Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

The Union, whose current management has supported John Spencer and his political base in Grass Valley for years, has a “swan song” article featuring him in the newspaper this weekend.

John continues to chalk up his defeat to his campaign strategy, rather than his rigid hard-right ideology or “message.”

For the record, John’s campaign was marked by a fundraiser at the county Contractors’ Association, a donation from the Grass Valley Mayor, attacks against his opponent by the hard-right blogging contingent of Russ Steele and George Rebane (and George’s out-of-district contributions), and support from CABPRO, among other things.

John has not been a gracious loser, and he suggests that the electorate is “more likely to vote for someone who came to their door and spent a few minutes” more than anything else:

“The voters’ decision may have been more the result of the candidates’ efforts than their respective messages, Spencer said in The Union article.

“I maybe didn’t campaign as aggressively and spend as much money as I should have,” Spencer said. “Terry spent a number of months walking the streets, and I didn’t do that.

“There are an awful lot of people out there who don’t follow politics, and they are more likely to vote for someone who came to their door and spent a few minutes there,” he added.

The rest of the article is here.

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The “climate deniers” are coming out of the woodwork ahead of next Thursday’s CARB meeting to vote on a program to limit global warming emissions and establish a fee for polluters, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

It comes despite the defeat of Prop. 23 by a landslide, including losing in our county. “We the people” spoke loud and clear, it seemed.

“Climate deniers are already weighing in. In the official public comments, there are repeated references to the global warming hoax, and at least one commenter directly compares the state’s climate change officials to Nazis,” according to the email.

“With overheated and destructive rhetoric like this, we must counter with civil and rational input that calls for a speedy and effective transition to a clean energy economy.”

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The other day I posted an item questioning the blogging ethics on the local hard right blogs. A comment I posted was erased, then reinstated after I mentioned it, on Barry Pruett’s blog. Barry denies this, though I saw it with my own eyes.

Now an entire post — this one an error-filled item about reopening the Idaho-Maryland Mine — has disappeared all together on Russ Steele’s blog.

I commented that the information about the EIR on the mine was incorrect and later it disappeared, along with the blog post itself.

In case Russ also denies this, you can still see the cached version on Google. It is here.

I’m not the only one who noticed. Another reader commented: “The posting itself is fact-challenged, particularly with regard to the status of the EIR (still in draft, has to be revised and recirculated, but poster says its complete).”

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Not a day goes by without the local extreme right bashing government spending, though it’s OK when they are recipients (for whatever services they receive).

In this case The Union/KVMR columnist George Rebane and Aaron Klein (a Sierra College trustee whose family health care is paid for by “we the people”) join in mocking spending for projects, such as purchasing Sugarloaf in Nevada City for open space — capping a seven year effort.

George thinks Ohio is financing the bill to buy Sugarloaf and would have preferred a “commercial development” on the mountain, like a restaurant with shops. (Why not a revolving restaurant, like the Seattle space needle?)

Never mind that a city council, elected by “we the people,” and Prop. 40, passed by “we the people,” contributed to the deal going through. Some people just seem upset when democracy doesn’t go their way.

Here’s the writeup:

“The city has been allowed to purchase the valuable 30 acre parcel for $450K and ‘preserve it as open space.’ Since the city is broke, it will have to pay for it with a confusing mixture of financing that will come from the Nevada County Land Trust, Prop. 40 ‘recreational grant funds,’ and/or ‘county-administered developer fees’ earmarked for recreational projects.

“Since everyone in California is broke, this is another project that will have to be financed by the good people of Ohio through whatever means Sacramento can convince the feds to shuffle cash to the left-coast.

“I was kinda hoping to see some commercial development up on that mountain that would provide an attractive tourist venue – e.g. restaurant with sweeping views of our foothills having business meeting rooms, shops, etc. But that would be a no-no since it could cannibalize customers from downtown businesses.

“I guess no one saw it as a development paying for itself in addition to providing added revenues to existing regional businesses.

Then this remark appeared in the comments: “Violent demands for other people’s money are usually referred to as “robbery” but in these cases it’s known as “protesting.” — Aaron Klein

Exit question: Could Aaron Klein (who seems more interested in partisan politics than the nonpartisan post he was elected to) get re-elected as a Sierra College Trustee in his district?

Does George know he can stand at the top of Broad St. and get the same sweeping view, while shopping and dining at existing businesses? LOL

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