Examiner: Focus on California’s 8th Congressional District: Sign wars

Some say it is a mental illness acquired from being out in the sun of California’s Mojave Desert without a hat on for too long.  Others think it is due simply to the “small government” mentality of people who forsake the big city and choose to live in desolate places without sidewalks, sewers or streetlights.  Whatever the reason, neither Daniel Defoe nor Benjamin Franklin ever visited the high desert or they would have known there are actually three things certain in the Victor Valley:  death, taxes AND political sign wars.

Almost every campaign in the country includes accusations of improper signage, sign theft, sign vandalism and the like. Candidates, and those who support and oppose them, get testy and deceitful in the heat of battle.   But not every campaign has anti-campaign signs plastered about to the extent it happens in the Victor Valley or with the level of bitterness and acrimony.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

iePolitics: This is going to sound wild, but . . .

There is a rumor coming from the Fifth Floor.  In part it makes total sense and in part I cannot believe even the crooks we have voted into office would go this far.

The general belief is that our BOS Pay Reduction Act will be easily passed by the voters this November.  We hear it is being used as one of the excuses for the county to file bankruptcy.

Continue reading

iePolitics: Is it just me?

I received my sample ballot today and I find it confusing.  Also, what is up with party endorsements being part of the sample ballot?  Doesn’t that partially defeat the “top-two vote-getters” process?  I don’t care who whatever party endorses but I know others will vote straight party line and fall into place like good little sheep.

Can anyone shed some light on the party endorsements being included?  Was that part of the initiative we approved?  I really take exception to it.

Examiner: Focus on California’s 8th Congressional District: FEC complaint against Valles

Angela Valles

Angela Valles, city of Victorville councilwoman and candidate for California’s new 8th Congressional District, is the subject of a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint.  The complaint revolves around a Valles commercial that is currently running in the local radio market.  Irmalinda Tapia of Hesperia filed the notarized complaint on May 11, 2012.

CA08Updates broke the story with this tweet on May 14, “BREAKING NEWS: Latina GOP activist files FEC complaint against GOP cand. Angela Valles in #cd08 #ca08 Potential #lawbreaker?”   Once again, Twitter’s local political superstar is days ahead of mainstream media, which has yet to report the news.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

Examiner: Focus on California’s 8th Congressional District: ‘Farmer’s Legacy’ tour

Dana and Phil Liberatore

Phil Liberatore, one of 13 candidates running for California’s new 8th Congressional District, is campaigning the old-fashioned way.  He is going on a road trip with his wife, Dana, to meet voters throughout the expansive district.

According to his press release, “When Congressional candidate Phil Liberatore fell in love with Dana Holland he got more than just a beautiful young bride, he also married into a family that had spent decades working the land. Dana, the daughter of a cotton farmer from Brownfield, TX, spent her early years ‘doing everything’ on the family farm─which included routine tasks like driving a tractor and weeding the cotton. Together with her two brothers and sister, they were a constant presence on their family farm.”

To read the rest of the story, click here.

Examiner: Calico Ghost Town comes alive for spring festival

One afternoon almost two decades ago I was listening to a local radio station when the DJ asked a trivia question.  “Who is the only person to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame twice?”

Since I lived only a few blocks from Roy Rogers’ home for most of my life, I better know the answer to that one.  And that answer won me two tickets to an autumn concert among the rocks at Calico Ghost Town, a deserted mining town located just northwest of Barstow, California.

Calico is a perfect place for a concert.  There are no city lights to drown out the stars.  There are no city sounds to interfere with the music.  As a matter of fact, nature makes its own music—the howl of an occasional coyote or the chirp of a cricket.  Those are my last memories of Calico Ghost Town until yesterday.

To read the rest of the story, click here.