Registered voters in specific jurisdictions can expect to see ballots in their mail this week. Whether by mail, drop off at designated locations or in person, the number of votes in this special election will be an indicator of public concern.
Regular voting can be a habit, one that serves the people who do it and their communities well as the country faces the potential of authoritarian control. The last thing anti-democracy types want to see is increasing voter engagement. So do your bit; put voting in your phone’s calendar, write a post-it, ask questions.
Areas included in this special election* are:
County Supervisorial District 4 - San Diego City Councilmember Monica Montgomery-Steppe(D) is opposed by ReOpen San Diego founder Amy Reichert(R) in an election to replace Nathan Fletcher, who resigned under a cloud last spring. Whoever is elected will serve through January 2027.
Chula Vista City Attorney - Federal criminal defense lawyer Dan Smith Diaz, formerly appointed Chula Vista city attorney Bart Miesfeld, and formerly appointed Chula Vista city attorney; and Marco Verdugo. They are running to replace a dead guy who was, nonetheless, elected in 2022.
Fallbrook Public Utility & Rainbow Municipal Water Districts. - Voting on measures allowing them to separate from the County Water so they can join the Eastern Municipal Water District of Riverside County, a move that could lower water bills.(This could lead to the rest of us in these parts having higher water bills.)
* These elections are technically non-partisan, which means candidates' political affiliations are not listed on the ballot. Both the major political parties are supporting candidates for the D4 and Chula Vista contests.
IF YOU NEED TO FIND YOUR DISTRICT, GO HERE.
Today’s Board of Supervisors (I’m writing this early) meeting will emphasize the importance of the District 4 special election. The evenly split Supes will consider $3 million in funding to keep a facility to assist migrants operating.
There really is a crisis at the border as migrants are crossing in such numbers that the normal facilities are overwhelmed. Immigration authorities are resorting to dumping van loads of desperately needy humans at various locations throughout the county.
Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas detailed the ask in a letter to her colleagues last week:
Today’s request is to dedicate $3.0 million in County resources to our local partners to perform essential services such as translation assistance, geographic information, transportation services, access to equipment and Wi-Fi to contact sponsor relatives, food, snacks, water, hygiene kits, restrooms and other services as needed to facilitate their onward movement beyond San Diego County.
This fiscal commitment is necessary to keep the humanitarian crisis from deepening, and to secure the health and safety of our region while maintaining the human dignity of asylees fleeing oppressive regimes. The funding is expected to provide these services for up to 3 months while continuing a relentless pursuit for a long-term funding source from the federal government
If Montgomery-Steppe was already on the Board, this appropriation would pass with a 3-2 vote. Instead, it’s unlikely that much more will happen other than a chorus of concerned citizens telling the Board why immigrants suck, hoping that their performance gets airtime on KUSI.
Republicans, including D4 candidate Amy Reichert, have mounted a PR campaign to muddy the issue by suggesting this appropriation will deny funding for county residents' needs. El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells claims this is money taken away from homeless services. Reichert says this is federal COVID money.
This fits into the right wing tactic of claiming something is being ‘taken’ by foreigners or whatever group they are ‘otherizing’ at that moment. .
The truth is that nothing is being taken from county funds dedicated to social and health services. And GOP Supe Jim Desmond –who’s all over social media on this– would be an unlikely vote even if this emergency funding from the County's $8 billion budget was restricted to local residents.
In addition to the ‘taking’ theme, opponents are saying this is a federal matter, which it could be were it not for the logjam on appropriations caused by CongressClowns posturing to win Dear Leader Trump’s approval.
FEMA, which is where federal monies for emergencies would come from, is running out of money, and House Republicans (where appropriation bills originate) are holding the Biden administration hostage. Depending on who’s talking, their demands include ceding Ukraine to Putin, invading Mexico, and removing anything deemed woke from various agencies.
Biden’s ‘Open borders’ (fake framing on a complex issue, only solvable with bipartisan cooperation and compromise) is the only issue the GOP has gained traction on headed into the 2024 election. Rather than passing already introduced legislation or (gasp!) writing some of their own proposals, Republican finger pointing and fear mongering are politically expedient choices.
Down at the border, the county’s openly racist set is now showing up to harass aid workers and terrorize any migrants they can find. As we’re seeing in other parts of the country, these relatively few individuals can morph into the kind of mobs made famous in Temecula some years back.
Electing Amy Reichert to the Board of Supervisors will ultimately mean reverting the county’s policies and services back to the ‘good old days’ of doing as little as possible.
I have endorsed Monica Montgomery-Steppe. I urge you to consider my reasoning.
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WAIT! There’s more…
Former Dodger/Padres first baseman Steve Garvey has announcing he’s running for U.S. Senate. As a Republican.
From Politico’s California Playbook:
Garvey said in an interview he’s been approached by Democrats and Republicans about running for office for more than two decades, and now, given California’s struggles with affordability and public safety, he’s ready to jump in.
"When I started having people come up and say, 'You know, I'm a Giants fan and I hate the Dodgers, but I'll vote for you,’ I said, ‘Well, I guess that's enough,’” he told Playbook.
A poll from the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, released in September before Feinstein’s death, ranked Garvey as the top choice among 7 percent of voters, the same as fellow Republicans Eric Early and James Bradley. That even division suggests all three GOP candidates would appeal to the same base of conservative voters.
With three, possibly four, well-known Democrats in the primary, the thinking behind his candidacy is that he could make the general election ballot thanks to a splintered electorate.
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Yesterday Robert F. Kennedy Jr, dropped out of the Democratic primary contests, and announced an independent candidacy for president. This saves him the embarrassment of seeing just how few people vote for him in a primary contest against Marianne Williamson and some other guy whose dog bites Secret Service agents.
Now he’ll have the opportunity to beat Cornel West and Libertarian Chase Oliver in the general election by unifying all the conspiracy sects with the support of random billionaires. The only poll I know of with a three way race has him at 14%, which would be the largest breakout of voters since Ross Perot in 1992.
From Politico:
It’s not clear whether the current polling represents Kennedy’s floor, ceiling or somewhere in between. But he could have the financial resources to mount a credible campaign.
In addition to the campaign itself, Kennedy has the backing of a super PAC, American Values 2024, that is funded mostly by conservative donor Timothy Mellon and billionaire Gavin de Becker. That PAC already had $9.8 million in the bank as of the end of June. That’s still far less than Biden and Trump will have to spend, but Kennedy’s wealthy donors could do more to close the gap in the coming months.
Will Kennedy help Donald Trump win the election? That’s a big maybe.
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Catching Up With More News
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Framing 101: Some brains you just can't change Via the Framelab Substack
Ideas don’t just float in the air. They exist, physically, in the brain. These physical structures are called frames and they are created in the brain’s neural circuitry. The more certain ideas get activated in your brain, the stronger they become — physically.
Framing is literally the art of changing minds — that is, changing brains. But once certain issues have been framed in the brain, they can become impossible to change. This is especially the case with anything related to a person’s worldview, morality and identity.
Case in point: a certain twice-impeached former president currently facing multiple criminal indictments. As the New York Times reports, a multimillion dollar ad campaign to turn Trump supporters against Trump has failed to yield any positive results.
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Editorial: California’s transportation spending doesn’t match its climate promises - Via the Los Angeles Times editorial board (!)
It’s no surprise why: California continues to spend the bulk of its transportation dollars to maintain and expand car-centric roads and freeways. Instead of doubling down on the existing system that makes it inconvenient and unsafe to travel by bike, foot and transit, California should be spending the bulk of its transportation funding to remake the urban landscape so people have real choices in how they get around.
But that’s not happening. Of the state’s primary transportation funding programs, just 19% of the money has gone to projects that help reduce the need to drive, such as building out bike lanes, sidewalks, rail service, electric buses and affordable housing near jobs, according to an analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council. These programs are in such demand that the state is regularly forced to deny funding to highly rated pedestrian and bicycle projects.
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Lifting the lid on Fox News propaganda by Mark Jacob at Stop the Presses
After Republican National Chair Ronna McDaniel declared that the outbreak of war in the Middle East was a “great opportunity” for her party, Fox News showed what she meant by cheap-shotting President Joe Biden.
Veteran Fox correspondent John Roberts tweeted Monday morning: “With war raging in Israel, the @WhiteHouse called a lid for @JoeBiden at 11:46am.”
This was true, but misleading. A “lid” tells journalists that the president is not planning any more public appearances that day. It’s done as a courtesy to reporters, a signal that they can leave without missing anything. It does not mean that the president has stopped working. In fact, on this day it meant the very opposite: Biden was busy dealing with allies on how to respond to the international crisis.
The MAGAnet went crazy on this misinfo; they are still at it two days later.
It is urgent that we liberal/progressives vote in this special election and in every single election. The conservative voters vote as if it is a religious observance to which they must be faithful. All too often the rest of us are slackers about voting.
We have to stand up to those who want power for power's sake and not because they wish to serve the common good. We who believe in actual facts must defeat those who win through lies and misinformation. With mail-in ballots in CA, there is no excuse for us not to vote.