WACKY PLAN MAKES WAVES

Temecula, CA – After all the real news that’s being missed except for here, ie., ‘Fukushima’ here and there along with hot summer punk nights, I’ve paid scant attention to local happenings. I’ve only scanned the news from the MMJ front but it’s like Libya without the DU, just a back and forth except at the Obama level. At that level it’s all push forward. But sometimes you just can’t say ‘no’ to a national story happening right under your toadstool. Living here, when I first heard of Jeff Stone’s secession plan, I’ll admit to giving it a ‘is it April 1^st?’ nod of the head. But when I saw his cockamamie plan on the national Huffington Post, well…

I knew I had no choice but to set the record straight so outside folk who read my stuff about how cool it is to live here amidst all the musicians, BMXrs, punks and Christians, don’t think Temecula is some place in the back hollers of Tennessee. Stone is one of a kind around here, but that’s a good thing because we are all one-of-a-kind around here. I just report about the cool Willy Wonkers, not the uncool silly honkers. When I first read his plan and saw it in print, I thought seriously about reporting Stone to Homeland Security for treason, and then I remembered Jeff Stone and his 'Jim Jones' ego, and said, ‘ehh.’

Having lived around here gonzo style before it was cool, I took mental notes of the political landscape because this is a curious place, a place where a sister can rub dirt of her face, pretend to be homeless and take count of how many motorists feel compassion before, way before any other jackasses got punked by Ashton. Back then a young dashing up and coming politician who promised ‘change’ commandeered a 30 year chamber of commerce, de-staffed and re-staffed it with his people, and no one that you read about, sans here, said a bloody word. He kept his circle and they all just stepped over those old folks, who were more a sewing circle, like they were nothing. I saw it and God saw it, and the old people too, of course.

Later as his star rose, he had a chance to do some good when meeting with RN Lanny Swerdlow who was heading up the local MMJ drive for state approved medical ID cards. Now you would think a person in medicine whose profession it is, is to help people through illnesses would be willing to listen to a registered nurse, a bleeding registered nurse, not some jerkwad off the street, especially if you are in the public eye. Not ironically named Stone, our oxymoronic monikered politico. And now this, “Let’s all circle the wagons, and, er, make me your wagon master, get what you need at a pharmacy, and worship me, meeeee.”

Well Sports Fans, when you read this story in the nats, don’t make fun of our ‘Sarah Palin’, we love him cause he’s ours. Just don’t take what he says seriously or think that he represents the majority. He doesn’t, that’s why he lost his last election folks. Here’s the real view from a local prize-winning rag.

'Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone isn't quite ready to give up on California after all. Just its political system. Stone tempered his talk of seceding from California on Tuesday during a Board of Supervisors meeting, focusing instead on hosting a statewide forum to talk about how to fix the state. Even though the plan for the forum received support from three other supervisors, Stone's proposal to bring together mayors and county officials from across the state cannot use county funds. In tough economic times, the county should not spend its money on a political reform project, the supervisors said.

"It has got to be done independently of the county," 5th District Supervisor Marion Ashley said.

Stone, who represents the county's 3rd District, launched the idea of splitting California earlier this month, prompted by what he called a "spending addiction" by state lawmakers that is driving away businesses. Officials also pointed to the loss of $14 million by four fledgling Inland cities as proof that Sacramento needs fixing and often is mired in partisan squabbling.

"The politicians in Sacramento make one job-killing law after another," Stone said.

(An aside is needed here to show that a sn- cat doesn’t change his spots. When Prop 19 was gaining ground before last election, the fact that Jeff Stone was back-dooring a deal with the growers in secret (to most) meetings tipped me off to the shill proposition. Shortly after that I received the info about Ethan and George being on the trolley, and that’s when I and my readers got off. As soon as the prop failed Stone was back on his anti-MMJ stomp and the one little shop/clinic in Wildomar was shuttered tight. Wildomar isn't even in Stone's district. The $14 million state budget funds spoken of was earmarked for towns that are ‘new’, including Menifee, the town in Stone’s armpit. Sixty thousand people, 55 of which moved there in the last ten years with their Sea Doos, lifted desert trucks, bro/milf scene, and tats, so what does the Stone crowd do?

They ban* tat shops in the city because they** ‘don’t want to see that’. Maybe you should have thought of that before you built all them fucking houses to have a system of financial support through politics, real government welfare. But here again you can’t poke one side in the eye without giving the other side a kick in the nads, cause the bro side activist Jeremy Lusk ‘we go to church for our Lord’ Christians, God bless ‘em, were warned in advance of the ban zone process. How do I know this? Because I warned them, twice in advance. They should name Menifee ‘Cat Naptown’ cause my brothers were caught napping just like the Indianapolis brothers in ’72 with ‘Unigov’ came and watered down the black vote like school kool-aid See R. Luger Indy past. The same system was used to water down the liberal vote in San Diego, but I digress.)

Stone's secession plan, which drew laughter and praise on Tuesday, would have divided the state into a coastal area from Los Angeles County north through the Bay Area and the northern section of the state. The remaining 13 counties, mainly southeastern areas along with Orange (wealthy) and San Diego (wealthy/government) counties, would have been South California.

On Tuesday, he scaled back his plans to split the state in favor of bringing local officials together (with him at the lead) to mend it. Stone acknowledged (D’Oh) that secession would be challenging and that the need is to fix California's problems rather than adding to its combative politics.

If he gets the private and nonprofit sponsorship he needs, Stone would convene a meeting at the Riverside Convention Center in September or October. Every California mayor and heads of boards of supervisors would be invited (at a price/fee). Other public officials and representatives also could attend, he said.

Local cities could chip in to pay for the event. Temecula Councilman Mike Naggar, who is coming up for re-election in 2012, spoke in favor of the statewide meeting plan, said if Stone requests it he would suggest that Temecula offer up some money to support the meeting (of Stone’s).

"I am thinking $10,000, but we will see what the council wants to do," Naggar said. (Readers here will remember the $10K price tag dropped here before as the honorarium to chair the committee to study any city plan. This money doesn’t all go directly into the pocket because there are expenses, like lunches, staff, etc.)

Based on any consensus developed at that meeting, officials could move forward. Prospects include calling for a state constitutional convention, reducing lawmakers to part time from full time and scaling back rules that Stone said hurt residents and businesses.

"We're trying to make the Golden State golden again," he said.

Creating a 51st state would be a complex (read costly) and controversial option, he said, but he isn't ready to give up the idea entirely.

"I would like to keep on the agenda the idea of secession," he said. "We have hit a nerve with citizens who are fed up with business as usual in the state."

Stone's idea to shake up California by either dividing it or rewriting the rules has drawn national attention, ridicule and accolades.

"At first I said, 'What, are you crazy?' " said Temecula City Councilman Jeff Comerchero, who spoke Tuesday in favor of Stone's political reform plan. "But then I looked at it and I know we have an awful lot of problems we need to solve."

The proposal isn't the first to suggest splitting the state. Plans have been floated to create two and even three states.

Stone, a former Temecula councilman, said he has received hundreds of emails, most supporting secession and some applauding his idea to cut state lawmakers' pay to $600 per month. (Remember, he is soon out of a state job (2012) and this shows he has no compunction about gutting his former associates to pander false compassion. But as they say, want a friend in politics? Get a dog.)

Robert Melsh, a political science professor at Mt. San Jacinto College, said Stone's proposal to change the state because it is too partisan has a partisan bias of its own. He noted that the problems preceded Gov. Brown, who Stone criticized for robbing cities and counties. Brown has been in office less than seven months and was elected last November along with many other Democrats, Melsh said.

"That indicated something in terms of the people's will," he said.

The state has a method for changing the California Constitution, Melsh said, and elections that give voters the choice to remove lawmakers they do not like.

"Perhaps we might start thinking about some sane remedies," Melsh said.'

(* - “one man’s leftovers is another man’s meal”, the tat shops in T-town, Old Town Temecula, Murrieta, and Lake Elsinore all benefitted from Menifee’s shortsightedness. Because they ‘buried their talent’. now what they had (counted on) is taken away; ** - The same city council that turned ‘Fast Eddy’ white, see archive stories; all emphasis – Editor; for the full text version of the Stone story by Dug Begley, take the PE.com link on front page and search Jeff Stone)