LA Times Race-Baiting against Republicans

Once again, The Los Angeles Times engaged in subtle Republican race-baiting in a heavily editorialized title “Republicans block young immigrant 'dreamers' from military”. The article slams the near-unanimous vote of the conservative House majority barring legal status for illegal aliens who serve in the United States military.

 

A naval officer taking oath of citizenship
(Christopher Blachly)

The Times’ headline implies that Republicans are blocking all immigrants from the military. No, they are not.  There are millions of young immigrants who obey the law and serve this country. The issue has never been immigration, but illegal immigration. The press should respect the dreams of residents born and naturalized in this country.

 

For the record, the huddled masses yearning for freedom seek the rule of law, which will mean absolutely nothing if Congress routinely passes piece-meal amnesties. Ironically, President Obama wants to welcome migrants to this county, yet his lawless, unconstitutional executive orders are undermining the very liberty which they seek.

 

Like Hillary, Korrupt Kammy Not Inevitable

California Attorney General Kamala Harris could win the Democratic Party nomination for US Senate in 2016. Like Presidential contender Hillary Clinton, she threw her name out for consideration within days of incumbent Barbara Boxer's unique (if not strange) announcement to retire in 2016. (Of course, Boxer's decision not to run was not the biggest surprise to connected California politicos, since the ineffectual progressive had little campaign cash on hand, with no intention of raising more.)

Kamala Harris

 
Kamala Harris, a Bay Area political fixture of mixed Jamaican-South East Asian heritage, from San Francisco by way of Oakland, who defeated one of the most popular moderate Republicans in Los Angeles (and California), is another upstart success story, much like Hillary. However, with the rising reports of corruption as well as misconduct dogging her, she might want to rethink her similarities (and chances) to Hillary Clinton.

 Like Hillary, Kammy's love interests have propelled her political fortunes.

 In 1994, just before State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown lost his powerful post, the Los Angeles Times reported:

Former Speaker Willie Brown

Brown, exercising his power even as his speakership seems near an end, named attorney Kamala Harris to the California Medical Assistance Commission, a job that pays $72,000 a year.

Harris, a former deputy district attorney in Alameda County, was described by several people at the Capitol as Brown's girlfriend. In March, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen called her "the Speaker's new steady." Harris declined to be interviewed Monday and Brown's spokeswoman did not return phone calls.

The Daily Caller, which referenced the above, also reported:

The Brown-Harris affair didn’t last long. She was spotted dating talk show host Montel Williams in 2001, but Brown continued to support her, helping her as mayor to become San Francisco’s first black district attorney over Terence Hallinan, a popular two-term incumbent.

Hillary had Bubba. Kamala had Brown. Oh brother.

Like Hillary, issues of transparency are uncovering the true motives of AG Harris' run for federal office. Eden Stiffman reports:

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is backing new legislation that would boost transparency requirements for third-party fundraisers and extend the statute of limitations for certain offenses.

Third party fundraisers likely refer to Independent Expenditures (IE), which promote freedom of speech and association in the political process, following the Citizens United decision, universally loathed by the Left, championed by many interest groups large and small. A number of California Republicans won critical 2014 election contests with IE assistance. Democrats cannot complain, since they rely on third-party funding for their campaigns, too.

California law requires "commercial fundraisers" to include a disclosure in charity solicitations whenever a portion of a donor’s charitable contributions will go to a for-profit company. However, some fundraisers have skirted that requirement by establishing their operations as "fundraising counsel" instead of "commercial fundraiser."

Of course, the transparency requirement focuses on "for-profit", but what about labor unions and left-leaning non-profits, which have unduly promoted regressive policies at the expense of tax-paying, law-abiding Californians?

Kamala Harris with former AG Eric Holder

At the end of 2013, CalWatchdog blasted Harris' legal yet blatant corruption:

[T]here’s something particularly odious about how Harris has put her finger on the scale of justice with the ballot language for a trial-lawyer measure to up the amount they can wring out of doctors through medical-malpractice lawsuits. Dan Walters had the details earlier this week.

SacBee's Political columnist Dan Walters explained:

“[I]ts real aim is reflected very briefly in the final sentence — to modify the state’s 38-year-old cap on ‘pain and suffering’ damages in medical malpractice cases.'”

While dressing up a ballot initiative to hold bad doctors accountable, Harris wanted to make it easier for trial lawyers to score large judgments in lawsuits. No matter how necessary a legal system for redress of wrongs, lawsuit abuse in the state of California is driving up costs, driving away businesses, and driving through individual Californians' lingering opportunities for work, wealth, and prosperity.

Earlier in 2015, The New York Observer reported another disturbing trend in connection with AG Harris:

Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski declared months ago in a much-quoted opinion that there is “an epidemic of Brady violations abroad in the land.” . . . But here’s another doozy: The People (of California) v. Efrain Velasco-Palacios. In this unpublished opinion from the Fifth Appellate District, the California Court of Appeal reveals that state prosecutors and California Attorney General Kamala Harris continue to be part of the problem. Ms. Harris and her staff defended the indefensible—California State prosecutor Murray flat out falsified a transcript of a defendant’s confession.

Another expose revealed AG Harris' connections with a nefarious, extralegal aide, working with an underground cult impersonating police officers:

An aide to California Attorney General Kamala Harris and two others claiming to be part of the "Masonic Fraternal Police Department" and descendants of the Knights Templar were arrested last week on suspicion of impersonating police officers.

Brandon Kiel, the deputy director of community affairs at the California Department of Justice, has been placed on administrative leave according to The Los Angeles Times. Two others, David Henry and Tonette Hayes, were also placed in custody.

Hillary Clinton

 Not exactly Clinton Cash, but this culture of corruption is wearing down Korrupt Kammy's chances.

Since the inevitable Krazy Kammy train is proving not so invincible, another Democrat has thrown her name out of the US Senate seat: Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez of Santa Ana. A candidate with a unique and controversial profile, pro-military and pro-business , along wither her Latino heritage and Southern California connections, Sanchez could derail the Bay Area political Robber Barons who have decided California elections for decades.

Kamala Harris certainly is a California version of Hillary Clinton, as her campaign diminishes with allegations of misconduct and corruption. Die-hard progressives and well-researched pundits are still searching for something better. More Democrats are mulling US Senate bids. As for the Republicans in the race, Assemblyman Rocky Chavez of Oceanside, former CA GOP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro, and Fresno farmer John Estrada, they could profit from Democratic in-fighting to gain momentum in California’s large (and expensive) media market.

Loretta Sanchez Runs for US Senate

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana, CA)

Attorney General Kamala Harris is not so inevitable, and a Southern California Congresswoman believes that enough that she just launched her own bid for the US Senate yesterday.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Santa Ana declared in front of the city's train station her intentions to replace Barbara Boxer.

I'm running for the Senate because I am passionate about California. I think that we need an experienced legislator to go to the Senate for California.

Within hours of Sanchez' announcement, Harris took a jab at Congress and her new challenger, citing the gridlock and dysfunction of Washington politics.

One has to ask: if Washington DC is dysfunction, and Harris calls it a bad thing, why does she want to run for US Senate?

The Los Angeles Times ran an interesting story on Sanchez' record then and now, including her former Republican party affiliation:

On occasion, the Orange County Democrat has made fellow party members wince.

In 2000, Sanchez embarrassed party leaders and presidential nominee Al Gore by scheduling a fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion during the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

It would be a matter of time, in fact minutes, before someone would report about this ill-planned fundraiser. She changed the venue, by the way.

Sanchez has also made headlines with cheeky Christmas cards. For years, they featured Gretzky, her white cat. One card showed Sanchez, wearing pink flannel pajamas, snuggling in bed with Gretzky. Another showed the congresswoman in a tank top on a motorcycle, with Gretzky perched on the handlebars.

Actually, these Christmas cards are kind of charming. Cute and weird, but they have a humanizing element necessary for a successful House Rep to connect with constituents.

Loretta and former husband with Gretsky

If Harris wants to tarnish her new opponent over Christmas cards, however, she must be more scared about her chances than realized.

Democratic Strategist and Boxer campaign adviser shared little positive about a Sanchez campaign:

There’s a genuine hunger for a history-making Latino candidate in this race, but Loretta Sanchez is probably not the answer to that hunger. One could call her actions eccentric, or courageously charting her own path, or bad political judgment. But they’re not actions that enhance someone’s ability to run a credible Senate campaign. They won’t help with donors. They won’t help with other elected leaders.

As far as "charting her own path", Sanchez has already taken a lead which Harris has had to follow, per LA Weekly:

Sanchez is likely to force Harris to sharpen her positions and compete for the support of Democratic interest groups and constituencies. A case in point is the hottest issue in Washington right now, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) has been particularly outspoken. In March, she penned an op/ed in The Hill in which she blasted the trade pact, calling it "a bad deal for American workers."

When asked about the TPP before, Harris has been vague. Today, however, she came out firmly against it.

Sanchez spokesman Bill Carrick wisely exploited Harris' flip-flop:

Loretta Sanchez reaffirms her opposition to TPP this AM and Kamala Harris announces her position for the first time later the same day. Seems to be a case of Follow the Leader.

A few days before the House Rep's announcement, Harris touted a long list of endorsements from key power brokers in Orange County.  With Sanchez in the race, however, Harris may find more independent leaders and interest groups gravitating toward a candidate with gravitas, no matter how controversial or quirky her character and candidacy.

Sister Cicilline Loses Primary: Reflections

Susan Cicilline Buonanno

Following the resignation of House Rep David Lally, one of the longest serving in Rhode Island, Gladstone Elementary School principal Susan Buonanno announced her intentions of running for the seat.

Within hours, she released the following press statement:

Public service has always been very important to me, that’s why I have always found a way to be involved in my community, and with the endorsement of the voters from our District I hope to continue the progress made by Representative Lally. I am excited to share my vision for our district and our state with my neighbors and to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.

What was significant about this race? Susan is the sister of Congressman David Cicilline.

Politics runs in the family, among other things, and Buonanno's own record bears out her extended influence and interest in local government, including stints on the local school board as well as town council.

Would her family legacy and political connections set her up for statehouse success this time?

In spite of her ornate press release, the voters did not release any major enthusiasm on her part, and rejected Sister Cicilline.

A few reflections on this political outcome.

No matter how cynical the voting public may become, money and namesake alone do not guarantee an election win. For evidence, consider the following statistics following the primary:

Even with the backing of some of the most powerful Democrats in the state, including R.I. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, Susan Cicilline Buonanno, sister of U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, lost her primary bid for the Democratic House District 33 seat to South Kingstown councilwoman Carol Hagan McEntee -- who she out out-fundraised by a margin of over 30 to 1.

Imagine facing political opposition with funding which exceeds thirty times what you have. Most contestants would throw up their hands and endorsed the well-monied machine. Speaker Nick Mattiello supported Sister Cici, as did her supposedly influential brother David, with moral as well as financial support, and yet she still lost.

What could have contributed to her primary loss? IndependentRi reports:

On April 23, former Narragansett Town Council President Glenna Hagopian filed the complaint with the Ethics Commission, alleging Cicilline Buonanno improperly used her Cranston School District email account for campaign business and her school district phone as the "primary contact" on her campaign finance reports. Hagopian alleges that is in apparent violation of General Law 36-14-5(d):

So, the Gladstone Elementary principal used her office space and message delivery systems for private and political purposes. A former local leader stepped up and challenged this conduct. IndependentRI registered Buonanno's discontent from other critics, who contend that this "politics as usual" behavior has become insufferable in the Ocean State. The principal acknowledged the contact information snafu as an "honest mistake".

This explanation does not pan out. She twice held local office, so she would have a reasonable awareness of propriety in keeping her professional, private, and political career separate.

What is further unique about the complaint, somewhat superficially, is that it occurred in the first place, and an otherwise sure winner not only had to apologize and correct the mistake, but ultimately lost the nomination for a house seat.

To review: a well-connected Democrat in a suburb of a progressive urban core, with an established political name, strong endorsements from influential power brokers, plus a massive fundraising advantage, lost the nomination for elected office to a meagerly funded councilwoman in another city.

Anyone who charges that Rhode Island's heavily Democratic political dynamics resist change should recognize this primary defeat as an initial step towards bringing back accountability to assembly races. Money alone cannot buy a seat, and the best of endorsements will not sway voters who know a candidate personally. Sister Cici's glaring ethical lapse certainly hurt her image in the race, too, as public corruption scandals, from 38 Studios to former Speaker Fox's indictment, conviction, and sentencing have worn on Rhode Island's expected over-longsuffering tolerance to abuse of power.

Republicans and concerned independents looking for balance and accountability in local government and Smith Hill should keep these lessons in mind for future elections.

GoLocalProv went a step further, suggesting that Congressman David Cicilline could be in trouble next year, too. If his resources and relationships could not shore up Sister Chi-Chi's political fortunes, could "Grand Theft Auto" Cicilline find himself out of a job next year, too?

Kamala Harris: Lawless Law Enforcement Officer

Attorney General Kamala Harris
(CA Attorney General's office)

California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who barely won the office in 2010 facing LA County 
District Attorney Steve Cooley, has become the inevitable nominee for US Senate to replace retiring Barbara Boxer in 2016.

Ironically, she claims her experience as San Francisco District Attorney then California's chief law enforcement officer equips her to best represent California in the United States Senate

Before targeting the growing reports of corruption or impropriety, she has forsaken her sworn duty to uphold and defend the United States and California Constitution. A lawless law enforcement officer, at the county and state level, Harris has no reason, legal or moral, for serving in the US Senate.

Same-Sex Marriage

She refused to defend the Prop 8 State Constitutional Amendment which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, He unclear reasons would have not passed the bar in any law school or exam:

I declined to defend Proposition 8 because it violates the Constitution. The Supreme Court has described marriage as a fundamental right 14 times since 1888. The time has come for this right to be afforded to every citizen.

Which constitution? Her imprecision was duplicitous and political. Marriage as a fundamental right never implied that two people of the same sex could enter into a marriage. The basic right of any institution does not justify nor permit redefining it.

When the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) struck down the amendment on procedural grounds, she demanded that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lift its ban on same-sex marriage licenses, even though the appellate court was required to wait twenty-five days before responding to SCOTUS judgments.

Harris with former US Attorney General Eric Holder (Lonnie Tague)

Second Amendment

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals required the state of California to issue concealed-carry permits, yet AG Harris intervened and appealed  the decision to a large en banc hearing. For someone who had argued against defending the state constitution for supposedly violating the US Constitution, she had very little credible ground for resisting enforcement of CCW permits.

The Contra Costa Times reported:

Harris' office noted Thursday that if the ruling is allowed to take effect, sheriffs all over California -- including the Bay Area, where counties are rather tightfisted about concealed-carry permits -- could be required to issue permits based on nothing more than the applicant's stated wish to carry a gun for self-defense.

Is that not the very reason many individuals seek CCW? SCOTUS has reminded litigants and established in dicta (US v. Verdugo-Urquidez) and judgment (District of Columbia v. Heller) that the Second Amendment is an individual right.

Yet why did Harris appeal the initial decision? No constitutional reasoning, but a vague appeal to public safety:

Harris' office noted Thursday that if the ruling is allowed to take effect, sheriffs all over California -- including the Bay Area, where counties are rather tightfisted about concealed-carry permits -- could be required to issue permits based on nothing more than the applicant's stated wish to carry a gun for self-defense.

Her discretion to intervene and block the just "shall issue" ruling resonated with political calculation, not a principled stance.

Illegal Immigration

Before state attorney general, Harris served as San Francisco District Attorney. Even then, her record of discretion and prosecution calls into question her allegiance to uphold the law and serve and protect those who elected her.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that she refused to deport illegal aliens, as long as they were first-time drug offenders who completed a job training program. Not only did she ignore federal law, but she pandered to unlawful residents in the city during a prolonged economic contraction. Even former mayor Gavin Newsom refused to shield illegal immigrant youth from deportation once they had been arrested for crimes.

As Attorney General, instead of representing the extensive public safety needs of California residents. she personally reached out to outside law firms to provide legal services to the thousands of illegal immigration youth flooding the Southern US borders. This surprising migration influx surged in response to President Obama's misguided and unconstitutional Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

She further signaled her support for President Obama's Executive Amnesty, seeking to continue implementing the order despite judicial stays in Texas, despite local and grassroots protests against illegal immigration, including this stunning display of civil disobedience in Murrieta and at the University of Southern California a year later.

Just last month (April, 2015), Harris announced that an "undocumented immigrant is not a criminal".

Breitbart reporter  Michelle Moons retorted:

Illegally entering and remaining in the country is a federal crime. By stating that those who illegally enter or remain in the United States are not in violation of law is simply incorrect. However, many of these “undocumented immigrants” are not being prosecuted under the current administration.

In one of her latest US Senate campaign eblasts, the unlawful attorney general even celebrated President Obama's illegal, unconstitutional executive amnesty.



AG Harris (LABaseballFan)

Final Remarks

For a woman who touts her prior and current record of law enforcement, Harris has nothing to boast about, and yet a great deal to explain. For an officer of the court, sworn to uphold the chief charter of the state and the country, Harris ignores her word and calling as glibly as the current President of the United States.

As a lawless law enforcement officer, Attorney General Kamala Harris is not fit for higher office.

Paging Dr. Ben Carson: Not Presidential Material

Dr. Ben Carson

World-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson commands a great deal of respect, and deservedly so.

Reared in abject poverty in the Detroit ghettoes, Carson learned how to live and thrive from his mother, including a work ethic, a reverence for Biblical authority and principle, and a can-do attitude which rejected blaming white prejudice for anyone’s lot in life, or societal problems.

Reading books and writing reports assigned by his mother (herself illiterate), Carson excelled in his studies, then his profession as a doctor, and wrote a number of books on faith and family.

His breakout moment on the conservative scene occurred at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast. If that event did not crystal how far this country has come in race relations, then I have no idea what will.

Just to recap: a white US Senator from Deep South Alabama, one of the reddest and whitest of states in the Union, introduced an African-American neurosurgeon, the top of his field, internationally recognized. The white politician sat down and listened to the black doctor. This professional was standing at a dais addressing a national venue in Washington DC, the same federal seat where blacks were frequently auctioned and sold to the highest bidder up to the American Civil War.

Dr. Ben Carson at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast

To  Carson’s right, the first African-American president also sat and listened, right next to the Southern US Senator. This articulate neurosurgeon spoke out against political correctness and the harsh and dysfunctional, partisan gridlock in this nation’s capital. This scene is a far cry from 1857 Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney’s offensive, illiberal pronouncement in Dred Scott v. Sanford: “Negroes are a subordinate class of human beings with no rights a white man is bound to respect.”

This black man criticized President Obama’s policies at length in that prayer breakfast. While presidential staff demanded an apology afterwards, Americans across the country praised the good neurosurgeon. From the outset, many agreed with his conservative, Biblical views, particularly on the tithe as the fairest tax structure. Everyone pays the same rate, regardless of their wealth or status, and thus preempts the federal government from taxing one group to spend on another.

Regardless of his professional background or political views, however, I never jumped on the “Run, Carson, Run!” bandwagon. A little perspective explains why I believed, and why more people should accept, that Carson is not presidential material.

The year 2013 was a banner year of conservative angst and frustration, made worse by pandering GOP Senators pushing immigration “reform”, coupled with scandals cascading out of the White House, from Fast and Furious to IRS’ targeting conservative groups, and the officious secret waiting list in Veterans Administration hospitals all over the country. Conservatives were hungry for new leadership, and ready for anyone to replace the current Occupant in Chief in the White House.

Here came Dr. Ben Carson, speaking his mind, as well as healing minds, and people loved him. He appeared on talk shows all over the country, gave speeches at CPAC, and even wrote another book. When it comes down to policy as well as experience, there may not be a meeting of the minds between primary voters and the candidate.

In his latest exclusive interview on Fox News, Carson related his stellar personal history then meteoric celebrity from poor kid to skilled physician. Fox anchor Christ Wallace then reiterated the chief asset and criticism against Dr. Ben about a presidential bid: no prior political or government experience.

Carson waved that affront, citing work in private enterprise, scholarships, non-profits, and other charities. To his credit, Presidential candidate Carson also announced this country’s need to rethink judicial review, which has permitted unelected judges to overrule sweeping cultural precedent, regardless of its harmful implications.

However, beyond inflammatory, his uninformed rhetoric should raise concerns about his viability. His previous appearances on Fox News have demonstrated his hesitance to state clear differences with other minority activists, as well as a misunderstanding of the Constitution’s basic political framework.

Carson apparently supported an inner city assault weapons ban, then retracted the statement, affirming his support for the Second Amendment. As a medical professional, statistics must bear on his strategy for fighting violence, and gun control does not lead to crime control.

 

From Barbwire.com

 

 

Carson has twice (rightly) criticized gay marriage and homosexual conduct, and yet twice bowed to pressure and apologized. Barbwire.com article pondered out loud:  how badly did Carson cave to the militant homosexual lobby when he apologized for his remarks about prison behavior and its implications regarding the etiology of homosexual behavior? His sudden “I’m sorry” suggests he is either unprepared for or unwilling to fight leftist onslaughts.

Before his latest Fox News interview, Carson endorsed raising the federal minimum wage, stating that public assistance in many states usually paid more. He supports cutting subsidies to oil companies, only to  dole them to ethanol plants. This confusion on fiscal issues hurts his chances. Ironically, Carson’s policy incoherence results precisely from his inexperience. This country needs tried and tested leadership, not on-the-job training. With all due respect to his inspiring life, career, and humanitarian accomplishments, Dr. Ben is not presidential material.

 

Dr. Ben for President?

 

The State of the Union: May 15, 2015: Dr. Ben Carson, California's US Senate Race

https://www.facebook.com/events/1639145189652739/

Walker's Act Ten Reforms Champion Workers

Contrary to the Wisconsin State-Journal, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s Act Ten reforms -- which resulted in the end of forced union dues, budget and staff reductions, and diminished influence of Wisconsin’s public sector unions -- is a timely and welcome development.

The article included a misleading statement:

 

“Wisconsin’s three AFSCME councils are merging four years after the state rolled back public-sector union rights, prompting two out of three dues-paying members to drop out.”

Public sector union collective bargaining is not a right, but an entitlement which forced out taxpayers and unconnected activists who could not raising comparable funding to fight back the collusions between unions and their endorsed politicians.



Mike Fox

Interim AFSCME president Mike Fox wrongly denounced Walker’s reforms curbing labor union’s influence:

 

“It’s a shame that someone can decide that he has to establish his national bona fides by putting his boot on the neck of the workers.”

 Governor Walker championed individual workers by allowing them to choose whether to join a union or not. The two-thirds short-fall of employee membership in Wisconsin’s government employee unions demonstrates that they did not prize their coerced membership.

  “That’s really a sad platform for any politician who is supposed to be representing all of the people, not just the rich people.”

Gov. Scott Walker

 

Union bosses are some of the highest paid “employees” in this country, including last year. If labor leaders want to stop the political influence of wealthy people at the expense of the working class, they should support rather than denounce Walker’s Act Ten reforms.

Daily Breeze is Wrong: Vote for Lydia

Another important local election is approaching for LA area residents, the LAUSD School District run-offs for those seats where no candidate received an outright majority of votes.

District Seven, which stretches from South Los Angeles to San Pedro, has two very different candidates fighting.

The incumbent, Richard Vladovic, is taking some well-deserved criticism for the poor leadership of the second largest district in the country.

Even the Daily Breeze could not refrain from criticizing, yet the paper still endorsed him. From the first round of voting in early March, the Torrance-based paper issued the following tepid endorsement:

Richard Vladovic "Vlad"

RICHARD VLADOVIC IN DISTRICT 7 (2-13-15)

Richard Vladovic, who has been board president in an era of dysfunction, doesn’t really deserve a third term representing the district that runs from South Central L.A. to San Pedro. But his two challengers are unimpressive or out of step.

What difference does it make if Vlad's challengers are not the same, or even as experienced (in the paper's estimation) as the incumbent? Little experience would be a welcome change of pace compared the experience dysfunction and corruption of the current leadership.

Constituents should be turned off by the Vladovic campaign’s failure to respond to the editorial board’s requests for an interview. This is right in line with his general refusal to engage the press (and, by extension, the public).

So, he doesn't talk to the press, nor to public? Local leaders in the Gardena area have shared with me that Vlad refuses to attend town halls in that city, too. He does not think that he has to listen to anyone? Why should anyone vote for him, then?

Lydia Gutierrez

Vote for Vladovic, reluctantly.

For the May 19th run-off, the Daily Breeze chose to endorse Vlad again:

Dist. 7: Richard Vladovic (5-01-15)

It’s too bad that stronger opponents didn’t step up to challenge Richard Vladovic in the district that runs from South Central L.A. to San Pedro. Vladovic has a bad reputation with district colleagues, who consider the board president high-handed. And he makes too little effort to engage the press and public, his campaign failing to respond to our requests for an interview.

He still won't talk to the press. He is still a bad leader. Allegations of cronyism and corruption dog his tenure. Yet the paper sides with the status quo.

But opponent Lydia Gutierrez, a teacher who finished second in the primary, fails to enunciate a clear grasp of policy issues and takes a disappointing stand for an educator by telling the editorial board she views evolution only as one “theory.”

That appraisal is patently untrue. She is a teacher, humanitarian, and financier with engineering experience. She has read up on education policy, a staunch and well-informed opponent of Common Core, which has reached national unpopularity even in liberal states like New York. By the way, what difference does it make whether she regards evolution as a theory? That last line is a lame excuse to depict Gutierrez as some out-of-touch fanatic, when in reality LAUSD School Board, especially Vlad, are not just out of touch, but out of morals and ethics.

We recommend a vote for Vladovic, without enthusiasm.

I recommend a vote for Lydia Gutierrez, without reserve and with great enthusiasm. On May 19th, vote for Lydia for LAUSD School Board, District Seven.



Lydia Gutierrez

Walker: Big Threat to Marginalized Media

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is wowing crowds and wooing donors, without changing his principles are giving up his priorities. Two left-leaning media sites have criticized Walker, yet just like other fraudulent and ultimately failed critiques, these latest attacks actually bolster the governor’s credentials not only with primary voters, but with a general electorate tired of Big Government favoring a limited elite at the expense (literally and figuratively) of everyone else.

The Huffington Post reported that David Koch declared that the GOP nominee “should be Scott Walker." Why? HuffPo huffed and puffed: “Walker--a star alumnus of the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)--signed 19 ALEC bills into law, which went after unions, enacted voter ID restrictions, and made it harder to hold corporations accountable in the courts.”

Walker should be commended for his pro-worker, pro-democracy, anti-coercive unionism measures.

Salon.com mocked Walker’s policy views, suggesting that his conservative policies are skewing him away from the Koch Brothers’ moderate-libertarian favor. Their headline read: “Walker moved wackier than [US Senator Ted] Cruz”.

Walker said:

“The next president and the next Congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that’s based on, first and foremost, on protecting American workers and American wages.”

Presidential candidates who protect American workers: the left-wing media seem to find this offensive, repulsive, or ridiculous.

Incidentally, voters support his reforms pushing curtailing Big Labor (collective bargaining reform) and also against Big Business (no amnesty). No wonder the Marginalized Media see the presidential Walker as a Big Threat.