I was contacted by a member of his staff that indicated his missed vote in committee was due to scheduling and being triple booked (which is apparently common with committee meetings in the state legislature).
This is a video of James Gallagher R-AD03 speaking publicly against SB27, the triggered democrats bill to force the President to release his tax returns or he will not be on the ballot bill.
Well, isn’t that special. The state about a day before 250K-ish people were evacuated said everything is ok.
In the meantime, they were evacuating the precious salmon (whose endangered status has been abused by Enviros and the Courts to hamstring infrastructure construction for years) starting 4 days ago.
The cover story is that because the main spillway of the dam broke and the auxiliary spillway was going to be used, all the silt and debris would kill the fish. It seems to me that those in charge knew more than they let on to anyone.
12 years ago Enviro Groups sued to have the Auxiliary spillway covered with Concrete. The suit / request was ignored because the Los Angeles water district and the State of CA did not want to pay the bill. Whoops.
Now, the earthen Auxiliary spillway is compromised and the severe erosion is preventing its’ use.
The main spillway has a 300 foot gash in it due to the failure of the concrete a few weeks ago. They are finally just unloading water at a huge rate down that spillway regardless of the damage. Oroville Dam is huge, and it is the tallest dam in America. It was built in 1968 and appears to have had little, if any maintenance done, explaining the breech of the main spillway.
There are pictures around from 2013 with maintenance crews working on the affected area of the main spillway. What did they know? Why didn’t they do more? Did they relax because of the drought of 2014-2016?
Environmental Groups are doing exactly what I predicted on my Facebook yesterday – on Queue, they are writing articles about how we need to “Re-Think” flood control. AKA, get rid of dams.
Given the absolutely insane way the state responded to the drought, by building no infrastructure, no plans to build any infrastructure and just insane demagogic water conservative edicts, you would expect that the discussion is going to turn to “Dams are Bad”.
I am also not expecting the Republican Leadership to push for investment or investigations. The pattern has been acquiescence and letting the party in charge cover everything up. I hope I am proven wrong.
I do expect, however that Assemblymember James Gallagher (who lives in the evacuation zone) will indeed be loud about this issue. I am sure the state media will ignore him.
Lest you think that the Dam is out of the woods – think again, Part 2 coming up in a bit.
When I worked for Bill Halldin in the extremely crowded 2016 Assembly District 6 Primary, the team of James Gallagher, Doug LaMalfa, Frank Bigelow and Jim Nielsen – all partisan Republican officeholders came through with huge endorsements for Bill. Jim Nielsen and Frank Bigelow also followed up their endorsements with $4200 checks and assistance with other checks for Halldin’s campaign.
James Gallagher sent some staff who helped us on a few weekends. We had some of Jim Nielsen and Doug LaMalfa’s staff on a few weekends, with a lot on the final days of the campaign. Frank Bigelow’s staff were amazing, they helped us pretty much every weekend after Frank Bigelow endorsed Bill Halldin.
For this blogger personally, it was an interesting study in professionalism. I have been at the throats of several of the people in LaMalfa and Nielsen’s staff for years, yet here we were working together. This was a welcome change from the blood-letting that the GOP in California no longer has the luxury to do. Those that I worked with in the LaMalfa and Nielsen office were professional, polite and assisted Bill Halldin like a professional would do.
My interactions with those working for James Gallagher were even better. I have no negative history with Gallagher as I decided to support him in his primary, breaking traditional political lines in the North State. They all seemed to know, but more importantly their communication and approach suggested that they cared deeply about their district and people in it. Despite my issues with Gallagher on some internal party politics issues or allegiance issues – it is clear that James is an effective legislator with a clear reason for serving. His staff is a reflection of that.
Frank Bigelow’s staff blew my mind. What a great group of people. They even explained to me a few things about El Dorado County politics from a completely different perspective. (For example, having positive things to say about Vern Pierson) Without meaning a slight to the staff of the other three, the Bigelow Staff were almost 100% committed and assisting Halldin’s campaign and I had a lot of interactions with them. Bigelow’s staff were some of the most real people I’ve worked with from a legislator’s office in the nearly 20 years in the political trenches I’ve logged.
When I had interactions with Nielsen and Bigelow during this campaign, it was clear to me they were both trying to figure me out. They both made a lot of eye contact when we were chatting at a fundraiser event for Bill. I usually do not try to hide my feelings about anyone, and I will say that I have come from being hostile towards Nielsen to liking him.
Regarding Frank Bigelow, I did not support him when he ran against Rico Oller. Frank is not as conservative as I’d like him to be. However, it is clear to me that Bigelow is a “real dude”. I can forgive a lot of squishyness when I deal with a real dude. Bigelow’s character is clear as reflected in his staff. In most all cases a legislator’s staff is a reflection of the member. It was good to be able to get to know Mr. Bigelow a bit more. I hope that Bigelow, Nielsen and others would choose to start funding voter registration and other efforts as the dems are overrunning this state.
In this season of Thanksgiving, I’d like to thank the above four for helping Bill Halldin and I’d also like to thank the staff members I got to meet and work with. It was a great experience, here’s hoping that we cross paths on the same side again soon.
Footnote: Kevin Kiley won that primary and ultimately won the general election. The above four did indeed raise money and help Mr. Kiley in the fall as any good team players would do.
I am re-printing an article from the Sacramento Bee in its’ entirety. I have emboldened some of the key lines for emphasis.
Republican James Gallagher has scored two key endorsements that could put him ahead in the open race for California’s 3rd Assembly District.
The sprawling district north of Sacramento is solidly Republican, and with incumbent Dan Logue, R-Marysville, running for Congress, the race appears to be between Gallagher, a Sutter County supervisor from a longstanding farming family, and Ryan Schohr, another Republican with roots in the region’s agricultural community.
The conservative California Republican Assembly backed Gallagher at its convention this past weekend, citing his “core conservative principles.”
He also received an endorsement last week from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. The powerful anti-tax group seldom gets involved in intra-party primary races.
“I am excited to receive the endorsement of such a respected taxpayer organization,” Gallagher said in a statement. “I’m humbled that they have recognized my work on the Board of Supervisors and my commitment to protect taxpayers from government waste and abuse.”
Schohr, a farmer who serves on the Butte County Water Commission, said he is “not a politician or a bureaucrat,” so he has not been seeking out those statewide endorsements.
“I’ve got the support of hundreds of families and farmers and business owners in the district,” he said. “I’ve got a record of fighting taxes and wasteful spending and harmful regulations… I’m happy to work with anybody who has those same conservative ideals.”
Gallagher and Schohr also face Democrat Jim Reed in the June primary.
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There is a rule in politics. Every bit of support you can get is good. The sorry attempt at spin by Schohr in this article is people’s exhibit A that Schohr is not ready for prime-time.
Let’s hope the CRA endorsement of Gallagher has the same effect on AD-03 as the threat of a CRA endorsement did to Mark Wyland when he simply dropped out of the race against Diane Harkey.
I am still SMH at this one.