Will the Real Steve Francis Please Stand Up? - Part 2
Posted by: Vito Andolini | 03/31/2008 10:18 AM
Will the Real Steve Francis Please Stand Up? (Part 2 of 2 parts.)
Okay, before I get started, someone felt the need to "out" me, the Don himself, in the comments section of part 1. As if I was hiding the fact that I am none other than the Godfather by using my real God-given name, before Mario and Francis Ford brought me to this great nation. As if Mighty Thor, Hugh Akston, Mr. Murphy and Crash 'N Burn are real names. As if.
Please don't embarrass yourself with such pettiness and suggestions of suppressions of free speech. This is a darn blog, with opinions. Take it too seriously, instead of doing what you really need to do to win for your chosen candidate, and your chosen candidate will surely lose. If they win, please know they will end up in my back pocket, however. I am the Don. And, as my son Michael says (I paraphrase), don't ever take sides with anyone against a Red County blogger again. Ever.
Leave the gun, take the canolis. Now, on with part 2 of the Real Steve Francis:
Gay Marriage
At a 2005 Mayoral debate sponsored by the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center and the Gay & Lesbian Times, Steve Francis said that he supported civil unions. He boasted that AMN Healthcare offered domestic partner benefits and that he would encourage businesses with city contracts to also do so (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Gay Rights, Talk of Taxes Stir Up Debate," June 18, 2005).
In 2008, when he announced his most recent candidacy, Francis denounced Sanders' decision to go along with the city council's endorsement of gay marriage as "inappropriate," saying, "You don't (put) your personal situation into policy" (parenthesis in the original...The San Diego Union-Tribune Opinion Online, "Steve Francis Debuts Mayoral Bid with Wildly Mixed Themes," Posted January 15, 2008).
Immigration
AMN Healthcare has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby the federal government, primarily to push for relaxed immigration laws, and backed comprehensive immigration reform legislation critics said would provide amnesty to undocumented immigrants. (Federal lobbying disclosure forms do not disclose the exact payments made by clients to lobbyists, making a precise total unavailable. When individual payments exceed $10,000, the payment amount is recorded, rounded to the nearest $10,000.)
Meanwhile, as a candidate, Francis has promised to crack down on illegal immigrants, pledging to give local police greater discretion in asking the immigration status of detainees, pressing for a citizenship check of incarcerated felony offenders and seeking a comprehensive review of San Diego's "sanctuary city" policies (Steve Francis for Mayor Web site, "Improving Public Safety").
Eminent Domain
In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that expanded government powers of eminent domain, Francis rejected calls for limitations on San Diego's eminent domain powers. Councilmember Donna Frye had responded to the ruling by proposing to limit how public officials can acquire private property and to preserve industrial land. Francis said property seizures should be handled on a case-by-case basis (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Frye, Rider Urge Private-Property Protection," July 1,
2005).
The high court ruled the previous week that public agencies could seize private property and give it to private developers for economic development (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Frye, Rider Urge Private-Property Protection," July 1, 2005).
But in January 2008, according to San Diego CityBeat, Francis, in front of a progressive audience, "criticized abuses of eminent-domain law" San Diego CityBeat, "The New Steve Francis," January 29, 2008).
Politicians
During his 2005 mayoral candidacy, Francis derided "politicians," saying, "We don't want a politician as usual" as mayor (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Mayor Candidates Sharpen Tone of Debate as Election Approaches," July 18, 2005).
However, including his two bids for mayor, Francis has run for office at least six times:
-Francis won two terms in the Nevada state assembly, in 1982 and 1984.
-Francis was defeated in a bid for Nevada state Senate in 1986 (Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Question for the Candidate: Will Cash Balance Out the Nevada Ties?" June 4, 2005).
-Francis briefly ran for the California state Senate in 1995, putting up $300,000 for the race, but dropped out, saying he wanted to tend to his business (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "GOP Fight for Killea Seat Could Be Costly," October 26, 1995).
-Francis considered running for the California state Assembly in 1992 (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "8,000-Year-Old Carlsbad Stone May Fit the Bill as Official Artifact," May 1, 1991).
-Francis has had numerous conversations with Republican leaders in Sacramento about his running for Governor in 2010.
Campaign Tactics
In June 2005, when asked by reporters if he would resort to negative advertising in the wake of a poll result that showed him trailing badly in the mayor's race, Francis said: "We're not going to adopt a negative strategy. We're going to talk about the positives. . ." (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "City Workers', Retiree Medical Costs an Issue," June 24, 2005).
Two weeks later, Francis again pledged, "We don't plan to engage in personal attacks" (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Election Forecast: Blizzard of Ads," July 10, 2005).
When, a week later, Francis released a television commercial criticizing Sanders and Frye on taxes, he insisted: "This is not an attack ad. It's an advertisement pointing out that Mr. Sanders, historically and during this campaign, has supported tax increases. . . . It's painful sometimes when the truth comes out, and he just needs to recognize that this is the truth" (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Francis, Sanders Trade Fire Over New Political Ad," July 16, 2005).
Francis also sent a similar mailer. The ads cited various public statements by Sanders that he was willing to consider a tax increase, and Frye's refusal to rule out taxes and previous votes for tax increases. Neither had proposed a tax increase. Another rival said that a part of the mailer entitled "Jerry Sanders' True Tax Increase Record" falsely implied that Sanders had been dishonest (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Francis Defends Campaign Ads," July 22, 2005).
In its endorsement of Sanders, The San Diego Union-Tribune cited the mailer: "In the closing days of the race, Steve Francis, who shot into contention on a multimillion-dollar television campaign financed with his personal wealth, has turned out to be a disappointment. To the credit of most of the candidates, this campaign has been informative and focused on substantive issues. But Francis' last-minute hit pieces targeting Sanders and Frye -- often with grossly misleading information -- has sullied his standing as he seeks to make a high-level entry into San Diego politics" (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Choosing a Mayor," July 25, 2005).
In June 2005, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that two residents had said they were contacted by a telephone survey that seemed to push support for Francis at the expense of other candidates. The residents said the poll included a question referencing the role stress played in Jerry Sanders' resignation as police chief and a discrimination lawsuit employees filed while he headed the department (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Early Mayoral Telephone Poll Upsets Candidates' Supporters," June 5, 2005).
Francis said his campaign was polling at the time but that his poll asked questions about legitimate positives and negatives on all candidates, including himself. He said he was unsure if the poll being referenced was his poll. He said of his poll, "For Jerry Sanders, we asked questions about the fact that there was a discrimination suit when he was police chief. Or the fact that when he did resign from the police force, he said to the Los Angeles Times, Tony Perry, he said it was because he was getting gout and that he needed a break because he was stressed out. We didn't phrase it in a way that was negative. We just asked that question" (The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Steve Francis," July 3, 2005).
azdrsovy uvjrdqaxg vqrm nvtqul lzvoinar pctf qiwl [URL]http://www.tsgfvzew.gmdctxr.com[/URL] xwjki ksgewl...
I am going to say it again - this is just bush league and not worth spending more than 5 minutes on.
Gay Marriage - no contradiction. Jerry made one of the great flip flops - I would not AFTER the opportunity for folks to come down and comment at the public hearing (who may have stayed home counting on the Mayor's pledged veto)
Immigration - I would like evidence that Francis supported McCain-Kennedy. As I understand it, they supported expansion of the H1B program - a policy in line with Newt Gringrich in his latest book. PLease look at this at 1:48 for the clear statement that seems like support for sanctuary city status to me ;-)
Eminent Domain. No interest in time in looking up a 2005 article.
Politician: Francis would seem to have a lot more "real world experience" than most.
Attack ads: Personally have always dranw the line between issues and charges about personal conduct (such as the anti-Ford ad in Tennessee)
My bad. HEre is Fred saying the City of San Diego does not help with enforcing federal immigration laws. Right about at 1:49
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edZLferO5NM
Considering running for office is not running for office, so the statement above is factually inaccurate. If Francis did not file for an office, he didn't run for it.
And I don't see any evidence of his supporting McCain-Kennedy either.
This post looks like a Sanders whitewash.
I would argue that Francis is a career politician. He has run for office 6 times! He spends millions on his own personal "special interest" lobbyists. How can he clean up politics when he has been a part of the institution for so long? The guy has been running for office since his campaign manager was in diapers!
1. Francis won one term in the Nevada state assembly in 1982.
2. Francis won a second term in the Nevada state assembly in 1984.
3. Francis was defeated in a bid for Nevada State Senate in 1986.
4. Francis briefly ran for the California state Senate in 1995, putting up $300,000 for the
race, but dropped out.
5. Francis ran for San Diego Mayor in 2005
6. Francis is running for San Diego Mayor in 2008.
Right, the six times did not include the "considerations."
I really am laughing out loud. So you are saying that serving 4 years in a part time legislature means someone is "has been a part of the institution for so long"?
Your guy (Jerry) has served 30+ years with the City of San Diego. And if he is the second coming - why in the heck didn't he speak out against the sweetheart pension deals in 1998 and 2002? Even as a private citizen, as someone with 30+ years of BUREAUCRATIC SERVICE he should have known the deal would cause fiscal havoc. Jerry stood silent while San Diego burned. Yup....that is leadership.
When Steve Francis ran for mayor the first time, I was the one that wrote the investigative article regarding Francis and his wife's extensive support for the radical homosexual movement. It was that article that brought down the Francis campaign. While many unethical things were done the night of the county GOP endorsement meeeting to secure the Francis endorsement, once local conservatives were made aware of just how entenched Steve and Gayle Francis were in the gay movement, it doomed his candidacy. Although Francis has now attempted to revamp his public persona as a counter to Jerry Sanders' confused embracement of the liberal homosexual movement, I have uncovered even more disturbing things about the Francis agenda.
Here is just one of the many disturbing things going on with Francis. Recently, Francis has begun to try and play all sides of the fence thus indicating that he has no fixed moral compass. Earlier this year he attended a very large pro-family pastors event at a local San Diego hotel. This occured near the same time that he was doing his debut campaign event at one Hillcrest's homosexual hangout lounges "The Bamboo Lounge." Here is the item that was written up on a lesbian website, Hillquest, about the Francis gay-friendly campaign event: "The (gay) community was invited to Bamboo Lounge Tuesday night to meet mayoral candiate Steve Francis, shown here with Hillcrest Business Improvement Association president Mike Wright, VP Nancy Moors and former HBIA president/Bamboo Lounge owner Alex Marin.
This morning Francis ended months of speculation when he announced his candidacy for San Diego mayor, becoming the first formidable opponent for Mayor Jerry Sanders."
The Hillquest website, is one of the most vicious, anti-republican, anti-christian websites in San Diego. The publisher of that website, Nancy Moors, was at the event with Francis.
This is the real Steve Francis. Playing all sides to win at all costs: even playing around at a gay business with an anti-republican lesbian at the same time that he is being introduced at a pastor's convention that stands for values which the lesbian businesswoman at the Francis debut campaign party condemns.
Written by one who is no friend of Jerry Sanders
Sand20go - just wanted to clarify that i'm ignoring hartline and didn't read his post. I'm responding to you since you seem to not be crazy.
Jerry's BIO
"Jerry Sanders served as Chief of Police of the City of San Diego from 1993 until 1999, capping a 26-year career with the department. During his tenure, he and the department's employees gained national recognition for their pioneering work with community policing and, with active assistance from the community, achieved a more than 40% decrease in crime during the six-year period he led the department. He also re-organized the department, making it more responsive to the community, reaching out to neighborhoods, and utilizing more than 1,000 volunteers to address San Diego's public safety needs."
I would vote for a "BUREAUCRAT" like the one above. Tell me what is wrong with his service? It looks like he helped the city.
If you want to bring up the pension mess, why not check with ol steve and see why he hasn't denounced the unions in this election for their role in the pension crisis? Is it becuase Steve Francis Version 2008 is union friendly?
And yes. Steve is a career politician. Anyone that runs 6 times and drops millions of dollars IS a career politician. I don't care how long he served in the po-dunk legislature, they guy is desperate for power and has been trying to get it for the last 26 years.
You must hate John McCain since all he did after returning from Vietnam was run for office.
Please also reference what parts of steve's plan (accelerated managed competition, a real 401K plan for City employees, greater transparency) is "union friendly"? I think it a lot more union friendly, as is jerry's record, to delay implementation of Prop C 2.5 years and lay of less than a dozen city employees.
Unlike Mr. Francis, McCain isn't pretending to be something he's not. He got elected being the same RINO he has always been. On managed competition, it was Sanders that championed the cause and is implementing it. Working with Mr. Francis's Union friends can draw things out a bit. Maybe Steve can ask them to stop stonewalling for the good of the city?
This reminds me of when you brought up how long it’s taking Sanders to fix the pension crisis and I brought back the quote from Francis, that according to his understanding, it will take at LEAST 3 years to get back on our feet. Well, it’s been 3 years and Sanders is on the brink of entering the bond market.
Last, see Mr. Lincoln's comment to see one more example of Francis cuddling up to the unions (don't forget that he was a union buster in 2005) to try to get an elected office...AGAIN!
Mr. Hartline:
Having had direct access to the polling:
In the previous Mayoral primary Steve Francis actually dominated the Republican and particularly the Conservative vote. The gay issue you cite over and over quite literally had no impact in the campaign.
May I inquire where you get your facts? Please be willing to actually provide something other than your opinions from time to time.
It is not true that Francis dominated the conservative vote. I was there the night that the endorsement battle went on. I saw the corruption that occured that night to gain, what I believe, was a bogus Francis endorsement. Because the Christian/Conservative people at the meeting had, in fact, been informed about Francis and his wife's extensive history of involvement in the homosexual movement via my reporting, the Conservative/Christian central committee members refused to support Francis. They also could not support Sanders after his seven years of gay pride parades. So, they went with Shelby. I don't know where you get your facts from, but I was there. And we will continue to inform our people of the real information on Francis and Sanders and we believe that, as we have already heard, many Christian Conservatives are simply not going to vote for either of these two come election day. I happen to actually be out there talking to voters, rather than just sitting behind a consultant's office door reviewing hypothetical data and theorizing based upon out of date expectations. And I can tell you, the people are fed up with the current political system. Political and civic revival is underway. And I can also tell you that the people who think that they are persuading San Diegans not to listen to me by mocking me, are by and large, losing that game. Take for example the recent Jerry Sanders gay marriage legal brief fiasco. I was the one that broke the orignal story on the legal brief being brought up for a vote by Toni Atkins. As a result of my activism and reporting, it became a major national news story, resulting in 300 Christians turning out at city hall to oppose the item. People are listening to me and eventually our side will win. People in our city recognize my efforts to battle the corruption and immorality in our city. Call it psycho babble all you want. The fact is, people are listening to me and they are standing with me.
James, do you actually think there was a poll done on the Central Committee? Doh! "Facts" was referring to the polling of the actual voters, not the 65 or so people at CentComm. Regardless of what happened at Central Committee that night (I was there as well, and supported Myke by the way), the statistics, pre-polling and exit polling shows that Francis did dominate the conservative vote in the real election. Have you seen the info?
you may have been at the "meeting" but you were not a member of central committee and thus not behind closed doors for the session that lasted until midnight......you were escorted out. just like anyone else not on central and privy to executive meetings.
And the bottom line is that the eventual Francis endorsement that nite came about because the Shelby votes did not stay in the room, while the Francis people did. If the Myke folks had stayed put, Francis would not have ended up getting the 2/3. Shelby's "Whip" was across the street at KC Barbecue instead of ensuring the Myke folks did not leave. Francis won through attrition, pure and simple, a victory of politics and stamina. Even if some believe that the process was "unethical," Francis still would not have achieved the 2/3 if Myke's people had been organized and directed. This is called politics. Why don't you whine about it?
So, you really believe that people did not reveal, in detail, outside of the six hour meeting, what went on inside of that meeting? Do you know how many calls and emails I get from insiders telling me what is going on inside of alledged confidential meetings? Please. Do you know how many people are playing both sides of the fence? Do you know how many people are mocking me in public and then running to me later on with information on people they don't like. I am the one person that you can always count on that acutally stays on one side of the fence, the right one. I refuse to betray our party's platform. I refuse to betray God. And I refuse to betray the people in our city who are counting on me to clean up this rotten mess that professional political activists have created. Neither Francis or Sanders have long term futures in the political realm in San Diego. One will be out due to retirement. The other will be out as he betrays the people he is currently using to work his way up the political food chain.
James, I thought you were running for city council. Glad to see you have the time to troll the blogs, instead of walking precincts, raising dollars, and meeting voters. Seriously, it would be nice to see you come in ahead of Hartley in that district, but you're not going to if you don't work it.
I have a full campaign battle plan underway and implemented. If you notice, I rarely post on this discussion site. We are doing very well in my campaign and San Diego is going to be shocked at the results. If the local GOP were wise they would have decided to stand with me as we are winning many over in the district to my campaign. Of the signatures I collected over half were democrats. Our message is one that crosses political boundaries. The San Diego Republican Party desperately needs to attract people from across the aisle to create a local political revolution. And they are not going to do that by fighting me. They are only turning more voters off by disrespecting me and they give the appearance by attacking me that they are defending the corrupters we are trying to get rid of.
Let's face it, not even Sen. Larry Craig could win that district registered as a Republican. No disrespect, but your battle is for third place.
Obviously, you know little, if anything, about our district. Which also seems to be the case with most of the current crop of Republican consultants, activists and staffers. In the 2004 election, Toni Atkins won with slighty more than 17,000 votes. Her competitor, John Hartley received approximately 8,000 votes. That is a total of 25,000 votes. There are currently 64,000 registered voters in District 3. Approximately 39,000 did not vote in the last election. In this election, there are currently six candidates. We are tapping into the massive reservoir of angry voters who are fed up with Atkins' corruption and the corruption of the city council, mayor and the two partys' leadership who are are not helping us in district 3 at all. Now you do the math and I will continue to talk to my voters in my district.
Yes, I do know how to do the math in elections, which is more complex than simple math, taking into account demographics, registration, turnout and other aspects, including a candidate's ability to influence and turn out an ID'd base of support. Like I said, third, and if you keep it up, perhaps fourth behind Hartley. At least he is precinct walking.
This post was supposed to be about Steve Francis, not James Hartline. But, to be fair, if anyone has some in depth on Jerry Sanders, I'll post it too. Let me know at vitoandolini@cox.net.
Mr. Hartline:
* We are talking about two different things. Mr. Francis did indeed dominate the conservative vote of the electorate in the primary. You are talking about the Republican Party Central Committee.
* I do not believe you were in the room for the Central Committee vote. I do not believe you counted the ballots, or were privy to who voted for who. What I DO know is 2/3 +1 of the committee, the membership of which is HARDLY anything but conservative, picked Steve Francis.
* What is more amusing is the ANTI-FRANCIS folks, in fact led by a couple of your supporters who are no longer on the committee, actually won the vote, then blew it. When the bulk of the voters who voted against Francis left the room to go celebrate, one of the anti-Francis voters, Karen Wynott, re-opened the discussion like a fool (as only a representative of the winning side CAN do). With the anti-Francis people down (gasp) drinking the pro-Francis team called a vote and won.
I'm not making any of this up. Anyone who was there, and I believe you were down in the lobby stewing in your own juices, will tell you the same thing.
I am a resident of San Diego interested in politics. My profession has nothing to do with politics, and I am not associated with any campaign. I have always been curious about how people such as yourself – who call yourselves Christian Conservatives and base your politics on Christianity – view those of other religions such as Muslims or Jews. This is not meant to be put down or demean your position in any way. I'm just curious how those who use religion as their political guide deal with those of differing religions doing the same thing.
My comment above is directed to Mr. Hartline
Could Mr. Hartline provide his own blog url, so people can go there and debate him? ;-)
I and my church MVCF are great friends of Israel. We have many great Jewish friends, thus we have no problem dealing with Jews. In my district, particularly in City Heights, I have met and gained the support of many Muslims who support my long time efforts to protect children and strengthen marriage. I have many supporters in the Ethiopian, Vietnamese and Hispanic Communities as well as many, many African American brothers and sisters who are my good friends.
that was sooo not answering the question.
he asked how you feel about them basing decisions on their own religion, not how you felt about them in general. sheesh
The problem with people like Mr. Hartline is that they wear their religion on their sleeve and think that only their interpretation is correct. Therefore they dislike Catholics and other denominations because they do not agree with Mr. Hartline's religious beliefs. The real conservatives in East County have been getting people elected despite the handful of Hartlines and his likes. Publicly they act as if they are tolerant of others, but privately they run whisper campaigns or attack people from other angles. For example, Duncan Hunter was a friend of Randy Cunningham and helped get him elected. They spoke frequently and even sat next to each other on the plane flying to San Diego from DC. Therefore Hunter must be corrupt and solicited prostitutes just like Cunningham. It is all guilt by association. Twisted logic is what Hartline is all about, but he does it in the name of God so it allows him to gloss over the facts.
Christian to Hartline is someone who believes in his "brand" of faith. So in his mind a Catholic or not a member of a Christian faith is on his approval list, is not really a Christian.
More to the point of this reply, I have a few questions for candidate Hartline to answer:
How do you plan to win your election, if you cannot even raise enough money from your “countless” supporters to do at least one mail piece?
Since you have a problem with the current crop of GOP consultants and staffers, who is advising you on your campaign or are only you and your supporters capable of running a quality campaign?
Finally, why do you spend so much time on blogs responding to comments? Shouldn't you be out spreading the message of your campaign? Your campaign staff should be fired for allowing you to waste so much of your precious time. You should be out amongst the people walking door-to-door. Or is that the tactic of a lame GOP consultant?
P.S. I have done more to get conservatives ELECTED than you will ever do Mr. Hartline. The only thing that you expose is your own idiotic logic, but you take credit for things that your blog and actions really had very little effect on. Want to place a wager that you do not win either of your two races? Oh, never mind, the voters are also corrupt and are too stupid to know the truth. Heck with that logic you should become a Democrat because that is the basis for many of their government funded programs.
Rene, sont vous le français par hasard. Je me demande si ce commentaire sera interdit si j'utilise des mots de juron dans la langue d'amour.
I think perhaps the best advice is to be wary of anyone, regardless of political affiliation, who seeks power as badly (and at whatever the financial cost) as Steve Francis seems to.