Special interests buy legislative seats

Government of, by and for 

the Special Interests

• Million and millions of special interest dollars is being poured into California state Assembly races. 
• The only "choice" voters are given is which one of the bought and paid for candidates to anoint. One thing for sure, the new Assemblymen will eagerly represent the Oligarchs who paid for their campaigns. The voters back home are an optional extra.

35th California Assembly District

(San Luis Obispo Tribune)  -  In the race for the Republican-leaning 35th California Assembly District, Democratic candidate Dawn Ortiz-Legg raised nearly $170,000 more than her Republican opponent, Jordan Cunningham, and outspent Cunningham by about $106,000 in the three-month span from July 1 through Sept. 24 (the state filing period differs from the federal one).

Ortiz-Legg reported raising $530,807 during the three-month period, nearly 80 percent of the total $680,058 she’s raised. Ortiz-Legg also spent more this period than any other — $361,044 of the total $498,874 she’s spent the entire race.

Ortiz-Legg, a San Luis Obispo-based solar energy consultant, ended the period with more cash on hand than Cunningham, with $189,944. She reported $3,820 in debts.

Her larger contributors this period include the California Democratic Party, the Democratic Central Committee for Marin County, the campaign committees for various Democratic state assembly members, and PACs for various education and labor unions, including the California State University Employees Union.

Cunningham, a Templeton-based attorney, raised nearly 70 percent of his total $524,055 contributions in the last three-month filing period — $361,704. He spent $254,747, leaving him with a balance of $178,246 and an outstanding debt of $20,962.

Cunningham’s donors in the last period include the California Republican Party, the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County, PACs representing several labor unions, companies such as Phillips 66 and Phillip Morris USA, and individuals including San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow and Assessor Tom Bordonaro.

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sacbee.com

The central coast's 35th Assembly District

Celebrity donors pour money into California congressional seat

Director James Cameron, from left, actor Christopher Lloyd and
director Ivan Reitman have all contributed to candidates in the wide-open
race to represent the 24th congressional district in the Central Coast.

Perhaps the #1 Targeted Seat

(Los Angeles Times)  -  What do Christopher Lloyd, the director of “Ghostbusters,” one of the nation’s largest coal companies, James Cameron and a political action committee representing the nation’s dentists have in common? They all have opened their wallets to influence what is shaping up to be the hottest open-seat congressional race in California.

Among the four open seats in California’s congressional delegation, the race to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Lois Capps (Santa Barbara) is attracting some of the most attention. As the crowded field of at least seven candidates prepared to debate Thursday, here is a look at the dollars flooding the district.

2014 General Election

The Central Coast’s 24th congressional district

Capps’ retirement, and her daughter’s decision not to seek the seat, prompted a mad scramble in a peculiar district where Democrats have a slight advantage in voter registration — 37% Democratic, 34% Republican and more than 23% of voters choosing no party preference. Though President Obama carried the district by 11 points in 2012, tea party favorite Chris Mitchum — actor Robert Mitchum’s son — came within four percentage points of ousting Capps in 2014. A last-minute influx of $170,000 worth of attack ads and phone banking from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee may have saved the party an embarrassing upset.

This time around, Democratic Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal and 27-year-old Republican businessman Justin Fareed are building formidable war chests, hoping to make it out of the top-two primary on June 7.

It isn’t surprising that Carbajal leads the money race with just under $1.38 million raised over the course of the year and $970,309 in the bank. He has received Capps’ endorsement and a seal of approval from the party’s leadership — including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). Over the weekend, he also won the support of 82% of local Democratic delegates giving him strong odds of winning the California Democratic Party’s backing at its convention later this month.

The lion’s share of his campaign’s money —$1.2 million — came from individual donors ranging from famous Santa Barbara County philanthropist Michael Armand Hammer to filmmaker Peter Douglas and hundreds of other donors. The most common profession listed on federal forms for Carbajal’s donors? Retired, attorney, president/CEO and owner.

Another sign of his strong establishment support: $134,096 of his campaign’s money has come from political action committees and leadership committees: $5,000 from House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer’s AmeriPac, $10,000 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers PAC and $10,000 from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ fundraising PAC, called the Committee for Hispanic Causes/Building our Leadership Diversity PAC, or CHC BOLD PAC.

Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, a Democrat, is lagging far behind in the money race, though her campaign touts her support from women’s rights groups and a summer poll she conducted showing her leading Carbajal.

Schneider raised $479,183 in 2015 and ended the year with almost $246,947 in the bank. That means Carbajal raised $900,774 more dollars than the next best Democrat in the race.

Schneider boasts financial support from environmental activist Suzy Amis Cameron and her husband, “Avatar” director James Cameron. “Back to the Future” actor Christopher Lloyd gave $5,400 to Carbajal while the original “Ghostbusters” director, Ivan Reitman, gave to both Fareed ($2,500) and Schneider ($2,700).

Achadjian (L) and Fareed

Republicans Katcho Achadjian and Justin Fareed

Republican State Assemblyman K.H. “Katcho” Achadjian of San Luis Obispo is the fourth-best fundraiser — though he enters the race with perhaps the best name recognition among local voters. The former San Luis Obispo County Supervisor led both the poll released by Schneider’s campaign last year and one released by his own campaign this week, showing him with 20% of voters while the two Democrats each got 12%. The rest of the field all had less than 7%.

He raised just under $386,915 in 2015 and has $257,084 in cash on hand. He received $2,000 from the American Dental PAC as well as a few thousand dollars from other members of the state assembly, the San Luis Obispo County Wine Community PAC and the San Luis Obispo Deputy Sheriff's Association PAC. Achadjian received $345,000 from individuals, including several Central Coast businessmen. Among that group was developer Gary Grossman and vineyard owners George and Daniel Daou.

Fareed — who works for his family’s business, Pro Band Sports Industries Inc. — raised more than any other candidate in the last quarter with $438,353 to cap off a year with $869,398 raised. He ended the year strong with $767,265 in cash on hand.

He also received most of his money from individual donors, including Santa Barbara County Supervisor Peter Adam and investor Stephen D. Bechtel Jr., the former chairman of the Bechtel Corp.

He also has received support from GOP Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (Alpine) as well as Kentucky Rep. Ed Whitfield’s leadership committee, Thoroughbred PAC, which contributed $5,000. Fareed once worked for Whitfield in Washington, D.C. Murray Energy Political Action Committee, the political wing of coal mining giant Murray Energy Corp., gave Fareed’s campaign $5,000.

Fareed, who came 615 votes short of beating Mitchum in the 2014 primary to face Capps, is making a strong run for the seat. He hired Kay­la Berube, who was Wis­con­sin Gov. Scott Walk­er’s state polit­ic­al dir­ect­or in New Hamp­shire, to be his cam­paign man­ager. He also has hired Gridiron Communications as consultants — a firm that counts presidential hopeful Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as a client — and Harris Media LLC, an online and digital strategy firm that has worked for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential campaign, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party.

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California Lake Dries Out and Blows Away

A picture of Lake San Antonio at full capacity shows a stark contrast to what it looks like today. The last time it was full was in 2006. The lake closed on July 1.

And Yet Another Week Passes

• The People's Republic of California is blowing away in a dust bowl.  As the state dries out we see the political hacks in Sacramento ignore building a string of desalination plants up and down the coast.  
• Democrats love to spend money, but they just can't bring themselves to spend money on creating brand new water.

(NBC News)  -  Four years of drought have contributed to enough water loss in the lake to reduce the water level to only 5% of maximum capacity. "My family's sick about it," Johnston says, "It's in my back yard and for us it's a place we can get to in twenty minutes and have fun. It's a sad thing."

"When I first started here the lake was full and we'd have seven people working in here," said Linda Nursement, who works the entry gate to Harris Creek Campground at Lake San Antonio. Nursement and others are losing their jobs. "I'm in better shape than most people. This is just a part time job for me" she said.

The swimming beach of Lake San Antonio is miles away from water.

The Basham Point boat ramp no longer reaches the water of Lake San Antonio.

Water flows from below the Lake San Antonio Dam at the rate of 5 cubic feet per second which is considered "minimum fish flow release." The lake is almost at the point of dead pool, where it is physically no longer possible to release any water at all. At that point, the San Antonio River will no longer flow below the dam.

The lakebed of Lake San Antonio is dry as the California
drought enters its fourth year.

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Central California lakes dry up and blow away.

From Better Days
Boat Rental at Lake Nacimiento & Lake San Antonio - Paso Robles, CA, 

RPTA student Chelsea Modlin wakesurfing on Lake Nacimiento

Santa Barbara Congressional Seat Opens Up

Swing District - A hot race in 2016

(Sacramento Bee)  -  Democratic Rep. Lois Capps announced Wednesday that she will not seek re-election in 2016, potentially setting up a high-dollar battle in her central coast district, which has only a small Democratic voter registration edge.

The 24th Congressional District was almost completely revamped by the state’s independent redistricting commission after the 2010 census. It stretches from Santa Barbara, Capps’ hometown, to Paso Robles and Democrats outnumber Republicans by just three percentage points, 37 percent to 34 percent, with a high proportion of independents.

Capps, 77, faced a stiff challenge last year from Republican Chris Mitchum, son of movie star Robert Mitchum, and won re-election by just 3.8 percentage points.

GOP Assemblyman
Katcho Achadjian of San
Luis Obispo may run.

“It’s time for me to return home,” Capps said in a YouTube video.

She won the seat in a 1997 special election after her husband, Walter, died of a heart attack just nine months into his first congressional term.

After Capps’ retirement announcement, the political buzz over potential successors began immediately with her daughter, Laura Capps, atop many lists due to her family and high-level political connections. She was a White House speechwriter during the Bill Clinton administration and is married to Democratic political consultant Bill Burton. who was President Barack Obama’s press spokesman in the 2008 campaign.

Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, a Democrat, announced Wednesday that she would seek the seat. “I am running for Congress to get things done in Washington. We need more common sense and fewer political stalemates,” Schneider said in a statement.

Another potential Democratic candidate is Assemblyman Das Williams, who also hails from Santa Barbara and will be forced out of the Assembly next year by term limits, but he’d almost certainly step aside for Laura Capps.

Santa Barbara Republican small businessman Justin Fareed announced he would run. “The real choice in this election will not be between a Democrat or a Republican, but rather the progress that will move us forward in a positive direction or the status quo that most certainly will sacrifice it,” he said in a statement.

The 24th Congressional District is 37% Democrat, 34% Republican and 29% independent and smaller opposition political parties.

Mitchum could run again but the most likely Republican possibility is Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian of San Luis Obispo, one of the Legislature’s most centrist GOP members. He reportedly is taking a few days to discuss it with his family before making a decision.

Achadjian also must leave the Assembly next year due to term limits and has taken out papers to run for the state Senate seat now held by Democrat William Monning, who’s eligible for one more term in the upper house. Monning’s incumbency and the 17th Senate District’s more than 15-point Democratic registration advantage would make that race problematic for Achadjian, however.

Still another Republican possibility is former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, who ran against Capps in 2012 and lost by 10 percentage points.

It’s even possible that former Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, who ran for Congress last year from a neighboring district but lost, could shift to the 24th CD. It includes a tiny slice of Ventura County, Gorell’s home turf.

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The Golden State Olden Days
President Ronald Reagan (R-California) with Santa Barbara GOP
Congressman Bob Lagomarsino in the center and some pussy no new
taxes liar on the right.  Now Santa Barbara is represented by Democrats.

California's 24th congressional district election, 2014
Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lois Capps (incumbent)	45,482	44.5
	Republican	Christopher Mitchum	15,927	15.6
	Republican	Justin Donald Fareed	15,013	14.7
	Republican	Dale Francisco	12,256	12.0
	Republican	Bradley Allen	6,573	6.4
	Democratic	Sandra J. Marshall-Eminger	3,675	3.6
	Democratic	Paul H. Coyne, Jr.	1,753	1.7
	No party preference	Steve Isakson	947	0.9
	Republican	Alexis Stuart	527	0.5
Total votes			102,153	100.00
General election
	Democratic	Lois Capps (incumbent)	103,228	51.9
	Republican	Christopher Mitchum	95,566	48.1
Total votes			198,794	100.0
	Democratic hold