Free Republic

MORAGA -- The five candidates for the 10th Congressional District seat entered the final week of campaigning Monday night participating in a cordial debate with few surprises. The candidates -- vying Nov. 3 for the seat left open when Rep. Ellen Tauscher resigned in June to take a U.S. State Department post as undersecretary for arms control and international security -- spoke before almost 300 people in a Saint Mary's College auditorium. Although the seat has been in Democratic hands since 1996, Republican candidate David Harmer brought the largest and most vocal supporters Monday night. <snip> With a house bill...

In the other special House election this year, in California’s 10th district, Republican David Harmer and Democrat John Garamendi squared off in a debate last night. One of my readers who was there noted, “Garamendi was stiff and pasty, he was not happy that Harmer supporters were there 5-1. Harmer was smooth and in his element. Will be posted on YouTube later tonight. Good moderator.” I can’t quite come out and say Harmer’s going to pull out an upset, but it feels like the ingredients for one are starting to come together. First, it’s a special election, and so most...

The Iraq war and President Bush have faded from voters' thoughts in the year since President Obama won the White House, leaving this year's Democratic candidates to justify $787 billion in stimulus spending despite lingering high unemployment and pushing a health care overhaul amid widespread voter skepticism. <snip> From California to New York, dominant themes are health care, Social Security, the weak housing market and misgivings about Wall Street bailouts. But for the first time in years, several polls show voters trust Republicans more than Democrats to better address the problems of the day. California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a...

Forum with David Harmer and John Garamendi Monday, October 26 7:00pm (Please arrive by 6:15pm) Soda Center, St. Mary's College, Moraga (map) We are asking all of our friends and supporters to join us tonight, October 26th at St. Mary's College for the only forum between David Harmer and John Garamendi for the election. We need to pack the house with supporters as we contrast our values of fiscal discipline and personal responsibility against the tax-and-spend agenda of John Garamendi. A strong showing at the forum will further energize the campaign as we count down to victory on November 3rd....

Remember the old saying, "Once burned, twice shy"? It's supposed to mean that when one has a bad experience, one should be more cautious in similarly dangerous circumstances. California got burned in the early 1990s when Leon Black, fresh off a career with the scandal- tainted Drexel Burnham Lambert junk bond shop, set up his own investment firm and persuaded the state's new insurance commissioner, John Garamendi, to seize a supposedly insolvent Executive Life. Executive Life had a fat portfolio of junk bonds that Black had helped assemble, and Garamendi allowed him to broker a deal with some French buyers...

The New Jersey and Virginia governor's races aren't the only contests in which Democrats are feeling pressure from the growing unpopularity of President Obama's policies. A GOP upset may also be in the making in a California House special election on November 3. Democratic Lt. Governor John Garamendi and Republican attorney David Harmer are battling for the Bay Area congressional seat vacated by Democrat Ellen Tauscher, who left to join the Obama state department. Normally a staunch Democratic seat, there is a growing chance it could swing to the GOP given the state's latest budget collapse and the 13% approval...

REPUBLICAN David Harmer knows the odds. His Democratic challenger in the 10th congressional district special election, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, has more money and name recognition in the heavily Democratic district. <snip> "One of my heroes said, and I am paraphrasing here, that a majority has never been necessary to prevail but what it takes is an irate and tireless minority keen to set fresh fires of freedom in people's minds," Harmer said. "Whether a Republican can carry this seat depends on how badly the voters want to send a message to both parties than an explosion of (government) spending...

Obama's Stash--Part Three or How Many Zeros in a Trillion? http://www.wiseandfrugalgovernment.blogspot.com/ When Gray Davis was still governor of California--before the recall effort and the election of the Governator--he gave an interview to the media to explain why the state was in deficit. At the time, I had taken over the management of a company struggling with profitability. Reporting to my board was a chore. And then I heard the melodious voice of Gray Davis explaining away the state's problems. It's not that we spent too much money, it's that we didn't have enough revenue. Would my board fall for that?...

Ooops. A campaign mailer from 10th Congressional District candidate and Democrat Lt. Gov. John Garamendi that hit mailboxes today contained a reference to a quote from the wrong guy. The Garamendi mailer states that his Republican challenger “David Harmer supports off shoring jobs” and cites a story from the Utah’s Deseret News from April 23, 2004. Unfortunately for Garamendi’s opposition research team, the story quotes the David Harmer who was executive director of the Utah State Department of Community and Economic Development. The David Harmer who is running against Garamendi never held that job and wasn’t living in Utah at...

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi is virtually certain to survive a runoff with a token Republican opponent and extend his 35-year-long political career, which began with election to the Assembly in 1974, into the indefinite future as a congressman. Garamendi emerged atop a field of candidates for the 10th Congressional District seat that Democrat Ellen Tauscher surrendered after taking a trade job in the Obama administration. The 10th District, which covers much of the Bay Area's eastern suburbs, has an 18-percentage-point Democratic registration margin, making the Nov. 3 runoff with Republican David Harmer a cakewalk. The more uncertain aspect is whom...

It may be premature for Lt. Gov. John Garamendi to start printing new business cards, but he could be placing an order for them soon. The well-known 64-year-old lawmaker and rancher from Walnut Grove triumphed over his Democratic competitors in Tuesday's special 10th Congressional District primary. "I have represented every part of this district for the past 10-1/2 years," Garamendi said via telephone over the din of his campaign party in Walnut Creek late Tuesday. "The people of this district understood that I knew the issues that they cared about and that I could be a good and forceful representative."...

Residents of the 10th Congressional District have a rare chance next month to select a new representative. The district has been without a vote in the Capitol since June 26, when former Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher resigned to take a post as undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security with the U.S. State Department. Voters faced with this big decision have their work cut out for them. Drawn by the infrequent opportunity to run for an open Congressional seat, 14 candidates will compete in the Sept. 1 special primary election for either an outright win or a spot as their...

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi will drop his long-shot bid for governor today and instead announce his plan to run for Congress. Garamendi has two scheduled events, in Concord and Fairfield, to announce his run. Rep. Ellen Tauscher, the incumbent in the 10th Congressional District, has accepted a post in the Obama administration in the State Department. She still faces confirmation, but once she is confirmed her East Bay-based seat will be open in a special election. Already in the race is Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, a Concord Democrat who has the backing of both Tauscher and local Rep. George Miller. The...

Georges Marciano, a co-founder of the Guess clothing empire, is the latest person seeking to become governor of California. The one-time fashion magnate's paperwork was recorded on Monday with the secretary of state's office, allowing him to run as an independent in 2010, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is termed out. The 62-year-old Beverly Hills resident plans to campaign on a platform that focuses on exposing and eliminating political corruption and putting "the power of government back in the people's hands," said his publicist, Rod Harrell. "He doesn't really want to be tied into the same old good-old-boys network," Harrell said....

The race to replace outgoing East Bay Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher could get a lot more interesting. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi - who lives in Walnut Grove, which sits on the northeast edge of the district - tells us, "Several people have asked me to run. Of course we'll check it out." . . . Perata play: Don Perata's decision to go public with his plans to run for mayor of Oakland didn't exactly come as a surprise - it did, however, instantly reshuffle the deck in that city.For starters, City Attorney John Russo, City Council President Jane Brunner and...

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System poured $1.71 billion into Apollo Management last year, more than twice as much as it gave any other private- equity manager, Bloomberg News reported. The move was a bet on Apollo chief Leon Black’s historical success in distressed investment, but, Bloomberg says, it hasn’t paid off so far. Apollo, which has posted average annual returns of more than 25 percent in the last two decades, is now struggling to right some of the tottering companies in its portfolio. One of its private equity holdings, Linens ‘n Things, filed for bankruptcy protection. Another, the real...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger formally ended months of political fighting Friday by signing a new state budget - but not before taking another shot at constitutional officers. Among $1.3 billion in vetoes, Schwarzenegger sliced budgets of the attorney general, controller, treasurer, secretary of state and Board of Equalization by 10 percent to compensate for savings that would have occurred from furloughing employees. Schwarzenegger chopped even more from the budget of Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2010, slicing his budget by two thirds - from $2.78 million to $1.04 million, saying he did so "to ensure that sufficient...

(snip) President Obama is in a desperate race to revive the American economy. The proposed budget is not coordinated with the federal stimulus package. In fact the budget is in direct conflict with much of the federal stimulus bill and will dampen and delay its effectiveness. Federal money intended to strengthen schools simply replaces money that this budget cuts from the very same schools. Federal money that is intended to provide health care for low income Californians replaces money that this budget removes. Federal money that will support public transportation replaces money that is cut from the California budget. And...

(CNN) -- A lawyer who served in the Clinton administration and more recently was an adviser to California's lieutenant governor pleaded guilty to a child porn charge in a San Diego federal court Monday. Wade Rowland Sanders admitted to having 600 images of minors on his computer, including a video depicting "several prepubescent females engaged in sexual conduct with an adult male and performing oral sex on one another," according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt. FBI agents raided Sanders' home last May after they suspected his home Internet service account was used to download several pictures and...

SAN DIEGO – A former adviser to Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy under President Clinton pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Wade Rowland Sanders, 67, an attorney, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Whelan, U.S. Attorney Karen P. Hewitt said in a written statement released Monday night. According to court records, Sanders admitted that on or about May 2, he possessed a computer and computer media that he knew contained more than 600 images of...