Bad News for Democrats

Last night was spent downtown San Diego with all the political activists watching election results. It was a night filled with major tea party inspired victories but with a few loses due to dirty establishment tricks. Overall, it was a very bad night for the national Democrat Party as their union power base was flushed in Wisconsin.

Gov. Scott Walker walked away with 53% of the vote. The mainstream media portrayed this as "survival" despite the fact that it is the same percentage of the vote Barack Obama "historically" received in 2008. The Wisconsin victory was a massive blow against the government labor monopoly power organized against the tax paying public. With 35% of the vote reporting in Wisconsin, Gov. Walker was leading 60% to 38%. The margin narrowed, but the election was easy to call from that point.

In San Diego, during a conversation with a young establishment Republican, we commented, "we are tea partiers here to make sure the good guys win." The look of alarm on his face was disarmed by my friendly smile.

The election results were terrific with one major exception. First, the good news:

1. Carl DeMaio, a San Diego mayoral Republican candidate and fiscal reformer won, but will be in a clearly defined run off against establishment Democrat Bob Filner.
2. State Proposition 29. Increased cigarette taxes failed with 51% voting against.
3. San Diego Proposition A. Bars the city from requiring Project Labor Agreements on municipal construction contracts passed decisively (58%)
4. San Diego Proposition B. Reformation of  San Diego City Employee Retirement Benefits passed overwhelmingly (66%).
5. El Cajon Proposition D. Proposed Charter City passed (57%). Grants the city of El Cajon increased flexibility in it's budget.

The bad: State Proposition 28. The deceptively worded expansion of term limits was passed.

This increases maximum terms for California state politicians from 14 to 24 years. This proposition was intentionally worded to mislead the public into believing that they were voting for term limits when in actuality they were voting to weaken term limits. The political game worked by yielding 61% of the vote. It appears that about 39% (plus those who knew they were voting to weaken term limits) of Californians are paying close attention to the tricks and tactics used against them.

Proposition 28 expands the influence of unions in California. The union bosses will keep their payroll of pawns in office significantly longer. This reduces the off-chance that a person of character will be elected and stand up to the bribery and manipulation of the public employee unions.

Please take a moment and congratulate all the brave men and women who ran for office.