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HOLMES ON THE RANGE (Part 1) – Auburn’s Mike Holmes is back in town after an East Coast swing during which he rubbed elbows with several political consultants (most of whom I liken to highway robbers) and plenty of news people. He reports that lots of folks “inside the Beltway are watching the Doolittle saga with interest.” So are all of us political junkies with long memories, Captain Mike. Holmes isn’t a bit fazed by the news that Ted Gaines, the rookie state assemblyman and former Placer County supervisor, is “testing the waters” (a dreadful term) for a possible run in next June’s primary against his no-longer-beloved mentor, nine-term incumbent J.T. Doolittle, who has taken to referring to his possible GOP opponents and their backers as weasels, which are not just animals but human beings defined in the dictionaries as sneaky and treacherous people. I’m sure that Doolittle includes Mike Holmes in the weasel pack.
After all, Holmes had the guts to challenge JTD in the June 2006
Republican primary election and is credited with softening up the
veteran hardliner. Gaines is a Johnny-come-lately to this mess as is
Eric Egland, the self-described intelligence expert who, like Holmes,
has flat-out announced his candidacy. One of the least-mentioned
possible GOP congressional candidates is the former Assemblyman/State
Senator and prominent empty suit known as T. Rico Oller. It’s said that
Oller would enter the primary fray only if his buddy JTD declined to
seek re-election. So what if Oller doesn’t live in the 4th
Congressional District; the law says he doesn’t have to as long as he
moves into it after winning the election. Doolittle and Oller are
far-right pals from way back and the congressman, if he were to retire,
would probably back him to be his successor. But hold your horses!
Doolittle keeps insisting that he and his wife Julie are innocent of
any wrongdoing that might have stemmed from his friendship with
imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who cut a sweetheart business deal
with Mrs. D., and that the marathon FBI probe of their activities is
nothing but harassment. “I will not step aside,” the Sacramento Bee
quoted JTD as saying last week. “I am running again. Period.” Doolittle
spoke in the wake of polling results showing him losing to Democrat
Charlie Brown, whom he beat by three percentage points last November.
This was a Republican-oriented poll, too.
HOLMES ON THE RANGE (Part 2) – It takes a lot of money to wage a viable
campaign and Mike will try to latch on to some dollars when he holds
his kickoff fundraiser Thursday, September 27, starting at 6 p.m. at
the Auburn Country Club (the former Auburn Valley C.C.) The tariff is
$50 a person or $95 per couple. There’ll be refreshments and live
entertainment featuring Mike’s kid brother, District 3 Supervisor Jim
Holmes. Advance reservation checks should be sent to Holmes for
Congress, 11850 Kemper Road, Auburn CA 95603, phone (530) 889-1207.
(Guess who I like in the June primary.)...Whoa there! Here’s a quickie
from the same Mike Holmes. The Navy League’s Placer County Council’s
monthly dinner meeting is set for this coming Monday the17th in the
Auburn Veterans Memorial Hall. The Gold Country Chapter of the Sons of
the American Revolution will present a history of early flags used in
the U.S. (Don’t tread on me, Capt. Mike!) Advance reservations are
required and you can pay the $12 tariff at the door. Call retired Rear
Adm. Bonnie Potter at (530) 823-2820. And don’t forget: All you have to
do to join the coed Navy League is say you support the sea services;
you need not be a veteran.
ROUNDABOUT – Whoops! Did I identify young Lucas Parnell, the new
Schwarzenegger appointee to the Gold Country Fair Board, as the son of
Jack Parnell, founder of the Headquarter House and a former top state
and federal agriculture official? I sure did. Lucas actually is the
grandson of Jack Parnell and the son of Randy and Julie Parnell. He’s
also the grandson of Dixie and Al Marino of our village...The Placer
County Board of Education isn’t kidding about naming a school after
Carole Ann Onorato, the longtime board member who died in June. There’s
a new school for kids with exceptional needs under construction on
Kentucky Greens Way in Newcastle and upon completion it will be called
the Onorato Educational Center. A fitting tribute to a woman so devoted
to public education.
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