Guest Post: Pombo at the San Joaquin Chamber of Commerce Installation Dinner
This guest post is a report back from the San Joaquin Chamber of Commerce Installation Dinner that happened last Friday. If you go to an event that relates to this race, feel free to write something up and send it to me. There’s a good chance I’ll put it up on SNTP.
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Pombo at the San Joaquin Chamber of Commerce Installation Dinner
By San Joaquin Nancy
This past Friday, our esteemed Congressman Richard Pombo was theMaster of Ceremonies at the San Joaquin Chamber of Commerce Installation Dinner. This event was loaded with irony as some of thepeople honored and some of the topics discussed (immigration, education, and voting rights) Pombo voted against the community and in one notable vote (HR 4437) he was the only San Joaquin ValleyCongressman to do so (election year – can you spell wedge issue).
Rep. Pombo was apparently placed as the M.C. at the last minute (the program had been printed with a different M.C.). But hey it's an election year and Pombo has to make his yearly appearance. At this event of course he was wearing his "Latino" hat, seated at the front table with his entourage of campaign staff, but noticeably his wifewas not in attendance. At times Pombo seemed literally tied to chamber CEO, Mark Martinez.
At the event the new President of the chamber, Carol Ornelas talked about education and how important it was to their community and the need for access to affordable higher education. It was funny that she was mentioning this at the event, as Pombo voted to stick higher student loan rates on CD-11 residents with children in college, costing students and their parents tens of thousands of dollars more over the life of a typical student loan. How's that for making higher education more affordable.
The other notable irony at this event was the award that was given to the Businessman of the Year. This gentleman is the owner of the Cancún Mexican restaurant in Stockton. He immigrated here over 30 years ago and still has limited English. It was almost comical as here wasCongressman Pombo presenting this award and praising immigrants, just two days after voting for the amendment to rid the Voting Rights Act of bilingual ballots. This amendment (H.AMDT.1185) by Rep. King of Iowa went down 185-238. As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words.
Also of note, Jerry McNerney was in attendance and got a good reception from what I saw. He introduced himself to my table and at that time I noticed that to my immediate right, one of Pombo's district office constituent services aides was discretely snapping photos of McNerney. Seemed odd to me as this wasn't a political event per se, but I am sure she had somewhat sinister motives for snappingthe photos. I suspect the poor girl was probably instructed to get the photos for a mailer or a future TV commercial.
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posted by Matt @ 11:17 AM
9 Comments:
Nice to see you too, AJ
While the comments are great. there are a couple of things that you missed, Matt.
First, this was the San Joaquin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. That might be enogh to give everyone some pause. Those who might think that the Hispanic Vote is a lock for the Democrats.
Second, it is not too difficult to understand how Pombo's role as MC was arranged. Mike Martinez, the executive director of the Chamber is a Pombo supporter, Republican name in Stockton. He was even quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle in a pre-primary article, knocking McCloskey as a carpetbagger and talking about all the good that Pmobo has done the community.
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Pombo says McCloskey and the other critics have skewed his positions and that he will be voted into an eighth term.
That's just what Mark Martinez, executive director of the San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, expects.
"Pombo's been very effective in helping this district,'' said Martinez, a Republican who also serves on the Stockton planning commission. "He knows this district like no one else."
With Martinez positioned to give such timely support to Pombo, it is no wonder that he ended up being a "replacement" MC.
Did anyone check the hospitals for the status of the original MC?
Well first of all, is the CEO Mark Martinez or Mike Martinez? Maybe we should figure that out first....
What's in a name? Martinez still is the connection for Pombo's war chest. Some how I can't see much difference, Pombo has ties too the Latino communities, he does one thing and says another. He voted for the HR -4437 to hurt business people. Then votes to support the illegals. I have a sound bite at the forum were he talks to the people at the forum about, don't forget to shop while your in town we need the money. Is he HR represenitive Congressman or the the pitch man for the Chamber. Oh well what do I know I'm not on Hank Shaws radar.
T.Benigno
I'm just saying, if you're going to blog about someone, maybe you should get his name right first, not call him Mark Martinez in one spot and Mike Martinez in another....
Anonymous: The names don't matter because it is about that issue that counts. As with you you are Anonymous: I am me I blog about what that person represents, We all know that Mr. Martinez represents the group that supports Pombo. No one screwed up Pombo positions he lied about them. He wanted to drill off shore and he lied about, I have the tape if you want to see it. Besides I was in the forum, Mc didn't lie nor did I but Pombo did. He may not win the election in November.
T. Benigno
You should probably get the names right, after all, they count. It's Pombo we want out of office, no one else. Name recognition is a BIG deal. Just ask Jerry about that. AND... a person who posts on a blog anonymously probably shouldn't complain about others getting the name right.
When are the people who support Pombo going realize that the Chamber Of Commerce is not helping the average wage earner in America. The are responsible for the high cost of goods are services. As we see in the campaign adds that the Chamber of Commerce and Pombo put out. That Pombo helped 4.25 million people get cheaper drugs, They didn't say from what period of time. What they did was raise the prices five times and then say, we can give you a 10% discount. That not the America I used to know. That is what the grocery chains used to do,now they call it economic developement.
Vote this Pombo Flake out and send the Chamber of Commerce back to New York
Tommy Bananas
Has anyone wondered why Pombo does not want to go after me. Tom Benigno. He makes remarks about Mc Closkey, I wondered about it and the only reason why is that I have the goods on him. As I did in the Tracy forum I put egg on his face and his whole gang of hoodlums. I call them the Republican Hi jackers, because they tried to change the Republican party. The night of the forum as we left the stage Pombo made the comment to me you had better stop telling those ------ lies. and I said I didn't lie you son of a -----. He knew, that I knew what he was talking about. The campaign contributions he was fined for passing around.
Lets see some response.
Tom Benigno
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