Election Day Today: A Race to the Bottom

This has been in many ways a dismal election season here in California. We already had our primary way back in February so there's not much interest or coverage in the down-ballot races, the two measures, or the myriad judges before us now in June.

We've been so engrossed by the Norma Torres-Xavier Alvarez juggernaut down Pomona way that we've totally ignored our own race.

Claremont is in the 29th State Senate District where our state senator, Bob Margett, is termed out this year. This has resulted in a race for the Republican nomination between our former assemblyman, Dennis Mountjoy, and current 60th district assemblyman Bob Huff, from Diamond Bar, whose assembly district stretches from Anaheim to Whittier and San Dimas but does not include Claremont.

(Democrat Joseph M. Lyons--who appears not to have a website nor could he be bothered to fill out the Smartvoter free page--and Libertarian Jill Stone are each running unopposed for the nomination to the 29th)

A friend of ours who gets the Republican campaign literature reports having been inundated by Huff for Senate flyers: no fewer than ten four-color pieces proclaiming his conservative values, his list of endorsements (including our former mayors Al Leiga and Peter Yao--those endorsements are gonna get our blood pumping), and finally morphing into hit pieces on the somnambulent Dennis Mountjoy.

It seems--and we could be wrong but this is the way it looks to us--that Dennis Mountjoy's chief claim to office is that his last name is "Mountjoy". Or, as Bob Huff now reminds the Republicans every day: "Dennis is not Dick". Dick Mountjoy, our former and long-ago termed out state senator was last seen running for the U. S. Senate against Dianne Feinstein. We don't have to tell you how that came out: Feinstein is still in Washington after running up narrow margins in San Francisco County--haha. We hear that Dick Mountjoy concentrated his California U. S. Senate campaign in the 29th district, even walking precincts there to keep the Mountjoy name in front of the local voters--just in case.

By all accounts Dick Mountjoy was a legislator of journeyman if far-right skills but in recent years his chief activity and goal has been to keep his son Dennis in work. He was successful in this; Dennis Mountjoy was actually elected to three terms in the Assembly where he impressed Tom McClintock and, except for his dad, no one else. See, Dennis is kinda dim (photo, right).

Now we hear from the aforementioned friend that he received a Robo-Call yesterday, the day before the election, from "Senator Mountjoy"--no first name given, so it was presumably Dick. The gist of the call was to be sure that you, the call recipient, understood that "conservative" was synonymous with "Mountjoy" and that "Mountjoy" was synonymous with "Senator". It mentioned you should be certain to return some kind of mail-petition (our friend is certain he never saw one) and ended with the key tag line, just in case you'd missed it: "This is Senator Mountjoy". Again, no first name.

This appears to be nothing more than a ham-handed attempt to help the witless voters conflate Dennis Mountjoy with Dick Mountjoy, and to make them think they are getting the Dick when when they are actually getting the Dennis. It is breathtaking in its manipulative cynicism. And we'd like to know if there is even the petition mentioned in the call, but good luck trying to get the California Fair Political Practices Commission to look into anything.

A pox on both their houses, Mountjoy's and Huff's. Mountjoy because ALL he has is his last name; Huff because all he has are endorsements and attacks on the hapless Dennis. Republicans in the 29th District are faced with the choice between a well-financed politico only a small step above Leiga and Yao and a Neanderthal.

This choice that is no choice, as we have said many times, is the logical outcome of Machine Politics as practiced in the Inland Empire. Norma Torres in the 61st Assembly District; safe for the Democrat so the winner of the Democratic primary will win the election. Mountjoy and Huff in the 29th Senate District, safe for the Republicans, so the winner of that primary will win in November.

Vote for somebody else in November.