So I have no idea what’s going to happen in the Second District tomorrow. Just finished up some phone banking for Clif a couple of hours ago. He has a dedicated cadre of volunteers who have been on the phones for weeks, and they are definitely upbeat as a result of their calls. On the other hand, Estelle has run a very spirited campaign with considerable enthusiasm behind her campaign. It’s all about turnout now.
Whatever happens, I’m proud to have known Clif, and he has approached both campaigns with integrity. He has anticipated the possibility of losing, and told his supporters: ”There are worse things than losing. And I haven’t done any of those things.”
But he has every reason to be hopeful. He is naturally doing very well in Fortuna, and on Sunday at the Summer Arts and Music Festival I saw a surprising number of people with Clif’s buttons.
But Estelle isn’t taking anything for granted. She was campaigning heavily at SAMF, and was clearly enjoying herself – even stopping to greet well-known Clif supporters.
Meanwhile, KMUD will be airing coverage of election results from 8:00 on, with regular KMUD commentators pairing up for an hour each. Ed and I will be on from 8:00 to 9:00.
Clif will be celebrating his victory at Hot Brew in Fortuna beginning at 7:30 – 904 South Fortuna Blvd. More information.
Estelle begins celebrating her victory at 3:00 at her Garberville office (next to Madrone Realty), and then the party moves to her Fortuna office (12th and Main) at 6:00.
….
Mark Lovelace will be celebrating at Jumbalaya (915 H Street) from 8:00 to 11:00. Trifecta will be playing. Kym posted more info.
….
I can’t find the victory party locations for any of the other local candidates. If you have information, please forward it to me.
….
The photo above obviously comes from Wisconsin, where a recall election is underway. The polls seem to support the Governor, but the opposition is convinced that traditional models of voter likelihood won’t apply here particularly because they have an incredible ground game underway. Still, something like 35 percent of union members were polled in support of Walker. Reagan may be gone, but his Democrats endure.
….
The photo to the right is me the Solomon campaign HQ. They’ve done some excellent phone banking themselves, and hope to reclaim some of the enthusiasm which might have been compromised by recent road bumps. But when you have campaigns with lots of volunteers willing to suffer the wrath of voters, or potential voters, weary of campaign calls, you always have strong possibilities, and the morale was upbeat. Shane and Taunya have run an excellent local campaign on Norman’s behalf. Taunya took the photo while I was making calls.
….
This could be the last time I’m online until late tomorrow night. I’ve got a mediation which could take all day, and then I’ll be heading out into campaign world and my laptop is down.
….
Lastly, I guess I should pay more attention to the campaign in my own district. It was quiet for so many months, but it’s going out with a bang.
Looking forward to Wednesday.
Addendum: Hank’s predictions.
This morning I went to vote and had intended to take a picture along the way. A few days ago there was a lawn with about three or four Bohn signs and three or four DeModena signs. I wanted to post the photo and entitled it “marital bliss.” But this morning I drove by and the signs were gone, replaced by a “for sale” sign. Seriously. Looking closely at the house, it’s not occupied.
Some hopeful news out of Wisconsin - “crazy” high turnouts, which usually benefit progressive campaigns. From the Kos post:
Madison City Clerk tells me turnout is on pace to hit 119% in Madison, adding “That would be unprecedented.”
This is actually a mathematical possibility due to same-day registration. But lest I sound too sanguine:
… a reminder that GOP turnout is also through the roof.
Second addendum: Andy gets dissed by Kos – no mention.
CA-02 (D): The new 2nd is the successor district to the current Marin County-based 6th, at 71 percent Obama one of the bluest mostly white, mostly suburban districts anywhere in the country. Long-time Rep. Lynn Woolsey is retiring, opening up the chance to get some new progressive blood in the House. Democratic Assemblyman Jared Huffman has been viewed as the de facto frontrunner here, and the main question has been which Democrat emerges from the top-two primary to face Huffman in November. Activist Norman Solomon seems the likeliest to survive, at least based on his own internal polling; that would set up a bit of a netroots-versus-establishment battle, although this may be more a matter of temperament than actual ideology. Other Democrats in the race are EMILY’s List-backed businesswoman Stacey Lawson (who was in second in the only other poll we’ve seen, a Huffman internal), Marin Co. Supervisor Susan Adams and Petaluma City Councilor Tiffany Renee. One other possibility, given how fractured the Democratic field is, is that Republican Dan Roberts could grab the second spot, though he’d be doomed in November. (David Jarman)
56 comments
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June 5, 2012 at 6:59 am
gpf
The 2008 Rodoni voters (many republican) are voting for Estelle. There will be a good republican turnout at the polls today.
In Fortuna, the business community (with exceptions) backs Estelle. The fire department is pissed at Clif for ignoring them when choosing a fire marshall. Others are simply unimpressed with, and tired of apple boy.
The Fortuna area environmental community that was prominent in Clif’s 2008 race has vanished. Clif’s support comes from those who know him, and consider that to be the only qualification necessary for the job.
In Rio Dell (more conservative than Fortuna), some on the city council are pissed at Clif for turning his back on them on the Scotia/Rio Dell annexation issue. I think they have been spreading the word. Yes, these people may be on Clif’s endorsement list, but they are voting for Estelle.
Estelle Fennell 60%
Clif Clendenen 40%
June 5, 2012 at 7:24 am
moviedad
It’s all become such a sad joke. Bullshit issues, Soft-balls tossed back and forth while the two candidates pretend to have differences while both are working tirelessly for the traitors that have moved their money to China. Yeah, Yeah, “Their” money. I wish I had a million dollars to spend investigating just where their money really came from. Can it really be different when it comes to local politics?
June 5, 2012 at 7:38 am
Eric Kirk
Well gpf, we’ll know tonight. I have no idea really, even after phone banking. I feel good about Clif’s prospects based on the calls, but this isn’t an ordinary election.
I remember phone banking for Mike Wilson a couple of years ago and coming away thinking it was a cake walk against Hauser. It was.
I remember phone banking for the progressive Eureka City Council candidates in 2006 and not coming away feeling so good. It didn’t go well.
It’s not feeling like a slam dunk to me, but it’s feeling pretty good, and I’m wondering if Clif’s numbers in Sohum will surprise everyone. But my bets are on a close race, within 10 percent either way.
It’s a nice day today afterall. I don’t know who that benefits.
I voted in the First District at just after 8:00, for Cheryl Seidner. There was one voter leaving as I got there and one voting when I was there. Seems low for a Eureka precinct. I don’t know whom that will benefit, if anyone.
June 5, 2012 at 8:34 am
Anonymous
gpf said
>>>meanwhile my friend called me saturday and said that the election dept had called him: he’d forgotten to sign his ballot and since i was going up to eureka monday could he ride along and sign it? he had voted for clif, solely on the advice he had procured from his friend on barley hill…i said sure, why not but when monday rolled along and i was jumping on the virtual estelle bandwagon i told him that i might not give him (in jest) a ride up there since his wayward vote was for clif. i explained how cool it would be to have a local on the board and he asked me if i knew estelle. yeah i did, i said, she’s alright. well, he said, i’ll change my vote to estelle then…
so i made the post at 8:48 and up we went to eureka where the election dept refused to let him change his vote but for a few hours there i felt like i was voting for estelle, although i never really could have voted for either<<
There are many different ways to change ones vote. If your friend was truly interested in doing so he could have. The election dept would never refuse to let someone change their vote for a candidate.
He really wanted to vote for Clif, and was trying to make you feel good.
June 5, 2012 at 8:35 am
Fred Mangels
I normally don’t make predictions, but I did this time around. I predicted too close to call. I’ll change that just a bit now and say close, but the incumbent wins simply because the advantage of incumbency. Makes no difference to me either way.
June 5, 2012 at 9:45 am
Anonymous
voting for Estelle. There will be a good republican turnout at the polls today.
June 5, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Stephen
I voted for Roger Rodoni, and then his wife and I didn’t vote for Estelle. I voted for Roger again since the dead man’s shoes cannot be replaced by the two candidates seeking office.
And Andy got my vote too even though I think he’s another one of the EF! fame junkie wannabes and doesn’t have much of a chance of getting elected. Still, he’s honestly representing my segment of voters, the aging hippies, so since Susan showed no sense in selecting Salzman as advisor she lost my vote right there.
June 5, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Anonymous
“Lastly, I guess I should pay more attention to the campaign in my own district. It was quiet for so many months, but it’s going out with a bang.” [Link to NCJ article on 1st district race]
You live in the 1st district?
June 5, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Dave Kirby
I voted at So. Fork High. I was there about 2:30 and was the only one who had voted on the register page I was on. Unless there’s a late rush it doesn’t look like much of a turnout so far. Rip Kirby was right behind me so that makes two on that page.
June 5, 2012 at 4:36 pm
gpf
The Fortuna fire hall was pretty much deserted when I voted at 2pm. Maybe more voters after work?
I see that Estelle’s team has ‘vote today’ placards on some of her big signs.
June 5, 2012 at 5:08 pm
tra
Polls just closed in Wisconsin. Sounds like turnout was high, and it may be a very, very close race:
“Polls are now closed in Wisconsin. A CNN exit poll found the recount tied at 50% for Gov. Scott Walker, and 50% for Mayor Tom Barrett.”
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/cnn-exit-poll-walker-50-barrett-50
June 5, 2012 at 5:22 pm
anon
the humco election dept said my friend’s vote couldn’t be changed because
the absentee ballot was postmarked…
June 5, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Anonymous
huh? gpf made the statement about the friend.
June 5, 2012 at 5:56 pm
tra
Exit polls revised to 52% Walker, to 48% Barrett
About 20% of votes in so far, Walker ahead about 60%-40%. Not many votes counted yet from Madison and Milwaukee, but so far Barrett’s margin in Madison kind of underwhelming. Walker running up big margins in rural counties.
NBC has already called it for Walker.
June 5, 2012 at 5:59 pm
tra
CNN & Fox and ABC also calling it for Walker.
June 5, 2012 at 7:50 pm
tra
Mail-in ballots just announced:
Bohn way out in front in the 1st, with about 66% to Seidner’s 26% (and 7% for DeModena). Apparently the mail-in ballots are probably going to be 1/3 of all ballot cast, so that’s a pretty steep hill for Seidner to climb. But of course she doesn’t need to win outright, just hold Bohn below 50%. But it looks like Bohn has a pretty good chance to win outright tonight.
Fennell ahead in the 2nd district, but not by a huge margin: Fennell 1,624 votes (51.4%), Clendenen 1,523 votes (48.2%), so only a 101 vote lead for Fennell. Looks like it’s going to be very close.
Meanwhile, in the 3rd district, it’s Lovelace with about 61% over Brooks with about 39%. No surprise there.
June 5, 2012 at 8:22 pm
tra
Meanwhile, Hank Sims has “called it” for Rex Bohn to win it outright, based on the belief that the absentees will probably amount to 40% of the overall vote. According to Hank, Rex would have to get less than 25% of the votes cast at the polling place, in order to fall short of 50%.
Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence…
June 5, 2012 at 8:24 pm
anon
wow, last time the mail-ins reflected almost exactly the total results–
could be a good night for estelle…
June 5, 2012 at 9:22 pm
tra
On the other hand, an increasing portion of those mail-ins are from rural areas where there is no longer any polling place to go to, so if Estelle’s (presumed) advantage among rural voters has already been accounted for in the totals we have so far, then only being behind by 101 votes at this point — before any of the results from the polling places have come in — might in fact be very good news for Clif’s campaign.
I guess we’ll find out the final result pretty soon…hopefully at least by tomorrow.
June 5, 2012 at 10:27 pm
tra
KMUD just reported tallies from the polling places in Garberville and Redway.
Garberville: Estelle Fennell 88 votes, Clif Clendenen 40 votes.
Redway: Estelle Fennell 87 votes, Clif Clendenen 45 votes.
Great percentages for Fennell, but am I correct in saying that this seems like really LOW turnout?
Apparently these are just the machine votes, not absentee votes dropped off at those polling places. Still, it seems like really low turnout for Redway and Garberville, which would not be good news for Fennell, who it is assumed would have to run up a big margin in SoHum to overcome Clif’s (assumed) advantage in Fortuna.
On the other hand, we don’t know what the turnout in Fortuna was like yet. If turnout was light there, too, then I guess the two would more or less cancel out.
June 5, 2012 at 11:19 pm
tra
A large number of the votes from 2nd district polling places just came in, and now Estelle is ahead by a significantly larger margin:
Fennell: 2,460 votes 53.42%
Clendenen: 2,126 votes 46.17%
So, that’s a lead of 334 votes for Estelle.
According to the commentary on KHUM, probably only about 400 or 500 votes left to be counted. Not sure if any of those outstanding votes are machine votes from polling places, or whether they’re all mail-in ballots that were handed in at the polling places.
Either way, if the estimate from the KHUM host is accurate, it would be nearly impossible for Clif to catch up. Only possibilities I could see would be either there are a lot more outstanding votes than the KHUM hosts estimated, and/or most of the outstanding votes are from some specific precincts where Clif won by a huge margin.
So it’s looking very good for Estelle at this point. But we probably won’t know for sure until tomorrow.
June 5, 2012 at 11:36 pm
Eric Kirk
It looks like it’s probably over. The four downtown precincts in Fortuna were among the last to close up and Clif had some big leads there, but even if they weren’t counted, that’s a pretty big margin to make up.
June 5, 2012 at 11:40 pm
Eric Kirk
And it’s looking like Dan Roberts did sneak ahead of the progressive Democrats for second place, though Solomon may catch a break depending on where the remaining votes come from.
All in all, a pretty dismal night for progressives, locally and nationally.
June 5, 2012 at 11:48 pm
Eric Kirk
Done deal.
http://co.humboldt.ca.us/election/results/2012/2012jun-electionnightfinalreport.pdf
June 5, 2012 at 11:57 pm
tra
According to KMUD, it sounds like the Fourth (and apparently final) Report is in, and it looks like a 4% margin of victory for Estelle. That’s a good solid win, but it’s certainly not a massive blow-out or anything. Hopefully Estelle will bear that in mind as she begin to move from campaign mode into governing mode, and she will work hard to find common ground and reasonable compromises wherever possible. From what I know of Estelle, I’m hopeful that that’s exactly what she’ll do.
Now an interesting question will be whether the Board will attempt to push some controversial items (most notably the General Plan Update) through during the rather long lame-duck period between now and when the new Board is seated in January 2013. I think that would be really unfortunate, and hopefully they won’t try to do that. Of course if they did so, and then it turns out that what they pass isn’t acceptable to a majority on the new Board, the new Board could always reverse some of those decisions…but that seems like it would be a real waste of time and energy.
On the other hand, if the GPU is still awaiting action when the new supervisors are seated, Fennell and Bohn may find themselves in the awkward position of a dog that has chased and chased a car…only to find that this time they’ve actually caught it…and then what!?
Try to send the GPU process back to the starting line (or at least back to some mid-point), form Community Advisory Committees and get a lot more public input before moving toward taking action — or just move ahead and vote on specific items, maybe in some cases differently than Seidner or Clendenen would have? It will be fascinating to see what happens next.
June 6, 2012 at 12:06 am
Eric Kirk
Whatever. I’m stepping back for awhile to focus on my kids. They’ve got their WalMart and they’ll have at least two years of 4 to 1 votes to remake the GPU however they want it. Hopefully at the end of it there’ll be something left to salvage.
Congratulations to them though. It was all played very well, and they certainly earned their win.
In the end, Clif was outspent 3 to 1. The ads were effective.
Bohn got out well in front before the progressives even knew what was happening.
Well played.
June 6, 2012 at 12:14 am
tra
It will also be interesting to see if those who have been working so hard to demonize Fennell as some kind of ultra-conservative, “tool of the developers” will suddenly find it a bit more convenient to soften their rhetoric a tad, and maybe try working with her instead of just writing her off.
June 6, 2012 at 12:29 am
Eric Kirk
I think probably the emphasis is going to be on raising money for lawsuits if the GP is ultimately not in compliance with state law. I heard some talk about that earlier.
I also heard talk about trying to push passage of the GPU before the end of the year, but there’s nothing to stop the majority from undoing it later, cleaning out the Planning Department, and starting over as you say, and ending up with minor changes to the existing plan. That’s pretty much what the election was about.
June 6, 2012 at 12:42 am
tra
“They’ve got their WalMart…”
Now that’s just silly — none of them had any control over the fact that WalMart decided to move into the Bayshore Mall, nor would Clendenen or Seidner, or Patrick Cleary, or Bonnie Neeley — or any other supervisorial candidate — have had any control over that either.
“they’ll have at least two years of 4 to 1 votes to remake the GPU however they want it. Hopefully at the end of it there’ll be something left to salvage.”
And I think they’re going to find that it was a whole lot easier to run against the existing GPU process with all it’s shortcomings and screwed-up history, than it will be to come up with a new GPU process that will both satisfy their base voters, not alienate too many swing voters, and also meet various state mandates, etc. It will be interesting to see how they each try to thread those needles. And I think there will be some real incentive for them to pass a compromise version of the GPU while they have to votes to do so, rather than just stalling for two full years and then running the risk that several of them will lose their seats and therefore the others will lose their majority and their ability to shape the outcome. And of course they will be aware that if they pass something that a sizeable majority of their constituents find really objectionable, then several of them could lose their seats in as little as two years, and the others in four years, and then their successors could reverse a lot of it. (Yes, in theory the GPU is supposed to last for 20 years, but in reality I believe pretty much any of it can be changed by a majority vote on the Board of Supervisors at any time.)
“In the end, Clif was outspent 3 to 1. The ads were effective.”
Well, we don’t really know if the ads made any substantial difference or not. And for that matter, we don’t know if the billboards in Fortuna helped Estelle, or hurt her, or neither.
We do know that Clendenen had the all advantages of incumbency, he had excellent name recognition thanks to his family’s business, he had a strong campaign organization, and he had the hometown boy advantage in the district’s largest population center. But sometimes, in the end, it just comes down to the fact that a fair number of the incumbent’s constituents just weren’t as thoroughly wowed by the incumbent as the incumbent’s close supporters thought everyone should be, and as a result a majority of the voters simply decided to give the other candidate a chance this time around.
It was a close race, and in my opinion a pretty clean and fair one on both sides.
June 6, 2012 at 12:47 am
tra
“I think probably the emphasis is going to be on raising money for lawsuits if the GP is ultimately not in compliance with state law. I heard some talk about that earlier.”
Sounds like Healthy Humboldt and HumCPR may be performing a bit of a role reversal in that regard.
At any rate, yes, compliance with state law will be one of the constraints on the new majority’s version of the GPU, and surely they will be aware of that.
June 6, 2012 at 1:08 am
tra
I would rather have seen the 1st district race go to a runoff in the fall. I haven’t been real impressed with Bohn, and would have liked to see Seidner have a better chance to define herself and her positions to the voters.
Unfortunately she got into the race kind of late, and against an opponent with high name recognition and lots of support, financial and otherwise.
Listening to Seidner in the KHUM interview I thought she came off as somewhat scattered and at least as vague in her answers as her opponent — and surprisingly uninformed about several significant local issues. For example she apparently had never even heard of “railbanking” and couldn’t say whether she supported the idea or not, much less whether she supported it in any particular instance…seems like the fault of her advisors for not preparing her for a question that was certain to come up in an interview with Miike Dronkers, given that he’s long been an outspoken advocate of rail-banking and rail-to-trail.
I liked Seidner’s emphasis on the potential for increasing opportunities for mariculture and aquaculture in Humboldt Bay. And she certainly has an impressive resume, including significant leadership experience. I think she could have been a real contender, given a little more time and preparation. Whether that would have been enough to overcome the Bohn juggernaut or not…well, I don’t know. But it would have been nice to see her have a better chance to prove herself.
June 6, 2012 at 1:53 am
tra
“Bohn got out well in front before the progressives even knew what was happening.”
Well it wasn’t exactly a secret that Bohn was going to run for that seat, it wasn’t a secret that he had high name recognition and a reservoir of positive feeling from all his volunteer work and non-profit fundraising, and it shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone that he would be very well-funded.
So I don’t think the issue was one of surprise — Bohn’s opponents just dithered way too long in coming up with a candidate, waiting and waiting and endlessly hoping/speculating that maybe Patty Berg would jump in, and then at some point seemingly giving up on running anyone at all, before finally coming up with Seidner on literally the very last day she would be allowed to get on the ballot. Poor Cheryl started out a day late and a dollar short, and probably never really had a chance. Which is too bad, because like I said above, I think she might otherwise have at least had some kind of chance.
June 6, 2012 at 5:40 am
Fred Mangels
There’s something to be said for wanting to run for the seat, as well. As Rex told me himself, he’s wanted to run for this seat for some time. Cheryl only ran after being asked to by some Dem bigwigs.
That can make a difference and I think it showed on the KEET LOWV forum I watched. Just as tra alluded to, the candidates all gave generic answers and my observation was they all stumbled in front of the camera- some more than others.
Rex seemed to be more familiar with the issues, which I attribute to his personal and long standing desire for the job and involvement with the issues.
Still, I saw no real disagreements between the candidates which really made me roll my eyes at the vitriol directed toward Bohn over at the Humboldt Herald by the Seidner group.
June 6, 2012 at 5:59 am
PD
Looking at results this morning. The last time I remember feeling this horrified was when Bush and Cheney got re-elected. Really Humboldt? Really? Both Estelle and Rex? Ah well. There’s always Portland.
June 6, 2012 at 7:37 am
moviedad
The right in this country is a well-oiled missile whose targeting system has been set to “Progressives, liberals, workers, immigrants, etc.” The are vocal, organized and they’re acting out of self-preservation, The money of the those directly responsible for the financial and social problems has successfully redirected the anger and fear towards the other half of the same economic group.
The blame game has always worked for kings and oppressive governments.
The whole political apparatus from the Koch bros. to the local tea-party activist has been digging in and creating favorable policies towards its positions. In my opinion.
I think a big problem with the Democratic party is that the broad membership is looking to the leadership for passion and direction when the leadership is blatantly supporting the right’s position because it benefits their class.
Nothing is going to change until Americans wake up to the fact that it is all about the political interests of the wealth-class and the working-class being incompatible.
Yeah, Yeah; I’m sure in a perfect world they could be made compatible.
I’ve been through so many progressive-post-election-depression and reflection periods that in some ways I feel the fascist-traitor-corps. have taken over and they are heading us all straight over a cliff.
The “Cliff”:
War,
Economic favoritism,
Anti-Intellectualism,
Theocracy,
Exceptionalism,
Police state,
Abandonment of human rights,
Privitizing (stealing) Global resources, etc., etc.
“It’s gonna take a miracle.”
June 6, 2012 at 7:51 am
Dave Kirby
In this district roughly half the registered voters are not affected by the GPU no matter how it shakes out. Congratulations to Estelle. I was frankly surprised by the size of her victory margin. A couple of hundred votes in an election where only 33% of the registered voters showed up is not that close.
June 6, 2012 at 8:06 am
Anonymous
This is not a mandate. Estelle should remember that when she did not receive 47% of the vote.
47% of the voters did not vote for Estelle. She should think of that every day.
Estelle for the next 4 years. (censored – evk)
June 6, 2012 at 9:07 am
Bolithio
These are all relatively moderate people. Im sure this will become even more apparent after a few years of office. Its not like they are going to go around starting tire fires.
The land of lesbians and louts.
Power to the Louts!!!
June 6, 2012 at 9:17 am
Eric Kirk
I would rather have seen the 1st district race go to a runoff in the fall. I haven’t been real impressed with Bohn, and would have liked to see Seidner have a better chance to define herself and her positions to the voters.
She would have voted to put the GPU to rest. You should be glad she lost TRA.
June 6, 2012 at 10:19 am
tra
While you might prefer if everyone lined up neatly behind one “team” or the other, and all according to a very two-dimensional set of criteria, if you don’t mind, I’d rather decide for myself what to be glad about and what not to, and what to have mixed feelings about.
June 6, 2012 at 10:22 am
Eric Kirk
Well TRA, you want the GPU revised, or even rebooted. Cheryl would have voted against that. It’s was actually the one point of clarity of difference with Rex that I saw in the whole campaign.
June 6, 2012 at 10:34 am
tra
It’s not the only issue, as you have often pointed out yourself. And given that Estelle won, Seidner would not necessarily have been the deciding vote there anyway.
I understand what you’re saying, but I just find it a bit annoying to be told what I “should” be glad about. I am glad that Estelle won, so if you feel the need to be snippy about something, you can be snippy about that.
June 6, 2012 at 10:39 am
Eric Kirk
Well, maybe I should ask out of curiosity – what have you got against Rex? He’ll deep six everything in Plan A, probably much more decisively than Estelle.
Is it a cultural thing? He’s a real nice guy. He’s done great things for the community.
June 6, 2012 at 10:42 am
Stephen
It will take a miracle to get a radical Democrat into office in both the 1st and 2nd Districts. The Progressive Dems aren’t, never were really radical, only paid lip service to the radical Left but were essentially liberal Democrats in action. The activists were doing the supposed “radical” stuff while the Progs supported them. But even the activists weren’t presenting anything new, just protesting against the existing dysfunctional American way, mainstream social system. Me, I’ve been trying to get activists to stop looking at the old Left and its failed philosophy of social change. I’m loyal to the Communitarian radical social change philosophy and really do think that’s the way to go because the whole system’s dysfunctional and we need to get busy preparing for America’s inevitable replacement by China, then India, of top dog position in the world economy. We are going to become like England did to the United States. This means our economy will be totally dependent on the health and prosperity of the Chinese and their economy. Firefly’s Chinese language universally seen was no joke. This is unless we Americans use good old “American know how” to create leadership in sustainable self-sufficient cooperative community systems which are the only way to get out from under the corporate capitalist worldwide hegemony in which China will emerge victorious and wealthiest nation on earth. If you are self-sufficient, you don’t need Chinese goods to live your lifestyle and that’s where the Communitarian movement has always wanted to go–complete independence from outside dysfunctional, mean-spirited social systems.
But clue, history shows only those cooperative self-sufficient communities that last are religiously based because it does take a spiritual consciousness and religious dedication to be willing to Share the wealth generated by us all as whole, a Family. I don’t know if Humboldt County’s ready for this kind of radical change but maybe in four years we’ll find out.
June 6, 2012 at 10:51 am
Dave Kirby
I think with the new board very little will change. CPR’s agenda is going nowhere in this economy. There may be some movement on the TPZ/Residence issue but it will be a return to the old pre Maxxam position that allowed owners to build a residence on their TPZ. Having seen the mountains of soil and amendments being trucked around this year its only a matter of time before price of pot goes through the floor and with it the demand for rural property. In the urban areas falling home prices and stingy lenders will preclude any major developments from going down. And Eric as I have stated before the board of supes has zero control over whether Eureka or Fortuna bring in big boxes. It was a bogus issue in 08 and it still is.
June 6, 2012 at 11:07 am
tra
“Well, maybe I should ask out of curiosity – what have you got against Rex?”
Well, for starters, his support for WalMart, for Arkley’s Big Box by the Bay, for the CalPine LNG plan. And no, I don’t dislike him personally, and as I have readily acknowledged he certainly has done a lot of great work for the community. And maybe he’ll turn out to be a fine supervisor, I don’t know.
I’m just a bit disappointed that Seidner got in so late and didn’t have as good a chance to make her case as she might have if she had gotten in earlier. Would I have supported her after hearing more from her, learning more about her vision for what she would do if on the Board? Well, I can’t say for sure, because that never happened. But I do think she was a potentially formidable candidate, worthy of respect and consideration, and unfortunately her timing was not good. You seem to think that I’m not supposed to have that point of view, and that I’m only supposed to care about the GPU. Gee, sorry for not being the cartoon character you seem to want me to be.
June 6, 2012 at 11:10 am
Eric Kirk
And this is the question which keeps coming up – in both campaigns – does Estelle oppose the big box by the bay or WalMart? The first time she was asked about big boxes she responded “it depends on which big box.” This time she just responded that as a personal choice she won’t shop there, but didn’t address it as a matter of policy. Will she be a swing vote if it comes to a county issue? I hope so. But she will lose votes in Fortuna if she does. Clif’s anti-big box stand cost him votes. More than a few. Whether they voted for Estelle or sat out the election, I don’t know.
June 6, 2012 at 11:11 am
tra
I guess I’m going to just sign off for now, because it seems like your anger/bitterness/resentment/disappointment is getting in the way of having any sort of meaningful dialogue. (And I can certainly sympathize, having been on he losing side of plenty of campaigns over the years.) I’ll try again later, or some other day.
June 6, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Dave Kirby
Eric …… It is not a county issue, never has been. It reminds me of those clowns up north calling me when I ran for the hospital board asking me to state my position on corporate personhood with the implication that if I didn’t side with them my name would omitted from “THE LIST”. The sooner you guys give up your phony litmus tests and get to what’s relevant to the office the better it will be for your digestion. Its no wonder you’re losing ground politically.
June 6, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Eric Kirk
Legalization of marijuana, Richardson Grove, positions on state propositions – none of those are “county issues.” But nobody questioned the raising of those issues as indicative of philosophy of government, which is relavent whether the particular proposals will be acted upon. If Rob Arkley wants to develop his Loleta tract, it might come up. It’s been raised as a concern for the Cutten proposal, though the developer said that they had no intention of installing a big box there. It could be in issue in McKinleyville.
Incidentally, big box questions will come up with HCOAG.
June 6, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Eric Kirk
NCJ took photos at all the parties last night.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151044828554180.490196.56751179179&type=3
June 7, 2012 at 7:51 am
moviedad
I think it’s fair-game to ask anyone running for anything about any issue that is deemed important by the citizenry. Global, National or Regional.
How about you?
Also, I’m very heartened to hear TRA, treat Mr. Bohn with respect even though he disagrees with him. This is what we need to counteract the manipulation by the media. I don’t appreciate being told who to hate.
June 7, 2012 at 8:01 am
Anonymous
“I don’t appreciate being told who to hate.”
Why do you see it as being told to do anything? It’s an individual’s expression of their own “whatever”. You’re a “nice guy”…that much is obvious…but don’t lose sight of the big picture. If somebody signed a piece of paper that suddenly had a directly negative impact on your immediate life forever, you might have a hard time containing your emotion when talking about that person. Everybody expresess themselves in different ways…anger is legitimate. It’s an emotion, they are all part of us and as important as any other.
To expect everybody to be “enlightened” to the point of regulating their honest expressions, if they are in fact livid, is ridiculous, sorry.
June 7, 2012 at 8:06 am
Anonymous
…think about extreme scenarios, moviedad. Riots in egypt. Riots in seattle. Breaking points are very real, be glad you haven’t been pushed that far, don’t turn against good people who ultimately want exactly the same as you just because, for whatever reason, they have a differnt way of expressing their one of a kind perspective. Politics is specific decision making (like which specific candidate from which specific choices of candidate will one choose?)…Yes or No on Measure/Prop _____? Pave the field or plant more trees on it? Simple yes and no’s…if the question were “burn moviedad’s house to the ground” and a growing population began to politely call for that, you mihgt not be so polite yourself.
Where people stand around the line in the sand is what’s important, don’t let the internet fool you.
June 8, 2012 at 7:13 am
Anonymous
Eric, how do you explain the stock market? Hmm ? And if you haven’t got it I’m tlaking about the jump the day AFTER the election !
June 8, 2012 at 7:38 am
Eric Kirk
You mean the stock market jumped because Estelle won the election?
Or because Obama won the straw poll in Wisconsin?
Actually, I think it’s because the central banks in Europe pledged to prop up Spain. That’s what the Wall Street Journal said, but what do they know?