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With campaigning for next years elections underway, the countys redistricting commission will soon start drawing maps proposing new County Council districts.

The commission met last week and expects to have final data compiled from the U.S. census by Monday, allowing members to begin drawing maps.

Nicholas Holdzkom, a research planner for the county, said he and colleagues are working to collect and import the data, so the process can begin next week.

By the meeting of [Sept. 23], our big hope is that people will be able to show up with maps, Holdzkom said.

Pamela Dunn, a senior legislative analyst for the County Council who is assisting the commission, said a map-drawing tool should be available to the public by Sept. 16.

The commission is tasked with drawing a map dividing the county into seven County Council districts. Last November, voters approved a charter amendment that increased the number of council members from nine to 11.

Seven members will represent districts, up from the current five. Four at-large members will continue to represent the entire county.

For the proposed districts, the commissioners will focus on:

Their draft maps will be finalized and available for public comment in October.

The commission will submit its report with one or more recommended maps, and present them to the County Council by Nov. 15. The council decides what the final map will be.

Commission members agreed that it would be beneficial to split into smaller groups of about four or five people, preferably of differing party affiliations, to start drawing maps. They then would reconvene to compare maps and eventually agree on a final map to present to the County Council, but also provide back-up maps, in case a full consensus cant be reached.

Commissioner Valerie Ervin, a former County Council member, told her colleagues last week that the commissions work is important, but reminded them they have limited time before the final Nov. 15 deadline.

The calendar is not our friend right now, Ervin said.

Ervin predicted that the County Council public hearing on the final proposal will be well attended, and that the community will be heard then.

It will be important to give council members one preferred map, but also provide alternatives, so the council has a choice, commissioners said.

Commissioner Sam Statland said he hopes the County Council follows the commissions recommendations in its final report. He added that it would be smart to do so, because the commission consists of Democrats, Republicans, a Libertarian and registered independents.

I think that gives us a lot of firm ground to stand on, in what our selections are, Statland said.

Steve Bohnel can be reached at steve.bohnel@bethesdamagazine.com

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Montgomery County redistricting commission will soon begin map drawings - BethesdaMagazine.com

Dan Reale serves as chairman of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut, a statewide third party that seeks to elect candidates to local, state, and national office.

The Connecticut Examiner spoke with Reale about the identity of the Libertarian Party, and how he sees the partys prospects for this falls municipal elections.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

How do you see your role as chair of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut?

The main responsibility I have as chair of the party is obviously growing the party, which has been accomplished despite COVID.

As a matter of fact, if anything, the government response to COVID has helped us grow and actually start to raise serious money. The COVID response may have initially been well-intentioned, but it went well beyond 15 days to flatten the curve and started to amount to moving goalposts. It was represented as, if I wear a mask and get the vaccine, I will get my life back, and unfortunately 18 months in, its pretty clear that no, these things will not get your life back, and there are no plans to end the restrictions.

Why has frustration with COVID restrictions been a boon for Libertarians?

People just see the writing on the wall, and realize that theyd better elect somebody other than Democrats or Republicans or they will be in a world of trouble. A lot of people are switching to the Libertarian Party after having gone back and forth between the Republican Party and Democratic Party forever.

Weve easily seen a more than 10 percent increase in registrations, and a real increase in participation in events like rallies. Last year was the first year we had affiliates in all areas of Connecticut.

I can see why that would lead to frustration with Democrats enacting restrictions, but why wouldnt that just lead to people supporting Republicans, who are making the same arguments against restrictions?

Republicans arent going to stand up and fight for your rights, theyre never going to take action. Thats when you need a Libertarian, because Libertarians have always said that there are lines you dont cross, and this is one of those bright lines. Republicans have pretended to respect your rights, but when it comes down to it, theyre not actually taking any action. A lot of Republicans claim to be against this stuff, but why arent they actually doing anything? Were filing lawsuits and making Freedom of Information Act requests for complaints about mask mandates. The Republicans are just sitting around and saying oh, well, if we had more of us in Connecticut, maybe we could do something.

I like to call us Libertarians a second party, rather than a third party, because the Democrats and the Republicans are one party pretending to be two.

What are some of the municipal races youre focusing on this fall?

In Meriden, we have two candidates, and in Plainfield, we have three people running for Board of Education, including me. If all three of us get elected, we would have a very big policy say, because the remainder of the Board of Education would be Democrats and Republicans. At a local level, were focused on the same things Democrats and Republicans are, or should be, like making it so local governments actually live within their means.

What about for next years races for state legislature and the governorship?

Were going to do everything we can for next year. Were holding our nominating convention on January 23 for next years races, which is early, but we want to get a head start on petitioning, because ballot access is a huge problem.

For example, take Sterling. We dont have ballot access there, so if I go to Sterling and I want to run for First Selectman of Sterling, I cannot form a town committee because we have no ballot access, so the town committee cannot raise or spend over $1,000. Thats a major impediment.

Still, the growth in our state party does mean that I think next year is going to be great for us. If youre trying to build an institution, you need to retain institutional knowledge, which were finally starting to be able to do.

Next year, I plan on just stepping down so I can focus on being a candidate, because in the past, I have had that dual role as candidate and chair. Now, the party is big enough and things are in a place such that somebody else can handle it. If we got hit by a truck tomorrow, wed be good, and its taken a lot of work to get big enough to do that.

I know the Unmask Our Kids campaign has been a major priority for the Libertarian Party of Connecticut. Tell me about that effort, and why stopping mask requirements in schools is such a policy priority for you.

The government took a year of our kids education for no practical, sound reason at all. It ended up crippling our children psychologically and intellectually by completely removing a year of their childhood. Children are going without their friends, without student-teacher interaction and emotional development.

If you pull any superintendent aside and ask if distance learning worked, theyll admit, and everyone agrees, that no, none of this works. The people that have been pushing these ideas have gotten their way for the past 18 months, and the results have not been as theyve stated they would be. They want you to isolate forever, wear a mask forever, and impair learning outcomes for children forever.

Why would anyone want that?

They want federal and state money. School districts are far more concerned about getting federal and state money than they are about the actual well-being of children, and the towns are afraid of the Governor.

Were starting to see a lot of pushback at the school board level, and thats the opening where the Libertarian party is going to make its presence heard. The Libertarian Party doesnt believe in ideas that are so good that they need to be mandatory. We believe that anyone who wants to wear a mask can wear one, but the Governors policy is to let school districts force everyone to wear a mask, and then ask people for personal health records to show they are exempt from these orders.

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Dan Reale Talks Growth, 'Unmask Our Kids,' and the Libertarian Party of Connecticut - CT Examiner

Larry Elder. Campaign photo

The Sage from South Central. Even more extreme than Trump. The recall candidate to beat.

Larry Eldergoes by a lot of labels these days. If hes tough to pin down, thats because hes such an unlikely politician: A Black man who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, went to an Ivy League college and became a conservative provocateur.

In a state dominated by Democrats for 15 years, hed make an even more unlikely governor. As millions of Californains suss out what theyre supposed to think about him as they vote in theSept. 14 recall election, Elder sat down with CalMatters reporters and editors for an hour-long interview.

This conversation took place beforePolitico reported on allegations from Elders ex-fiancee that he brandished a gun at her while high on marijuana.Elder denied that he waved a weapon, but did not respond to other allegations: I am not going to dignify this with a response its beneath me.

CalMatters has invited Gov. Gavin Newsom and his major challengers to sit down and chat. Here are five highlights from the discussion with Elder:

Elder is especially clear on this point: He thinks hes gotten a raw deal from the left-wing media since he announced his campaign last month.

I dont have a tail, I dont have horns, he said, before noting that he also doesnt club baby seals and eat their heads. While his views onlabor policy,gender equalityandracehave been characterized by the Newsom camp and even somefellow Republicansas extreme, Elder says theyre rooted in common sense and Economics 101.

In the latest in a string of stories unearthing past controversial comments, bothCNNand theSan Francisco Chroniclepublished articles documenting what he has said about women.

He also mentioned that hes written books and made documentaries. Despite their commercial success, he claims, theyve been skimmed over by the arbiters of merit and taste newspaper book reviewers and the Oscars.

Its just surprising that Ive been shut out like this, he said. Im from the hood. I ought to be a success story.

Not that depicting himself as a media target and picking fights with fault-finding reporters doesnt have its political upside. Just ask Donald Trump. For Elders supporters and many recall voters, the disapproval of the chattering classes may serve as its own endorsement.

Thats the term Elder uses to describe his policy platform. Its a consistent line and one that hes been repeating for as long as hes been a public figure.

The biggest challenge in California in general is the intrusiveness of government, he said. I believe that a government that governs less governs best.

Hence his views on the minimum wage (there shouldnt be one), pregnancy discrimination prohibitions in the workplace (leave it to the market), public welfare programs (it encourages women to marry the government), public schools (he prefers school vouchers), state-funded health insurance programs (you need to have competition) and recreational drugs (he supports legalization).

Longtime conservative talk radio listeners and Fox News aficionados will know Elder by his more than 20 years of public opinionating. But for many California voters, he remains relatively unknown.

Thats in part Elders doing. Hes skipped three campaign debates so far,a strategy thats frustrated some GOP insiders. Elder insists its because hes not running against the Republican rivals, but against Newsom.

But debating also runs the risk of making a gaffe or coming under sustained attack a risk that Elder apparently doesnt believe he needs to make.

I have a substantial lead over my Republican rivals, thats one of the reasons why they want to debate me, he said. If I were sitting at 2% in the polls, Id want to debate me as well.

Elders years in the media world have given him a knack for talking politics in a way to draw an audience, but also sometimes to inflame.

So, yes, he opposes the Californiasrecent expansion of Medi-Cal, the public health insurance program for low-income people, to undocumented immigrants. And no, hes not going to use the term undocumented immigrant.

Likewise, climate change activists and conservationists are environmental extremists, the reformist district attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco are soft on crime and safety net programs pushed by Democrats represent an attack on the nuclear family.

One of a governors most powerful policy levers is his ability to appoint to the judicial bench, to vacated constitutional offices and to the states many regulatory commissions.

While Elder doesnt have a short list of names for any of those possible appointments, he takes inspiration from Washington, DC. When selecting a judge or justice, he would model his selection on self-described originalists like Clarence Thomas and the late-Antonin Scalia.

And for the state Board of Education? Somebody who has the same philosophy as the former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, he said.

But there was one former DC bigwig Elder was not inclined to talk about: Stephen Miller, the former Trump advisor, whoseearly start as a right-wing provocateurbegan on Elders show.

Why would you bring up Stephen Miller? Elder asked, repeatedly. Im just wondering what the agenda here is. Whats the point? Am I somehow what a Nazi? A fascist?

CalMattersis a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Californias Capitol works and why itmatters.

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Recall Front-Runner Larry Elder Says Hes a Libertarian and I Dont Have Horns - Times of San Diego

Letters to the Editor| South Bend Tribune

So Jackie Walorski and others of her ilk think that President Biden should resign based on the loss of 13 American troops in Afghanistan. Lets see …Sept.11, 2001. George W. Bush was president on the day that foreign terrorists attacked Americans on our own soil, killing 2,997people and injuring 6,000.

I dont recall anyone, Democrat or Republican, Independent or Libertarian, left or right, conservative or progressive, calling him unfit and demanding his resignation. No one is downplaying the terrible losses that occurred on Aug. 26, 2021, but to call for the presidents resignation when other presidents have had worse losses on their watches is unbelievable. My take is that there are those in Congress who are unfit and should resign.

Special shout out and thanks to St. Joseph County Commissioners Derek Dieter, Deb Fleming and Andy Kostielney for their hard work in securing an additional year of leaf pickup for taxpayers in the county. The leaf pickup has often been a source of frustration, but last year (2020) it worked quite well with the improvements made by the commissioners and the leaf vendor. If is great to see a productive use of taxpayer dollars so thanks for your great work, county commissioners.

JamieO'Brien,

Granger

The writer is a former St. Joseph County Council member.

I am writing in regards to all the chaos we see in this nation. We once lived our lives based upon Judeo-Christian principles and values. We now live in a country that has embraced a materialistic and secular worldview.

We have set aside a Christian worldview with its principles and values to engage ourselves in things that are temporal without an eternal perspective. In 2Chronicles 7:14, The Lord says "If my people, which are called by my name,shallhumble themselves, andpray, and seek myface, and turn from their wicked ways; thenI will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

This is the time for us topray for our nation.

John Pozsgai,

South Bend

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Letters: Call for president's resignation is unbelievable - South Bend Tribune

With the football season fast approaching, the number of candidates on the Sept. 14 recall ballot could almost fill a National Football League roster.

But while 53-man NFL teams want Super Bowl rings, the 46 recall candidates hope to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom if a majority of California voters agree to oust him before his term ends in 2022. A recall candidate needs only a plurality of votes to become governor if the recall succeeds.

Heres a look at the four candidates with Inland Empire ties.

Resides: Calimesa

Party: Libertarian

Platform: A Riverside County supervisor representing the San Gorgonio Pass, Moreno Valley, Perris, and Menifee, Hewitt is one of the highest-ranking elected officials affiliated with the Libertarian Party.

The former Calimesa mayor supports school choice (to) bring about better learning environments for our students and student savings account plans to make college more affordable, according to his website.

Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt, left, is embraced by Mickey Valdivia, San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency treasurer, before Hewitt announces he will run as a Libertarian for governor in the upcoming recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom at the Mind & Mill in Riverside in April 2021. (File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Chauncey Slim Killens wears a Trump flag as he waves at cars during the Save America Rally at the Duck Pond in Temecula on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, during the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. (File photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Republican gubernatorial recall candidate for governor Robert Newman lives in the Redlands area. (File photo by Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG).

Sarah Stephens, who is running for governor in the upcoming special election, speaks at an anti-mask protest in Palos Verdes on Aug. 11, 2021. (File photo by Daniella Segura, Contributing Photographer)

Hewitt also is calling for more investment in water infrastructure, including raising dam heights and building two new reservoirs. He wants to streamline the permit process to build more homes, pay down public employee pension debt and create what he views as more sustainable retirement options for civil servants.

Hewitt, who is in his first term as supervisor, has made headlines for urging his colleagues to defy the states coronavirus business restrictions. He also was the subject of a civil claim alleging he sexually harassed a county employee that was settled for $50,000. Hewitt denied wrongdoing.

Another claim from a former staffer accusing Hewitt of harassing and discriminating against her is pending. Hewitt has not commented publicly about the claim.

Website: http://www.hewitt4ca.com

Resides: Winchester

Party: Republican

Platform: A retired corrections officer, Killens said via email hes running because Americas God given freedoms have been slowly eroding at the state and national levels.

I have high moral standards, a quality that is lacking in the current political arena, and I will do what I say, he said. I have common sense, not politically correct common sense, and I will use that to solve the majority of problems overnight because Im not going to be a career politician.

If elected, Killens said he would (allow border) patrol agencies to do their jobs and reject any attempt to cut law enforcement funding.

He opposes coronavirus mask and vaccination mandates and wants to reduce homelessness by creating a program (to) provide jobs and living arrangements so that (the homeless) can be productive and eventually take care of themselves without the government incentives, which continues to exacerbate the problem.

Website: http://www.witnessinthepublicsquare.com

Resides: Near Redlands

Party: Republican

Platform: Its the sixth gubernatorial campaign for Newman, whose ballot designation is farmer/psychologist.

Dr. Newman is Pro-God, Pro-life, traditional marriage, U.S. Constitution, agriculture, business, and truckers, read a statement on his campaign website.

He supports returning those in the nation illegally to their country of origin, building a border wall and (guarding) it with the same security we use to secure our private homes, offices, and government buildings.

Newman is critical of California water policy-makers, whom he argues more heavily yielded to environmentalists pressure than to the needs of the end users. As a result, (millions) of gallons of water are wasted by dumping it into the Pacific Ocean.

Website: http://www.newman4governor.com

Resides: Her campaign uses a Riverside mailing address

Party: Republican

Platform: She is running with the slogan Make California Gold Again. Stephens describes herself on her campaign website as a wife, mother of five beautiful children, a pastor, community leader, and motivational speaker.

We have incredible people, incredible businesses, and incredible resources, her website read. However, the people of California have been shut down, abused and not protected and have not been given the freedom to thrive. It is time for the people to be spoken for.

If elected, Stephens, who states she is pro-life and a defender of free speech and the right to bear arms, plans to cut taxes and regulations and (cut) billions of dollars of spending to unnecessary unproductive causes.

She supports school choice There has (been) so much unhealthy indoctrination in schools and allowing home-schooled kids and charter schoolchildren to take part in public school programs. Stephens also supports allowing people to opt out of vaccines without having to give a reason and opposes coronavirus restrictions on in-person worship services.

Website: http://www.makecaliforniagoldagain.com

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Meet the 4 Inland Empire candidates on the Gavin Newsom recall ballot - San Bernardino County Sun