The books are almost closed on the Special Election in SD 35. Almost 300 votes stand between conservative Diane Harkey and a seat in the California legislature. Assemblyman Tom Harman is sitting in an enviable position – especially when you consider that only 600 or so provisional ballot stand left to counted.

Nevertheless, if you took a vote here on the public side of the counter at the Registrar, Harkey would win overwhelmingly. There are about 30 Harkey volunteers here led by Scott Hart, Jimmy Camp, Adam Probolsky and former FEC member/elections attorney extraordinairre Daryll Wold.

The Harman folks, all five of them, are led up by Duane Dichiara, Jen Jacobs and former FPPC commissioner/legal beagle Ben Davidian.

Of course, the outcome is more or less assured today. I’ve been doing this stuff for too long.

But my counsel to Team Harkey will be to look into a recount. Recounts are never bad because they just provide a microscope to the process. Will it change the outcome? Probably not. But it will give peace of mind to thousands of Harkey supports who will want to know that every avenue was persued in ensuring that… Read More

LIVE from the OC Registrar of Voters…

There are no votes left to count. So the unofficial final count in SD 35 is 37,840 (38.76%) for Harman, 37,604 (38.52%) for Harkey and 22,176 (22.72%) for the Democrat, Caballero.

So, while there are no more votes to count, there are almost a hundred thousand votes to be RE-counted. Which is what I think will happen now.

A .24% difference (236 votes) seems like a small number of votes to pick up, but as someone who has worked a lot of recounts, it would be impressive if Diane Harkey could make this up. that said, improbable is not impossible.

Acting Registrar Neal Kelley will certify this election soon, and then it will be Team Harkey’s call, on whether to finance a hand-count of the ballots…

Stay tuned!… Read More

Today’s Bee profiles the Valley Taxpayer’s Coalition and three of its leaders. Former Fresno City Council members Chris Mathys and Ken Steitz form the nucleus of this group, with the assistance of former City Manager and current Lincoln Club of Fresno County officer Jeff Reid. Reid is the policy guy, and no one read more and understands better the quagmire of government information than he.

Actually, this is my favorite "thing" about the taxpayer groups. They actually read legislation and fine print and when they point out the details it makes people crazy.

That having been said, I don’t support all of their viewpoints. But they are a critical counterweight to those in local and county government that would tax and spend without a thought, and an even better counterweight to business men and women that get a little wild on the spending side as well, with government money, of course.

So, let’s not be afraid of or hold taxpayer groups in contempt. We… Read More

As devoted FR readers know, elections took place in areas outside San Diego and Orange counties. You can see a previous post on Arcadia here.

The big city to have municipal election was Long Beach. The three-term Mayor Beverly O’Neil is retiring. There will be a runoff between SCE Exec Bob Foster and Councilman Frank Colonna. Colonna is a registered Republican. He has a steep hill to climb. Foster got 48.5% of the vote.The flasher cop cameup very short..See my post here. In the hotly contested city auditor’s race Laura Dowd was successful in paying back incumbent Gary Burroughs. You can see my last post on that here.

Finally there are a couple elections too close to call still. See here. Will the Long… Read More

There are two leading Democrats running for the 18th Assembly district: Bill MCCammon, the Alameda County Fire Chief, and Mary Hayashi, the former director of the California chapter of the American Public Health Association and a major advocate of Prop. 63.

According to the Oakland Tribune, carpetbagging may be issue in this race.

It seems that Hayashi and her husband have spent a little time district shopping. After living in Sacramento, the couple moved to Castro Valley in 2001 and Dennis Hayashi, a civil rights advocate/attorney and former Clinton appointee, ran for the 20th Assembly District in 2004. After losing, the couple relocated to a part of the Castro Valley that was in the 18th district and Mary Hayashi filed for as a candidate for the 18th.

McCammon, on the other hand, is a life-long resident of Alameda County. McCammon counts Senate President Don Perata as a key supporter, while Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez appointed Hayashi to her post on the Board of Registered Nursing. Both… Read More

Tonight, Republican activists and donors from all around San Diego County will cozy up at the Kona Kai resort at Shelter Island for the County GOP’s annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner (if you know local party boss Ron Nehring, it’s not hard to understand how his hero, Ronald Reagan, got equal billing on the marquis on this annual event). There will be a "who’s who" of the Republican scene on hand with Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, incoming Assembly Republican leader George Plescia, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and a host of statewide Republican candidates all coming to support their party, and hear from keynote speaker Jim Gilmore, the former Republican Governor of Virginia and also a former Chairman of the Republican National Committee. But it won’t be Gilmore that is the star attraction at this event tonight, nor Ackerman or Plescia, or even my buddy Ron Nehring. No, tonight is going to be all about Brian Bilbray and Eric Roach. As you have all read, Bilbray appears to have eked out a narrow victory in a crowded field for the honor of being the lone GOP contender on the ballot against liberal Democrat… Read More

Busby, Bilbray Headed to Runoff in California Special Election

By David M. Drucker Roll Call Staff

Wednesday, April 12

ENCINITAS, Calif. — With only provisional and absentee ballots still to be counted, it appeared former Rep. Brian Bilbray (R) could be headed back to Congress later this spring — if he can get by Democrat Francine Busby in a June 6 runoff to replace the jailed and disgraced Duke Cunningham (R) in California’s 50th district.

As the candidates await the tally of those approximately 10,000 ballots, first-time campaigner Eric Roach — a multimillionaire who bankrolled his race to the tune of at least $2 million — was a close second to Bilbray among the Republicans with 14.46 percent of the vote to Bilbray’s 15.15 percent. The closest Republican… Read More

There are times when it is convenient that there is ‘breaking news’ to cover – and today would be one of them. I’m going to take a few minutes to talk about last night’s Special Elections in San Diego’s 50th Congressional District and in Orange County’s 35th State Senate District. When I say it is ‘convenient’ — that is because in the absence of covering these races, I would be left with nothing to talk about except the poor public policy and political choiceof Governor Schwarzenegger championing a solo-war against greenhouse gas emissions that will really only serve to make it that much more expensive to work and live in the Golden State.

A California-only solution is not going to solve anything. When one looks at issues like what the proper role in government should be in protecting and preserving the environment should be, and also take into account that any time the government comes in and messes with the marketplace, there is an economic cost involved (as well as a freedom-cost depending on the specific actions of government)… Sigh. We’ll be looking at this environmental… Read More