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Howard Wayne endorsed by Donna Frye for her council seat
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– San Diego District 6 Councilmember Donna Frye and her Chief of Staff, Steve Hadley, a former District 6 candidate, announced on Thursday that they are endorsing Howard Wayne to replace Frye on the council.
“We have a very clear choice in this race,” said Frye. “Howard is a long-time member of this community, a Deputy Attorney General and a legislator who has already proven his commitment to us. Lorie Zapf, in contrast, has shown herself to be intolerant and to lack the kind of financial management skills it takes to run a large City.”
Steve Hadley also expressed confidence in Howard Wayne and concern about the direction Zapf might take the City. “This is a critical time for San Diego,” he said. “We can’t afford any big mistakes in who we elect.”
Howard Wayne is running on a platform of improving City services through economic improvement, better fiscal management and pension reform.
Howard Wayne has served the public throughout his professional career as a San Diego area California State Assembly Member and as a California Deputy Attorney General. A San Diegan since early childhood, Howard attended Marvin Elementary School, Lewis Junior High School, Hoover High School, San Diego State University, and University
of San Diego. He has lived in San Diego Council District 6 neighborhoods for 38 years.
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Preceding provided by the Wayne for City Council campaign
A good day for Jewish incumbents, but not for other Jewish candidates
By Donald H. Harrison
Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Jewish incumbents on San Diego County ballots won election or renomination to their seats in California’s primaries on Tuesday, but most Jewish candidates running for open seats fell short of the mark, or placed second for runoff spots. San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis won outright reelection in a nonpartisan race. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, Congress Members Susan Davis and Bob Filner, and State Assembly member Marty Block all won renominations in their respective Democratic party primaries. Howard Katz, in an unopposed Democratic primary, won the right to oppose Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, setting up a contest between members of the Jewish and Lebanese-American communities.
Among Jewish hopefuls falling by the wayside were State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner who lost in an expensive Republican primary contest for governor to Meg Whitman; Orly Taitz, who sought the Republican nomination for Secretary of State; Mike Schmier who placed way back in the GOP race for attorney general; and David Nussbaum who was well behind the pack in the nonpartisan contest for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
That trend held up in local contests as well: In the 36th State Senate District, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone came in second to Assemblyman Joel Anderson for the Republican nomination; in the 76th Assembly District, Naomi Bar Lev placed third for the Republican nomination, and in the 6th San Diego City Council District race, Howard Wayne placed behind Lorie Zapf. Because neither Wayne nor Zapf had a majority, they will have a runoff election in November to replace termed-out City Council Member Donna Frye.
In contests in which major Jewish figures played behind-the-scenes roles, there were mixed results. Former County Sheriff Bill Kolender saw his hand-picked successor, Bill Gore, win easy election as sheriff. On the other hand, San Diego City Council member Marti Emerald was unsuccessful in persuading the voters to block the proposal to make the “strong mayor” system of government permanent and to return instead to having a city manager serve as the chief executive of the municipality.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World
Schmooze and News for all us Jews
By Donald H. Harrison
Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Okoronkwo Umeham and his wife, Gail Feurzeig Umeham, have heard rumors that the Mexican government may apologize for his wrongful incarceration in a Tijuana Federal Detention Center earlier this month, but so far that is all that the reports have turned out to be – rumors. To my way of thinking, far worse than the fact that the Nigerian-American was detained for carrying soup vegetables that Mexican Marines mistook for drugs, was his being chained hand and foot even as he was being taken back to the U.S. border to be set free. Why should a man be humiliated with shackles and manacles when it already has been determined that he is innocent? That’s the biggest outrage.
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I’ve received a press release from District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis (who is Jewish) that she’s supporting a member of her staff, Deputy District Attorney Richard Monroy, for the Superior Court judgeship from which Bob Coates is retiring. With the flap about how Dumanis frequently has exercised the right of peremptory challenge to prevent certain out-of-favor judges from hearing criminal cases, it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to her own handpicked candidate for the bench. If there is any backlash against Dumanis’ policies, the Monroy judgeship (assuming he draws an opponent) may be a test case.
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In the race for the 6th District seat of the San Diego City Council being vacated by Donna Frye, we were pleased to read that an old friend and a member of our community, Deputy State Attorney General Howard Wayne, has taken the lead in fundraising. Given the crowded field, he will need television time to remind everyone of his records of accomplishments during the six years (maximum three terms) he served this area as a state assemblyman.
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My guess is that a lot of Jews who voted for Barack Obama for President will go over to the Republican side next election—assuming that the Republicans nominate someone who seems to be a reasonable choice. John McCain, in my opinion, would have gotten more Jewish votes than he did, but for the fact that Sarah Palin seemed to so many of us to be an off-the-wall choice for vice president. Now, with bad feeling between the leaders of Israel and the United States near an all-time high, many Jewish Democrats and independents will hope the GOP will find someone who is moderate on domestic issues and willing to stick by the Israelis even though the rest of the world is ganging up on them.
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Jennie Starr, who already has pioneered social gatherings for Hebrew speakers in the county, now is exploring the possibility of creating a public charter school in which the Hebrew language would be taught in secular fashion. Starr indicates that one possible venue for such a school might be the Carmel Valley area, which can be reached by coastal communities by Interstate 5 and by inland communities by State Route 56. Before such a school can be established, there are many hoops to jump through –not the least of which is showing that there is sufficient support in the community at large to make such a school viable.
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Navras Jaat Aafreedi, a gentleman in India whose articles about Jewish life there have been carried by this publication, tells us: “As I attempt to craft a course on Jewish History and Culture – which would be the first university-level course of its kind in South Asia – I am also attempting to have a section of our library devoted to Jewish Studies.” Anyone who wishes to help him should send books or DVDs by registered mail to him at the School of Social Sciences and Buddhist Studies at Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, Yamuna Expressway, Gautam Buddha Nagar – 201 308, Uttar Pradesh, India.
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Bruce Kesler spotted the story in the San Francisco Chronicle about the new Assembly Speaker John Perez. Growing up in a mixed Jewish and Latino area of Los Angeles, he learned to speak a bissel Yiddish. … The Jerusalem Post reported that when Israel sent medical teams to Haiti following the massive earthquake earlier this year, it prompted some Jews to recall how Haiti had provided refuge to their families escaping from Hitler’s Germany and nazi-occupied Eastern Europe.
Wayne rolls up endorsements; Dumanis backs Whitman
SAN DIEGO (SDJW)–Howard Wayne, the former Democratic state assemblyman running in the 6th City Council District, has been rolling up the endorsements. In his bid to succeed Council member Donna Frye, he has received the blessings of the San Diego Democratic County Central Committee, the San Diego Labor Council, the San Diego Democratic Club, and the Chicano Democratic Association as well as those of a host of current and former elected officials.
Wayne, a member of the Jewish community who has been active in the Latino-Jewish Coalition, also has received endorsements from these Jewish officeholders: State Senate President pro tempore Darrell Steinberg, Assemblyman Marty Block and San Diego City Councilwoman Marti Emerald.
On the Republican side of the ledger, San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who also is Jewish, has joined a group of San Diegans endorsing Meg Whitman for govewrnor. She is listed as an honorary chair for a fundraising gathering for Whitman on December 2 at the Rancho Santa Fe home of Joel and Ann Reed. The special guest at that shindig will be former Massachusetts governor and unsucessful Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
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Preceding compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff
