Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Here’s a press release I missed in The Union, a right-leaning newspaper in its own right. More and more I see the Territorial Dispatch — a right-wing free newspaper — around town, in Flour Garden and the like.

Read the comments below to see the potential conflict of interest in our Assemblyman Dan Logue’s decision for “Small Business of the Year” — the newspaper’s owner was a big contributor to his campaign. How does that make all the other hard-working small businesses in Dan’s district feel? What gall!

“SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Dan Logue (R-Linda) today recognized John Mistler, editor and publisher of the Territorial Dispatch, as the Small Business of the Year for the 3rd Assembly District.

“John Mistler and his team are wonderful people, they do a great service to our region and I am proud to honor them as the Small Business of the Year,” Logue said. “With one of the largest distributions of any North State publication, the Territorial Dispatch is a very important part of our rural news community, providing news and information services to many remote cities and towns.”

John and his wife Kitty O’Neal have owned and operated the Territorial Dispatch headquartered in Marysville for over nine years. Since taking over they have worked to grow from a once a month paper to a weekly publication.

“With the changing role of newspapers in this computer age, the Territorial Dispatch provides local, uplifting, community oriented articles while realizing our First Amendment responsibility to be a watchdog on our government,” stated John Mistler. “We pride ourselves in telling “The Rest of the Story” and supplying political news and commentary you will not find in the mainstream media.”

The Small Business of the Year awards are sponsored and hosted by the California Small Business Association. In 2000 the California State Assembly resolved that the final Wednesday in May each year would be declared “California Small Business Day.”

Assemblyman Logue represents the 3rd Assembly District in the California Legislature, which includes the communities of Butte, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sierra and Yuba.

Read the comments to find out what Dan didn’t tell you:

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(credit: Time magazine)

There is no counterpoint in the Wall Street Journal. I’ve read The Journal for 30 years, but it has slipped markedly since being owned by Rupert Murdoch — just like the L.A. Dodgers did under Rupert’s “wing.” Memo to Rupert: America is not Australia.

“President Barack Obama is likely to be defeated in 2012. The reason is that he faces four serious threats. The economy is very weak and unlikely to experience a robust recovery by Election Day. Key voter groups have soured on him. He’s defending unpopular policies. And he’s made bad strategic decisions.

“Let’s start with the economy. Unemployment is at 9.1%, with almost 14 million Americans out of work. Mr. Obama promised much better, declaring that his February 2009 stimulus would cause unemployment to peak at 8% by the end of summer 2009 and drop to roughly 6.8% today.

“Mr. Obama also has problems with his base. For example, Jewish voters are upset with his policy toward Israel, and left-wing bloggers at last week’s NetRoots conference were angry over Mr. Obama’s failure to deliver a leftist utopia. Weak Jewish support could significantly narrow Mr. Obama’s margin in states like Florida, while a disappointed left could deprive him of the volunteers so critical to his success in 2008.

“Mr. Obama’s standing has declined among other, larger groups. Gallup reported his job approval rating Tuesday at 45%, down from 67% at his inaugural. Among the groups showing a larger-than-average decline since 2009 are whites (down 25 points); older voters (down 24); independents and college graduates (both down 23), those with a high-school education or less, men, and Southerners (all down 22); women (down 21 points); married couples and those making $2,000-$4,000 a month (down 20).

“This all points to severe trouble in suburbs and midsized cities in states likes Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

The rest of the article is here.

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(credit: North Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureau)

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Though Grass Valley Police Chief John Foster was one of five finalists for the Bend, Ore., police chief job, he did not make the cut to the final two.

Still he fared better than one other competitor.

The Eureka, Ca., police chief, Garr Neilsen, also was one of the five finalists.

A day after Nielsen was informed he was not one of the final two candidates for the position in Bend, he was terminated from his job as Eureka’s police chief.

“Brought in from Oregon’s Multnomah County Sheriff’s Department in 2007 to take over a department in turmoil, Nielsen made changes but quickly faced what some deemed an ‘insurrection’ within his department,” according to the Contra Costa Times. “Some attributed the turmoil to Nielsen’s management style and said he ran the department in a vindictive manner, but others said it was simply the product of a bitter old guard opposed to changes the new chief was making.

“Despite the turmoil, public comment at council meetings regarding Nielsen and the EPD was overwhelmingly positive during his four-year tenure heading the department.”

The details are here.

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