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DOOLITTLE DOGTROT — Plenty of stuff in the big-time newspapers and small-time blogs about our nine-term congressman these days. There’s much ado over JTD’s failure to raise big campaign bucks during the quarter that ended September 30. John only pulled in a bit over $50,000 during that three-month period, upping his total this year to about $295,000 — slim pickings from the days when he sat on the giveaway panel known as the House Appropriations Committee and was considered the sixth or seventh most powerful member of the House when the GOP controlled it. Surprisingly, the 30-something Eric Egland, a Doolittle dissident who claims he’ll oppose the incumbent’s re-election in next June’s primary election, raised $79,000 during the three-month span. Mike Holmes, the moderate Republican from Auburn who lost his 2006 primary bid to take out Doolittle and is back for another try, took in more than $12,000 during the quarter and has maybe $19,000 on hand. But wait! Help is on the way! The Tuesday Sacramento Bee’s jump headline on the Doolittle money story read: “Auburn councilman plans major fund drive.” Man alive, I sure hope so.
Charlie Brown, the uncontested Democratic congressional nominee who
barely lost to JTD a year ago, reported receipt of a whopping $212,000
during the quarter and having almost $500,000 in the till for the
November 2008 general election whether or not Doolittle is his
opponent. Ted Gaines, the rookie state assemblyman who’s being
encouraged to run for the 4th District congressional seat by would-be
GOP kingmakers, hasn’t taken in anything — yet. He’s still convinced
that Doolittle, his political archangel, will lose the seat to Democrat
Brown next year and he’s all but said that he — handsome Ted Gaines —
would be a sure bet to keep it in the GOP column. There’s even a “Draft
Ted” blog that claims Ted “was an effective county supervisor and has
demonstrated great leadership since his election to the State
Assembly.” To which I ask, “He has?”...The Doolittle disciples consider
Gaines, who chairs Rudy Guiliani’s presidential campaign in Placer
County, disloyal and opportunistic for even thinking about running for
Congress and a traitor for his unkind words about JTD. They view him as
an empty suit whose thinking is done by his chief staffers and hired
consultants, who indeed were represented at last week’s hyped meeting
of the Placer County Republican Central Committee. Gaines was there,
too, to defend himself against Bruce Kranz, with whom he served on the
board of supervisors before his election to the Legislature last year.
Kranz, the current board chairman and a political animal if there ever
was one, asked the committee to act on his proposed resolution to
censure Gaines. The committee declined and instead “tabled” it. Asked
later if he intends to take it off the table and try again, Kranz
replied, “I’ve made my point,” which I gather means he’ll leave it
alone, at least for now...I have to admire Kranz for his loyalty to
Doolittle despite suspicions that the congressman might have done
something illegal in his dealings with imprisoned Republican lobbyist
Jack Abramoff, who’s said to be “cooperating” with federal
investigators in the hope of getting his penitentiary sentence
shortened. Kranz’s friendship with Doolittle dates back almost a
quarter century when Bruce was the boyish superintendent of Folsom
State Park and the Auburn State Recreation Area and John was a boyish
state senator who’d defeated Capitol giants like Al Rodda and Ray
Johnson and even Roy Whitaker, the Sutter County sheriff who broke the
Juan Corona mass murder case. When Kranz lost races for a PCWA seat and
the District 5 seat on the board of supervisors, Doolittle was with him
all the way. When Bruce ran a second time for the District 5 seat, the
Doolittle machine poured tons of money into his campaign and he handily
beat Sexy Rexy Bloomfield. The same JTD money machine also saw to it
that Ted Gaines got elected to the board of supervisors in 2000 and
re-elected four years later before helping bankroll his legislative
campaign. It also backed Alice Dowdin’s failed supervisorial run
against Jim Holmes and Rocky Rockholm’s successful run for the board’s
District 1 seat last year. Kranz well knows he’d be spending his
retirement time golfing or mowing the lawn if it hadn’t been for John
Doolittle, and he’s backing him all the way. I rather admire that kind
of loyalty, don’t you? And don’t forget that Congressman Doolittle will
turn 57 on October 30th. Drop him a b-day card, won’t you?
* * *
ELECTION NEWS — We simply have to get used to the fact that there’ll be
three big time elections next year. The first will be the February
presidential primary that will be followed, naturally, by the June
primary and the November final-final. The February ballot will feature
a couple of Placer County items of public interest: the Loomis Union
School District, which includes the old Penryn School District and is
about to absorb the Ophir School District, will seek voters’ approval
of a $17.7 million general obligation bond, the revenue from which
would go to much-needed facilities improvements, and Rocklin residents
will decide a referendum to negate the city council’s recent approval
of a major development project in pristine Clover Valley...And please
don’t forget that next Monday the 22nd is the last day to register to
vote in the November 6 special election on the aforementioned
consolidation of the Loomis and Ophir school districts. The county
elections office at DeWitt Center will be open from 9 a.m. (did I get
it right this time?) to 4 p.m. on the weekends of October 27-28 and
November 3-4 to handle absentee ballots. Call (530) 886-5650 with
questions.
* * *
ROUNDABOUT — Auburn Police Lt. Scott Burns will talk at this Friday the
19th’s free NOON program in the Auburn Library’s Beecher Room, starting
at noon, of course. Burns is expected to speak on the topic of outlaw
motorcycle gangs, which, if he says so, are a problem I was unaware of.
Cookies and beverages will be available, but if you’re really hungry,
bring your own lunch...The Beecher Room will be the locale of next
Friday the 26th’s free meeting of the Placer County Older Women’s
League, and anyone afflicted with or merely interested in the acute
viral infection known as shingles should attend. The speakers will be
Karon Klayman, a county public health nursing supervisor, and Betty
Thurman, a Medicare health insurance trainer. Among other things,
they’ll be talking about the Medicare-approved vaccine being used to
treat this godawful malady. For more information, call (530)
889-9877...From Dr. Jeanene Johnson O’Brien comes the news that
there’ll be an Interfaith Earth Stewardship Conference on Saturday,
November 10, starting at 9:30 a.m. at the First Congregational Church
in Auburn. Stan Padilla, an artist and Tibetan Buddhist philosopher,
will give the keynote address. Other speakers will be Dr. Raymond
Blakley, a biochemist and Episcopal priest; Dr. Dan Tajbl, a chemical
engineer and a Unitarian; and, finally, Jim Holmes of the board of
supervisors and Kevin Hanley from the Auburn City Council. Workshop
leaders will include Linda Desai of the Placer Nature Center; PARC’s
Eric Peach, Alice Dunbar, Andrea Rosenthal and Roger Groghan; Steve
Frisch of the Sierra Business Council; PG&E’s Steve Forney and
Scott Bond; Joyce Lindner of the Pioneer United Methodist Church; and
agricultural economist Tom Haller. The registration cost, which
includes lunch, is $10 before October 26 and $15 at the door. Contact
Dr. O’Brien at (530) 823-1783 with any questions...If you liked the
recent PBS documentary “The War,” you should know that on November 8
from 6 to 8 p.m. the Auburn Library will present Ken Burns, its
writer-director, in a live video conference. Burns will also take
questions. Call Sushilka Mertens at the library — (530) 886-4511 — for
more poop....Auburn Union School District trustees are still wrestling
with the proposed option of closing Alta Vista School or Rock Creek
School due to declining enrollment, an idea that the voting public
isn’t embracing. They’ll meet at E.V. Cain School next Wednesday the
24th at 7 p.m. to again tackle the seemingly no-win situation...And,
finally, a tip of the Stetson to Rebecca Gutierrez, a swell gal who’s
just become the first female sheriff’s correctional officer to sport
sergeant’s stripes. She’s been a CO at the county jail for five years
and is a candidate for a master’s degree in forensic science.
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I like your column and site.
Thanks again for visiting the Placer CRA Blog and the Red County Placer Blog.
Don't ever bet against John Doolittle, he'll raise the money needed.
As to Gaines - he owes his existence in the Assembly to John Doolittle. Apparently, Kranz and Rockholm remembered as such, Gaines did not.
As someone around the Placer GOP committee for a number of years now, the most concerning thing about this primary is the political opportunism of the opponents not named Holmes.
Holmes was an honest liberal, he ran against John in 2006 and now 2008. In 2006, he had McCloskey helping him soften Doolittle up for Brown.
In 2007, John Doolittle's base is as awake as John is. Witness the new staff and the backlash to the bid of Ted Gaines.
Have a great evening Joe...