Heard on the Tom/Toms
Stephen Frank, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 10/31/23 www.capoliticalreview.com
ODDS AND ENDS THOUGHTS
Yesterday I reported on the Politico story about the status of Republican in California now that Kevin McCarthy is no longer Speaker. Then California Playbook-Politico reported on the money McCarthy has given to California Congressional incumbents and one GOP challenger. It will be interesting to see how more money he directly gives to the candidates. Oh, this does not count the money he has directed donors to give directly to the candidates.
So far in 2023, McCarthy has contributed more than $2.4 million to the eight California Republicans targeted by Democrats this election cycle, according to campaign filings. The donations came from four major committees connected to the former speaker, including Protect the House 2024, the joint venture he launched in February with the National Republican Congressional Committee.
In total, the funds went to seven vulnerable incumbents and CA-47 candidate Scott Baugh , who is looking to take over Rep. Katie Porter’s purple district in Orange County.
- Rep. David Valadao (CA-22): $419,812
- Rep. John Duarte (CA-13): $414,708
- Rep. Ken Calvert (CA-41): $164,603
- Rep. Kevin Kiley (CA-03): $409,092
- Rep. Michelle Steel (CA-45): $438,201
- Rep. Mike Garcia (CA-27): $413,760.89
- Rep. Young Kim (CA-40): $133,216.37
- Scott Baugh (CA-47): $12,222
On another note, I have seen the future—and do not like it.
Last Wednesday I went to the Wal-Mart in Simi Valley at about 11:30 in the morning. It is a big one—they have eight check out lanes for cashiers to work. Yet, not ONE was opened. Nope. You were forced to do self check-out. They have six stations, with one very harried worker trying to get all working at the same time. That worker did not have a good grasp on the English language, and that presented another set of problems.
This is how Wal Mart is going to handle the massive mandatory minimum wage set by Sacramento. I love to shop—but it is no longer much fun. The big losers? The customers and the workers.
Finally, I will paraphrase the words of the late Congressman John Schmitz when asked about President Nixon going to China. In the new version Schmitz would say, “I have no problem with Gavin Newsom going to China—I only have a problem with him coming back.”
Oh, has anyone seen Steve Garvey? No appearances since just one in June. DOES STEVE GARVEY KNOW HE IS RUNNING?
If you have any odds and ends comments, just add them in them comment section. What are you thinking about?
(Periodically the California Political News and Views will publish tidbits of political news, to keep you in the loop of what the pooh bahs know. The phrase “tom/tom’s” comes from my mentor, Lorelei Kinder who never passed a rumor, just called to tell me what she heard on the “TomTom’s”. This column is named in her honor.)
Political fundraising packs should be required to identify. where raised funds will be donated to before any money is donated. Donations to any Pack committee should be restricted (four major committees including Protect the House 2024) from donating funds to candidates of other races unless the committee identifies before the funds are raised that they will support candidates in other races. Donners may not want to support a candidate in another race for office.
Steve how do they determine how much money each person receives? Is there a formula used and where can we go to find this information and more?
Adios McCarthy. I live in Congressional District 9. We had a 2022 candidate, Tom Patti that Kevin promised to help if Tom raised a certain amount of money. Tom met that and exceeded it. Kevin gave him no money! That has happened with regularity in this basically conservative Central Valley of San Joaquin County. We are stuck with another Pelosi pick that was re-districted from the Stanislaus County area, so Harder moves to Tracy, CA from Turlock. Harder was just following the playbook of retired, and useless Jerry McNerney who lived in Pleasanton but rented a hovel in Stockton.
Harder had access to nearly $9M from Nancy. We haven’t had a Republican since Richard Pombo was buried on a bogus story from the Stockton Record, a genuine rag of a publication. The GOP leaders in Kommiefornia suck!
Steve – I haven’t been able to click on links from the email all along, because it would take me to a message saying the website could not be loaded up. Today I clicked on the link and it opened up beautifully! Looks like the new server is a good idea.
Glad the system is now working. Still have some fixes to make. Thanks for your readership–pass along to your friends.
Steve Frank
It is time for the grassroots to take the GOP back from those who do not register voters, do not help candidates and send out emails as if they were actually productive.