Endorsements

We've already spotlighted the odd, inexplicable endorsements by Claremonters Against Strip Mining (CASM). Now onto the Claremont Democratic Club. They endorsed Sam Pedroza and Linda Elderkin. Why? For the same reasons as CASM endorsements. The Claremont 400 wants Pedroza and Elderkin pushed, and they want votes taken away from the other candidates.

Remember: the president of the Claremont Democratic Club is Bob Gerecke. Gerecke's wife Katie was the former co-president of the Claremont League of Women Voters, until she was suspended for unknown reasons (word is she took partisan stances on some issues--a League no-no).

The irony of the Democratic Club endorsement is that Sam Pedroza is also taking support from CASM president Michael Kunce, the CEO of Armstrong Garden Centers. Kunce is a registered Republican and in July 2005 donated $1,000 to an organization called the California Border Police Initiative. That organization was dedicated to sealing off California's border with Mexico by creating a state border patrol unit.

Kunce's support of this anti-immigrant group is ironic because his industry, the gardening and landscaping business, is so incredibly dependent on immigrant labor, both legal and illegal immigration. Kunce's backing is even more ironic since Pedroza is of Hispanic descent. Of course, this sort of ironic hypocrisy is nothing new in Claremont.

But, remember, this is Claremont--land of the inconsistent, the hypocritical, the goofy!

Here's a link to the 2005 Kunce donation (scroll down to 7/25/05): ElectionTrack.

And here is a link to the organization itself: http://www.calborderpolice.com/.