sbdpolitics.com

I once told a City Manager, who shall remain nameless, that I liked combination (Summer) Olympic years and Presidential Election years.  Sure, I enjoy retail municipal politics (especially election politics), particularly in the County Seat of the County of San Bernardino.  But nothing is better than the horse race of Presidential politics mixed in with the drama and competition of the quadrenial modern Olympics (of the Summer variety).

I have vague memories of 1980 election, and none of the 1980 Olympics.  I have great memories of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984, and I remember the primaries.  The Seoul Olympics were somewhat of a let down after the Los Angeles experience, but I followed the 1988 Presidential primaries, convention, debates and election very carefully.  I remember reading Newsweek’s Conventional Wisdom watch and CNN’s Inside Politics, of attending a Los Angeles campaign event, of working a phone bank in downtown San Bernardino on Arrowhead Avenue for the June Primary (which I remember mostly for a disturbing phone call to Fontana, of convincing a friend to phone bank, and of the volunteer/paid staffer running the office who spent the time playing whiffle ball in the hallway).

I remember 1992 well, with a classmate picking “his boy Clinton” back before the New Hampshire Primary, who I remembered mostly for giving the nominating speech in 1988 and being cheered when his overly-long speech was over.  Barcelona, on the other hand doesn’t stick in my mind, except for the Dream Team’s romps, and that the torch being lit by arrow.

I had the good fortune to attend a small portion of the Atlanta Games, flying on Delta a week after the bombing, with the bloated Dream Team II, with Shaq (coming to the Lakers) beating Vlade (leaving in exchange for Kobe), seeing Michael Johnson break the 200 record, and seeing baseball and soccer in Athens, at UGA.  By 1996, the primaries weren’t as interesting, with an air of inevitability that we see repeated in 2012.

I still remember the shock of election night in 2000, watching the television award Florida to Gore, and then take it back.  The Olympics, like with Seoul, are sort of a blur, other than remembering the festive atmosphere of Bondi Beach for volleyball.

Athens (Greece, this time), was my sentimental favorite for the Centennial Games, and if it weren’t for Atlanta, we’d have the Third Los Angeles Olympiad by now.  Off hand, without looking at Wikipedia, I remember only the U.S., including my “classmate” (and I use that term very loosely) Jason Kidd and the rest of team U.S.A. bombing in basketball.  And some Greek runner doping out of the games before the Opening Ceremonies.  Other than the invention of Swiftboating, the rise of the gay marriage wedge, and the Dean Scream, and forgetting Poland, I don’t remember much of the election campaign.

I followed both the Olympics and the Election pretty closely in 2008.  I don’t think I will ever forget the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing ever.  It was the kind of even that I used to see reading general history texts in schools, something not assigned to an info box, but inserted in the main text: that the Opening Ceremonies represented a show of China’s military, economic and political force in the world, circa 2008.  The 2008 election was interesting because it showed a generational shift away from the baby boom, from tradition to modernity, from old conventional wisdom to new technology.

I am following 2012 pretty closely, more in the electoral politics than the Olympic sports.  Which turns me to today’s theme: On carpetbagging and Gary Miller.

I couldn’t pick Gary Miller out of a line up, even a highly suggestive six pack.  I hadn’t really heard of his politics, except for the nominal party and place name that we largely see for congressmen who are not our own.  Such as R-Brea.  Or R-Diamond Bar.  Or the new one.  Because the Sun is owned by the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, occasionally a story from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune or the IVDB would pop-up as filler.  By filler, I mean news no one in San Bernardino east of Chino cares about, but is added because there is a certain amount of space even the Sun has to fill so as not to be confused with the Pennysaver.
Like this one I found in the archives of Google News from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, dated September 21, 2009, that has a quote: “If you google Gary Miller’s Scandals, you notice a lot of controversial situations Miller’s gotten himself into.”

Around the time of Jerry Lewis’ retirement decision, is when I first started to pay attention to the name Gary Miller.  So, in searching the name, I learned, that he was a potential carpetbagger:

Google brought me these results at that time: From the Orange Juice Blog, by Greg Diamond, on January 12, 2012:

Orange County won’t have Gary Miller to kick around in Congress anymore.  Neither, for that matter, will his home of Diamond Bar.  Neither, most importantly from his perspective, will Congressman Ed Royce, with whom he was locked in a death match in the new CA-39. [Citation Omitted].

Miller is hopping on the train past Anaheim and Azuza all the way to Cu-ca-mong-a — that fulfills my Jack Benny Show joke quota for the first quarter of 2012 – and points east, all the way to San Berdoo.

The dreaded c-bag word comes later in the same post:

Miller will be pulling his train into a nominally Democratic district.  According to the redoubtable (but rarely doubtable) Around the Capital website, Miller’s main competition in the Cuca-to-Berdoo district on the Democratic side will likely be long-time anti-Dreier opponent Russ Warner and Redlands Councilmember Pete Aguilar, though a Baca may also be in the mix.  On the Republican side, this was a district where Dreier himself was rumored to be likely to land, and State Senator (and outgoing Minority Leader) Bob Dutton has also been mentioned, but Miller has beaten both of them to the punch.

This has the makings of a fine race.  As a big developer, Miller is no stranger to the area — although it will take more research to see what parts of the district, if any, he has personally despoiled.  On the negative side, if you’re Gary Miller — and if you are, fix my street’s potholes before you go – the district has a 4-point Democratic advantage in registration.  Obama won it by 15; Brown won it by 7.  Then again, Miller is going to have a pot of money that will be dwarfed only by … that of Ed Royce!  Plus, he’ll be a carpetbagger, and we all know that carpetbaggers never win, except for when the do, which is not uncommonly.  (See entry for “McClintock, Tom.”)

So, do carpetbaggers never win, except for when they do, here in San Bernardino County, in California 31?

Well, George Brown did, when he was redistricted out, and moved east (technically, I believe to Riverside, though I’m pretty sure he really lived in Washington D.C).  But the 1970s were another time, another place.  Jerry Lewis was born and raised in San Bernardino, moved east to Highland (geographically, at least), and then slightly south to Redlands, but he never left the district, and participated in a geographic shift that to this day is common, and in no way could he be considered a carpetbagger.

But moving from Los Angeles County, or Orange County to the Inland Empire, and more particularly San Bernardino County is carpetbagging.  And you can see what the people out there think of this area by the blog post by Mr. Diamond.  Anyone who is from here, or lives here, knows the contempt they have for the area.  Whether born of reality, or arrogance, or both, it can already be seen in the carpetbagging campaign of Gary Miller.

You have no doubt seen the Gary Miller signs carpeting our parkways, utility poles, light poles, weed-strewn vacant lots (anywhere, really but in people’s yards).  They say that we, the people of District 31, should reelect Gary Miller.

Tell me, though, when did we elect him in the first place?