The Inland Valley Democratic Club is a local Democratic Club serving the communities of Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Ontario and Montclair.
A Message From the IVDC President
Hello Fellow Democrats,
Let me start by saying, “Yes We Did!"
So what now? Let me tell you. We have been so busy with national politics, two ongoing wars, and an economy in a freefall that we have forgotten “Tip” O’Neil’s adage, “All politics are local."
If you haven’t heard, San Bernardino County has turned blue. That’s right, we now have more registered Democrats in this County then Republicans! So why is it that the Republicans hold 80%+ of the elected offices? If you look at all the elected officials in our county, from Congress through the State House, County Supervisors and City Councils, almost all of them are Republicans.
As the old saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Today it can be argued that San Bernardino County is second only to Cook County in political corruption. We have seen $102 million given to Colonies Partnership for 13 acres of land. Elected politicians and their crony aides using public office to conduct party business. In just the past few months alone we have had 6 Republican party operatives indicted for Felony crimes, and the list goes on.
So that begs the next question, “How did that happen?” Simple, they outspent us exponentially. When the Republicans are spending over $200,000 to run for Rancho Cucamonga City Council, $850,000 for Tax Assessor and $1 Million to run for County Supervisor, how can we compete?
How do we combat this? Of course fundraising helps, but when you have to compete with unlimited donations from developers like KB Homes, Lewis Investments, Young Homes and others throwing millions of dollars a year at the local GOP, we need to level the playing field.
We need to pass ordinances on the City and County levels to limit campaign contributions and we are starting with the City of Rancho Cucamonga. We will be going after Upland and Ontario hopefully for the 2010 cycle.
We have established a committee to work on the process and a petition to get this on the ballot. Now we need your help. We are working on fundraisers and mailings to raise the money needed to get this measure on the ballot. We do not have the deep pockets like the Republicans to hire attorneys to research the laws and professionals to collect signatures so we will need you help there too.
We have taken back our country, now we need to take back our county and cities. It’s time for you to get active.
Terry Masl
Rep. David Dreier Makes Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World
On Wednesday, June 17th, our very own Congressman David Dreier made the national TV circuit for his comment the previous day that there is "more freedom" in Iran than here in the United States. Click play to see videos.
Rebuttal to Bob Dutton POV
State Senator Bob Dutton, Please stop. Enough with the propaganda, the meaningless clichés, the code words, and your fuzzy math. Senator, after reading your editorials for years now there is one theme that runs through them all. You demonize anyone who disagrees with you and you never provide a solution.
Stop trying to scare us with that old Reagan quote that leads one to believe that all civil servants are worthless. They are not. Seems in San Bernardino County the only worthless ones are those who are elected or are political appointees. Just a though, by definition you sir are a public servant too.
Let me add that we don’t need the divisive finger pointing and name calling. The way you use the term, “hard-left Liberal”, one would think you believe sitting next to one long enough will turn your spine yellow and make it curve. Since you seem clueless as to what we liberals stand for, President John F. Kennedy defined it the best: “…. if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks
Please Speak Out To Protect the Endangered Species Act
In the waning days of George W. Bush’s presidency, his Interior Department hastily promulgated new rules that essentially eviscerated the Endangered Species Act. These regulations, if allowed to stand, will have dire consequences.
First, they would dramatically redefine the fundamental premises upon which the ESA rests. The new rules would only consider direct causation or “essential causes”. Rarely, are species wiped out by a single, direct action. Rather, plants and animals are threatened by cumulative impacts that occur over time. Species disappear not because of one action but due to a complex combination of factors – loss or alteration of habitat, pollution, climate change, edge effects, overhunting or fishing, etc. By failing to recognize systemic causation, we are sealing the fate of literally thousands of plant and animal species.
Rancho Cucamonga's last General Plan Update was conducted in 2003. As always, the public was invited to participate. So I did, lobbying for several months to have the following language included in the General Plan's Vision Statement:
"Our city has recognized the importance of the natural resources within its purview and is sensitive to the threatened ecosystems that are present here."
I was under no illusions. Rancho Cucamonga has never been a haven for nature lovers. No measure of green-washing will ever change this fact. But the statement at least inferred that we have some of the rarest and most valued natural communities found anywhere.
IVDC President Urges Rancho Cucamonga City Council to Enact Campaign Finance Reform
Inland Valley Democratic Club President Terry Masl spoke before the Rancho Cucamonga City Council on March 18, 2009. Masl demanded an apology from councilmembers Sam Spagnolo and L. Dennis Michaels for a campaign flier that promoted them on a Democratic slate during the November elections. The flier disingenously alluded that the two incumbent councilmembers were supported by Democrats. Responsible for the mailing was the "Friends of the Democratic Party," a group that has no affiliation with this club or the Democratic Party. Masl also urged the council to put forth campaign finance reform on the upcoming agenda. Based on campaign finance reports, several of the councilmembers are well-funded by thousands of dollars in contributions from developers, business interests, and political action committees.
Welcome to our new website!
Welcome to our new website! Please have patience as we update our content.