< CA > Redlands

Due to term limits, California's 63rd Assembly seat will be up for grabs next year. Here's a recent article about the Redlands district, which will have a new Assemblymember after the November 2010 elections:

Redlands councilman to run for state Assembly

San Bernardino Sun - San Bernardino, CA
Gilbreath will be up for re-election for the City Council in November 2010. She said she will run in the State Assembly primary in June 2010. ...
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California Bikers

Last time a California legislative seat was contested, ABATE of California checked out the candidates. As it turned out, none of them was biker-friendly. So the race wasn't worthy of any effort.

But even if House 63 shows promise, there's another hurdle. Only a small handfull of California bikers have subscribed to our Legislative Alerts. In other words, we can't spread the word because so few CA bikers are connected to our network of campaign volunteers. Hopefully that will change in the months ahead, but that depends on bikers spreading the word across the Golden State.

Will it happen? The odds aren't good. But there will always be more opportunities, even if California bikers let this one pass them by.

Want to improve the odds? Send an email to Bikers4BillSponsors@gmail.com to find out how.

PS: Also read about California Assembly District 51 in Los Angeles.

< NY > Queens

Here's breaking news about a possible special election in New York. It centers around the resignation of a state legislator who pled guilty to corruption charges. Assembly District 38 is in Queens, NY.

Seminerio Resigns Assembly Seat

Queens Courier - Bayside, NY
Now it is up to Governor David A. Paterson to determine whether a Special Election will be called for the seat. Seminerio, 74, who served for more than ...
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New York Bikers Spring Into Action

Well, not really.

If past performance is any indication, not a single biker will have anything to do with this election. But if they did, they would be taking the first steps down the road to freedom.

Without biker-friendly legislators, bikers are powerless. And you don't get biker-friendly legislators by magically convincing biker-hating legislators that they've got it all wrong.

You start the ball rolling by helping the right candidates win office. And knock the bad ones out of office in the process, of course. Then victory becomes inevitable, and it's only a matter of making it happen sooner by getting better at it.

So this special election will come and go. But there will always be more opportunities, because the body politic is constantly changing. The only question is when New York bikers will get connected .. and start to help win these races.

< CA > Los Angeles (1)

Here's the news about another special election in California. This time it's for State Assembly District 51 in the general vicinity of Los Angeles.

California Briefing

Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
Setting off a new round of political musical chairs, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has set Sept. 1 as the date for a special election to fill a Los Angeles-area Assembly seat. The vacancy in the 51st Assembly District, which includes Lawndale, Gardena, ...
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< VA > Charlottesville

Here's the news about a possible special election in Virginia (depending on who wins the Governor's race). This time it's for State Senate District 25 in the general vicinity of Charlottesville.

Deeds' Senate Seat Could Be Up For Grabs

NBC 29 News - Charlottesville, VA
If Deeds becomes governor in November, there would be a special election in mid-December to decide who would take his Senate seat.
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Louisiana Helmet Law: FAIL

I'm as disappointed as Louisiana bikers surely must be at seeing their chances of repeal die in a senate committee.* But I'm also happy about a few things that happened along the way.

Nearly topping the list is the fact that Governor Bobby Jindal supports repeal of the universal helmet law. Not many states can claim that. Even in states like Michigan where the Governor has repeatedly vetoed repeal, at least bikers know where they stand on the issue. The worst case is not knowing at all, like Missouri ... hoping for the best while expecting the worst.

A House Record

The best news is that the repeal bill sailed through the Louisiana House. And not just for the obvious reason. It's hard to beat a legislative majority. But there's the added benefit of having a voting record for each and every representative.

Here's a map that shows how each house member voted. Green is for district members that voted for repeal. Red is for the legislators that voted to keep the universal helmet law. Yellow districts are for the "unknowns."

The best way to get this information is by counting the votes, of course. That's why it's important to get a repeal bill submitted, regardless of its chances for passage. Every session, and in both houses. Without a vote count, there's really no way to know. And as more time passes, more districts turn yellow.

Senate Scene

Louisiana's helmet bill stopped cold dead in the State Senate, specifically in the Health & Welfare Committee.

But it's not all bad news. Not by a long shot. The committee unanimously killed the bill. Not a single member voted to keep it alive, not even for discussion's sake. So the districts of every committee member is now "red."

In addition to the committee members, a few other State Senators showed their colors as well. One was kind enough to give an interview to the press, stating his opposition to freedom for bikers. We painted his district Red.

One reliable source told us that one state senator strongly supports repeal. Count his district as a Green. And yet another senator sponsored several repeal bills in the past. He accounts for another Green district. But all the other districts fall into the "unknown" category. Again, this points out the need to get a bill submitted each session. Without a vote count, biker activists are flying blind during the elections.

Time is on Our Side

The next elections for the Louisiana State Legislature will be in 2011. Lot's of time between now and than -- as the pelican flies. But that's not a lot of time to prepare.

In order to get a legislative majority, we need to help biker-friendly candidates win elections. The color-coded maps show where the legislators stand. And once the primaries roll around, we'll know which of these races are worth our time.

But we can't do it without campaign volunteers. If you want to beat the helmet law, help us build a majority. Subscribe to our Legislative Alerts and be ready to help when the call goes out. We don't need a lot of bikers, but the more the merrier ... and the faster we'll be able to ride free in the Pelican State.

Questions are welcome, here on the forum or by emailing Bikers4BillSponsors@gmail.com.

* UDATE: Biker activists are encouraged to contact Health & Welfare committee members to resurrect the bill (HB639).

Virginia Election Results

It's been 30 years since there's been a competitive race for the House of Delegates in one particular Virginia district. That's because the retiring incumbent, as well as his predecessor, never faced any challengers. Not even in their primaries did they need to break a sweat.

So it was both exciting and surprising to see several candidates compete for the nomination. And given that only one party has the capacity to field an electable candidate in that remote corner of Virginia, the nominee almost certainly becomes the delegate-elect.

We got involved in this race the usual way -- by talking to each of the candidates. In most cases, the candidates showed us the usual arrogant antagonism. No surprise there. But one candidate actually took the time to listen to us, and clearly demonstrated an open mind on the issues.

That's when the trouble started.

I posted a blog that stretched his response into outright support (which he never actually offered). Then a political blogger appeared seemingly out of nowhere, took advantage of my mistake, and hastily mounted a smear campaign against our candidate. As it turned out, the sneaky snake was supporting a different candidate -- one that dismissed bikers as a burden to society. (Ever heard that one before?)

So in order to avoid any possible injury to the one friendly candidate in the pack, I deleted every blog entry pertaining to his race. I went one step further and deleted all Virginia blog entries, just to be on the safe side.

But the smear attacks continued, even to the point of publishing my name and address on the web. Eventually the sneaky snake moved on to exploit other opportunities for mischief. But I felt really bad about exposing our candidate to such needless distractions. So we stuck to campaign work for the next several weeks. Just anonymous hard work.

That explains the scarcity of blog entries over the past month. Same goes for the lack of naming names. But the rest of the story is that bikers rose to the occasion. We planted over 400 campaign signs along major roadways. We also delivered flyers to over 2,000 doorways, right before the election.

As it turned out, our candidate won by double-digit percentages. And when it comes to acting on legislation, I hope he remembers how hard we worked to help him. And how one particular sneaky snake deserves nothing but contempt.