Hard to imagine someone born in the tinseled city of Hollywood, finding a home in a bedroom community like Hemet, but I found a lady with that background. Last week we sat down for a breakfast interview at Four Seasons, a somewhat elegant retirement community on the far west side of Hemet.

Robin Lowe has a long history of being her own person, doing her own thing and with the encouragement of her parents. Growing up in the View Park area of Los Angeles, she attended both the Lutheran Parochial and Englewood Unified School District.

“My mother was an RN. She applied for medical school but was turned down. So she opened three nursing homes (known as sanatarium in those days) and became a successful businesswoman.

“For a while, my dad owned a hardware store. After some time at that, he went to work for American Hospital Supply Company and finally settled into the automobile business where he operated a successful enterprise until he was injured in an automobile accident.”

Her parents were progressives who believed strongly that women had the right to anything a man could do at a time when that was not a popular idea in a country pretty much dominated by white men when it came to business.

“My father was a veteran of World War II, and they waited until the war ended before getting married. Then I came along, and they both decided I would not be the victim of parents who both worked. They wanted a traditional upbringing for me. So she sold her businesses and concentrated on being a good mother to me. My father was supportive of my independence. He wanted me to learn, and I was avidly involved from day one in social issues. I had a yearning for knowledge, and some of my most fun times with my father was when I worked with him the garage, learning to do stuff — learning how things worked.

“I was adept at blowing up car engines. He wasn’t too happy with me when that happened with the first car he bought me, a VW. I gutter sniped. Since he owned a Chrysler Automobile business, I grew up around cars and garages. He taught me how to respect and take of cars, how to change a tire, make sure the radiator had water and check the dipstick so that I didn’t forget to see that the car had enough oil.

“My mother and grandmother taught me how to be a good home maker. It was a time the family unit still existed. We didn’t sit around with a crappy cell phone. I don’t understand how a family having dinner in restaurants and there is dead silence. Every cotton-picking one of them is fingering a cell phone, like it was the main entre.”

Robin was an only child because mother was older and unable to have more children. “However, it was important to them that I had a relationship with all my cousins and extended family. They made sure that I went back to visit them every year in Illinois. Much of my father’s family lived in Illinois, including my grandparents. My cousins are like brothers and sisters to me. So we have always been a close family. My mother’s parents lived in California so they were an integral part of my life growing up. It was a rare occasion that we did not spend Sundays with the family. So family structure was implanted in my mind from birth.”

HOW DID SHE BECOME INVOLVED WITH LOCAL POLITICS?

“My parents introduced me too community events: President of the PTA Father’s Club and Pancake Breakfast Club. They were football parents and I became scorekeeper for the high school team. My first boyfriend was captain of the baseball team, so I was into that kind of thing and my folks promoted that for me. They wanted me to be aware of social issues.”

Robin had retired from Bell Telephone Company in Chicago because they wanted to transfer her to their Lab in Morris Town, New Jersey. A born and raised product of Southern Sunshine, she preferred sunshine to the East Coast’s cold and freezing winters.

How did she meet her husband, Mel?

“That’s an interesting story. He was superintendent on an air conditioning job in Riverside County, doing construction work in 1984. We were both working on that job. I used to kibitz him because he seemed always to be late. I later discovered that we lived in the same neighborhood when I was a teenager, although we went to different schools. He also lived in the San Fernando Valley and was one of my Godsister’s friends. I knew a girl that he was dating, but he and I had never met. So here we were in Hemet in our forties, both the product of previous marriage and divorces. My aunt and uncle had lived in Hemet since 1961 and my parents came here in 1974 after my dad’s accident. So I knew Hemet and had spent a lot of time here over the years.

“My mother invited him to Easter Dinner after church. He asked if he could go to church with me the next Sunday. Of course, he could. My mother was crazy about him. He ended up renting an apartment in a building we managed.

“My mother died in 1986 and six months later, we were already living in Hemet, on a Sunday morning we had come home from Riverside where were property managers. My father was sitting at the kitchen table, busy writing out his check for church that morning. He put his book away and handed me a newspaper. ‘I want you to read this article. You’re going to build that library in Hemet.’ The city council had just turned down a grant for 10 million dollars to build a new library. That money went to three other libraries. ‘You are going to run for city council and that will be your issue. I’ll give you the money you need to get started. Not a lot, but you’re going to get that library built. I can’t believe that the best they can do is that little building at Florida and Buena Vista.’ I had not even thought about running. There was an opening on the planning commission. So I went to see Lori Van Arsdale about the Planning Commission vacancy. I knew a lot about engineering because during my years with the telephone company my accounts were with the U. S. Government and banking industry in Illinois. Consequently, I felt I could work out fine on the Planning Commission.

Lori suggested she might be the right choice for a City Council seat to which Robin replied, “I have only been back from Illinois for a couple of years. I need to know the community better.” Lori insisted that she had been coming to Hemet from Los Angeles for years and that she probably knew the Valley better than she thought since she visited with aunt and uncle here for years.

I had been on a school board in Illinois for ten years. I thought I had something to offer and would be giving back to the community,”

Apparently, Lori was rather convincing since she did run and was re-elected several times.

Hemet was beginning to see a rebirth of development other than mobile home parks.

“At that time, Valley Hermosa was coming forward with the rest of their plan to finish that property. The federal government stepped in to deny any senior-only projects. That’s when Lori Van Arsdale and I started our campaign to ensure senior housing was protected. We were fighting the federal government. House Speaker Gephardt came out to Hemet and promised us he would take care of it, but two years later, we still didn’t have action. When the two of us met with government officials in Orange County, we were threatened with arrest by Federal Marshals for whatever reason. We never did know why. We returned to Hemet and met with Congressman Sonny Bono. He even came to Hemet to demonstrate with us. Thanks to him and other demonstrations were set up throughout the United States. We brought 20,000 people to our support at the hearings in Ontario.

“HUD had the idea that we should live by a completely different situation that existed on the East Coast. What they were suggesting was totally assisted living whereas, we preferred to live independently. Our attorney donated her time to our cause and wrote the amendments that needed to be put into the bill to have them ready for the Unruh Act in California. We knew we’re going to have trouble in Sacramento and we did, but finally got it through the legislature.”

She considers that to be the highlight of her 16 years on the City Council, but finally getting the new public library opened in downtown Hemet rates high on her list of accomplishments. She has served on more committees and panels than can be listed, among them Chairwoman of RCTC, Chairwoman for the County Integrated Plan committee, Chairwoman for the Endangered Species K-Rat Committee.

“When I went on that Board, the K-Ray Agency was charging $2500 a house for K-Ray protection. The problem was that there were only one or two persons actually elected that Commission. The rest were staff I was encouraged to get more elected commissioners and we did.”

Robin has long been involved in Republican politics in a county that is one of the most conservative in the state, but I sensed some truly liberal ideas in our conversation. She is a lovely blonde who wouldn’t allow a picture until she visited her hairstylist. A blonde but not a ‘dumb blonde.’ She is intelligent with a real down-home personality, but don’t ever take her to be weak in any instant. She has waded through more slings and arrows and probably has the battle scars to prove it, but she is one tough cookie and I don’t think anybody who would decide to take her on should underestimate her abilities. She has survived political wars and many of her adversaries have made the mistake of taking her on and paid dearly for that mistake. Just sayin’

rustystrait@gmail.com

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From the right….Robin Lowe

For more than two years, Californians have had to endure headlines like these:

–“Audit finds problems with California “Motor Voter” Program,” from Associated Press.

–“More than 23,000 Californians were registered to vote incorrectly by state DMV,” by the LA Times in September of 2018.

–“Skid Row Voter Fraudsters Preyed on LA Homeless, Authorities Charge” from NBC in November of 2018. That particular case came as national discourse over voter fraud heated up in November of last year when President Trump, had in the past, alleged (and been proven correct) that “millions” of bogus votes were cast in the 2016 presidential election.

–Then there was the August, 2019 California Globe article titled, “DMV’s Six Degrees Of Separation From The Truth About Voter Fraud In California” which explained that thousands of were “…”inadvertently registered to vote.”

Right. Inadvertently. Some began to question, and continue to question Alex Padilla’s competency as California Secretary of State due to these seemingly constant “mistakes.”

The articles above were covered in more depth in an article that appeared in the pages of the Hemet-San Jacinto Chronicle just a few weeks ago. That article chronicled yet more problems with the“Motor Voter” system.

Given the fact that both Google and Facebook have been caught in “undercover stings” admitting that they will attempt to surreptitiously overthrow the electoral process, legal voters here have to wonder if California election officials are just inept…or culpable as well.

In the coming weeks, we will be investigating these issues in depth.

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From the right…with Robin Lowe

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

As we have heard ad nauseum, this is an election year! The California Legislature, in its infinite wisdom, moved the primary election to March 3^rd from June. If you requested a mail-in ballot, it should be arriving soon.

And if you receive more ballots than you have votes, please call me.  Also, per a timely article elsewhere in this edition of the Chronicle, the DMV’s “Motor Voter” system is creating havoc again.  Please call the DMV if you feel you’ve been incorrectly assigned to a party affiliation.  Better yet, call California Secretary of State Alex Padilla at (916) 653-7244 or the State “Election Division” at (916) 657-2166 and demand that someone be held accountable for the continued, biased “problems” with the “Motor Voter” system. To say that it’s been a disaster is putting it mildly.  Padilla has steadfastly any true reform to this broken system.

Also, the Hemet-San Jacinto Congress of Republicans has invited the Republican candidates for the 23^rd and 67^th Assembly Districts to our dinner (6:00 p.m.) meeting January 27^th at the Hemet Elks Club. Reservations will be accepted until January 23^rd by calling 951-765-7634. The cost is $17.00.

Again, Happy New Year!

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From the right…Robin Lowe

As the year comes to an end, I feel that, while it’s time to say goodbye to 2019, and look forward to 2020 and the Presidential election (may it not be tainted with the same heavy-handed DNC cheating as was 2016), I note a total disrespect for the American taxpayer that must be addressed.  This is especially egregious here in California.

I see that the day after Christmas, a storm hit the Southland and totally crippled the “Grapevine” and Cajon Pass.  

Some were stranded on the road for three days!

While civil preparedness goes woefully underfunded due to mismanagement, professors in California are wasting money on the study of Soviet (hello) wines!!  (https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/wasteful-spending-in-midst-of-22-trillion-national-debt-mariachi-training-soviet-wine-study/)

This storm of course, gave rise to price-gouging at the hotels and motels along the way: nothing like local businesses profiting off of the mismanagement of California so-called leaders.  One poor man was trying to get off the exit to take his children to a motel, until he called and he realized that the the hotel in question had raised its rates from the usual less-than-$90-per-day to $300!!!

I’m sorry…I thought that Californians, who pay among the highest road and gas taxes (and the taxation of anything else liberal leaders can think of) were supposed have their taxes PAY FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES…CalTrans, no less.  A three-day wait to get to a destination in modern-day America?  Democrat leaders have us marching (backward) to the 19th century.

The CHP can’t do it all.  After a lifetime of the Grapevine being shutdown…where are the illustrious Professional Engineers in California Government (PECG) whom the state pays to design our highway system?  They have the money to waste on building a median down the center of our town, possibly ruining small businesses…but the “fix” to a decades-old, chronic problem with a major artery of California which transports hundreds of thousands of people goes unaddressed?  This is what Democrats see as response-able government?

California is among the worst offenders in wasting tax-payer dollars. Maybe if liberal leaders could come up with something other than viciously attacking the President, they could foster an electorate instead of having to use tax-payer dollars to buy an electorate. (https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/hans-bader/california-budget-deficit-rising-wasteful-spending-minimum-wage-hike-blame)

I find an analogy among the wasteful spending here at home and the wasteful spending on the lie of Trump/Russian Collusion.  Oh wait…I’m sorry, that was a few months ago: the new lie is Trump/Ukranian Collusion and Quid Pro Quo.  Robert Mueller alone paid himself a piggish $200+thousand-per-month, for…what? Answers to simple questions, which made him look like a candidate for a dementia study?  That’s YOUR tax money!  And liberals are cheering this?

Realize that this stunt is D.O.A. once it hits the Senate, and liberal leaders KNEW this from the beginning and WASTED this time and taxpayer money anyway.  And if we conservatives don’t want to waste more taxpayer money…money that you work for…it’s WE who are considered the problem?  I ask again: where is the respect for the American taxpayer?  Where is the respect for the senior on a limited income?

And in May, California was requesting a staggering 7 BILLION DOLLAR BAILOUT?  Even more waste forced on the backs of US/California taxpayers?  And those who protest are in the wrong???  (https://www.cagw.org/thewastewatcher/california’s-7-billion-bailout)

It must be so nice to be safe and warm at home while unsuspecting drivers who thought they could trust their state to provide safe passage during the holidays are left literally “out in the cold.”  It must be nice to waste the money worked-for by others, and then have the gall to think less of them and call them names, all while you’re wasting that money.

When calls for fiscal and personal responsibility are met with shouts of “racism,” and “self-centeredness,” there can be no useful discourse. The days of wasting taxpayer’s money and then calling them names if they disagree, are long gone.  It’s time to hold those who would “earn their angel’s wings on someone else’s dime,” accountable.  That accountability starts in 2020 and it begins with the election: that’s when we will really begin to take back America.

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From the Right-Robin Lowe

As the year closes, I feel that I must tie up several loose ends, and I find that these loose ends not only stretch all the way to Washington, but back to our own cities as well. 

The new year marks a new beginning as well, and with it, we are blessed to have a new mayor, Mayor Russ Brown in Hemet, and a new mayor in San Jacinto, Mayor Andrew Kotyuk. We were blessed several years ago with a new president and yet, disparate, divisive voices sought to divide our country instead of unite it.  I find, unfortunately, the same thing happening here at home in our own cities of San Jacinto and Hemet.

Those who market conspiracy theories both in Washington and here at home must be taken to task and their thinly-veiled accusations must be given the light of day. 

As the old bromide goes: sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Nationally, we have seen almost 3 full years of nothing but: innuendo, out right lies and millions of dollars wasted. Locally, we have seen innuendo and accusation with not even the flimsiest amount of evidence given. This must stop. 

There is a reason that Lincoln’s battle cry of “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” is still quoted today. When our city and our nation is being attacked from within, it makes no sense to quarrel among amongst ourselves: we must stand together to forge a new, positive and open future.

To do anything less is to invite more of the same lies, waste and insurrection from within…and is tantamount to straightening out deck chairs on the Titanic.

We must rally around our new mayors as we must rally around our president, sure in our adherence to the constitution and to the rule of law.  We must not sit idly by while elected officials waste time and money with useless, baseless accusations designed to do nothing but divide our cities and our country.

If we are unhappy with the state of our country or our local governments, the answer is not to pervert the law as is so obviously being done on national level.  Neither is the answer to mouth accusations without any real evidence.  We must instead use our laws and conventions in the most positive and productive ways possible.

Let us take this unprecedented opportunity to move our cities and our nation forward.

As we have seen with the passing of both Phil Brigandi and Steve Covington…our hold on life…is just as is our hold on freedom: so tenuous, that we must guard, protect, defend and cherish these things at all costs: wasteful, hateful divisive, partisan politics and rumor-mongering isn’t the answer: unity is.

We must bring back the days when the losers in a political battle come together to unite for the good of the city…and the nation: not spy on, defame or plot against those who won…especially those of the same party.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and pass on my hope that, with the new year, comes a spirit of renewed healing for our cities and our nation.

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FROM THE RIGHT…We are always leased to hear the conservative voice from Robin Lowe, former mayor of Hemet

The California Congress of Republicans is celebrating its 30th year as a mainstream conservative, grassroots volunteer organization and is an officially chartered part of the California Republican Party (CRP).

I’m so pleased and proud to announce that Tom Wilson was installed as CCR Hemet-San Jacinto chapter President at the installation event at the Elks on December 9.

We were doubly blessed as new San Jacinto mayor Andrew Kotyuk made an appearance.  Andrew announced that he will be taking on Chad Mayes who has defected form the Republican Party to “No Political Party (NPP)” in the election for Assemblyman of the 42nd District. 

Please see Rusty Strait’s interview with Mayor Kotyuk elsewhere in this issue.  

This 42nd district race may be seen as somewhat unimportant, as California is decidedly “blue,” but this is not the case.  Liberty, Freedom and the right of people to defend the lives of the most vulnerable among us-unborn babies…the right of people to keep what they work for and to have the right to choose how, when and why that money is spent is at stake in every single local election, every statehouse, and yes, even in the Whitehouse itself.

If you believe that true freedom is freedom from an ever-intrusive Government and that men and women were not born to serve government, but to serve each other, there’s only one party for you, and that’s the Republican Party.

We at the CCR stand ready to serve and inform you.  We can be contacted at https://www.ccr-gop.com

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We are always honored to hear from the conservative side of the aisle with former mayor Robin Lowe

THE POLITICAL NOTEBOOK

As President of the California Federation of Republican Women of Hemet-San Jacinto, I would like to remind everyone that we are “dark” in December. We will take up our meetings and issues again, in January The cost for our luncheon is $15. If you’d like to learn more about the organization, please see our website Hemet/San Jacinto Valley RWF (California Federation of Republican…

Also, as a past State President of the California Congress of Republicans, and past President of the local chapter here in Hemet, I would like to open the door to our wide tent and welcome all to join us: we are currently in the process of selecting a new headquarters.

The California Congress of Republicans is celebrating its 30th year as a mainstream conservative, grassroots volunteer organization and is an officially chartered part of the California Republican Party (CRP). Tom Wilson will be installed as CCR Hemet-San Jacinto chapter President and I would like to invite all to come and celebrate with us at the installation event at the Elks Lodge 1740 at 1305 W. Florida on December 9. Tom is well-known to Hemet-San Jacinto residents as an honest businessman and a leader in our community.  We are privileged to have Tom’s leadership.

Also, I must give a well-deserved “thank you” to friend and colleague, outgoing President Sharon Myers-Durbin, who has done an outstanding job. If you would like more information on the CCR, please see our website https://www.ccr-gop.com

Also, I believe that I speak for all Republicans when I say that we are looking forward to the 2020 election and to reelecting our current President. With undeserved attacks coming from all directions, your vote is more vital than ever.  With freedom threatened from within, we cannot allow those who have flagrantly abused their power to gain an even stronger foothold in America.  Vote as if the future of your country depended on it…because it does.

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Robin Lowe is former mayor of Hemet, and a conservative voice in our valley

I would like to cite some information from local and national news concerning California over the past few days…and indeed the past few years.

California was ranked dead last in Chief Executive magazine’s 2016 “best and worst small states for business” survey.

California has among the highest sales-tax rates in the US.

California has one of the highest corporate income tax rates in the country, and has the second highest gas tax in the country while it also has among the most expensive traffic tickets in the nation.

California has disastrously high unemployment.

California has among the lowest credit/bond ratings in the entire country.  People are being taxed so badly they can’t even afford to live in houses which have been in the family for decades.

In one of the local newspaper, we read that Riverside County has one of the worst commutes in the country.

Where is all the tax money going?

I ask, “In Sacramento what are they doing to help the local communities and where is all this tax money going? 

I just read where, to buy a new home here, your income must be a staggering $120,000-plus to qualify. 

How long are the people of California supposed to put up with this kind of taxation and the ignorance of Sacramento politicians, and those local politicians who serve them? 

We need local, county and state politicians who represent the best interests of their constituents, and not the best interests of those who live in, and govern from, Sacramento.  For the last 48 years, Sacramento politicians, and those local politicians who have served them have used tiny communities as there own piggy bank.  They have squandered the money funneled from local communities. Small cities like Hemet have been systematically raped of local revenue by Sacramento and it’s local pols: they’ve then used these dollars to their own advantage instead of giving that money back to us, at the local level. 

This must stop, and to do that, we must demand more of our local politicians, and we must change the power structure if we are ever to change the course of our local communities. 

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A welcome to the people of Hemet and San Jacinto

Robin Lowe says:

I am proud to announce that I was just elected President of the California Federation of Republican Women of Hemet-San Jacinto, this past Wednesday, October 23. The Hemet/San Jacinto Valley RWF meets the third Wednesday of every month at the “Hungry Bear Restaurant” on San Jacinto Street in Hemet. Registration begins at 11am with lunch beginning at 11:30. November will be our final meeting of the year as we will be going “dark” in December. The cost is $15. If you’d like to learn more about the organization, please see our website http://www.cfrw.org/club-Hemet_San_Jacinto_Valley_RWF_80.htm

Also, as a past State President of the California Congress of Republicans, and past President of the local chapter here in Hemet, I would like to open the door to our wide tent and welcome all to join us: we are currently in the process of selecting a new headquarters. 

The California Congress of Republicans is celebrating its 30th year as a mainstream conservative, grassroots volunteer organization and is an officially chartered part of the California Republican Party (CRP). Tom Wilson will be installed as CCR Hemet-San Jacinto chapter President and I would like to invite all to come and celebrate with us at the installation event taking place at the Elks Lodge 1740 at 1305 W. Florida on December 9. We’ll have more information as the date approaches. Also, I must give a well-deserved “thank you” to friend and colleague, outgoing President Sharon Myers-Durbin, who has done an outstanding job. If you would like more information on the CCR, please see their website https://www.ccr-gop.com

Also, I believe that I speak for all Republicans when I say that we are excitedly looking forward to the 2020 election and to reelecting our current President. 

Lastly I would like to again extend my thanks to and welcome the Hemet-San Jacinto Chronicle as a fresh, new, unbiased voice in our Valley.

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