Plentitudinous Placer Politics

Written by Joe Carroll

Tuesday, 16 October 2007

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?

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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.

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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.