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ELECTION 2026 - What we have seen as people vote either in person at polling locations or by mail in ballots has dramatically changed during the past years.
We have seen a decline with the number of individuals casting ballots. Major increase in apathy.
Example in point: if an individual is registered as a Democrat or Republican, they tend to vote for the person who represents their political affiliation.
Rarely if ever do voters take the time to read up on candidates and for those who held previous political offices review their voting records.
Let’s review a few of the candidates running for the political office of Governor for the state of California.
Katie Porter for an extended period of time taught law at UC Irvine. She resided in faculty housing. This housing was located in University Hills. It is to be noted that there is a shortage of faculty housing. Once Porter was elected to the US Congress, she continued to reside in her UC Irvine faculty housing while on unpaid leave from her law professor position. There were many questions about this arrangement which drew scrutiny because the subsidized housing is intended for only for active faculty members.
Porter was then given the opportunity to purchase the property for the sum of $523.000 dollars.
Were there some types of Pay to Play issues that took place? This four-bedroom 3 bath house was sold way below market price. . Most homes located in the University Hills area where Porter’s home is located sell for over 1 million dollars.
On two separate occasions Porter was extremely disrespectful towards her staff. These two unprofessional encounters by Porter are both recorded on videos and have been aired on several news media outlets. One of the videos Porter takes after Trump in her use of the F Bomb. Reports suggest that Porter creates a toxic work environment, with allegations of bullying and berating her employees.
One of my longtime friends who for many years worked as a mediator for major cities, large union groups has had many encounters with Porter and stated that she always has to be right and referred to her as just plain Nasty.
It is time for Porter to drop out for the race for governor.
Antonio Villaraigosa second time around. He ran for governor back in 2018 and came in third place.
Villaraigosa can best be described as a career politician. After he completed his term in California State Assembly, he ran for LA City council and was elected in 2003 to represent the 14th council district. He made a promise to complete all four years as a councilman. During his tenure as CD 14 Councilman, he was hardly around to represent his district as he was traveling all across the United States in 2004 working on the John Kerry presidential campaign. Villaraigosa, after lying to the residents of CD 14, then ran for mayor for the city of Los Angeles and was elected as mayor serving from 2005-2013. Also, during this time period from 2007-2008 Antonio was working on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Mayor Villaraigosa joined hands with developers who then purchased the low-income hotels in the downtown and skid row area. These locations were remolded and the former tenants could not afford to relocate to their previous rental locations. Because of the increase in rent this move increased the homeless population especially in the skid row area.
Let’s not forget how Villaraigosa was involved in extramarital affairs during the time he was married and his wife was undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer. Villaraigosa lacks moral fiber.
It is time for Villaraigosa to drop out of the race for governor.
Xavier Becerra is a career politician. He first served in the California State Assembly from 1990-1992. He was then elected to the US House of Representatives in 1992. He maintained this position until 2017 when he was appointed as California State Attorney General. He maintained this position until 2021 when he was appointed United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.
During his tenure as California State Attorney General, he announced the arrest in 2019 of Naason Del Mundo and other co-defendants for charges of human trafficking, production of child pornography, and forcible rape of a minor. Mundo was found guilty and was sentenced in 2022.
Also in 2019 Jing Chiang Huang, Shu Mei Lin, Shao Lee and others were arrested for sex trafficking, tax fraud and money laundering. Five of the suspects arrested were convicted and sentenced in March 2022.
On January 1, 2021, the California Legislature enacted AB 3234 which modified California Penal Code 3055. In essence it now allowed for prison inmates who served more than twenty years in state prison (continuous incarceration) and over the age of 50 to be released early from state prison under the Elderly Parole Program.
Xavier Becerra did not voice his opposition to this new legislation.
Example in point is the recent release of David Allen Funston. Funston convicted of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation in 1999. Funston molested multiple children under the age of 7 years. During A Parole Board Hearing he stated that he continues to have urges to molest children again. The judge on Funston case stated that he was every parent worst nightmare and the monster that parents fear the most.
Where was Becerra to raise his voice to object to this amended state legislation.
During Becerra's tenure as Secretary of Health and Human Services his former chief of staff Sean McCluskie was indicted and subsequently pled guilty for the theft of $ 225.000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to Becerra.
How did this take place? Is Becerra not keeping an eye on his campaign accounts?
Matt Mahan the mayor from San Jose is also running for governor. I made inquiries to individuals who reside in the San Jose area and they all stated that he is a good and honest mayor and has accomplished all of the things he states he has done during his campaign adds debates.
Unfortunately, he entered the race for governor to late and remains low on the poll count.
How refreshing if we could have a new governor like Mahan.
It would be in his best interest if he drops out of the race.
Tony Thurmond continues to remain in the Governor’s race. His poll ratings are very low, and he should drop out of the race. He has a fifteen-year history working in California government agencies. Currently he is the California State Superintendent of Public Education.
Tom Steyer continues to run for governor. His poll ratings are high. Extensive negative criticisms over how he made his money surrounding his past investments in fossil fuel, private prisons and offshore investments. Steyer states that his past earnings from these investments were made over twenty years ago and now regrets his previous decisions in how he made his money. He has now for the past twenty years devoted his time and his investments to improve the overall quality of life for all residents in the state of California .He supports those undocumented individuals classified as illegal immigrants who reside in our state who have remained free from criminal involvement and have no documented history of arrests, employed and pay taxes be given the legal right to reside not only in California but throughout the United States. Steyer wants to focus on housing affordability climate change and corporate accountability.
Chad Bianco is the current Sheriff of Riverside county. For a period of time, he was a member of the Oath Keepers and was also a dues-paying member. Bianco now states he is no longer a member of the Oath Keepers. Oath Keepers is identified as an anti-government extremist group and a far -right militia group. Bianco is against sanctuary cities and believes that all undocumented immigrants should be immediately removed from our country. Even those immigrants who have resided in our country for years, have remained free from involvement in criminal behavior, gainfully employed and paid taxes.
The Oath Keepers are followers of 2025.
Steve Hilton is an immigrant who immigrated to the United States from the UK in 2012 and then became a United States citizen in 2021. He was a Fox News political Commentator. Initially he settled in the Bay area and he taught at Stanford. He co-founded the tech startup Crowdpac and became a prominent media figure. He does not believe in sanctuary cities and believes that all individuals who did not enter the United States legally should be removed. He is running for governor on a anti-establishment platform. His focus is to reduce Californias debt making California affordable through drastic deregulation, reduce state bureaucratic bloat and cut taxes.
Ballots are now being sent out, and it is hoped that each voter will participate in their right to vote. Before you vote please familiarize with each candidate’s goals and objectives and what they want to offer the state of California.
(Caroline Aguirre is a retired 24-year State of California law enforcement officer, LAPD family member, community activist and Neighborhood Watch captain. Aguirre is a CityWatch contributor.)
