San Diego Politics Blog

Republican State Senator Bill Morrow has earned an important endorsement in his campaign for Congress.

According to Morrow’s campaign manager/consultant, Joe Justin, Morrow has been endorsed by the California Republican Assembly (CRA).

The CRA is considered the leading conservative Republican organization in the state, although its lost a bit of its luster in recent years as conservative influence in the California Republican Party has waned somewhat.  For instance, the CRA (with shrinking membership) endorsed Gary Bauer for President in the 2000 elections.

This is certainly a victory for Morrow over his conservative challengers, especially Howard Kaloogian and Eric Roach.

As of the 5pm filing deadline on Monday, 18 candidates actually filed to be on the ballot for the Special Election for Congress for the 50th District.  (Thank goodness the number went down instead of up from 23 where the newspapers last listed the count).

From the North County Times:

Pending the authentication of signatures, the Republican candidates whose names will be on the ballot include: former congressman and La Costa resident Brian Bilbray; businessman and Carlsbad resident Bill Boyer; former Del Mar Mayor Richard Earnest; former government union official and San Diego resident Milton Gale; San Diego businessman and philanthropist Bill Hauf; homeland security analyst and San Diego resident Delecia Holt; San Marcos resident and former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian; state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside; Big Bear resident and California Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Newsome; businessman and San Diego resident Scott Orren; Solana Beach resident and former Superior Court judge Victor Ramirez; businessman and Rancho Santa Fe resident Eric Roach; former professional football player Scott Turner; and Del Mar businessman Alan Uke.

Four other candidates have also qualified for the special election ballot. The two Democrats include: Cardiff School Board member Francine Busby, who ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee against Cunningham in 2004; and former bank executive and Oceanside resident Chris Young. Others include math teacher, Carlsbad resident and independent William Griffith; and Oceanside resident Paul King, a Libertarian.

And here’s the report from Dani Dodge of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

A reader of the SD Politics Blog sent us a link to an L.A. Times story which details the contributions made by insurance companies to lawmakers and the possible influence it may have on their votes.  Singled out for greatest attention (not necessarily positive attention) was Assemblyman Juan Vargas.  Vargas is currently challenging Democrat incumbent Bob Filner for Congress.

The premise of the article is that fire victims are suffering, and the politicians are giving the insurance companies the green light to do what is best for business, even if policyholders are hung out to dry.

Not that this will surprise anyone, but here is the endorsement.  I suspect we will see many other Democrat clubs and local Democrat leaders do the same.  The best hope Democrats have to win this seat is to rally around Busby with all their might, and hope the climate of corruption leads San Diego voters to demand a significant change in who represents them in Congress.

Republican congressional candidate Richard Earnest joins Uke, Roach and Kaloogian on the TV airwaves.

You can watch his first television ad here.

Where are Bilbray, Busby and Morrow?

The North County Times has solicited reader opinion about how forgiving we should or should not be of ex-Congressman Duke Cunningham.  You can sound off with your opinion here.

This past weekend, Cindy Sheehan fired back at Move America Forward (the pro-military group that countered Sheehan in her vigil outside President Bush’s Crawford ranch) and Deborah Johns who is a MAF spokeswoman.  Her column was posted at the progressive news/opinion site, Common Dreams.

With Sheehan and MAF both in town with competing events this promises to be an interesting weekend!  Keep the popcorn handy.

Mayor Jerry Sanders is calling for "impact fees" on developers to help pay for more City parks.  The North County Times has the story here.

Apparently the contributions from Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee aren’t all that big, because San Diego Mayor, Jerry Sanders, has announced a "National Caffeine Awareness Month."

The SD Politics Blog Administrator would like to let Mayor Sanders know that I am fully aware of caffeine as it is right now, thank you very much.  Each day is made complete by several cups of liquid containing said drug.

Seriously though, it seems an odd thing for the Mayor to be focused on given all the problems facing our city.

The San Diego Union Tribune has a drawing for free tickets to the 2006 Latino Film Festival.

You can enter to win tickets here.  You can learn more about the Film Festival here.

I’m posting on this topic because I understand there will be a number of politically-themed documentaries including ones dealing with the U.S.-Mexico border issues.