{"id":8965,"date":"2022-10-17T11:57:04","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T18:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=8965"},"modified":"2022-10-17T12:11:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T19:11:10","slug":"dan-downey-a-needed-voice-of-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=8965","title":{"rendered":"Dan Downey: A Needed Voice of Reason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written and submitted by Mary Anne<\/p>\n

The California State Assembly is unquestionably one of the most politically lopsided organizations in the country.\u00a0 Its 60\/19\/1 split (Democrats\/Republicans\/Independents) is matched only by the California State Senate\u2019s count of 31\/9 \u2013 essentially assuring that any crackpot Progressive idea introduced to the floor finds its way to the Governor\u2019s desk and Progressive Newsom\u2019s signature.\u00a0 Happily, many of these laws have been deemed unconstitutional even by the extremely liberal 9<\/span>th<\/span> District Court; nonetheless, they cost our legislators and courts time and money, taxpayer money, we can ill afford, especially as Biden\u2019s inflation begins to settle in at a year-over-year 8% plus.\u00a0 Of course, the Democrats in the Assembly don\u2019t care.\u00a0 They\u2019ve levied on us their constituents the highest income tax rate in the nation and the highest gas tax rate in the nation.\u00a0 Together with crippling regulations, the latter has seen us experiencing gas prices of over $6\/gallon while the national average hovers at just over $3\/gallon.\u00a0 Newsom\u2019s promised rebates don\u2019t begin to cover the pain at the pump although he hopes to use them to get votes in the current election.\u00a0 Not to mind, these outrageous tax rates can pay for these rebates as they also continue to pay for CA\u2019s now notorious train to nowhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it.\u00a0 The Dems don\u2019t care that the average family now has to choose between gas or food and decide whether or not it is time to move to another state.\u00a0 The Dems don\u2019t care that their \u201ccompassionate\u201d, shelter-first approach to the homeless sees more money wasted such as San Francisco\u2019s $5000\/month\/tent fiasco <\/span>reported by KTLA and the San Francisco Chronicle in 2021<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 The Dems don\u2019t care that their insane method for protecting a single small fish has virtually destroyed CA\u2019s agricultural industry.\u00a0 The Dems don\u2019t care that their Governor\u2019s Covid shutdowns (some of the most stringent in the nation) harmed our schools and small businesses and set up a pattern of uncertainty that harmed them even further.\u00a0 (On this one, of course, they didn\u2019t care.\u00a0 Governor Newsom and Speaker Pelosi both violated those restrictions with impunity while the common citizenry faced fines, license revocation, and even jail time.)\u00a0 The Dems don\u2019t care that their soft-on-crime and anti-police rhetoric has resulted in televised smash-and-grab robberies and huge spikes in violent crime.\u00a0 The Dems don\u2019t care that their densification agenda has removed local control over zoning restrictions and promises to reduce the quality of life and increase traffic gridlock within most cities within the state.\u00a0 The Dems don\u2019t care that their insistence on renewable energy has damaged thousands of acres of fragile desert environments and killed tens of thousands of birds and other local wildlife.\u00a0 The Dems don\u2019t care that their \u201csanctuary state\u201d policy has turned CA into a magnet for undocumented immigrants, an unsustainable drain on small local economies.\u00a0 The Dems don\u2019t care that their approach to education concentrating on social justice and genderism has reduced a school system once rated as the best in the nation to a school system whose most recent ACT test scores now show California at the very bottom, the 50<\/span>th<\/span> of the 50 states.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Dems don\u2019t care.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is no more evident than in the current race for the <\/span>77<\/b>th<\/b> CA Assembly District<\/b> where <\/span>Republican Dan Downey<\/b> is seeking to unseat Democrat Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath.<\/span><\/p>\n

First a small shout-out to the <\/span>San Diego Union-Tribune.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Although an undeniably liberal news organ, the U-T has this year published a series of articles asking opposing candidates the same set of questions and then posting their responses.\u00a0 The full text of the Downey\/Horvath interviews can be viewed here:<\/span><\/p>\n

2022 election: Q&A with Dan Downey, California State Assembly District 77 candidate – The San Diego Union-Tribune (sandiegouniontribune.com)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

2022 election: Q&A with Tasha Boerner Horvath, California State Assembly District 77 candidate – The San Diego Union-Tribune (sandiegouniontribune.com)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The candidate responses to these two interviews could not be more telling.\u00a0 Of course, the U-T is liberal and several of the questions deal with favorite liberal issues, and here Horvath could be depended on to voice liberal talking points.\u00a0 Whatever the question and wherever she could, Assemblywoman Horvath introduced her support of renewables and how important it is to combat climate change.\u00a0 One of her more bizarre answers dealt with transportation where she announced her support for extended bike lanes as she noted it takes about the same length of time to take a bus from La Jolla to the airport as it would take to bike there.\u00a0 Just envision, biking back and forth to the airport, with your luggage in tow.\u00a0 Of course, she\u2019s really pushing for the public transportation option without telling us how she would pay for it.\u00a0 On gun violence, she\u2019s most proud of her bill that banned gun sales at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.\u00a0 On K-12, she wants more of the same, extending preschool to earlier years and school days to longer sessions\u2026again not explaining how she\u2019d pay for this or touching on CA schools\u2019 woke curricula.\u00a0 Finally, she addresses inflation and immediately seeks to lay blame on the energy companies.\u00a0 Indeed, several of her answers express the need for more regulation against companies struggling with the regulations in place.\u00a0 Horvath is unquestionably a true believer in the Democratic Progressive ideology, despite how badly it has hurt us here in California.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan Downey has a different take.\u00a0 This is not surprising.\u00a0 Dan comes from a finance background and is new to candidate politics.\u00a0 His responses are refreshing.\u00a0 When asked about what CA should do about climate change, he notes rightly that climate is a global issue and that instead of asking for more sacrifices from Californians, Governor Newsom should be asking China to reduce their carbon emissions.\u00a0 On inflation, Dan points to our panicked response to Covid that relied on business shutdowns and money printing and set up the current inflationary cycle.\u00a0 When asked about criminal justice \u201cequity\u201d, Dan asks back \u201cequitable for who?\u201d\u00a0 and points to CA state initiatives that have reduced criminal penalties and seen an answering spike in crime.\u00a0 When asked about education, he points to the need to bring parents back into the decision-making process as to what their kids are taught.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan may be new to this game, but he\u2019s no patsy.\u00a0 Nor is he an ideologue.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t deny climate change as some of our Republican candidates would, but he points out the folly of some of the Democrats\u2019 proposals while noting good conservation measures that should appeal to all of us.\u00a0 Dan notes the need for a pipeline <\/span>(horrors)<\/span><\/i> to help reduce the cost of gas in this state and expresses his support for modern nuclear plants to address our continuing energy crisis.\u00a0 These are proposals that would be anathema to many liberals, but Dan states his positions clearly and explains them \u2013 something few Democrats even attempt to do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan\u2019s articulate and smart.\u00a0 He\u2019s exactly what we need in the Assembly \u2013 not just for San Diego\u2019s 77<\/span>th<\/span> but for all of California.\u00a0 It\u2019s past time for us voters to put someone in the Assembly who can recognize and point out the follies of his opponents without being nasty about it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

California needs more candidates like Dan Downey.<\/span><\/p>\n

In San Diego\u2019s 77<\/span>th<\/span> Assembly District, we\u2019re privileged to have Dan Downey.<\/span><\/p>\n

We now need to support Dan.\u00a0 Vote for Dan.\u00a0 Let our friends and neighbors know who Dan is.<\/span><\/p>\n

With that support, Dan can and should win.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written and submitted by Mary Anne The California State Assembly is unquestionably one of the most politically lopsided organizations in the country.\u00a0 Its 60\/19\/1 split (Democrats\/Republicans\/Independents) is matched only by the California State Senate\u2019s count of 31\/9 \u2013 essentially assuring that any crackpot Progressive idea introduced to the floor finds its way to the Governor\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-8965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-politics","tag-tasha-boerner-horvath"],"yoast_head":"\nDan Downey: A Needed Voice of Reason - San Diego News Desk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=8965\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dan Downey: A Needed Voice of Reason - 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