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October 1, 2014· santaclarita.com · SantaClarita.com (SCVTalk 5.0) · Wayback capture

Congressional Brief #2: The I Approve This Brief Edition

25th changes from reddish-purple to bluish purple: there's some sad (depending on your perspective) irony when we're in the middle of an all-Republican campaign and the district officially goes blue. Yes, California's 25th Congressional District now has more Democrats than Republicans. A Democratic-backed voter registration push in the Antelope Valley gets the credit. Here's an updated chart.
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I'm not Steve Knight and I may or may not approve this message: The Strickland campaign has filed a complaint with the FEC alleging campaign finance irregularities by Steve Knight. According to the complaint, a radio ad from Knight does not include Knight's recorded statement of approval, and they also allege that a flight to DC and a campaign billboard were not disclosed in Knight's itemized expenditures. It's worth noting that the FPPC fined Strickland in 2010 for not identifying his campaign committee on a mailer. 
Steve Knight Live: Steve Knight has released a series of videos where he explains his position and personal perspective on a few issues. Of note, you have his strongest statement to date on his support of expanding workplace nondiscrimination laws to cover sexual orientation – something that Tony Strickland opposes. While such protections have long been in place in California, there's been a major (and somewhat bipartisan) push to make these protections federal, as almost 30 states still allow such discrimination in the workplace (to one degree or another).
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Since we can expect Knight and Strickland's votes on major issues to be nearly identical, this is a big issue where there is some split within the Republican Party (and between these candidates). It's also an issue we might see come up again as soon as next year. The rest of the videos are here.
In Case You Missed It… and judging by the view counts, you probably have, here are the videos of Steve Knight and Tony Strickland, taking questions from the audience at the recent forum held by the Canyon Country Advisory Committee.
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Does Tony love Chachi? Probably. The Hill notes that Scott Baio, former star of the small screen, donated $500 to the Strickland campaign in May.
The sample ballots are out, and while neither candidate secured the endorsement of the Republican Party, Tony Strickland somehow wound up with the endorsement of the American Independent Party, the far-right outfit that began as a segregationist party in the late 60s. What's that about? You can see your sample ballot at lavote.net.


Congressional Brief #2: The I Approve This Brief Edition

Comments (12)

  1. IHeartSCVWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 11:04 am
    The sum of Republicans + Democrats has gone from 76% to 74.4% in the same time frame you show above. I suspect there are growing numbers of Republicans-who-register-independent. Maybe? And then there are lots of people who register Democrat in college, only to outgrow their youthful political naivete in later years...but they might be late to officially switch parties because they're busy being captains of industry and supporting the welfare state an all that. I mean it says something that it ended up R vs. R. So maybe it's an ironic ballot, or maybe it's just a "don't label me" kind of ballot.
  2. MikeWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 12:29 pm
    It's an notable shift, but it's a leading indicator, at best. SCV is more or less flat during this period, IIRC, but AV has gone from "sorta blue" to "blue," yet its city councils consist of all Republicans (I believe). In areas like ours, the people who don't register for either party are definitely more likely to vote Republican, add to the massive disparity in turnout in smaller elections, the Democrats will be the junior party for a while to come. But, as evidenced by Obama's near-win in the district in 2012, we're likely at the point where a Democrat with sufficient appeal who runs the right campaign, could win this seat. It might have to be a Presidential year, but it's probably no longer the case that a Democratic candidate *cannot* win. I think I've gone into this in another post, but the turnout disparity is such that in this district, a Democratic candidate who has sufficient support to get 50.1% of the vote in November could still finish 3rd in a primary cast like the one we had in June. Another interesting figure: since the first post-redistricitng numbers, there are now 25k more Democrats, but just 6k more Republicans.
  3. N8iWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 1:01 pm
    Democrats still have a major voter turn out problem. Till they are able to consistently motivate their people to show up they will not see any increase in representation.
  4. MikeWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 1:49 pm
    That, and/or a much bigger advantage in registration. Most of the disparity in turnout can be explained by older people voting in much bigger numbers than younger people. Tricky thing to change.
  5. N8IWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 6:26 pm
    Well... Republicans voters are more afraid of Democrats than Democrat voters are of Republicans.
  6. Leon WordenWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 2:51 pm
    Why does the graph look like a condom?
  7. IHeartSCVWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 4:23 pm
    I was going to say sideways Empire State Building, but that's just me.
  8. 4eyedsueWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 5:51 pm
    So, I watched the video about "equality". Knight has never once supported LGBT equality, or protections- so what's this all about? Is he only in favor of the the watered down version of ENDA? The one so full of exemptions most major LGBT advocacy groups have walked away? Or does he support true equality? Knight's friends at the ACLU have withdrawn support from ENDA- doesn't he often follow their advice?
  9. N8IWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 6:24 pm
    Wow, Knight supports protections in the work place and Strickland doesn't and you still want to smack Knight over the issue. Well done. SMH
  10. 4eyedsueWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 7:20 pm
    What I would like is clarification. That video does not tell me enough. Is he only on board because everyone and their mother can be exempt? Or does he truly believe in equality in the workplace? The ACLU, Lambda Legal, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Transgender Law Center, and Tony Strickland all oppose ENDA. But, I'm guessing not for the same reasons :)
  11. N8IWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 7:27 pm
    The question wasn't asked that way... I think if you had an open mind you would see Knight is actually very supportive of gay rights. He is worried about religious beliefs being trampled or laws being forced on the church, that is something that militant Gay Rights people don't respect or understand. I don't believe you have taken the time to understand the position fully, you hear one thing and create a straw man.
  12. 4eyedsueWednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 7:53 pm
    Hmmm. Well, I will try to consider that. My closed mind just sees all his nay votes when it comes to LGBT rights and protections. And you know what a grudge I can hold. I'm not sure if I qualify as a "militant gay rights" person- but most groups I work with don't want to force anything on anyone's church. Actually- no group I work with wants that. Religious organizations should be free to discriminate against employees who “perform work connected with the carrying on of its religious activities". But why should a janitor at a religiously affiliated University be included as an exemption? The person in the laundry room at a religiously affiliated hospital? That's not equality. That's not protection. So, I'm sorry for not doing cartwheels over this. Sorry if I seem ungrateful. I fully recognize his opponent is no more friendly to my cause.

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