If you can’t beat them, join them. State Assemblyman Brian Maienschein went from red to blue Thursday, Jan. 24. Maienschein announced at the State Capitol in Sacramento a switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, saying he had “shifted to the left” on key issues in recent years, specifically citing gun control, immigration, abortion and LGBTQ rights. The old switcheroo changed the state Assembly…
To help students become more engaged in the political process, Cal State San Marcos decided to bring the politicians to them on Tuesday, Oct. 9, exactly four weeks before the election. About 150 students, faculty, staff and community members turned out for CSUSM’s first candidate forum, held in the ballroom of the University Student Union. Of the six candidates invited, four were in attendance: Ammar Campa-Najjar, running to…
On March 13, President Donald Trump inspected towering border wall prototypes at the U.S.-Mexico border during the two-day trip to California – his first to the Golden State since the November 2016 election. Surely he did not expect a warm welcome. Not only did Trump lose the state by more than 4 million votes, but his trip comes hard on the heelsof a lawsuit filed…
State Rep. Marie Waldron (R-75th District), who portrays herself as a fiscally responsible conservative, took the highest amount of mileage reimbursements in the California Legislature during the 2015-16 session, state records show. Nine of the Legislature’s 120 members — 80 in the House, 40 in the Senate, in all — who took over $20,000 in payouts represented almost half of the mileage reimbursements, according to…
There were no fireworks at the seventh biennial San Diego County Democratic Convention on Saturday, Oct. 21 at Escondido’s California Center for the Arts. The old cliché of organizing Democrats being akin to herding cats did not apply to this particular gathering. Some people–gasp!–were even having fun. The trauma of Trump has eased, and what I saw were a bunch of folks bound and determined…
Rancho Santa Fe businessman and self-financed candidate for governor John Cox barely registered a blip in the first major statewide polling on the race. Cox came in as the third-rated candidate with 9 percent support among likely voters in the latest Berkeley IGS Poll released today, Thursday, June 8. His fellow Republican gubernatorial wannabe former California Assembly member David Hadley did even worse, attracting 7…
While Washington Fiddles… As the nation’s Republican leaders huddle to reconsider their plans to “repeal and replace” the nation’s health law, advocates for universal health coverage press on in California, armed with renewed political will and a new set of proposals. Organized labor and two lawmakers are leading the charge for a single, government-financed program for everyone in the state. Another legislator wants to create…
A Rancho Santa Fe venture capitalist with way too much money and zero chance of winning, today declared himself a Republican candidate for governor. Rumored for a while, John Cox, 61, became the first Republican to declare for the 2018 governor’s race. He has run for office three times and lost three times. One of those losses came as a candidate for President — of…
The people who provide vending machine treats — micro-markets in trade parlance — and coffee around California break rooms descended on Sacramento for some good old-fashioned marketing two weeks ago. One of their leaders was Jeff Leider, president of San Marcos-based Tri-R Coffee & Vending and first time legislative day participant. His dad, Norm Leider, founded the company in 1984, and created the intriguing Tri-R…
Earlier this year, following his sub rosa Washington D.C. meetings with the chief Geico lobbyist, we asked the question: Where in the world is state Sen. Joel Anderson, R-38th District? He’s your state senator in case you didn’t know, and he was about as far from Sacramento as possible. Answering that question is easy this week. Anderson is at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San…