- Mayor Dennis Donohue 2010 Re-Election Campaign Kick Off(Event)(15 hours)
- Volunteer kickoff with Assemblymember Anna Caballero(Event)(1 day)
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robert's blog
Jeff Denham's Campaign Manager Engages in Racist Taunts of Recall Supporters
Posted April 29th, 2008 by robertWhen a politician is faced with a recall effort, they typically choose one of two responses. They can emphasize their achievements in office and prove to voters they deserve to stay in office, or they can denounce the recall as a waste of time.
Not content with those two approaches, Jeff Denham has invented a third response: use racism to attack opponents. Supporters of the Denham recall in Modesto were subjected to racially motivated insults from John Franklin, Denham's campaign manager. Several eyewitness reports confirm that Franklin singled out a Latino man carrying a pro-recall sign and yelled "Don't I know you? You look like the man who does my lawn." Franklin then turned to some African American recall supporters and said "Obama yo mamma" and "who you voting for? I bet you're voting for Obama."
Denham's campaign manager opened the way for other Denham supporters to engage in racist attacks. One woman taunted a Latino supporter of the recall asking "can you even read your sign?"
John McCain's Role in "Sweetheart Deals" With Fort Ord Developers
Posted April 22nd, 2008 by robertThe New York Times today published a major exposé on John McCain's favors for a land developer at Fort Ord. Although McCain tells voters he does not do such political favors, the article demonstrates that in fact McCain helped the developer obtain a "sweetheart deal" that netted $20 million in profit, at the expense of not only the public interest, but also of stressed water supplies in the Monterey Peninsula/Fort Ord region.
According to the article, in 1994 McCain provided crucial assistance to the developer, Donald Diamond, who was looking to buy several housing complexes from the military as Fort Ord was closing. The talks "stalled over price and water supply" - Diamond was seeking more water than was reasonable - and McCain's legislative aide Ann Sauer "interceded with the Army" and "got the thing resolved." Diamond was sold the land for $250,000 and given an "unusual guarantee from the Army that provided a generous water allowance outside the standard allocation process" - despite the region's well-known and ongoing water shortage problems.
In 2001 Michael Keenan and his family bought the development from Diamond - for $30 million, giving Diamond a $20 million profit. Keenan told the New York Times it was a "sweetheart deal," and the paper quoted unnamed city officials on the Monterey Peninsula as being "rankled" by the unusual water bonus.
Jeff Denham Runs From the Recall - And From His Record
Posted April 15th, 2008 by robertJeff Denham has begun airing TV ads, starring Bill Jones, criticizing voters for putting the recall on the ballot, and claiming that Denham was merely holding out (for six weeks) last summer for a better budget.
These claims require us to ignore both history and the law - both of which show that the recall of Jeff Denham is a completely legitimate use of the recall, especially since Republicans have themselves used it frequently in the recent past, including to deal with legislators who failed voters on the budget.
As Democratic strategist Garry South explained in the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday, Republicans have used the recall for some rather trivial reasons:
"In 1994, they tried to recall Sen. David Roberti because he had co-sponsored the assault-weapons ban. In 1995, they tried to recall Assemblyman Mike Machado because he had committed the sin of voting as part of the Democratic caucus to re-elect Willie Brown speaker. Also, in 1995, they recalled two of their own members of the Assembly because they dared vote with Democrats in an evenly divided Assembly to a) re-elect Brown speaker or b) elect themselves speaker. Then of course, there was the recall of Gray Davis in 2003, funded by a rich GOP congressman who wanted Davis gone so he could get the job himself."
