longtime

California voters, it appears, have tired of peace and freedom–well, of Peace & Freedom, anyway–forcing the one and only Jan B. Tucker to take his leftist politics elsewhere.

Tucker, a Toluca Lake-based private eye and activist for every leftist cause under the sun, was the last hope for the state’s Peace & Freedom Party, which formed in California amid the political upheaval of 1968.

His campaign for state treasurer last year, “Tucker for Treasurer: Politics as Unusual,” represented the best chance for Peace & Freedom to maintain its spot on the state ballot. Tucker had run for governor and president on the Peace & Freedom ticket in previous years, and has a politician’s gift for self-promotion.

But Tucker’s third-party candidacy–which espoused such unorthodox fiscal views as using the power of the state stock portfolio to help break the glass ceiling for women and minorities–failed to ignite the liberal crowd.

He gathered less than 2% of the vote, the amount required for a party to stay on the ballot, and Secretary of State Bill Jones has since announced that Peace & Freedom has gone the way of Nehru jackets and the Age of Aquarius.

Peace & Freedom loyalists could get back on the ballot by increasing the number of voters registered to the party. There is little indication that is going to happen. But Tucker–who is active in the local chapters of the National Organization for Women, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, a local newspaper guild and an animal-rights organization–isn’t about to give up the fight just yet. He plans to do what any crafty politician would do under the circumstances: adapt.

Tucker is going to team up with another minor party on the left, the Green Party, which, not coincidentally, has been gaining in popularity at the same time Peace & Freedom has been losing it. He believes the leadership of his new party is more grounded in reality.

“The Greens don’t have the ideological baggage and weirdo reputation that the Peace & Freedom Party has,” Tucker said. “It’s hard to be taken seriously when the party leaders stand up at conventions and say, ‘We are the new Bolsheviks.’ I tried to take some new recruits there, and they said, ‘This is “Alice in Wonderland.” ’ “

His next candidacy, he said, will be for U.S. Senate. In the meantime, Tucker says he will urge that his new party try to deal with what he sees as its biggest weakness: lack of minority representation.

“It’s a marriage whose time has come,” he said of his conversion to Green. “I’d like to help the Greens to diversify their ranks, because they need it. Their heart’s in the right place.”

*

NO REST: As if Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) didn’t have enough liberals angry at him. Now he is being accused of getting in the way of world peace.

Rogan, fresh off his controversial role as prosecutor in President Clinton’s Senate impeachment trial, was awarded straight Fs on the latest political report card of California Peace Action, a group that fights the proliferation of nuclear weapons and arms sales to recognized dictatorships. The Peace Action claims to be the state’s largest “peace” organization, with a statewide membership of 33,000.

“While Rep. Rogan’s role in the impeachment process has received a great deal of attention, we don’t want people to overlook his terrible record on nuclear weapons, human rights and wasteful military spending,” said Danielle Babineau, the group’s southern California political director. “You can’t do worse than an F.”

*

EAR TO THE RAIL: When City Council candidates went door to door recently trying to qualify for the April 13 ballot, residents asked about one issue more than any other.

Should the San Fernando Valley break away from Los Angeles and form its own city?

“That was the most consistent question that people asked me about,” said David R. Guzman Sr., one of four candidates challenging Councilman Hal Bernson in the northwest Valley’s 12th District.

Guzman said most residents doubted that the Valley would be better off after a breakaway from Los Angeles, a skepticism he and many other candidates share.

“They are afraid of it because they fear it may add to the red tape and cost the Valley more,” said Guzman, who isn’t convinced secession is a good idea.

Secession has divided candidates vying for four Valley seats on the City Council, an informal survey found. Most said the issue of Valley cityhood will be a major point of discussion in their campaigns.

Bernson supported a study of cityhood, but has declined to take a position on secession, citing his service on the county commission that is examining the financial issues involved, said Ali Sar, a spokesman.

Among other 12th District candidates, newsletter publisher Marilyn Stout said she does not believe secession is the answer, while attorney Charles Rubel said the Valley would be better off as a separate city.

“I’m definitely for it, if it’s feasible,” Rubel said, adding he believes it will bring government closer to Valley residents.

Stout said she would prefer to see charter reform bring city residents together.

“It [cityhood] would worsen the quality of life throughout the city,” Stout said.

In the race for the 2nd District seat in the East Valley, Councilman Joel Wachs was one of the first to sign a petition calling for a study of cityhood, but has said he wants to see the study results before taking a position on secession.

Second District challenger Kathy Anthony, who runs a Sunland tailoring business, said the Valley has been shortchanged by the rest of Los Angeles.

“Unfortunately, I don’t feel we have an option” but to secede, Anthony said. “We have to do something to get attention and dollars back to the Valley.”

John Spishak, another 2nd District candidate, also believes secession will improve the quality of life for Valley residents.

“I’m definitely for it,” he said. “People are so tired of what they are not getting from City Hall.”

In the 7th Council District, covering the northeast Valley, front-runner candidates Corinne Sanchez and Alex Padilla have not yet taken positions on secession, but Ollie McCaulley supports it. Barbara Perkins is not sure it’s a good idea.

“It’s long overdue,” McCaulley said. “The San Fernando Valley should be its own city. We are such a large part of the tax base, but we’re not getting the services in return.”

McCaulley said 90% of the voters he spoke with asked him about his stand on secession, but unlike Guzman’s experience, the vast majority were in favor, he said.

Perkins resigned as a board member of Valley VOTE because she believed the group was promoting Valley cityhood, not just a study of the issue.

“I don’t see any indication that we’re going to be better off if we [secede],” Perkins said. “I support going ahead with the study, but I can’t be supportive of secession at this time.”

*

ANOTHER BREAKUP: In filing for divorce from state Sen. Richard Alarcon, Corina Alarcon enlisted the help of an attorney who knows what it is like to oppose a powerful spouse.

She has retained attorney Manley Freid, who has represented a who’s-who of spouses breaking from powerful people, including one of Mayor Richard Riordan’s former wives.

Freid said he has also represented Tom Arnold against Roseanne Barr, Loni Anderson against Burt Reynolds and Lee Iacocca’s former wife in her divorce from the ex-Chrysler chairman.

Corina Alarcon said she has received a lot of backing from community leaders, including a vigil last week attended by about 30 supporters who are upset at Richard Alarcon’s decision to separate from his wife right after he was elected to the Senate.

*

DEMOCRATS’ DARTBOARD

Rep. James Rogan of Glendale has become a key target for Democrats. A3

President Trump has publicly split with one of his most stalwart MAGA supporters, calling Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene “wacky” and saying he would endorse a challenger against her in next year’s midterms “if the right person runs.”

His attack on the Georgia Republican — who has been a leading champion of his “Make America Great Again” movement, sporting the signature red cap at President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address and acting as a go-between for Trump and other Capitol Hill Republicans — appeared to be a resolute break in a dispute simmering for months as Greene has criticized some of the president’s policies and actions.

The three-term U.S. House member has increasingly dissented from Republican leaders, attacking them during the just-ended federal government shutdown and saying they need a plan to help people who are losing subsidies to afford health insurance policies.

Accusing Greene — one of the most right-leaning members of Congress — of going “Far Left,” Trump wrote that all he had witnessed from Greene in recent months is “COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” adding, of Greene’s purported irritation that he doesn’t return her phone calls, “I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day.”

In a response on X, Greene wrote Friday that Trump had “attacked me and lied about me.” She added a screenshot of a text she said she had sent the president earlier in the day about releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, which she said “is what sent him over the edge.”

Greene called it “astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level,” referencing next week’s U.S. House vote over releasing the complete files related to the late convicted sex offender.

The Epstein saga has placed increasing pressure on the president. Epstein emails released this week named Trump several times and indicated that he knew about Epstein’s abuse of underage girls, a claim the president denies.

Greene wrote that she had supported Trump “with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him,” adding, “I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump.”

Trump’s post suggested a firm break with Greene after fissures that widened following this month’s off-cycle elections, in which voters in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races and elsewhere flocked to Democrats in large part over concerns about the cost of living.

Greene told NBC News this month that “watching the foreign leaders come to the White House through a revolving door is not helping Americans,” saying that Trump needs to focus on high prices at home rather than his recent emphasis on foreign affairs. Trump responded by saying that Greene had “lost her way.”

Asked about Greene’s comments earlier Friday as he flew from Washington to Florida, the president reiterated that he felt “something happened to her over the last month or two,” saying that, if he hadn’t gone to China to meet leader Xi Jinping, there would have been negative ramifications for jobs in Georgia and elsewhere because China would have kept its curbs on magnet exports.

Claiming that people have been calling him wanting to challenge Greene in the primary next year, Trump added, “She’s lost a wonderful conservative reputation.”

Greene’s discontent dates back to at least May, when she announced she wouldn’t run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, while attacking GOP donors and consultants who said they feared she couldn’t win. In June, she publicly sided with Tucker Carlson after Trump called the commentator “kooky” in a schism that emerged between MAGA and national security hardliners over possible U.S. efforts at regime change in Iran.

That only intensified in July, when Greene said she wouldn’t run for governor. Then, she attacked a political “good ole boy” system, alleging it was endangering Republican control of the state.

In recent weeks, Greene has embarked on a wide-ranging media campaign, doing interviews and appearances on mainstream programs aimed at people who aren’t hardcore Trump supporters. Asked on comedian Tim Dillon’s podcast if she wanted to run for president in 2028, Greene said in October, “I hate politics so much” and just wanted “to fix problems” — but didn’t give a definitive answer.

That continued with an appearance on Bill Maher’s HBO show, “Real Time,” followed days later by a Nov. 4 appearance on ABC’s “The View.” Some observers began pronouncing Greene as reasonable as she trashed GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana for not calling Republicans back to Washington to end the shutdown and coming up with a healthcare plan.

“I feel like I’m sitting next to a completely different Marjorie Taylor Greene,” said “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin.

“Maybe you should become a Democrat, Marjorie,” said co-host Joy Behar.

“I’m not a Democrat,” Greene replied. “I think both parties have failed.”

Kinnard writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.

CLETO Escobedo III, the saxophonist and leader of the house band on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, has died at age 59.

Host Jimmy Kimmel announced the death Tuesday in a heartfelt Instagram post, calling Escobedo “a great friend, father, son, musician and man.”

Kimmel, 57, wrote: “Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III.

“To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old.

“The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true,” he continued.

Kimmel ended his message with a plea to “cherish your friends” and to keep Escobedo’s family “in your prayers.”

Escobedo had led Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s house band since the show’s debut in 2003, performing alongside Kimmel nightly for more than two decades.

Escobedo’s cause of death has not been released.

He had been quietly absent from the show for months before his death.

Variety reported that Jimmy Kimmel Live! canceled its taping last Thursday due to Escobedo’s condition.

The musician fronted Cleto and the Cletones on the ABC late-night show since its 2003 premiere.

His father, Cleto Escobedo Jr., also plays in the band, which performs during the show’s tapings in Los Angeles.

Before joining Kimmel on television, Escobedo toured with Paula Abdul, Marc Anthony, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Kimmel and Escobedo’s friendship stretched back decades to their childhood in Las Vegas, where they grew up across the street from each other and stayed close through college and adulthood.

In a 2015 interview with ABC, Kimmel recalled pushing for Escobedo to lead his band.

“Of course I wanted great musicians, but I wanted somebody I had chemistry with,” Kimmel said.

“And there’s nobody in my life I have better chemistry with than him.”

Escobedo once reflected on that loyalty in a 2014 interview with the San Fernando Sun.

He said: “Jimmy is very loyal to his friends.

“He didn’t have to ask me; I would have understood if he had hired some famous guy to be his musical director.

“But he trusted me, and I don’t take it for granted.”

moving fast

MAFS couple PREGNANT days after they get married as strangers on show

WEDDING RIFT

Adam Peaty’s family feud escalates as he BANS mum from wedding to Holly Ramsay

He added: “For me, as the father of young children, this is the perfect job. I can do other things if I want.

“But I want to stay here as long as they will have me. I will always stay by Jimmy’s side.”

Cleto Escobedo III, the bandleader of Cleto and the Cletones, the house band for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” has died. The musician and lifelong friend of Kimmel was 59.

Kimmel confirmed Escobedo’s death early Tuesday morning in an Instagram post later that day, writing that “we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man.”

“To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement,” Kimmel continued. “Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old. The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true. Cherish your friends and please keep Cleto’s wife, children and parents in your prayers.”

The news of Escobedo’s death comes after “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was abruptly canceled Thursday , reportedly due to a “personal matter.” The cause of Escobedo’s death was not immediately released.

Escobedo had led the band through the late-night show since its premiere in 2003, playing alongside a group of musicians that included his father, Cleto Escobedo Jr.

Escobedo was an accomplished professional musician, having toured with Earth, Wind and Fire’s Philip Bailey and Paula Abdul and recorded with Marc Anthony, Tom Scott and Take Six. When Kimmel got his own ABC late-night talk show in 2003, he pushed for Escobedo to lead the house band, he told WABC in 2015.

“Of course I wanted great musicians, but I wanted somebody I had chemistry with,” Kimmel told the outlet. “And there’s nobody in my life I have better chemistry with than him.”

In an August 2016 episode, Kimmel wished Escobedo a happy 50th birthday and highlighted his long-standing relationship with the musician. They met in 1977 when Kimmel’s family moved in across the street from the Escobedos in Las Vegas. “We began a lifetime of friendship that was highlighted by the kind of torture that only an older brother can inflict on you without being arrested,” Kimmel said before sharing a series of stories about their sibling-like bond and Escobedo’s antics.

“I can’t wait till your kids turn 12 and see this, and find out their father is a secret maniac,” Kimmel said. The host also shared photos of them as children, including one of Escobedo playing the saxophone and Kimmel playing the clarinet.

In addition to his father and other family members, Escobedo is survived by his wife, Lori, and their two children.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.