October 5, 2007 – Palm Springs Village Fest Voter Registration and Candidate Information Tabling.  The air was crisp and those scandalous Repugnant women from last week were noticably absent from Palm Canyon last night.  The mood was much more festive and jovial.  We are the Democratic Party spelled PARTY on Thursday nights from 6:00 p.m. to whenever!

The Democratic clubs were well represented with Desert Stonewall Democrats staffing one table thanks to George Zander, DSD President, and Bob.  The Democrats of the Desert staffed another thanks to Eleanor who was as usual radiant and focused.   In addition, representatives of the Palm Springs Democrats held strong.  We even had a visit from Chuck McDaniel, co-chair of the new Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club, member of the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee, and activist with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.  Does Mr. IBEW have any spare time?

Richard Oberhaus, Campaign Manager for the Right Honorable Greg Pettis, Candidate for the 80th Assembly District, reigned over the festivities as he is wont to do.  Hopefully, we will see visits from Greg, Steve Pougnet, Rick Hutcheson, John Williams, and Bob Mahlowitz again shortly.

More below the flip…

Besides McDaniel from the IBEW, we had the pleasure of talking to unionist from the Sheetmetal Workers Union and others as well.  McDaniel and Tracy Turner, Vets for Peace activist, reported that they were there for the Moveon.org demonstration up the street from our esteemed location in front of Kopy Cats. at Arenas and Palm Canyon Drive.

We also had representation at the tables from the Sen. John Edwards campaign, the consensus leader in most Iowa polls (represented by yours truly), the boys from the fab Sen. Hillary Clinton campaign, the amazing Ed Jones and Charlotte Murphy, M.D., representing the also fab Sen. Barack Obama campaign, and Bob from Re-elect Al Gore people (petitions to circulate shortly for inclusion of Al Gore on the 2008 California Democratic Primary ballot).  I had several opportunities to recruit interested parties to table for the Dennis Kucinich campaign, and we will see if these supporters will pick up the gauntlet.

We observed lots of interest in the various campaigns’ buttons, fliers and bumper stickers!  The Hillary Clinton advocates were active in handing out Hillary balloons to the rug rats and street urchins!  We registered 8 voters, including two who just had to switch parties from the Dark Side.

We had our weekly unofficial Drinking Liberally party (UODL)at Bongo Johnny’s (thanks to the generous two-for-one drink tickets from the equally generous Chris and Marco).  Kudos to bartender Douglas for the wondrous libations!  Joining yours truly were Z and Bob S. from the Desert Stonewall Democratic Club and from the Democrats of the Desert amongst other memberships, Tracy from the Vets for Peace, etc., Bob from Re-Elect Al Gore, Richard from the Greg Pettis for 80th Assembly District Campaign, Charlotte from the Obama Campaign and her friend, Pablo, and myself, we hardly had enough two-for-one adult beverage drink tickets to see us through the evening at the now-open-until 2:00 a.m. BJ’s.

The UODLers then staggered over to Hunter’s Video Bar to entertain and to be entertained by registered voters from all corners of the planet.

This is information from the homepage of Rick Hutcheson for Palm Springs City Council. (Full disclosure, the Desert Stonewall Democrats, of which I am a member, has endorsed Hutcheson for Palm Springs City Coucil, and I have also contributed financially to his campaign.)

Palm Springs, CA, September 28, 2007 – A majority of members of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement Committee (ONIC) have endorsed City Council Candidate Rick Hutcheson — more than are supporting any other City Council candidate.

“I appreciate this broad support from my colleagues on the neighborhood board very much, since it confirms my commitment to addressing public safety and quality of life concerns at the neighborhood level,” said Hutcheson . “Improving public safety is one of our top priorities, and organized neighborhoods can help in crucial ways, including crime prevention and emergency preparedness.”

According Jim Lundin, Treasurer of ONIC, “Rick really understands our neighborhood issues. He has a deep understanding of how crime affects our neighborhoods and has creative solutions to make us safer,” Lundin, who also serves as Chair of the Deepwell Estates Neighborhood Organization, added: “Rick’s political and business background will make him a strong leader on City Council, and his dedication to Palm Springs will serve us well. Just elect him!”

David Carden, Jr., Chair of the Baristo Neighborhood Organization, is another ONIC member supporting Hutcheson. “Palm Springs needs a Council Member who is fair, thorough in his research and always listens to all sides,” said Carden. “Rick is a team player. He is not afraid of the tough decisions. Rick Hutcheson has those qualities and his enthusiasm for helping turn our city around makes him a top choice for City Council in November!”

Nick Chicola, Vice President of the Deepwell Estates Neighborhood Organization, is also supporting Hutcheson . “Anyone who has had the opportunity to observe Rick’s very active participation on the ONIC will agree that his broad experience in government, corporate and small business environments is reflected in his well-thought contributions to the team,” Chicola added. “Rick has the interpersonal skills it will take to build an effective new City Council, and is a ‘must have’ on our next City Council.”

Doug Wylie is a City of Palm Springs Conservation Resource Commissioner and owner of Warm Sands Villas , in addition to serving on ONIC. “I’m very impressed with Rick’s dedication and involvement with our city, especially through his work on the Planning Commission, the neighborhood organizations, and as a business owner. His business, like mine, is dependent on a strong tourism industry, which he is knows as well as anyone,” said Wylie.

ONIC was established in 2005 to help residents form neighborhood organizations throughout Palm Springs, to improve communication between citizens and City government, and to facilitate programs and projects of benefit to neighborhoods and the city. Representatives from each of the City’s recognized neighborhoods make up the Committee.

While ONIC as a body is not making specific endorsements, its members are free announce their individual support of candidates, and ONIC is sponsoring a candidate forum at 6:30 p.m. on October 8, at the Mizell Senior Center. City Council candidates serving on ONIC include Hutcheson , Bob Mahlowitz , Roxann Ploss and John Williams .

“Everyone benefits when neighborhoods are organized, active and involved with City Hall,” Hutcheson added. “Good communication brings a quicker response to neighborhood concerns. Just as important, these organizations are a wonderful way to build friendships with one’s neighbors.” He serves on the Founding Board of his own neighborhood organization, as well as Treasurer.

Hutcheson has been endorsed by ONIC members April Hildner, who serves as Vice Chair, Catherine Marcy, David Carden, Dean Carlson, Doug Wylie, Gene Dippel, Jim Lundin, Nick Chicola, Paul Crippan, Paula Auburn, Ron Siegel, Sheila Cobrin and Sven Holm.

Rick Hutcheson is a Palm Springs planning commissioner and co-owner of Vacation Palm Springs and Greater Palm Springs Realty.

Please be gentle as this is my first post on Calitics.com.

Beth Caskie, a member of the Democrats of the Desert and a diarist on Calitics.com, with the assistance of George Zander, President of the Desert Stonewall Democrats organized a fascinating meeting re blogging in the Coachella Valley.  Well-attended, this meeting raised awareness of the importance of blogging in turning the Coachella Valley blue.

Recent history shows that the Coachella Valley is already well on the way to becoming Blue Coachella Valley.  Zander noted that the Coachella Valley is already blue on both ends with five cities giving John Kerry their majority vote in 2004 (Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, and Cathedral City in the West Valley and Indio and Coachella in the East).

Greg Pettis reports that in 1995, Ron Oden was elected to the Palm Springs City Council as its sole Democrat.  Simultaneously, Pettis was voted to the Cathedral City City Council as its lone Democrat.  In 2003, Oden became the first African-American and first openly-gay mayor of Palm Springs.  Simultaneously, Ginny Foat and Steve Pougnet each won City Council seats as Democrats, giving the Palm Springs City Council three Democrats on the five member council!!!  Likewise, in 2004, Cathedral City elected a majority of Democrats including Pettis and Paul Marchand to its City Council.

In 2005, Foat was by far the biggest vote getter in the Palm Springs council race for a complete term and John Williams just barely lost to the Republican incumbent after a last-minute yellow journalistic assault by the local so-called newspaper (aka the Desert Scum).

For your information, in 2007, Pougnet is running to succeed Oden as mayor of Palm Springs when Oden elected to not run for re-election.  Pougnet is highly favored to become the second consecutive openly gay Democrat mayor in Palm Springs.

In addition, Rick Hutcheson, Planning Commission member, has received the endorsement of all three Palm Springs Democratic clubs including Democrats of the Desert, Desert Stonewall Democrats, and Palm Springs Democrats.  In turn, Williams has received endorsements from Desert Stonewall Democrats and Palm Springs Democrats.  On the downside, rather than endorse Williams, the Democrats of the Desert endorsed Bob Mahlowitz.  According to some this action resulted in the recent decision of the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee to withhold formal endorsements for any Democrats in the Palm Springs City Council race.  However, with 40% of the Palm Springs electorate identified as members of the GLBT community, with the increasing Latino voter registration, and with Democrats far outdistancing Republicans in voter registrations in the past few years, Palm Springs is poised to have four Democrats on City Council!

Cathedral City with its two Democratic City Councilmen, Pettis and Marchand, means that Cat City will shortly follow Palm Springs into the Blue Coachella Valley.  Also, prior to his unexpected death, Gary Bosworth was the biggest vote-getter in the Desert Hot Springs city council race in 2005.  Desert Hot Springs Democrats hope to regain this seat during the current election cycle.  Residents of both Indio and Coachella in ‘Down Valley’ regularly elect progressive Democrats for mayor and city council.

So, the idea of a Blue Coachella Valley is no longer a fanciful dream, but should with the ongoing presence of strong local Democratic clubs and demonstrated Democratic unity become reality!

Thanks to soyinkafan for helping me to learn how to incorporate hypertext links into my text.  You obviously have great kharma!