Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
POWAY RESIGNATION. City Councilman Brian Pepin just announced he will be stepping down from representing District 1 as soon as the seat can be filled. He says his political consulting business is thriving and he needs to spend more time there. Of course, this invites all of the Poway conspiracy theorists to assume this is all carefully orchestrated behind the scenes so Mayor Steve Vaus can appoint one of his supporters to the seat rather than having an election. Given the history with Jim Cunningham and Barry Leonard, I can’t blame Powegians for wondering. IMHO, the city should hold an election even if it is for a partial term… and even if it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s critical that any appearance of impropriety is set aside, especially in light of the leaked closed session council meetings. It’s important the people, not the politicians, choose their own representative. Side Bar Note: Just goes to show you there is plenty of money to be made in politics.
TRIPPIN’ TRUMP TARIFFS. Any economist will tell you that tariffs are a tax… a penalty on Americans… and a way that corporate interests work to rig markets to favor corporations with special influence in politics. Trump knows this, but continues to lie that foreign nations will pay. MAGA supporters know it too, but some see it simply as Trump making threats in order to get a deal done. It seems that Trump wants the MSM to be in a tizzie about this too. I get the negotiation angle to the strategy, but I don’t like the policy or the naked dishonesty of it all. Evading the truth is what con men do.
SPEAKING OF TARIFFS… It’s weird hearing Democrats criticize Trump’s tariff plan. First of all, Biden increased Trump’s tariffs and Dems praised Biden for it. Plus, it’s interesting for Dems to admit that tariffs are a corporate tax that increased prices. We tried to warn them. LOL
THANKSGIVING AND PRIVATE PROPERTY. Pilgrims struggled to survive with collective farming strategies. But when individuals were given their own private property to farm, the harvests were greater for everyone.
MORE THANKSGIVING. Long Live Les Nessman… and canned cranberry “sauce” rules.
POWAY POLITICS PHOTO FINISH. The votes are STILL being counted and now challenger Jenny Maeda has a 13 VOTE lead over incumbent District 4 councilmember, Caylin Frank. There are so many interesting storylines to this situation. Maeda is a brave, political newbie who decided to run when nobody else would challenge the incumbent. I don’t think this is an indictment so much on Frank, but rather voter anger with the development along Poway Rd… and to a lesser degree anger with Mayor Steve Vaus. When the final vote is finally confirmed on Dec 3rd, we have more drama to look forward to. Will Maeda provide a refreshing change? How will Maeda govern differently? And if Frank survives, how will her voting and messaging change going forward? As the world turns in Poway…
TURKEY TROT. Our family used to be a regular at the Father Joe Turkey Trot at Balboa Park on Thanksgiving morning. Our son Trevor is in Dallas keeping the tradition alive. Meanwhile, Kim and I just hiked around Lake Poway. Gotta burn some calories before the feast!