 years in the house following her contentious special election victory over Harry Britt. Over the years, San Francisco politics have proven an effective training ground to allow the people we elect to excel. Feinstein is a powerhouse, Willie Brown was Da Speaker, the Burton brothers were titans in Sacramento and DC, Migden chairs the senate Caucus, Leno chairs Appropriations. If you can make here politically, you really can make it anywhere.

And if you want to see what I’m talking about, read Chris Daly’s op-ed at the Fog City Journal on the current budget battle. Making great use of the medium with literally dozens of links (going back to 1998), the Supervisor shows how San Francisco politics is fought in the trenches. And remember, all of this is over one half of one percent of the SF budget.

Here in San Diego over the next several weeks, dozens of candidates for 2008 will be introducing themselves to voters.  In the 50th congressional district, all three democratic candidates (John Lee Evans, Nick Leibham, Michael Wray) will be appearing together at the Black Mountain Dem Club on 21 June.  So I started doing some background research and came up with this OpEd from John Lee Evans written April 20 which opens by asking “[w]here are all of these illegals?”  And it only gets worse.

John Lee Evans, it would seem, equates any brown-skinned person speaking spanish with “illegals:”

I had a new spa delivered to my house by a reputable local company. Setting it into the right spot was backbreaking work. None of the workers spoke English.

A licensed painting contractor sent over painters. They said they were from a Latin American country.

A middle-aged man who meticulously dried off my car at the car wash practically kissed my feet when I gave him a small tip. He was probably a descendant of the Mayas.

I drove behind a battered old car belting out exhaust on Interstate 5. I wondered if it was insured.

I walked into a hospital and there were women on the night shift mopping the floors as they spoke to each other in Spanish.

Then I went to a restaurant with the kitchen in full view. The hardworking staff all appeared to be Hispanic and they were speaking Spanish.

As a patron of all these businesses, how am I to know whether they are in this country legally or not? They may all be legal, but I doubt it.

Apparently, Dr. Evans is singularly able to judge a book by its cover.  I wonder whether, if he overheard me speaking French, he would start getting nervous about all the illegal immigrants from Quebec.  I wonder whether he presumes that any enthusiastic member of the service industry is reflecting a lack of citizenship.  But mostly, I wonder how it is that he manages to, essentially, declare an entire race to be illegal.

Dr. Evans takes Brian Bilbray to task for encouraging a climate of racial fear and overexaggerating the dangers of illegal immigration.  On these points he is correct; Bilbray has done those things and it has been ridiculous.  But Dr. Evans doesn’t actually have a different perspective on the issue.  Rather, he takes Bilbray to task over a matter of degrees.  He rightly points out that illegal latino immigrants aren’t terrorists, but that doesn’t address the crux of anti-immigrant fear mongers whose point is that if it’s so easy to get across the border, then terrorists can do it also.  Instead, all he manages to do is reinforce the notion that, while they may not be terrorists, all latinos should be eyed warily.

Dr. Evans prevails on Bilbray to address the issue of immigration in a “calm and rational manner,” without scapegoating.  But by dehumanizing an entire race and culture, Dr. Evans does no favors to those of us who oppose Brian Bilbray’s fear campaign.  As Democrats, or simply as people, no person can be considered illegal.  No language or skin color or country of origin or level of car maintenance can determine a person’s worth or legitimately bring suspicion on their right to live and work in this country.  To suggest otherwise is entirely unacceptable and, at the very least, John Lee Evans has a lot of explaining to do if he expects to be a Democratic nominee for Congress.

Jack Orr died Saturday at the age of 68. Orr was an institution of San Diego north county politics. Known as a devastatingly effective political consultant, and none too shy of dirt, he worked for just about every individual and cause that I dislike the most. From San Marcos mayor Corky Smith, Walmart (referendum in San Marcos) to my least favorite mayors and city councilmembers across 4 cities, we really couldn’t be on more opposite sides of the fence. But he’s someone that I’ve worked so hard against that now in his death my rage against him has wrapped around to an odd kind of respect. He was a worthy adversary and love him or hate him, there’s no doubt he left an enormous legacy in his wake. So rest in peace Jack Orr, rest in peace.

Check out the North County Times story here and be sure to check the comments for many remembrances from friends and foes alike.

Update: Flashreport says goodbye:

Jack had been a member of the Reagan, Nixon, and Ford campaigns or administrations in Sacramento and Washington D.C.. Often when I meet one of the bigwigs from the 1970’s or 1980’s and they find out I’m from San Diego, they ask about Jack, and relay stories about his bulldog like campaigning for the tops of the ticket in years past.
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Later, Jack made his home in San Diego’s North County and built a stable of medium sized city clients while he lobbied county government.
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Jack was a true rough and tumble campaigner. No mercy given or asked. He didn’t always win, and he didn’t always lose, but he always got his knuckles bloody.

Having been on the receiving end of the knuckles, I’ll just say, “you can say that again!”

Remember when Susan Davis’ amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill passed the House Armed Services Committee? Remember that this is the amendment that ensures that the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA), Orange County’s toll road authority, complies with state environmental laws, which means that a toll road can’t be built through San Onofre State Beach to Trestles? Remember that the bill moved on to the US Senate after it passed the House?

Well, we have a new problem. One of our own Senators, Dianne Feinstein, is undecided on adding something like the Davis Amendment to the Senate’s Defense Authorization Bill. I guess she’s not sure yet whether California state environmental law is important enough to be enforced. Follow me after the flip to find out what YOU can do to ensure that Senator Feinstein votes to enforce the law, protect our coast, and respect the integrity of our parks…

So what can YOU do to convince Senator Dianne Feinstein to save Trestles and urge TCA to extend the 241 toll road legally? Why not send the Senator an email? Why not send a fax to the Washington, DC, office at (202) 228-3954? Why not contact one of Feinstein’s state offices? Let Senator Feinstein know how you feel about preserving the integrity of our parks, and how important saving this unique coastal park truly is.

So what can you say if you send an email or fax? How about saying something like this…

Dear Senator Feinstein:

Please join us in supporting the addition of language to the Senate Defense Authorization Bill that repeals riders designed to exempt the Foothill-South toll road extension through San Onofre State Beach from state and federal law.

In addition, we urge you to repeal the additional rider that authorizes the Marine Corps to grant an easement for the Foothill South Toll Road that permanently encroaches into Camp Pendleton and compromises their mission.

The proposed Foothill South Toll Road is one of the most environmentally destructive projects in California and sets a dangerous precedent for the intrusion into state park lands well beyond Orange County.

At minimum, this project should have to comply with all the same laws as any other similar project – just like those reviewed at the local level every week. Allowing the federal government to override the Coastal Act sets a disastrous precedent, the Marine Corps should use its own professional judgment in how best to safeguard Camp Pendleton from encroachment, without pressure from Congress one way or the other.

Please support Representatives Davis and Sanchez in their efforts to ensure that the Foothill-South Toll Road complies with all laws of the United States and the State of California. In addition, we hope you will go a step further and remove the riders that currently create unprecedented legal exemptions for the construction of the Toll Road through Camp Pendleton.

Thank you for your past support for California’s unparalleled natural resources, and for your willingness to carefully consider the impacts of the Foothill-South Toll Road on our Southern California coastline.

Sincerely,
Your Name Here

Or this, if you’d rather not be so loquacious…

Dear Senator Feinstein:

I am a supporter of the Susan Davis amendment to the Senate Defense Authorization Bill, which repeals the legal exemptions for the 241 toll road extension through San Onofre State Park. I’m writing to ask you to vote in favor of this amendment, and also to vote to remove the riders that give the Transportation Corridors Agency so many legal exemptions for construction of this road.

I believe the builders of the toll roads should follow the same laws that everyone else follows and should not be granted special rights or privileges.

Thank you very much for considering this issue, and for your outstanding and long service to our state and nation.

Sincerely,
Your Name Here

Now you don’t have to write something like this or the longer letter. Just use these as ideas for whatever you’d like to say to Senator Feinstein about supporting the Davis Amendment. Just allow these to inspire you to make her heartfelt sentiments about Trestles and our state parks known to the Senator.

Susan Davis and Loretta Sanchez did what needed to be done in the House to save Trestles and our state parks. So now, it’s up to the Senate. And right now, Dianne Feinstein can make the difference between preserving one of our most popular state parks for generations to come and setting a dangerous precedent for state and federal environmental laws to be ignored if they get in the way of a new highway and/or toll road and/or residential development. Dianne Feinstein can make a difference in the Senate this week, and she needs to know that we want her to make that difference.

But first, we need to make a difference. I need to make this difference, and so do YOU. I plan to write to Senator Feinstein about including the Davis Amendment in the Senate’s Defense Authorization Bill. Would you like to do the same? Do you care about keeping our parks open for us to enjoy for many years to come? If so, then please ask Senator Feinstein to support including the Davis Amendment in the Senate’s bill.

Senator Feinstein can make a difference for the better this week, but first we need to make that difference to urge her to do the same. : )

So, let me start this out with a caveat, I’ve been, well, less than a Bill Lockyer fan after he said he voted for Arnold in the recall. Either he believed the hype, disliked Bustamante (well, he’s not alone there), or a combination of both. And what’s with announcing that you voted for a Republican?

That being said, BuyCaliforniaBonds.com is a genuinely cool idea.  It’s scheduled for wider release when bonds go up for sale in about a week, but here’s what they have up there now:

California voters have approved more than $60 billion of bonds to construct schools, roads, housing, parks, flood protection and other crucial infrastructure projects.  Over the next few years, the state will be selling these voter-authorized bonds to investors to raise the money to build these projects.  The state pays the principal and interest on the bonds, known as general obligation (GO) bonds, from the state’s general fund.

State GO bonds historically have been purchased by both individual investors and sophisticated “institutional investors” such as insurance companies and mutual funds.  Individual investors, however, often have found it difficult to buy the bonds and to purchase them on the same terms as large institutional investors.  State Treasurer Bill Lockyer wants to make it easier for individual Californians to invest in their own future by buying the state’s bonds.  Buy California Bonds will be the site to visit to learn about California bonds and how to acquire them.  Our next general obligation bond sale is scheduled for late June.  Come back to this site on June 11 to learn more.

Hey, that’s today, so we might learn more soon, but as I understand it, this site is just an advertising component and they won’t be actually selling the bonds there.  But, I think that they  will  be making the bonds available to individuals before institutional investors, which is pretty much the exact opposite of the traditional arrangement.  Now, these bonds aren’t exactly an IPO and won’t make anybody rich, but this is a cool move by Senator, Atty General Treasurer Bill Lockyer.

You see, this is one thing that governments back in the day knew. If you are going to float debt, better to a) float it at home and b) get the citizens involved in their government.  So, like say the old Liberty Bonds in the WWII days. They got people to understand the shared sense of sacrifice. This is a good idea to be brought back, so that people understand the issues of debt financing. It’s clear that Californians aren’t really comfortable with the workings of the government, so why not reach out in tangible ways, like this bond issue, to help reconnect government to its citizens. Good work, Treasurer Lockyer.

(H/T to The Liberal OC and OC Blog for this!) : )

Take a look at this! Blognetnews.com has released its first list of “California’s Most Influential Political Blogs”, and Calitics has been rated #5! Oh my goodness, we made the Top 5! I guess people are actually paying attention to what we have to say about advancing progressive values in California. This is just terrific.

But you know what’s also terrific? Many of our fantastic friends in the California (and especially Orange County!) blogosphere also made the Top 20 list! The Liberal OC hit #14! California Progress Report hit #10! Orange Juice hit #6! Total Buzz hit #3! And yes, my favorite local right-wing blog, OC Blog, hit #1. Congratulations to my conservative friends at Red County/OC Blog for being the #1 most influential political blog in California!

So what else can I say? Well, I can start by thanking all of you who faithfully read our fine blog. And thanks to all of you who constantly share your point of view with us in the comments. And thanks to all my fantastic colleagues who contribute to the blog with all their informative and insightful stories. And most of all, thanks to our fearless leader Brian for heading up one of the best blogs on the web… Which now also happens to be one of the five most influential blogs in the state! : )