“Your election is not only critical to the small-business owners in your district, but also to protecting free enterprise across America, ” said Lisa Goeas, Vice-President of the NFIB. “On behalf of all NFIB members, thank you for your service and congratulations on earning the endorsement of small business.”

“Congresswoman Bono Mack’s dedication to the business community here in the Inland Empire is unmatched,” said Vincent Battaglia, owner of Renova Energy in Palm Desert.

Bono Mack said, “It is an honor to once again have the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Business. As a former small business owner, I look forward to working with the NFIB to support legislation that creates jobs, lowers taxes, and rewards ingenuity and entrepreneurship.”

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The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is the leading small business association representing small and independent businesses throughout the United States. A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1943, NFIB represents the consensus views of its members in Washington and all 50 state capitals.

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“It is clear that the Obama Administration lacks the desire to adequately address the numerous problems plaguing this Country.  From alarming unemployment rates, to the oil spill debacle in the Gulf of Mexico, this Administration cares more about advancing their left-wing agenda, than responding to the needs of the American people.

“The Obama Administration and the Majority in Congress cannot be trusted and the American people should reject their liberal agenda at the ballot box in November.”

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“Failure” will be aired on local radio throughout California’s 45th Congressional District.  It can also be found on the Mary Bono Mack Campaign website, marybonomack.com, YouTube Page, youtube.com/bonocommittee, and Facebook Page, facebook.com/bonomack.

Hear the Audio Below:

“We believe that your election to the U.S. House will help produce sustained economic growth and help create more jobs, ” said Thomas J. Donohue, President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Chamber. “Your support of pro-business issues earned this endorsement.”

Bono Mack said, “I am honored to once again have the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and I will continue to work in Congress to advance legislation that rewards entrepreneurialism and encourages job growth and job creation.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation, representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

Bono-Mack was an outspoken opponent of the Democrats’ efforts to expand government-run healthcare that would discriminate against gays and lesbians. Bono-Mack supports reforms to our tax code and to social security that would provide greater equality of opportunity for gay and lesbian individuals and their families. She has also repeatedly voted against efforts to pass an anti-gay federal marriage amendment.

On foreign policy, Bono-Mack is an ardent supporter of efforts to stop the spread of radically anti-gay Islamic extremism and she recognizes the importance of our relationship with Israel – a nation that is a beacon of freedom and opportunity for gay people in the Middle East.

Bono-Mack faces liberal Democrat Steve Pougnet, the openly gay Mayor of Palm Springs. “The gay left would have you believe that Mary Bono-Mack is somehow an enemy of the gay and lesbian community. Nothing could be further from the truth,” continued LaSalvia. “The decision of organizations like the Human Rights Campaign to oppose Mary’s re-election is a shameful reminder of just how slavishly the gay left is willing to do the bidding of Nancy Pelosi and the DCCC.”

“GOProud enthusiastically endorses Mary Bono-Mack for Congress and urges our members and allies to support her conservative campaign,” concluded LaSalvia.

See article here.

“Congresswoman Bono Mack is honored to have overwhelming support from voters throughout the District.  These numbers show that voters in California’s 45th Congressional District support and trust Congresswoman Bono Mack.  Bono Mack is a proven leader in Washington and she fights tirelessly for smaller government, lower taxes, and more jobs.

“In the General Election, residents of this District can vote for Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack, a trusted leader with a proven record of service to our Community or Steve Pougnet, the failed Mayor of Palm Springs whose liberal agenda forced law enforcement lay-offs and a decaying Downtown.

“The choice is clear.”

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What a helicopter firefighting crew dubbed “The Shack” is gone and in its place is a new chalet-front operations center dedicated Saturday off Highway 243 near Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains.

The Keenwild Helitack base is a national wildland firefighting resource with a seven-member crew and a Bell 407 awaiting dispatch as an initial attack resource on a new fire or an assignment to ferry firefighters and resources to a fire.

The crew responds to 35 to 50 initial attacks and four to eight large fires a year, according to Doug Ross, helitack superintendent. Other public safety agencies and medical helicopters may use the landing pad.

Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, speaks at the dedication of the new Keenwild Helitack base recently. The base is a national wildland firefighting resource with a seven-member crew and a Bell 407.

Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs; San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Jeanne Wade Evans and Idyllwild District Ranger Laurie Rosenthal were among event speakers but they referred to the “gray beards” in the crowd as those who knew the history of the base, which opened in 1963.

Bono Mack credited Norm Walker as the “squeaky wheel” who shared information about the facilities need and answered questions that came up. Walker was the forest’s Idyllwild district fire chief before he retired, and is now interim chief of a community fire district in Idyllwild.

Helicopters were first used in firefighting in the Angeles National Forest in 1948, according to Jim Hess, 64, of Running Springs, whose 33-year fire career started at Keenwild in 1964.

The slow-moving Bell B-1 was supposed to be for reconnaissance, but the crew wearing jump helmets would stand on the copter skids and “we would just bail out,” he said.

Hess remembers lots of lightning strike fires where the “challenge was to get in and put it out before it got over the hill.”

Doug Henninger, 59, of Idyllwild, remembered the 1970 Romero fire in Santa Barbara where “the base heliport was on a polo field” and up to eight crew members stayed in a beach cottage between shifts.

“The locals brought up bundles of avocados,” Hess said. Crews sometimes spent weeks away from home, went days without a shower and ate C-rations.

‘a brotherhood’

The close-knit group was “like a brotherhood,” said Jose Constantino, 59, of Valle Vista, a helitack crew member in the 1970s and 1980s, whose son, Jael, joined the crew six years ago.

In the beginning, there was a makeshift helicopter landing pad down a single-lane access road near the Keenwild fire station. As Rosenthal told the story, in the 1970s the crew used the dismantled remains of the old Ranger Peak fire lookout to build the 560-square-foot office that was moved uphill in 1974.

Lack of funds forced based closure, but six years later it reopened in 2001 with the showing that the base was a firefighting asset and a spot on a competitive capital projects list.

An initial $600,000 was set aside in 2007, and then Congresswoman Bono Mack assured that the remainder needed was part of an appropriations bill. Bono Mack said her job is “to make sure you have the resources to do your job best.”

The $1,024,000 project by CGO Construction Co. of Rancho Cucamonga began in June 2009. The work included reconstruction of the helipad and access road and the building, which includes an operations center, offices, a kitchen, restrooms and a locker room.

The crew moved back in last month from temporary quarters by the Cranston Ranger Station on Highway 74 east of Hemet.

Reach Gail Wesson at 951-763-3455 or gwesson@PE.com

Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack handily earned a primary win Tuesday night, setting the stage for a highly anticipated November showdown with Democrat Steve Pougnet.

With 234 of 480 precincts reporting, unofficial early results from the Riverside County registrar showed Bono Mack with 73.41 percent of the vote over Hemet conservative Clayton Thibodeau’s 26.59 percent.

She now faces Pougnet and American Independent Bill Lussenheide on November’s ballot.

Neither the Palm Springs mayor nor the Menifee self-employed businessman had a primary opponent Tuesday.

In a statement, Bono Mack’s campaign manager said the apparent victory reflected the district’s “support and trust.” The campaign immediately turned its sights to November.

“In the general election, residents of this district can vote for Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack, a trusted leader with a proven record of service to our community or Steve Pougnet, the failed mayor of Palm Springs whose liberal agenda forced law enforcement layoffs and a decaying downtown,” campaign manager Ryan Mahoney said.

“The choice is clear.”

Bono Mack, first elected in 1998, has said the size of government needs to be reduced. She’s criticized the Democratic administration by saying its “solutions” have “put us into worse shape, not better.”

She’s also vowed to create jobs and rebuild the economy, telling The Desert Sun she continues to support “a free market system, lower taxes and reducing burdensome government regulations.”

Her campaign put little emphasis on Thibodeau’s primary challenge, saving most of her war chest for the anticipated general election this fall.

Thibodeau, meanwhile, has attracted the attention of the conservative tea party movement. He told The Desert Sun he moved from San Diego County to Hemet last August after activists asked him to challenge Bono Mack in this race.

The 45th Congressional District spans Riverside County and includes most of the Coachella Valley.

The race has already gained national media attention as the 45th is one of eight California congressional districts represented by a Republican, but that President Barack Obama won in 2008.

Mary Bono Mack deserves the chance to seek her eighth term in Congress.

The Palm Springs Republican has represented the area since 1998 when she won the seat in a special election following the death of her husband, Sonny Bono.

She faces the tea party conservative Clayton Thibodeau of Hemet on Tuesday’s ballot. We’re impressed with Thibodeau’s passion for the U.S. Constitution, but find many of his ideas unrealistic. Also, using his campaign contributions to pay his rent is an apparent violation of federal election laws.

Bono Mack would face Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet, a Democrat, and Bill Lussenheide, an American Independent Party candidate from Menifee.

The main rap against Bono Mack is that she votes the Republican Party line, which is true. According to Congressional Quarterly, she has voted with the GOP 89 percent of the time. Her moderate conservative approach reflects the majority of the 45th Congressional District.

However, her most courageous and controversial vote was on the American Clean Energy and Security Act. She was one of only seven Republicans to support the bill.

The bill gets blistering criticism from the right for its “cap and trade” provisions that would allow pollution allowances for industries while capping emissions. We share those concerns, but support the goals of the bill to reduce reliance of oil and promote alternative forms of power generation such as solar, wind and geothermal — three of the greatest assets in the Coachella Valley.

Bono Mack deserves praise for bucking the party line on this one.

Bono Mack lists her legislative accomplishments:

* A bill that established the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto National Mountains Monument near Palm Springs.
* Legislation to compensate the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians for land lost in 1908. The agreement settled the longest-ever ongoing litigation in the 9th Circuit Court of California.
* Legislation that calls for country-of-origin labeling for fresh fruits and vegetables.

We also have been impressed with her criticism of the way the Department of Health and Human Services has ignored transgressions in the Torres-Martinez tribe in the administration of its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, support for restoring the Salton Sea and helping to secure funding for the new tower at the Palm Springs International Airport.

The Desert Sun looks forward to the campaign between Bono Mack and Pougnet. We encourage her to participate in debates and pit her conservative credentials against his more liberal viewpoints.

“Support for Congresswoman Bono Mack continues to grow because the people of this District want to keep dedicated leaders like Mary in Congress to build a stronger America with less government and more jobs.

“Congresswoman Bono Mack is humbled by the outpouring of support and will continue to work tirelessly in Washington on behalf of California’s 45 Congressional District.”

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Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack raised $174,747.31 during the Pre-Primary period (4/1/10 – 5/19/10) and reported over $1.1 million dollars Cash on Hand.

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“Congresswoman Bono Mack’s unyielding commitment to public safety and law enforcement concerns, along with her devotion to the welfare of law enforcement professionals, including surviving family members, has made our decision an easy one,” said Pat McNamara, President of the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association.

Bono Mack said, “I am honored to once again have the endorsement of the RSA and I look forward to continuing to work together to ensure that these brave men and women have the resources and support they need to protect and serve the residents of Riverside County.”

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Riverside Sheriffs’ Association (RSA) represents more than 3,200 Deputy Sheriffs, Correctional Deputies, District Attorney Investigators, Probation Officers and Deputy Coroners in Riverside County, California.

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