North Pole

Three People to Vote Against

By North Pole | 09/04/08

From the North County Times... anyone the Vista unions are FOR we should be AGAINST...   "VISTA ---- Vista Unified School District's classified employees union decided this week to team up with the teachers union to support the same three school board candidates in the Nov. 4 election.The picks are incumbent Steve Lilly, a retired educator, and two district parents, Elizabeth Jaka and Angela Chunka.The two unions plan to share resources to... read more »

The Tri-City Hospital Bond

By North Pole | 08/27/08

From newspaper reports it looks as though the Tri-City Hospital bond is going to fail, for the 3rd time, after running virtually unopposed. I was hoping Escondido Councilwoman, and fellow blogger, Marie Waldron would cover this because she is a bigger expert in the reason for the failure: illegal immigration.   To the Tri-City Hospital campaign team: we've all been to north county hospitals. We've all seen that the emergency rooms are full... read more »

Attention Boling Campaign

By North Pole | 08/04/08

Straight out of the Marti Emerald for City Council campaign: Marti's campaign team knows they have "a serious Republican problem". She will now be walking Navajo Republicans with a new walkpiece called "Footprint" that makes her sound considerably more Republican. It actually says (paraphrased) that she is against new taxes! She was out there today people... so heads up!     read more »

New Website for Registrar of Voters

By North Pole | 07/25/08

I wanted to look up a particular officeholder this morning so I went over to the website of the San Diego Registrar of Voters and boy was I pleasantly surprised. It's totally new, and much more user friendly. I think any of us who had the misfortune to deal with the old website should offer up a big 'thank you' to the new Registrar of Voters. read more »

Encourage Carlsbad Officials to Eliminate Prevailing Wage

By North Pole | 07/14/08

As reported by the Union Tribune here, the Carlsbad City Council (all five of whom are Republicans I believe) are discussing tonight whether to eliminate the prevailing wage racket in Carlsbad.   Paying "prevailing wage" means that on any construction project, Carlsbad at this time has to pay union wages, which are generally higher than the vast majority of wages afforded to the vast majority of construction workers who are non-union. There... read more »

Kudos to San Diego Councilman Jim Madaffer

By North Pole | 07/13/08

Over the past year San Diego Councilman Jim Madaffer has taken no end of grief in these pages for his ongoing defense of the fiscal disaster that is City Hall. This morning, however, I read that Madaffer has called for the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation to be absorbed into the city's Redevelopment Agency and its staff terminated. Right on the mark, Councilman Madaffer!   For anyone who has not read Will Carless' article about... read more »

Leaping Ahead

By North Pole | 07/08/08

Leaping ahead it looks like the County of San Diego will have a Sheriff's race, finally, in 2010. There have been some earlier blogs on this topic, but the comments were too inside for me to really grasp the lay of the land. So my questions are: who is running? I heard Monday that former Assemblyman Jay LaSuer had declared, as had one of the Sheriff's deputies, Jim Duffy (I could be incorrect on that name). Details, please! In other news it... read more »

Back to Oceanside Politics

By North Pole | 07/02/08

It sounds like it is a done deal: Councilman Rocky Chavez will challange Mayor Jim Wood. Look for this to be a rough one - Wood was often the third vote along with two liberal Democrats in the old 3-2 alliance of which Republicans Chavez and Feller were in the minority. In the 2006 election one of the liberal Democrats lost her seat to Republican Jerry Kern, creating a 3-1-1 situation where there are not enough liberal Democrat votes... read more »

The Changing Face of Media

By North Pole | 06/30/08

In 2006 I read an interesting chart put together from the Pew Research Center called "The Changing News Landscape". I was sure I'd want to look at it again later so I filed it away in one of the many piles of papers that dot my office. I found it again today.   The chart charts where people are getting their news. So for instance:   In 1993 77% of people regularly watched the local news in 2006 it was 54%.   In 1993 0% of... read more »

It's the Economy, Stupid

By North Pole | 06/17/08

Is there anyone who hasn't noticed the rising prices at the store for basic foods? Don't worry though, the government says there really isn't much inflation. In short: riiiiiiiiiiiight. My understanding is that if the government used the same formula for calculating inflation that they used in the 1970's the chart on the evening news would look like a very steep hill rather than a slight incline.   So I ask the readers: what should the... read more »