Whirlpool
Occupy Peters
At the end of our Nov. 21 interview with San Diego Port Commissioner Scott Peters on his bid for U.S. Congress, CityBeat brought up the potential of an Occupy Wall Street-related protest at the Port of San Diego. After all, a position on Occupy could be the defining difference between Peters, a moderate Democrat, and Lori Saldaña, a progressive who made a prominent appearance at Occupy San Diego early on and staged an Occupy-style stunt at U.S. House Speaker John Boehner’s office.
Peters expressed sympathy for the protesters, but he was dismissive of the idea of a demonstration at the port. Peters said he’d checked and he was fairly certain there would be no protest. Boy, was he wrong. After Occupy San Diego organizers sent out a press release confirming they will participate in the “West Coast Port Shutdown” on Monday, Dec. 12, we went back to our recording. We’d asked him how the Port of San Diego, which has its own police force, would respond to an occupation.
Peters: I think that people have the right to assemble peacefully. If they’re really talking about getting in the way of trucks getting in and out… we’ll probably have to ask them to move.
CityBeat: And if they say no?
Peters: I don’t know. That’s really what the police are there for.
We issue 99 percent of a turd to Peters as a reminder of how easy it is for the top 1 percent to underestimate the rest of population. But we’re leaving the tally open; Monday’s protest may become a shit storm.
Run, run, run
During the 2008 election cycle, our friends at Tucson Weekly discovered an insane loophole in Arizona election law. We know what you’re thinking: Arizona law, insane? Never! Trust us: To appear as a candidate on the Arizona presidential primary ballot, all you have to do is file a “nomination statement.” No fees, no petitions—just a two-page declaration.
So, TW recruited a couple dozen regular (and irregular) people from around the country to run for president and had them compete for its endorsement as a part of a “reality journalism” experiment. Last week, the alt-weekly announced that it’s bringing back “Project White House” for 2012 and is actively looking for natural-boAmerican candidates age 35 and older.
Any San Diegan willing to run for president will start with 100 automatic blossoms (looking at you, Loch David Crane).
For more information on how to get on the Arizona ballot, contact davem@sdcitybeat.com.
Send T&B nominations to davem@sdcitybeat.com.
