Our local races are supposed to be “nonpartisan” — because most of the local issues are nonpartisan. But we’re far from that, at least in the western half of our county.
It’s unfortunate that our local political leadership doesn’t think in more “middle of the road” or compromising terms, because our county is politically diverse. The voter roles show that.
Our county also has a lot of problems that need to be addressed in a pragmatic, nonpartisan way. Sticking to a rigid ideology can cloud your decision-making process. As much as it may upset us, sometimes our favorite “like-minded” friends get it wrong.
Strident views usually don’t lead to political collaboration either; you just wind up arguing and talking past each other. You never accomplish much.
This notice is posted on the local GOP website. Here we go again in 2014:
FIRST MEETING OF THE VERY IMPORTANT 2014 ELECTION YEAR!
Plan to join the Nevada County Republican Party at its first meeting in 2014 — a very important election year! We’ll be discussing campaign activities to support Republican candidates in every local, state, and national election in both the California Primary in June and the General Election in November. The meeting will begin at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, January 8 in the Supervisors Chambers at the Nevada County Administrative Complex at 950 Maidu Ave., in Nevada City. Our special guest speaker will be Eric Christen.
Eric lives in Grass Valley. You can learn more about his views under “Eric’s views. Some examples from Eric:
•The “Global Warming Con”
•Al Gore: “A liar”
•When Socialists Run Government
” In 1999 Eric was put in charge of the signature gathering process for Proposition 22 (Defense of Marriage Act) which was overwhelmingly passed by the voters of California. In 1999 Eric was hired as the Executive Director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction and since then has been working to see that the rights of all California contractors, and their workers, are protected from discriminatory and unfair Project Labor Agreements (PLAs).
On Facebook Eric describes himself as “Religious Views
Evangelical Christian
Political Views
Social Conservative/Economic Libertarian”
Eric also is connected with another group “Faith Driven Consumer.” Here’s one of the letters from this group. It begins: “I am writing to you regarding your network’s intolerant, discriminatory, and punitive treatment of Mr. Phil Robertson, star of A&E’s #1 hit show, Duck Dynasty.”
So there you have it. Another local election year gets underway: one like-minded group versus the other. Let the games begin.
Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report 
For a man that is obviously so uncomfortable with Homosexuals, what’s with the links and photos on his page to Male Modeling????
There’s an issue that illustrates what I’m talking about: How letting your ideology get in the way can hold back our community, not to mention the results for Prop. 8 in our county. We need local representatives who represent all of us, not just the like-minded ones.
https://sierrafoothillsreport.com/2013/09/28/can-our-county-embrace-gay-weddings-for-economic-growth/
I love the tool on the “Faith Driven Consumer” web site that allows me to pick a business based on its comportment to ‘biblical world view’…..of course not a lot of choice there, which is kind of the opposite of a vibrant free market for one who professes to love ‘Jesus and capitalism’
http://www.faithdrivenconsumer.com/reviews