I decided this morning to drop by the Desert Sun's Pop Up politics event at the Palm Springs Air Museum. It was a really great event and kudos to the people who put it on. It was fun seeing so many familiar faces. My general takeaways:
Palm Springs
I talked to a lot of candidates for in both the mayoral and council races. The general consensus was that many were surprised that the Desert Sun was so hard on Paul Lewin basically tearing him to shreds while endorsing Geoff Kors and JR Roberts. Many felt there was no way the paper could endorse Ginny Foat for Mayor after the editorial yesterday.
When asked who the paper would endorse if not Ms. Foat, the consensus was it would be Robert Moon. I myself feel they will issue no endorsement but we shall see.
Most of the crowd I talked to was both abuzz and aghast at the amount of money Palm Springs power broker Harold Matzner has plopped down in this election. Well into 6 figures, it should basically frighten everyone. I would not be surprised if campaign finance limits are in place soon as a result.
DHS
It was a good turnout except for Mayor Adam Sanchez who skipped the event. In DHS it all boils down to turnout, A big turnout tends to favor more traditional candidates.
Also there were candidates for the various water boards there. Sorry I didn't get to hear there presentations.
All in all not a bad way to spend the morning.
Steve Kelly can be reached at skelly@rrbroadcasting.com
I too dropped by the Palm Springs Air Museum for this morning's political Pop-Up event. It was a well-attended offering and I appreciated the opportunity to browse among all the candidate tables. My sense of opinions expressed by others mirror those Stephen Vericker reported in his blog. Where we differ is that I would be one significantly shocked if The Desert Sun editorial board informs us tomorrow they've decided not to endorse a candidate in the Palm Springs mayor race. This morning's editorial endorsement of Kors and Roberts for city council left me with the distinct impression they believe Palm Springs needs fresh faces and to stand back and not make a choice would seem not only counter-productive but even a bit cowardly. To not make a selection could be construed as telling voters they too should skip making a selection for mayor. Later today we'll know whether they turned out to be different than the candidate they panned by stating "He must prove he has the capacity to do the right thing". Will The Desert Sun editorial board "do the right thing?"
ReplyDeleteBond Shands
Desert Political Opinion blog - www.DesertObserver.com
The Notebook blog - www.BondShands.com
Twitter - @BondShands
.
Also posted to the Palm Springs Local Government page at www.facebook.com/groups/PalmSpringsLocalGovernment