Matsui replacement special election

[paineinthearse]

Enquiring minds far away would like to know what is happening to fill the seat made vacant by the death of Rep. Matsui???

[davidinalameda]

1. the election is March 8

[BrotherBuzz]

2. Doris Matsui will run unopposed in the March primary....

and I ain't happy. Bob Matsui was a real moderate in every sense of the word, but his wife leans more to the right and is connected with big business. She's going to win, hands down, but people will be disappointed when they realize she will not focus on and champion social issues, but instead will become a corporate tool. Business as usual. Just my two cents.

[Garbo 2004]

3. Actually she's not running "unopposed." I already have my ballot.

The usual local "name" Dem party candidates didn't run (for obvious reasons like no party support and funding once Matsui pre-empted them). People IMO should be pissed that Doris and the Dem power brokers apparently think she should have some sort of dynastic right of succession to the seat.

Julie Padilla is a Dem candidate, for example. Perhaps Matsui indeed will take the seat in the primary. But I don't think it will be with my vote.

[BrotherBuzz]

4. I stand corrected...

I guess I was running with info that I gleaned from Christine Craft which led me to believe she was running unopposed. Your assessment of Doris and the power brokers is spot on. Sadly, the public will only hear Doris' voice and she will not be to taken to task on a variety of issues. As I said, business as usual... One big-business rubber stamp of approval.

Julie Padilla? Cool. http://juliepadillaforcongress.padilla.net/
Who else is on the ballot?

[Garbo 2004]

5. Only other Dem on ballot is a Charles Pineda Jr, a hearing officer

for the state. Not familiar with him. Pat Driscoll is the Green candidate, Leonard Padilla as an Indpendent. John Reiger for Peace and Freedom. Then a Gale Morgan as Libertarian and about 4 Repubs, none of whom I'm familiar with offhand.

I frequently listen to Craft also and she recently had Julie Padilla on her show. Pat Driscoll too another day but I didn't really catch much of that specific discussion.

Yup, I'm looking at Julie Padilla in the primary. Thanks for the link!

BTW a Sacto Bee article on Matsui selling her investments in partnerships controlled by by her "longtime friend," developer Angelo Tsakopoulos.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/12314992p-13179132c.html

If, as Jesse Unruh noted, "Money is the mother's milk of politics," then Tsakopoulos is one of the regional politicians' most notable wet nurses.

An interesting tidbit on his influence and activities, for one example, from a 1999 SF Weekly article:

"Vicki Lee, leader of the Sacramento Sierra Club, claims that Tsakopoulos is the mastermind behind much of the sprawl encircling the Sacramento metropolitan area. "He is able," Lee says, "to stand up at a meeting of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and redraw the urban services boundaries on the chalkboard. And the supervisors nod, and vote for whatever he says. He can throw a mound of dirt around a subdivision, and have it removed from the flood plain."

As the acknowledged leader of a dozen Laguna Creek-based developers, Tsakopoulos has looked out for the big picture. He and Angelides own -- or have sold -- thousands of acres between Routes 5 and 99, in Greater Laguna Creek. After the EPA surrendered to the needs of Live Oak II at the headwaters of Laguna Creek, Tsakopoulos got a green light to develop residential neighborhoods and shopping complexes throughout the area. Additional flood control projects have turned the creek itself into a sluice; hundreds of acres of land have been brought out of the flood plain; and brightly colored malls are springing up where the vernal pools used to be." http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/1999-08-25/news/feature_4.html

I just followed up this thought since I was wondering, with all the stuff going on with the Bush Administration and Congress, why Doris Matsui is running a TV ad about the importance of flood control....