Inland Empire Progressive

  The simple math of 4 Dems and 2 Republicans placed the Dems in a statistical disadvantage from the beginning. Of the Dems 1 was a carpetbagger (Rita Ramirez-Dean) but being a female Latina and a strong advocate of education was sure to syphon some votes. Renea Wickman ran for the assembly in 2010 and lost, but wanted a bigger prize in the congressional race. I thought she was the clear frontrunner, but our fundraising was minimal and the candidate was not as inspiring as she was in 2010. Justin Kim was a surprise. He ran a very progressive and grassroots campaign which got the youth vote, Asians, and educated voters very excited. He also has a fundraising base in Loma Linda where he is from. I will most definitely be supporting him if he decides to run in 2014. Pete Aguilar was not ready for prime time. He has a donor base, but it is uncertain if they will return to the fold in 2014. In addition, as I inspected his background more and more I found he was a DINO that had ties...

This was another piece that I was going to write on why voters (specifically Democrats) should not support Pete Aguilar. Besides being a DINO (Democrat in Name Only), he sits on SANBAG’s Commuter Transit and Rail Committee which is railroading (pun intended) this project by the communities throat.  Redlands Rail is a transportation project that is doomed to failure. Not only did the Federal Transit Authority reject matching funds for this project, it is poorly designed. It just runs in a circle around Redlands and that’s it. In addition, the ridership will be low. How this is being paid for is that currently, all transit agencies are undergoing individual  Comprehensive Operational Analysis’ (COA) to determine their “efficiencies” . The cost of this analysis for Omintrans is about $1M dollars. During meetings with Omnitran’s employees AECOM (who is conducting the study), transparently admitted that it is conducting this study to achieve cost savings. So basically we are t...

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.

  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.

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 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...

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...

The Press Enterprise has an article about how much was raised in the area. However, I wanted to dig a little deeper into the financial statements of Blue Dog Pete Aguilar since he claimed the above on his Facebook Page. The financial statements of the Pete Aguilar show how much he is beholden to the conservatives of the Inland Empire. The sentence that really had me going was the last one: “…we have a robust grassroots coalition in place.” Pete Aguilar has no grassroots support. Period. Please Do NOT Vote for Mayor Aguilar, June 5th. Thank You He can make all the proclamations he wants, but I have not seen hide nor hair of Mr. Aguilar’s so called grassroots supporters. What I have seen and what Pete Aguilar’s financial statements reflect is an entrenchment of conservative interests that are trying to buy the 31st Congressional District. True grassroots support usually comes from the quantity of small dollar donations, not the quantity of the amount given.

Everyone and their momma has a budget out these days. The President, Progressives, Republicans, and Conservatives have a budget for FY13. But what about the so called defenders of fiscal responsibility the Blue Dog Coalition? These folks proclaim to be the common sense/conservative/mainstream voice of the American people. As both candidates, Gloria Negrete Mcleod and Joe Baca,  for the 35th Congressional District are Blue Dogs. I ask where are their budgets? The residents of the 35th Congressional District and the American people deserve to know where these folks stand when it comes to policy. The next series of elections are not going to be like the elections of the past. We demand policy positions and expect results. It might good to say things, but you have to put your money where your mouth is.

What do a political science professor from the University of Redlands,  and reporters from the Los Angeles Times, and Politico have in common? They all declare Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar as one of the top two in the June primary race even though there are approx. two months left to go. As far as I am concerned, from a grassroots level, Mr. Aguilar doesn’t have a lock on anything. This is because even though the race has been sleepy so far, organization plays a big part in close elections (and this race will be close). He has won some endorsements from local political players but these folks live outside the district. Outside of Redlands, who has heard of Mr. Aguilar? I may be at a moderate level of expertise when it comes to politics, but I know that politics is full of surprises. He has a 1 in 6 chance of winning, like the rest of the field.

The 31st CD race is shaping up to be an act of Dem on Dem violence. Dr. Rita Ramirez-Dean, Pete Aguilar, and Renea Wickman are competing for this seat. Rita Ramirez-Dean spoke first. She talking about Education (her strong suit), Jobs, Veterans, and defending Social Security. Pete Aguilar went after the Do Nothing Congress and fixing a broken Washington D.C. He also went after Republicans Miller and Hutton. Mr. Aguilar stressed his work as mayor: standing up to the Redlands Tea Party and maintain a balanced budget. Renea Wickman spoke about creating jobs by eliminating oil and insurance company subsidies and reinvesting those saving to Green Jobs, High Speed Rail, and Internet access. On Foreign Policy she wanted to build a global middle class. She also would not raise the retirement age on Social Security. This fight was essentially between Renea Wickman and Pete Aguilar. There were 2 No Endorsements, both from the Redlands Area Democratic Club. Pete Aguilar received 46% of the ba...

Mayor of Redlands Pete Aguilar won the endorsement of the Fontana Democratic Club for the 31st Congressional District. He won in a run off against Rita Ramirez-Dean. Two challengers showed up to the event: Renea Wickman and Dr. Rita Ramirez-Dean to present their case. The other challenger Russ Warner did not show up to the event and is rumored to have droppend out. He was probably under pressure from D.C. people and a realization that he is not as stong in the East Valley as he is on the West. I wonder how much pressure the other candidates are coming under. Mr. Aguilar, either a Baca plant, Republican plant, or a genuine recruit by the DCCC is trying to walk and chew gum at the same time by fundraising and trying to build an organization. His history at the Arrowhead Credit Union has me wondering about his credentials and his connections. Is he just another Good Old Boy with intentions to carve up the Inland...