I received the latest Real Silva Bullet this afternoon, but didn't have time to post it -- a task taken care of by my Blogpen colleague Lurk.
As a commenter pointed out, the OC YAFers appear to have been mixing up Dianne Harman's and Jim Silva's campaign finance information while penning their latest screed. They are correct on a couple of things: the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 12 gave $1,000 to Jim Silva on August 27, 2005, and the Orange County Employees Association gave him $1,000 on December 12, 2005.
The Real Silva Bullet wrongly claims the United Association of Journeymen Apprentices Plumbing Pipe Fitting are supporting Jim Silva. The Pipefitters, in fact, support Dianne Harman and contributed $5,000 to her campaign on March 16, 2006.
The Real Silva Bullet also fails to mention the California State Firefighters Association donated $1,000 to McGill on May 3, 2006, or that OCPFA honcho Tony Bedolla has also donated to Mike McGill. Oh, but that doesn't count because it was donated to Mike McGill.
And you'll never see the Real Silva Bullet attack Jim Silva's support for CenterLine, because McGill was a leading supporter of CenterLine.
The OC YAFers are good guys, but give me a break with the "still placing principle over politics" line. They've cast their lot with McGill in the 67th AD primary, and they're doing their level best to support the McGill campaign strategy of painting Silva as a liberal RINO union hack and Mike McGill as the spiritual heir of Ronald Reagan. Consequently, they highlight issues where they believe contrast McGill favorably with Silva, and ignore issues (CenterLine, Prop. 13, eminent domain) where he doesn't compare well. That's what campaigns do.
The truth is, I doubt either gentleman would amass an appreciably different voting record in the Assembly. I've met Mike McGill, and he strikes me as a good man. I've known Jim Silva for many years, and I know him to be a very good man with the right instincts, but who has cast some bad votes as Supervisor -- along with being very strong on some very important issues -- like opposing a post-bankruptcy tax increase (when everyone else was crowing for one) and doggedly insisting on paying off bankruptcy debt as quickly as possible. I am absolutely certain Jim Silva will not give OC GOPers any cause for heartburn as an Assemblyman.
And I have absolutely NO doubt either of Jim Silva or Mike McGill is vastly preferable to Dianne Harman.
Finally, I must address this postscript from the Real Silva Bullet:
Of note: This series of missives obviously is a play-on Silva’s own “Silva Bullet” newsletter, a parody of the Coors Light slogan, “The Real Silver Bullet,” an ironic choice though, in that Coors is a decidedly anti-union company. But, in a way it does make a certain amount of sense for Silva to parody the Coors slogan, as he himself is nothing more than a parody of a Republican.
I created the Silva Bullet when I worked on Supervisor Jim Silva's run-off re-election campaign in 1998. When I came up with the title, Coors Light was the furthest thing from my mind (I prefer Mexican, German and Irish beer). "Silva Bullet" sounded like Silver Bullet, which is what you use to kill werewolves. I thought it was a neat play on words for a blast-fax newsletter we utilized to fire broadsides at Dave Sullivan, the Huntington Beach councilman who had lent himself to being used as a human battering against Jim by south county anti-airport forces.
In other words, the OC YAFers don't know what they're talking about.
Republican voters in the 67th AD will be receiving this survey mailer from Dianne Harman today. It asks them to ranks a litany of issues -- taxes, illegal immigrations, environmental protection, etc. -- on a 1-10 scale of importance, and then mail it back to the Dianne Harman campaign.
When you emulate political hit man Harvey Englander, you're not taking the low road -- you're going subterranean.
Here is the 