Politics

Hunter mortgages home third time to repay $49K illegal campaign spending bill

Rep. Duncan Hunter is betting his Alpine home on being re-elected to Congress. Or at least for repaying money spent from his election campaign fund on personal expenses like Disneyland trips, hotels and travel, 16 trips to Jack-in-the-Box, online video games, and more, much more. Hunter apparently is hoping that the third home mortgage is the charm as it was reported he took out a third…


First Lady weighs in on San Diego elections

First Lady Michelle Obama is the star of new television and radio advertisements airing in San Diego. While she doesn’t mention a specific candidate or race, the ads appear aimed at getting out the vote against Rep. Darrell Issa and Rep. Duncan Hunter and ensuring that Rep. Scott Peters is reelected. The San Diego ad is being paid for by the California Democratic Party, and comes…


Hunter repays illegal campaign spending: $49K for Disneyland, video games, hotels

Rep. Duncan Hunter spent $49,000 in campaign funds on video games, a Disneyland trip and other personal expenses. Some of the expenditures from his campaign included: a $229 charge at a Disneyland gift shop; more than $2,000 on restaurants, hotels and train travel in Rome and Florence during the 2015 Thanksgiving holiday; and $1,300 spent at the Cardiff-by-the-Sea restaurant that provides lunches to Hunter’s children…


Hunter doubles down on Trump support

What it’s like to be on the shrinking island of Donald Trump political backers — Washington Post These days, being a Republican and supporting your presidential nominee can be a lonely place. A new USA Today survey finds that more than a quarter of top elected GOP officials won’t endorse or have rescinded their endorsement of Donald Trump. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) thinks pulling away from Trump…


Issa on the ropes in once-safe 49th District

SOLANA BEACH, CA. — One by one, Doug Applegate’s fellow veterans stepped up to the microphone and named the threat to America: Donald Trump. One of them shook with rage, discussing Trump’s joke about the “captured” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Others asked how Applegate’s opponent, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), could support Trump and claim to be a friend of veterans. “You have a presidential candidate insult…


Defeat the gun lobby, support these people

Are you sick and tired of gun violence and the barely contained flood of weapons on our streets? Time to drill down to the local election level to get the ball rolling against the pernicious gun lobby and people who make our streets unsafe due to the abundance of guns allowed in our society. This issue has caused us to endorse several candidates for local…


Duncan Hunter defends Donald Trump

“You’re going to see more members of Congress come out of the Donald Trump closet on this to be sure.” — Duncan Hunter to Greta Van Susteren, February 2016 So, you want to vote for Duncan Hunter in California’s 50th Congressional District versus Patrick Malloy. Hunter was the second member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump for president and is co-chair of Trump’s congressional election…


‘Mini-Trump’ Issa in trouble in 49th District

In this upside-down year, Issa finds himself suddenly in danger of defeat, a prognosis worsened by his decision to embrace Donald J. Trump. VISTA, CA. — For more than 15 years, Representative Darrell Issa has not so much as put out a yard sign. A Republican comfortably ensconced in his Southern California seat, he has blown by one challenger after another since being elected in 2000. The days…


Dark money, accusations of campaign finance violations roil Lilac Hills Ranch

As the battle over the ballot measure to authorize construction of the Lilac Hills Ranch housing development enters its final weeks, the money behind the sides is emerging as a central issue in the debate. On the radio…  The proposed Lilac Hills Ranch community is one of the most fiercely contested development projects in San Diego County. It’s made strange bedfellows of environmentalists and developers,…


Lawmakers fund pioneering gun violence research center (Waldron opposes)

California lawmakers have agreed to spend $5 million to open a first-in-the-nation gun violence research center, a move intended to circumvent a ban on federal firearm studies. The research center, which would be based at a campus in the University of California system, would take over a job the federal government dropped 20 years ago. In 1996, Congress — persuaded by then-U.S Rep. Jay Dickey,…