Inland Empire Progressive

After months of pushing, prodding, and protesting. Occupy Redlands finally got the city council to vote on their resolution against money in politics and corporate “personhood”. I always thought the vote was brought up as a political ploy  by Pete Aguilar to try and shore up the base. The vote to me revealed how out of touch he was with true grassroots activists. Why not bring it up earlier? Was his shady past catching up with him? Did he think folks on the Left would just vote for anyone with a “D” next to their name? All of these are good questions, but beside the point because it was later revealed in a Huffington Post article , that he was sincere about none of it.

Vote Renea Wickman June 5th. I enthusiastically support this forward-looking vision for the Inland Empire.

  Read:   Gary Miller vs. Pete Aguilar: Super PACs Of Realtors, Credit Union Spend Big In California Primary Election Los Angeles and Orange County developers versus Nevada banks. These are two are the so called front runners in the race for the 31st Congressional District of California. No, no the politicians running, they are just surrogates. Proxies in a battle over one thing…houses. One thing we can be sure of, is that if one of these men is elected the local control is lost and the destiny of the Inland Empire will be handed over to outsiders.

Rep. Gary Miller loves to tell folks what he will do in Washington, D.C. But what about here, specifically in the Inland Empire? Our region can be compared to Detroit and Nevada in terms of unemployment and foreclosure rates. Yet you hear nothing from Washington politicians about what to do about this housing crisis. But Rep. Gary Miller knows what he wants to do. Congressman Gary Miller will let Orange County and Los Angeles developers run amok in cities with high foreclosure rates. My city of San Bernardino will be carved up and given away to the outside interests of the Building Industry. His largest supporters are San Bernardino councilmen John Valdivia and John Roberts   Robert Jenkins. These councilmen could care less about local control, seeing as our police force of San Bernardino is consisted largely of folks from different cities and they were big supporters of Mr. Valdivia and Roberts Jenkins. Blight, Crime, and Poverty will all increase under Mr. Miller’s plan fo...

  Vision, Integrity, and Leadership. I have worked with Renea Wickman since the early days of 2008. Back then a no-name novice with a funny name, Barack Obama, went on to become our 44th President. It wasn’t easy, but we did it. Since then Renea Wickman and I have worked hard to build a more Democratic Inland Empire and challenge the one party rule that has led to so much corruption here. We have succeeded in making Inland Empire Democrats know that they are not alone and that they have just as much power to shape our destiny as Republicans do. However, this time the stakes are higher. The Inland Empire is on the precipice of being over run by outside special interests from Orange County and Los Angeles developers by supporters of Gary Miller. At the same time, Nevada banking interests are looking to carve up the Inland Empire by supporters of Mayor Pete Aguilar. Vote for a true voice of Local Control on June 5th. Vote Renea Wickman.

If Pete Aguilar defended his superiors’ engagement in this type of banking activity, imagine what he will do for Wall Street… Loose standards and easy money. That’s the basic premise of what happened  at Arrowhead Credit Union. Larry Sharp, Mayor Pete Aguilar, and others might have used bank funds inappropriately for lobbying and election influence. The housing market was hot in the Inland Empire. But restrictions on how Credit Unions made loans prevented them from lending to non-members. This is why they needed the PAC, for influence. Pete Aguilar as the Vice President of Governmental Affairs at Arrowhead Credit Union, led that effort. However, in the end it did not end well. Arrowhead Credit Union was fined multiple times for faulty record keeping and extremely loose credit standards. This is why one small business owner left. Ineptitude by Arrowhead Credit Union led to the arrest prominent African-American Pastor T. Elliot of Mount Zion Baptist Church. Mr. Elliot sued, but ...

  The Democratic Central Committee is on the cusp of becoming very powerful in California politics. As the Inland Empire turns bluer, our votes count for something on the state and national level. It is important that we elect leaders with vision, leadership, and vitality. *In Ballot Order* Joseph Williams SanJuana Laurel Vincent D. Laster Valerie Lichman Erick Jimenez Elvira M. Harris

Listen: Election 2012: In Inland Empire, Economic Distress May Drive Voters: The California Report | The California Report *Correction: The 31st is where Rep. Gary Miller is running, not the 35th. From redistricting to Ontario Airport, the talk in political circles is about two words: Local Control. With so much talk about local control, how is it that we, the residents of the Inland Empire, are now in the process of becoming renters to Orange County and LA interests.  Right now foreclosed homes are being auctioned off to outside interests for the highest bet. These outside interests may be thinking that they are helping by providing employment. But what is the cost? Local residents have little to no say in shaping the future of the Inland Empire. The building industry is heavily backing Rep. Gary Miller in the 31st Congressional District race. I wonder if the loss of local control was the price that was paid.

  Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. -Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence The sentence above is what this election and subsequent elections are all about. We are moving from a Center-Right nation to a Center-Left nation. Conservatives know that their days are numbered, but the desire to maintain their grip on power is great. The Koch Brothers, ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), even the Tea Party (which are the REAL useful idiots in this battle), etc. are the folks that are pushing this extremist agenda. What do you think these groups are about….Power. And how do they maintain power, by introducing extremist legislation. While initially derided, extremist legislation is eventually accepted as mainstream. This is why ALEC took a mocking tone when this once secretive group was exposed during the Trayvon Martin situation. They ...

The lack of a commitment to Progressive Values is one of the major reason I do not support Pete Aguilar to be my representative for the 31st Congressional District. Time and time again he has had opportunity to represent these values on the Redlands city council and he has failed. The SEIU endorses Mayor Pete Aguilar, but do they know his record for opposing a living wage?  He has shown acute disdain for environmental policies. He elicited Republican support for Measure I and scoffed at the Sierra Club. In addition, he chose short term economic growth over the inevitable extinction of the Sucker Fish. How can we trust Mr. Aguilar on issues such as the the Keystone XL Pipeline, if he can’t defend the environment locally. He also shows disdain for local Democrats, while he chases dollars from Republicans. Where was he during the 2008 and 2010 election season? What support and help has he given local Democrats in his quest for power?  Only after constant perseverance from Oc...

  Pete Aguilar announced that he hired the Troup Consulting to help him with his election efforts. So as always I decided to do a little digging. The President of this consulting firm, Troup Coronado, worked for Senator Orrin Hatch. Sen. Hatch is one of the staunchest Conservatives in the Senate and opposes all the policies of Progressives and President Barack Obama. Mr. Coronado also was Sen. Hatch’s law clerk for awhile. The surprising thing about Mr. Coronado is that he was on the Board of Directors of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. This was the same institute that Rep. Joe Baca served as chairman. This institute promoted policies that loosened the restrictions (credit check and documentation) on housing for minorities.  Mr. Coronado also seems to be a log cabin Republican, but that is peripheral to this matter. This seems to be a case of keeping your friend’s close but your policy allies closer.

Candidates in this election cycle have been called to account because of their ballot designation and campaign mailers. Pete Aguilar is no different. Where are Mayor Pete Aguilar’s Small Biz Credentials? Most of low information voters will look at a ballot designation with Small Business Owner and think that the candidate must know how to create jobs. But this is far from the case. As a consultant, Pete Aguilar didn’t create any jobs for anybody except for himself. I tried to find a business license or certificate of incorporation from the state of California. No luck. I see he did a couple of gigs consulting for Measure I, Measure C, and Riverside Taxpayers for Transportation. These gigs earned him between $1,000 and $10,000 dollars. Accurate information is not available because financial documents only specify a range not exact figures. But the consulting job Pete Aguilar performed that caught my eye was the one he did for San Bernardino County on the Community Business Indicator...

While my posts take a principled Progressive stance, I can be a realist. I understand that the 31st Congressional District is  very closely divided between Progressives and Conservatives. So my question would be where will Democratic the candidates break from principle? I believe in principled compromise (1 for 1 ratio) on issues defining the budget. The budget sets the priorities for the nation and should not be ignored by the Left. Progressives should aspire for a robust welfare state in addition to balanced budgets. Does this mean that the tax rate should go up? Definitely! However, everyone needs to sacrifice. On social issues, LGBT marriage, the decriminalization of marijuana, and true freedom of religion (and non-religion) should be at the forefront of our pursuit of happiness. The majority of these issues encompass the principle of Equality that is at the heart of the Progressive agenda. Some of these principles require political risk. A candidate with the intestinal for...

Councilmember John Valdivia concerns that the SbX Project is a government funded boondoggle are unfounded. Even a website (now defunct) was established. He sites property owners that are affected by construction that will take place and wasted tax payer money to the tune of $200 million. $8 million of  taxpayer money was San Bernardino city Capital Funds to develop those properties to handle the 60 ft. buses that will soon be rolling down the E St. Corridor.  The federal government provided about $150+ million in matching funds for acquisition of buses and Omnitrans upgrades to handle 60 ft. buses. To me, the benefits of this project outweigh the costs. If you look at a zoning map of the properties that are along the corridor, most are zoned commercial. Even on the Loma Linda side this is the case. I would argue for an extension beyond the VA hospital to circle the commercial zones on Redlands Blvd. Development, construction, and materials are cheap. Now is the perfect tim...