Here’s a Race to Watch: CA-30 (Schiff). Can Alex Balekian Flip Adam Schiff’s Old Seat from Blue To Red?

 Alex Balekian, CA-30 Race  2 Responses »
Jun 292023
 

Dr. Alex Balekian

Sometimes unique circumstances call for outside-the-box solutions. Your intrepid blogger always goes for the most conservative candidate that can win. There are times in a D+1,000 district where a proven liar is re-elected by 40+ points that you need to get creative.

Meet Dr. Alex.

Alex is Armenian and there is a large contingent in Fresno County (I knew a lot of Armenians growing up in XIV Fresno) and there are others in areas like CA-30. Armenians fled the massacres inflicted in Turkey by the Muslim majority in the early 1900’s. Hence, there is a rich and deep history and connection to California.

Glendale, CA – Today, Glendale native and esteemed ICU physician Dr. Alex Balekian announced his decision to change his party affiliation from No Party Preference to Republican in his campaign for California’s 30th congressional district. With no other viable Republican candidates in the race, Dr. Balekian is the de facto Republican front-runner. Dr. Balekian’s decision to switch parties comes as a means to significantly impact the Republican Party and create a viable future for Republicans across California. He emphasizes that while his party affiliation has changed, his platform and commitment to independence remain unwavering.

“I stand for responsible spending without deficits, paying down our national debt, and minimizing the size of our government. I believe in prioritizing middle-class small businesses and holding corporations accountable. My focus remains on empowering local communities and neighborhoods to make decisions that work best for them, without undue interference from Washington,” Dr. Balekian expressed.

Pay close attention to Balekian’s website and comments. His message is one that will resonate even in the deep dark blue district and those of us on the hard right need to recognize where he is and the challenges of running a campaign there.

There are 9(!) Democrats running for this seat. Alex is the only Republican. He is Gay, he is Armenian – two demographics that are heavily democrat. Further developing the Armenian point:

District 30 has the largest Armenian population in California. The community, in recent times, has made headlines for standing against ‘woke’ ideologies in the local school district. Balekian, having been actively involved in this fight, aligns with their sentiments and stands up for the values and rights of parents. This involvement significantly boosts his chances of gaining the community’s support.

Alex has been in the middle of all of the Armenian community opposition to the alphabet soup agenda against our children. One example is here: https://twitter.com/AlexBalekian/status/1673570153798434817?s=20

While I am personally to the right of this man in a variety of ways, after taking a look at Alex and his record, I believe he represents the best opportunity for the GOP to force the democrats to have to actually mount a campaign in a district that is usually a walk in the park. Further, should Alex be able to successfully raise support from the community, he could be a threat to win CA-30.

When you review Alex Balekian’s website, you will find that he is running against the GOP as much as he is running against the prevailing partisan makeup of CA-30. It will be interesting to see how far that takes him and how people respond to it.

One thing I will conclude with is the wisdom in Balekian’s decision to register Republican to run versus the flavor-of-the-month DTS candidates Proposition 14 loving stakeholders have been attempting in recent years. Parties matter and to that end, Alex and his crew get it.

Steve Frank Update: Recent Platform Committee Slaughter Exposes Sad Truth, Frank Should Have Retired Years Ago

 2024 Elections, California Republican Party  3 Responses »
Jun 192023
 

Did you know that the CAGOP Platform Drafting Committee election just happened? Did you also know that 55 of 56 Candidates Andy Garakhani was telling people to vote for won?

The CAGOP Platform Drafting Committee is a subset of the overall CAGOP Platform Committee. Both meet once every 4 years to create a platform upon which the Party Campaigns and exists. (Even though many Republican Candidates ignore it)

It appears that 10-12 Candidates for Platform Drafting Committee were on Both Steve Frank and Andy Garakhani’s lists. When you pull 12 out 56 total members, you end up with 44. 43 were purely Andy’s candidates, and only one was Steve’s. That is a 2.27% success rate for Steve. Andy? 97.73%. That is as bad of an ass-whupping as you can get. To get hammered that bad in an organizational election requires assisting the winner by alienating your own side…

And… Steve Frank apparently was calling people (Your intrepid blogger has a few different accounts), telling them to run for Drafting Committee because he had 2-3 people that were going to write a perfect platform, and their vote was needed to push it forward. Aka do nothing but vote yes and we will take care of the rest. That kind of approach is suicidal in any organization’s election.

Got it? Frank was doing exactly what he accused Andy Garakhani of doing – promoting people for CAGOP positions specifically to shut up and do what they are told. This is the action of someone who has totally lost their edge, forgotten people skills, and is attempting to hold on to relevance. Perhaps Steve has never fully understood how to interact within organizations or actually influence people? I am at a loss, as these screw-ups are so elementary.

I do not know this angry and progressively more desperate for a win Steve Frank that has emerged since losing his race for CAGOP Chair. Perhaps this is the Steve Frank several told me they could not vote for in 2021 and I was blinded by my paycheck from Mr. Frank’s effort?

For the record, your intrepid blogger has ascertained that Garakhani and crew spent a ton of time on the Platform Drill, not to try and shred it, but rather to maintain the status quo. Had I been working to oppose Garakhani, I certainly would not have validated what he was telling people by calling people telling them there is a rewrite and they are supposed to do nothing other than rubber stamp it!!!

Steve led with his chin and dragged the Conservative opposition down the path of oblivion once reserved for Schaupp and Grcar.

Steve – please man, for the good of the Conservative movement in California, retire now.

City of Los Angeles Wildlife Ordinance Another Backroom Deal? LA City Council Seeks to Decimate Property Values!

 2024 Elections, Local Government  No Responses »
Jun 172023
 

It’s not uncommon for political bodies to address one concern while cleverly diverting attention away from another. However, when this tactic is used to harm a community it professes to serve, it’s time to blow the whistle. This is the case with the environmental land use ordinance under consideration by the Los Angeles City Council. Under the guise of wildlife protection, Councilmembers Raman and Yarslosky are poised to push through a measure that jeopardizes the security and property value of every homeowner in Los Angeles.

The ordinance, set to be passed by the Planning and Land Use committee this Tuesday, claims to solely focus on wildlife conservation. But a closer look reveals an underhanded move: it slashes the amount of square footage homeowners can build on their property by a whopping 50%. The apparent zeal to safeguard wildlife masks an alarming agenda that will dramatically shrink homeowner property values, hurt efforts to tackle the housing and homelessness crisis, and dodge public scrutiny and debate.

The subterfuge runs deep. This change in ordinance was slyly introduced just before a holiday weekend, with the vote scheduled for the day following the holiday. The timing leaves no room for public discourse, catching residents off-guard. The committee’s maneuver to appease out-of-town special interests over the concerns of homeowners illustrates a disheartening betrayal of their constituents’ trust. Facing what is already sparking community outrage, it’s not uncommon for political bodies to address one concern while ingeniously diverting.

Shockingly, the sole notification about this wildlife ordinance was a single-page document with an image of a bobcat (see above). There was no mention of the impending square footage reduction. This blatant omission leaves LA residents clueless about the real impact of the proposal. It’s clear that our Councilmembers have opted to prioritize special interests over their duty to their residents.

Let me be clear: Wildlife protection is important. Yet, it becomes detrimental when employed as a smokescreen to pass a harmful ordinance against homeowners. This ordinance, which now includes basements in the square footage count and requires loose fencing that compromises home safety, does little to actually aid wildlife. Beginning in CD4 and CD5, it will automatically rollout to the entire city. Alarmingly, it covers fully developed areas rather than targeting undeveloped spaces that could genuinely protect wildlife.

The impact extends beyond LA. This ordinance sets a dangerous precedent for cities across California, continuing to undermine property owners state-wide. While we grapple with a housing crisis, the Council is paradoxically endorsing a measure that will reduce housing availability. The ordinance further burdens City Hall with increased bureaucracy and reporting requirements. Remodeling or building homes will become more expensive, deterring property development and decreasing the taxes collected by the city due to reduced square footage and property values.

This is a clear echo of the smoke filled rooms of Washington. The ill-conceived, poorly thought-out special interest code assessment offers no consideration for the impact on homeowners. The Council appears set to pass this legislation only for those still living in Los Angeles to later grapple with its implications.

The issue is simple: Councilmembers can approve a wildlife ordinance but must remove the square footage reduction. It’s time to lift the veil on this backroom deal that severely disadvantages LA homeowners. People in Los Angeles need to raise their voices and demand the council to vote no on this deceptive ordinance.

Don’t take your intrepid blogger’s word for it, look at this 10-page letter that blasts this proposed ordinance from every conceivable angle! Letter Linked Here.

Get down there and make sure you are heard from!!!

PLANNING AND LAND USE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 2023 ­ 2:00 PM

JOHN FERRARO COUNCIL CHAMBER
ROOM 340, CITY HALL
200 NORTH SPRING STREET, LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

Heard on the Tom Toms. Time for A Frank discussion and a Fact Check

 California Republican Party, Steve Frank  19 Responses »
Jun 122023
 

Stephen, stop being baaaaad mmmmkay?

Today my main man Steve Frank did his latest installment of Heard on the Tom Tom’s. I was slapped upside the head within just a few words of the second section of the post. (Note, the quotes from his articles are unedited and verbatim)

  1.  Joe Biden considers himself a moderate on economic issues.  So does the Chief of Staff for the very conservative GOP Assemblyman Joe Patterson.  But Chloe Bowman admits that in 49 of the 50 States, she would be a Democrats.  That only proves that Liberal Democrats in California are repulsed by the Progressive/Totalitarians running the California Democrat Party.  But, by her own words, she is a Democrat.  Yet she has been on the staff of two very Establishment GOP’ers before this.

Bowman considers herself a moderate Republican and believes she would be considered a Democrat if she lived anywhere but California. What draws her to the Republican party, as it did her parents, is economic values. She believes in working hard to overcome obstacles – a lesson she learned from her father, a mortgage broker who died when she was a sophomore in high school.

Rising Stars: Chloe Bowman, office of Assemblymember Joe Patterson – Capitol Weekly

Ummm, Steve, Chole is not Joe Patterson’s Chief of Staff… that is Tiffany Saathoff who gets attacked at least once a week by the Sacramento Bee because of her work on the Rocklin Unified School District (where she is also a governing board member)…

FYI, it is good to have someone on your team to the left of you for some balance. In my case, it would be near impossible to have someone to the right of me that was not sitting next to Grcar or Schaupp in the sanitarium, but I digress.

On to the next part of the Heard on the Tom Tom’s that needs an adjustment:

News Flash – not everyone on this list is a squish

2. At the Saturday CRP Board Meeting, Jessica, with the approval of the Board, with one NO vote, that I am aware of, selected members of the Rules Committee and the Executive.Committee.  As expected the Rules Committee has No conservatives on the Committee—the members are either Establishment folks—or consultants who need approval from Jessica to get clients.

The Executive Committee was, of course filled with Jessica sycophants.  While normally, this is not a  big deal since them seldom do anything—twenty years ago they changed the CRP b –laws AFTER a convention did not get to them (that is allowed in the CRP by-laws)

Dear Readers, could you help Steve Frank identify the Conservatives on these lists? There are several. We could turn this in to a Team Building exercise!

Steve Continues:

Now I am told that Pattersons close political advisor, Andy Gimmeecandy has asked her for an endorsement for his NON candidate for the U.S. Senate, Steve Garvey, at the September CRP convention.  That convention opens on the same day that filing opens for the Senate.  Garvey who has yet to speak to the press, explain why he is running for Senate, his financial and personal history, has not spoken in public to the press, organizations or answered questions about how, due to his personal life any woman would vote for him?  Or the lawsuits against him by his former business partners.

Steve – for years, we’ve spelled it GIMMECANDY. If you’re going to slam the guy, spell the slam correctly. And, who the hell is Steve Garvey?

3. Chair Patterson announced the Chair of the Platform Committee is the self proclaimed conservative LAGOP Chair, Tim O’Reilly.  Self proclaimed?  He was put into office by Andy Gimmeecandy and did not stop Andy from excluding Republicans from County Central Committee meetings.  Actions speak louder than words.  He has not opposed the abuse of proxies at the CRP convention—a consistent vote against reform.  Tim speaks as a conservative an acts as the Establishment—he gets to sit at the Cool Kids Table.  Conservatives say they have hope for him—as Chair of the Platform Committee.  As such will he take the lead in promoting conservative Republican values—or Establishment non values?  As a reminder, in numerous public occasions, O’Reilly has called the GOP the “Party of Dwight Eisenhower”:–NOT Reagan.

Steve must know a different Tim O’Reilly, maybe there are several in LA County and he picked the wrong one to write about?

And finally, this is a question, not a fact check…

4. Are these speed camera’s or an expansion of government spying on us?

Speed camera bill gets Assembly approval, now it’s up to state Senate, governor — Cameras that can automatically send tickets to motorists who are speeding moved a big step closer to reaching city streets after the bill that would legalize such ticketing got state Assembly approval in late May by a wide margin. Steve Scauzillo in the Los Angeles Daily News$ — 6/11/23

Will the cameras ticket someone for relieving themselves on the street? If yes, they ought to put them in San Francisco, it would balance the state budget. But, I digress.

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