There\u2019s an old saying that to get elected to public office in Carlsbad, you have to be a Republican.<\/p>\n
So it isn\u2019t surprising that the two leading candidates seeking to replace Mayor Bud Lewis<\/strong>, who is retiring after a 24-year reign, are both Republicans who actively sought the endorsement of both the local party and its Lincoln Club offshoot, a group of mostly business leaders whose mission, according to its website, is to \u201cadvance free market principles and ideas by recruiting, endorsing, and financing business-friendly candidates and ballot measures.\u201d<\/p>\n In the end, veteran councilman Matt Hall<\/strong> got the endorsement of both groups\u2014which rarely happens in a race that pits a Republican against a fellow Republican. But in this case, freshman councilman Keith Blackburn<\/strong> is being actively supported by two public-employee unions, the \u201cassociations\u201d representing Carlsbad firefighters and police officers, and as we all know unions are anathema to any red-blooded GOP partisan. Meanwhile, campaign statements show old guard money is flowing into Hall\u2019s war chest. His latest campaign statement, covering the first six months of this year, show total contributions of $31,681.<\/p>\n Among the givers to the Hall campaign are such veteran Carlsbad establishment figures as realtor Bob Nielsen ($520); retired Marine Corps general David Brahms ($100); fellow councilman (and dentist) Dr. Mark Packard ($100) and his wife, Bonnie (whose profession is listed as \u201cdomestic engineer,\u201d also $100); Tri-City marketing chief Jeff Segall ($100), arts commissioner Bill Lignante and his wife, Alma ($1,000 each); Endow Carlsbad founding member Jim Farley ($1,000); and veteran philanthropist Knox Williams ($500).<\/p>\n Only a few outsiders contributed to the Hall campaign, including Del Mar council member Carl Hilliard ($200). Blackburn\u2019s statement also shows a $1,000 cash gift from the Seashore on the Sand Resort, which is owned by former Carlsbad council member Norine Sigafoose.<\/p>\n Ironically, when Sigafoose first ran for council in 2004, she was endorsed by Hall, who reportedly also helped run her campaign. There\u2019s an old saying that to get elected to public office in Carlsbad, you have to be a Republican. So it isn\u2019t surprising that the two leading candidates seeking to replace Mayor Bud Lewis, who is retiring after a 24-year reign, are both Republicans who actively sought the endorsement of both the local party and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8785"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8785"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8787,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8785\/revisions\/8787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBlackburn also hurt himself among Republicans, insiders say, by allowing a big giver to Democratic candidates and causes co-host a fundraiser for his campaign in early July. Invitations sent to supporters listed one of the two co-hosts as Carlsbad retiree Donna Merhab<\/strong> (the other was firefighter Danny Glessner<\/strong>). As reported on the website News Meat<\/a><\/strong>, financial disclosure forms show Merhab contributed more than $20,000 to the Democrats over the last decade, including $15,000 to the Democratic National Committee, $3,550 to various committees associated with Barack Obama\u2019s 2008 presidential campaign, and $2,300 to Nick Liebham, the 2008 Democratic challenger to incumbent North County Congressman Brian Bilbray.<\/p>\n
\nBlackburn, in the same period, collected total contributions of $58,134, including $6,500 from his 2008 city council campaign fund and a $7,500 loan to himself. Contributors to his campaign are a lot more eclectic than Hall\u2019s list and include former Encinitas Mayor Maggie Houlihan ($750); his wife, Dawn Blackburn, a realtor ($500); peace activist Jeremy Stone of Chevy Chase, Md. ($250); an orthopedic surgeon from Phoenix named John Nassar ($750); and Rancho Santa Margarita private investigator Steven De Tata ($1,000).<\/p>\n
\nThat\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"