The Chargers’ season may be over, but don’t expect them to leave the headlines. With Councilmembers David Alvarez and Kevin Faulconer meeting in six mayoral debates this month, you should at least find some Chargers news in the political pages. Here are my questions, and answers, for the candidates. Debate moderators, steal as you will….
When I attended an LGBT political training session in December, I expected to learn about financing, polling and voter identification. I did not expect to learn a new way to play Whac-A-Mole, but it was one of the more useful things I took home. For those not familiar with the arcade/midway game, Whac-A-Mole has the…
Midterms don’t have the cachet of presidential years, but 2014 looks to be an important election year, particularly for San Diego and the LGBT community. Mayor of San Diego. Both candidates have history on their side. Special elections typically bring out a more conservative electorate, which would help Councilmember Kevin Faulconer. Councilmember David Alvarez benefits…
Politician of the Year: TIME magazine gives their “Person of the Year” Award to whoever dominates the headlines, good or bad. In that sense, one can make a strong argument for former Mayor Filner. However, his headlines were more about person than politics. Instead, the Politically Aware Politician of the Year is City Council President…
Whether President Obama lied when he said, “If you like your plan, you can keep it” isn’t much of a question anymore. His team knew that the new coverage rules would require insurers to change or drop plans – that was, at least in part, the whole point of Obamacare. As a staunch supporter of…
Last week, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democrats changed the Senate, allowing a simple majority to end filibusters on most judicial nominations and executive appointees. To do so, they used what had become known as the “nuclear option,” interpreting the rules to mean that while 60 voters were needed to end a filibuster, only 51…
Some suggest that Alvarez beat Fletcher with Election Day voters, and there is a hint of truth to that. Fletcher was ahead of Alvarez when the first returns came in. But it doesn’t appear that Fletcher was swamped by a tidal wave of Election Day voting. In fact, it appears that the final numbers fell…
Almost everyone has said something about Jonathan Martin’s departure from the Miami Dolphins. We’ve heard from Martin’s spokespeople and former teammates. We’ve heard from other members of the Dolphins. We’ve heard from former players, particularly those who are a part of network coverage teams. Sunday, we heard from Richie Incognito, the player who sent Martin…
One of my favorite memories of the Filner administration (yes, I have a few) was a story he told at, among other places, the 2013 All People’s Celebration. A certain prominent developer and political adversary had some permit issues, and someone from his office had called the mayor’s staff to say when they should meet…
Despite the current respite from the government shutdown and near default, we aren’t really much closer to a real budget deal. House Republicans want to keep discretionary spending at the slashed levels of the sequester and decrease the deficit through cuts to entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. President Obama wants to ease the sequester…
