By Janis Russell

August 9, 2015 (El Cajon)- Last Friday, July 31, the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce hosted the first of its Dine and Dialogue series with Congresswoman Susan Davis.

East County News Service

August 4, 2015 (Washington D.C.) – A Republican-backed bill to stop all funding for Planned Parenthood nationwide has been blocked by Senate Democrats, falling seven votes short of the 50 needed or passage. Next up, the Republican leadership is threatening to shut down the government if funding the budget includes funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides birth control, mammograms, Pap smears and other women’s health services in addition to abortions.

East County News Service

Devoreo Bell, Juwan Armstrong and Miriam Raftery contributed to this series.

Part 1:  Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton (most prominent political pedigrees) and Donald Trump (the show horse)

August 3, 2015 (Washington D.C.) -- The 2016 presidential candidates are off and running. It’s a crowded race, with over two dozen contenders vying for the ultimate winner’s circle.  Over the next couple of weeks, East County Magazine will run a “Race for the White House” series profiling the candidates.

Our series opens with frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, two seasoned entries with long political pedigrees, and “show horse” Donald Trump who’s been grabbing media headlines and moving up in the polls. Later we’ll highlight mavericks such as Rand Paul and  Bernie Sanders,  each drawing populist followings for talking about issues like civil liberties and the wealth gap largely ignored by party power-brokers.  Finally, we’ll have coverage of the pack of other prominent contenders, plus some dark horses hoping to pull off an upset win.  For each candidate, we’ll give you  biographical highlights, stances on key issues, controversies, and fascinating facts as these contenders bolt out of the starting gate and run for the roses—the White House rose garden, that is.  Plus, we’ll check with pollsters and odds makers to see how they’re handicapping this important race—so keep an eye out for each installment in our “Race for the Whitehouse” 2016 coverage.

Click "read more" and scroll down to learn more about Bush, Clinton and Trump.

By Miriam Raftery

Hear our interview: http://kiwi6.com/file/kt18gznf91

(Note, file may take a few moments to load, or cut and paste link into browser for faster open)

July 31, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) –Julian resident Tony Teora announced on East County Magazine’s radio show on KNSJ that he will be running for the 71^st Assembly seat, which is open due to Brian Jones stepping down due to term limits.

Teora, a Republican, considers himself a “maverick” and a moderate candidate. “We have politicans today who are controlled by special interests,” he says adding that too often, elected officials vote against the interests of constituents,he says.

July 28, 2015 (La Mesa) – The San Diego East County Chaldean-American Chamber of Commerce will host its second Meet Your Candidates Night on Wednesday, August 5 from 6-7 pm.. at Sammy's Woodfire Pizza, 8555 Fletcher Parkway, La Mesa 91942.

Assemblyman Brian Jones, who is running for State Senate, and Randy Voepel, Santee Mayor and candidate for the Assembly seat Jones will vacate next year due to term limits, will be speaking.

July 22, 2015 (El Cajon) – San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce invites you to “Dine and Dialogue with Congresswoman Susan Davis” on July 31 from 12 .m. to 1:30 p.m.  The cost is $10 and lunch is provided.

Participants include Padre Dam Municipal Water District, Helix Water District, the San Diego County Water Authority, Building Industry Association of San Diego, and the Water Reliability Coalition

July 21, 2015 (El Cajon) -- On Thursday, August 13^th, 2015 Assemblyman Brian Jones (R-Santee) will be hosting a Drought Town Hall to educate constituents about the ongoing California drought, legislative solutions, and efforts to provide relief to the community.

East County News Service

July 19, 2015 (San Diego) – The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)  will host its annual convention on Wednesday, July 22 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego. The organization is funded by corporations and pushes state legislators to introduce “model” legislation that it calls “pro-business.”  Speakers include Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee. The conference also will include other state and national legislators from across the nation.

But progressive organizations are mobilizing thousands of people for a march, rallies and protests against ALEC, which critics say pushes forward anti-worker, anti-environmental measures drafted behind closed doors.  Local State Senator Joel Anderson (R-Alpine) chairs ALEC’s California chapter.

Photo: Clark Bunting, NPCA President and CEO, Rep. Susan Davis, and Craig Obey, NPCA Senior VP, Government Affairs

July 17, 2015 (San Diego)—When it comes to protecting national parks, the partisan divide between our local Congressional representatives is as wide as the Grand Canyon.

Three of San Diego’s Congressional members were honored with the Friends of the National Parks Award from the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association for their contributions to protection and enhancing America’s national parks. Congressional members Susan Davis, Scott Peters and Juan Vargas all voted to support national parks 100% of the time on bills tracked by the NPCA. California’s two Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, also scored 100%.  All five of these legislators are Democrats.

By contrast, San Diego’s two Republican Congressmen, Duncan D. Hunter and Darrell Issa, each scored 0%, voting against every measure to protect national parks that the NPCA tracked in the last Congressional session. That included five measures that passed the House of Representatives, three of which were opposed by the NPCA.

By Janis Russell

July 16, 2015 (El Cajon)- The San Diego East County Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce hosted its first Meet Your Candidates event at Nicky Rotten’s Bar and Burger Joint in Rancho San Diego Tuesday evening. The speakers were County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who is running for re-election to the 2^nd Supervisorial district seat and 71^st State Assembly district candidate Mike Harrison, who has served as a staffer for Congressmen Duncan L Hunter and Duncan D Hunter.

Photo: 1912 free speech rally in San Diego.

By Miriam Raftery

July 16, 2015 (San Diego) – Last month,  the county postponed action on a proposal to create “free speech zones” at the Waterfront Park after objections raised by the American Civil Liberties Union and local activists, as we reported. Now the County has shelved those plans indefinitely, ECM has learned.

July 13, 2015 (Sacramento)-- The California State Assembly today passed SCR 35 - a resolution to condemn any act of Anti-Semitism at all publicly funded schools (including University of California and California State University campuses) in the State of California.

Despite controversy over violent crimes, new immigrants commit crimes at lower rate than citizens, Pew Research finds

By Miriam Raftery

July 11, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Congressman Duncan D. Hunter (R-Alpine) has announced plans to introduce a bill that would cut federal funds to any city, county or state that has enacted laws to prevent enforcement of federal immigration law, Times of San Diego reports.

The measure comes in response to the fatal shooting of Kate Steinle at the San Francisco waterfront by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant with five prior felony arrests. San Francisco, a sanctuary city, did not notify federal officials of Sanchez’s release despite pending deportation orders.  Mean while San Francisco’s mayor has announced plans to cooperate with the federal government for deportation of immigrants with a history of violent crimes—a small percentage of the total immigrant population.

By Leon Thompson

Photos: Mayor Voepel, left, favors lifting limits; Councilman Dale, right, opposes.

July 8, 2015 (Santee)—Candidates running for Santee City Council or Mayor can only receive campaign contribution from individuals and for no more than $650.00 dollars.  However, that may change due to a proposal that would strike the restriction to individual donors and open campaign contributions up to corporations,political action committees (PACs) and other organizations. 

City Attorney Shawn Hagerty made clear that the current law is similar to ones many other California jurisdictions have.  Despite recent court rulings on some campaign finance issues, he made clear, “local limits to individuals have not been called into question and there is no requirement to change that.” Despite that, some Council members seemed eager to allow corporate and political action company money into local races to help fund rising campaign costs.

East County News Service

July 7, 2015 (Sacramento)--As the legislative session draws near its close, a flurry of bills are making their way through the state Capitol this week. Here is an update on several key measures: motorcycle lane-splitting, discrimination against transplant patients using medical marijuana, a patient right-to-die bill, and sick-time pay for California workers.