Vote pits David vs. Goliath

For the North County Times

For those who take tea partiers seriously, the most surprising thing about last week's election results was the lack of surprises. It was pretty much business as usual at the polls.

The 36 percent turnout of San Diego County's 1.4 million registered voters fell short of the 37 percent turnout for the 2006 gubernatorial primary. All incumbents came out on top. The three candidates endorsed by local tea party sponsors, Stop Taxing Us, lost by large margins, despite the organization's frequent opinion pieces in this newspaper, regular interviews of its leaders on the local Fox News channel and the group's endorsements touted on its website.

The only real surprise came in the county Board of Supervisors' two races, where incumbents face November runoffs for the first time in more than a decade.

You have to wonder why Stop Taxing Us did not endorse Bill Horn, given his shameless pandering to its demands for lower taxes and smaller government.

In his spring newsletter, Horn boasted of attending a local tax day tea party.

He bashed legislators in Sacramento and Washington for "bailing out entire industries, damaging our free enterprise system, threatening to undermine the best health care system in the world, and worshiping at the altar of environmental extremism." Sound familiar? You'd think he'd borrowed the script from Oceanside's latest tea party rally.

On his county website, Horn sang the praises of San Diego Design Center's President Robert J. Basso, who wrote to the 5th District supervisor to explain why this country's manufacturers are rapidly disappearing. Basso recalls the good old days, specifically 1955, when he opened his small manufacturing business at a time when "burdensome and obstructive restrictions and regulations were mostly non-existent." Horn proudly posted Basso's letter on the 5th District website at http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cnty/bos/sup5/news/letter20100319.pdf.

After reading this business owner's long list of government restrictions, condemning regulations covering discrimination, sexual harassment, the disabled, worksite safety, hazardous materials, funded vacations, retirement plans and unions, it became apparent Horn's hero believes these regulations destroyed a business climate ideal for sweatshops managed by able-bodied white males.

Horn told this newspaper he's confident he'll defeat Steve Gronke in the runoff, calling him a stooge for the unions. Political pundits say the odds are heavily stacked against Gronke growing his 20 percent primary vote into a majority.

But with Horn seen as the stooge for wealthy developers, his "let 'em eat cake" eagerness to slash social services budgets to preserve the county's $707 million reserve, the 70 percent of San Diegans voting for supervisor term limits, and his failed courtship of kindred-spirit conservatives, many are rooting for David to slay Goliath at the polls in November.