Political news and views from the Idyllwild perspective.
Dr. Raul Ruiz, Democratic congressman, District 36, seeks re-election. He is challenged by Assemblyman Brian Nestande (R – Palm Desert). Both claim to be centrists and have records of voting against party lines and crafting legislation across party lines. Ruiz, the son of farm workers, was raised in the Coachella Valley. He worked his way…
Editor’s note: On Oct. 15, Riverside County 3rd District Supervisor Jeff Stone and current candidate for the state Senate’s 28th District spoke to the Town Crier on a variety of issues from the campaign. The first part of the interview is last week’s issue of the Town Crier. That article includes questions about education policy…
Two propositions in the June 2014 primary election moved to the ballot with little organized opposition. Proposition 41 redirects some of already approved and unsold Cal Vet (home loan) bonds to create affordable rental housing for veterans; Proposition 42 makes it a constitutional mandate, not just a state law, that local governments follow the Brown…
Rep. Dr. Raul Ruiz (D-36) was elected just 10 months ago. But the race for the 2014 election has already begun. Raising money to finance campaigns has become a full-time occupation for elected officials and those who wish they were. Through June 30, Ruiz has raised $763,000. More than half came from individual contributions. Political…
The 2012 race for the 36th Congressional District is only one week away, but the competition for campaign money and the public’s perception of the candidates— Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack and her Democratic challenger, Dr. Raul Ruiz — are already intense. The results of the fundraising from January through the middle of October were released…
Campaign contributions are involved in elections at every level of government, including local assembly districts and school board races. Assembly District 71 Brian Jones, the Republican candidate for the 71st State Assembly District, has raised nearly $225,000 for his campaign, of which $40,000 has arrived since Oct. 1. Jones is an incumbent running in an…
Proposition 30, the Schools and Public Safety Protection Act, proposes to raise personal income tax rates on individuals making more than $250,000 a year for the next seven years and to increase the state sales tax by a quarter of a cent for the next four years. According to the measure’s authors, the additional revenue…
Proposition 34, Death Penalty Polls show growing support for Proposition 34, an initiative to repeal the death penalty in California, but passage still remains unlikely at this time. Current law makes first-degree murder punishable by either death or life in prison without the possibility of parole when special circumstances are proven. Those circumstances include murder…
Editor’s note: Idyllwild is in the 36th Congressional District. This district is slightly different from former Congressional District 45. Congressional District 36 extends west from the Colorado River to the San Bernardino National Forest, but includes Banning, San Jacinto and Hemet rather than the western Riverside communities of Temecula and Murrieta. In 2011, when redistricting…
Editor’s note: Idyllwild is now part of Assembly District 71, which runs from Poppet Flat to the Mexican border. Much of the district is part of former Assembly District 77 and Brian Jones (R-Santee) is the incumbent, elected to his first term in 2010. His Democratic opponent is Patrick Hurley, also a resident of San…
