robert's blog

Morning Update 7:41am With all precincts reporting, Jane Parker has the lead in the 4th District with 4,364 to Ila's 4,075. We don't know how many late absentee and provisional votes there are to be counted, however.

Bill Monning has won the Democratic nomination in the 27th Assembly district by a wide margin - 51% to Emily Reilly's 24% and Barbara Sprenger's 22%. Congratulations to Bill Monning, who is likely to win the November election and be our next representative in the Assembly!

Some other local races: Pacific Grove's Measure U, a 1% sales tax increase, passed by a 2-1 margin. Tom Wills is likely to face Mark Hood in a runoff for the open Superior Court seat. As expected, the Denham recall did not pass, but it received its strongest support here in Monterey County, with nearly 40% of voters choosing to recall their state senator. In the 15th State Senate District, over 3,500 write-in votes have been cast, but we do not know how many were cast in Monterey County, nor do we know if they went to Dennis Morris, the Democrat, or Abel Maldonado, the Republican masquerading as a Democrat in the write-in vote (to block Morris). We hope to have final information for that and all other races soon.

Update 12:02am Votes continue to trickle in around AD-27, and Bill Monning maintains a sizeable lead with 52% to Emily Reilly's 24% and Barbara Sprenger's 20%. As with the District 4 race we are not likely to know the final results until the morning - and on that note, I'm out for the night. Thanks for reading!

If Ila Mettee-McCutchon wants to represent District 4 on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, it makes sense to examine her record as Marina's mayor. Ila has been a champion of "growth" policies that, as the empty fields in Fort Ord suggest, have not produced much actual growth. As the housing market enters its most difficult period in nearly thirty years, and as homebuilders across the country are pulling back on projects, the city of Marina is planning to sink $96 million in public funds in subsidies to private developers at the stalled The Dunes development.

A commentary in Saturday's Monterey County Herald by Quinton Roland explained why this is such a risky move:

The financing proposal defies development industry wisdom and economic realities. Just as alarming is that no alternative uses for the public's $96 million in tax revenue have been evaluated....Marina officials offer no debate as to which projects won't get done if The Dunes soaks up a generation of tax-increment revenues. California redevelopment law says that this money could pay for police and fire stations, schools, affordable housing, courthouses, libraries, parks, youth centers, senior centers, community centers and more.

In fact, many Marina residents already feel underserved by their city's government, as police and fire response times rise due to sprawl and other community investment needs go unmet. Roland concludes:

The Monterey County Democrats have proudly and strongly endorsed Jane Parker for District 4 Supervisor. So have most local Democratic leaders, including Sam Farr, John Laird, Fred Keeley, Bill Monning, the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, and the Santa Cruz/Monterey chapter of Progressive Democrats of America. Ila Mettee-McCutcheon's endorsers include the Monterey County Republicans and Jeff Denham.

And her list of endorsers certainly does NOT include former President Bill Clinton. So why is she prominently using his picture in a mailer captioned "In the tradition of great leadership....Monterey County 4th district Democratic Leaders Endorse Ila Mettee-McCutchon for Supervisor?" President Clinton does not support her candidacy. Ila is a conservative Republican whose politics are directly counter to those of President Clinton's. So why is she trying to infer to voters that she has his support?

Vinz Koller, chair of the Monterey County Democratic Party made the following statement today: "Every election it seems we see a mail piece from a local Republican falsely claiming support from a Democratic president. This time it's Ila Mettee-McCutchon. Ms. Mettee-McCutchon is a conservative Republican who does not have the support of the Democratic leadership or the Democratic base. Jane Parker, by contrast, has always been there for us – and she’s a straight shooter."

One of the best ways to understand a political campaign - especially a local race, such as the contest for District 4 Supervisor between Jane Parker and Ila Mettee-McCutchon - is to go out there and talk to voters. On a sunny afternoon last weekend, I did just that, walking a precinct in Marina for Jane Parker. The experience showed just how much Marina residents - who know Ila the best - are yearning for change.

Voters in Marina feel left out - politically and economically - from Ila's policies. The sprawling growth that Marina has embraced has not made these voters any happier or more prosperous. Several people I talked to complained about city services being overstretched to serve the new developments, or about new roads that ruined their quiet neighborhoods and even sent hordes of ants into one voter's home. Many mentioned that Marina still lacked jobs that paid well - one CSUMB student said he wanted to stay in Marina after graduation but couldn't see how he could get a job that would pay him enough to stay, certainly not at the big box stores that Ila has welcomed to town. Residents saw a tragic irony that instead of jobs, the sprawl that Ila embraced had merely produced barren fields and empty storefronts.

Democratic superdelegates are beginning to make a historic decision about the future of their party and our country - coming together to embrace change and a wise foreign policy. No, they're not yet ready to settle the nomination, but Sam Farr and a group of superdelegates are instead providing leadership on bringing the war in Iraq to an end. Their goal is to unite the superdelegates - regardless of who they have endorsed - to support a party platform plank calling for complete withdrawal of US troops and a diplomatic effort to bring peace to the region.

On a conference call last week cosponsored by the Win Without War Coalition Farr explained the new initiative:

"Superdelegates may disagree on their support for the Democratic nomination, but we all agree that we must end the war in Iraq and end the bloodshed. It's time we give diplomacy a chance in the Middle East, and the best place to begin is with a new Democratic president. I remain uncommitted as the Democratic nominating process winds down but my desire to end the war in Iraq has never wavered. The only way to bring this war to a close is to put a Democrat in the White House, and this is the first step to ensure that voters know where Democrats stand."

Farr was joined on the call by Barack Obama supporters Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Jim Moran (D-VA) and Hillary Clinton supporters Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

The group's proposed platform language would include:

During his reelection campaign in 2006, Jeff Denham told the public he had refused a 12% pay raise - but as was later revealed he in fact took that and several other pay increases that he told voters he'd rejected.

This deception has become the subject of a new ad by the Denham recall campaign:

The ad is set in a classroom and the script is as follows:

With our schools facing cuts, Jeff Denham said it was wrong for politicians to raise their pay. Teachers agreed. How can politicians take more, when our schools are getting less? But Denham took the raises politicians didn't deserve. He secretly canceled his pay cut and started collecting a 12 percent pay raise. Then, he did it again. Another secret pay raise - during the budget crisis. Jeff Denham still has a lot to learn. Don't we deserve better? Vote Yes on the Recall.