First up is the 2 Hesperia Star campaign stories on both Robert Kirk when he was running for school board and now Mark Kirk running for Hesperia City Council. Postmus was at both fundraisers and both are his candidates. And my guess is that nothing will be done without Postmus giving the orders and instructions. Postmus's land partner Dino DeFazio just made a bunch of money selling land to the Hesperia School District after owning it for 2 months. If Mark Kirk is elected we can look foreward to the same shady land deals that Honeycutt and Lindley worked up between the City and Frontier Homes. Next time around it will be Young Homes or other BIA connected developers.

Candidate Kirk holds fund-raiser
March 15, 2007 - 10:19AM
By BEAU YARBROUGH
Staff Writer

(This story originally appeared in the Hesperia Star Thursday, August 10, 2006)

Robert Kirk is a political newcomer, but the science teacher turned school board candidate has already raised the sort of money typically associated with veteran campaigners.

Kirk held his first fund-raiser on July 29 at the Apple Valley home of a fellow teacher.

“It went really well. We had a lot of people there, and the weather was good,” Kirk said last week. San Bernardino County Supervisor “Bill Postmus  came, and Bill gave a nice speech and endorsed me and my candidacy.

“That was really good, the food was really good. It was a good night. Instead of having a fund-raiser, it was just like having a party.”

The night was so good, Kirk is within striking distance of his fund-raising goal.

“Well, our goal was about $25,000” for the whole campaign, he said. “And we are really getting close to $20,000. I want to say we had between 100 and 150 people who either came or contributed. It was a $50/plate dinner. So that was really a good response.”

For the remainder of the funds, Kirk may have another fund-raiser but go to businesses and ask for corporate donations, he said.

“I think this campaign is going to be more expensive than some of the ones in the past. I don’t think campaigns have had this kind of money put into them before.” Kirk plans to send out “three or four” direct mail advertisements to a burgeoning population in Hesperia over the course of the campaign, in addition to paying for signage.

Beau Yarbrough can be reached at beau@hesperiastar.com or by telephone at 956-7108.

Mark Kirk raises $60,000 in first city council fundraiser
District Attorney Ramos speaks at event held for son of school board president
June 13, 2008 - 9:52PM
By BEAU YARBROUGH
Staff Writer

The son of a Hesperia politician is getting into the family business, and leveraging his extensive connections right from the start.

Mark Kirk, the son of Hesperia Unified School District school president Robert Kirk, and the chief of staff for San Bernardino County Supervisor Gary Ovitt, held his first fundraiser Thursday at the Quality Inn and Suites Green Tree in Victorville.

Hesperia City Councilman Ed Pack, former councilman Jim Lindley, County Assessor Bill Postmus, Victorville Mayor Terry Caldwell and school board member Hardy Black, among others, attended the event. Ovitt hosted the event and the keynote speaker was San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos.

"I was very pleased, very humbled by the turnout," Kirk said Friday. "We're still sifting through the $50 and $100 checks that came in through the door, but we know we raised over $60,000 last night."

While other well-connected figures have run for office in Hesperia before, Kirk's fundraiser was attended by more than the typical number of High Desert politicians.

"Certainly, I've been blessed in my career to work for George and Sharon Runner, as well as Gary Ovitt, and that's allowed me to build a lot of good friendships with other elected officials," Kirk said.

One of those in attendance was San Bernardino County Planning Commissioner Russ Blewett, who has also declared that he will be running for one of the two open seats on the city council this year. The two are familiar with each other beyond passing each other in the halls of the board of supervisors: Blewett's daughter Lori Nielson spearheaded the recall attempt that failed to recall Kirk's father earlier this year.

"Russ and I agree on some things, and we certainly have some disagreements, and there's certainly some history there," said Kirk, a 1992 graduate of Hesperia High School. "I'm happy that he was able to come, but my campaign is my campaign. I'm not running with anyone, and I don't plan to run against anyone. I'm going to put my ideas out there and let the voters decide."

The recall attempt just reinforced for Kirk that politics is not for the faint-hearted.

"I think anyone who wants to get into politics because it's fun doesn't know anything about it and is probably getting involved for the wrong reasons," he said. "I want to make sure that Hesperia continues to be the great place to be a kid, the great place to raise a family, that it was for me and my family. I think right now, we face some challenges, and if we don't get in front of some key issues, that'll be in jeopardy."

Kirk's key issues are ones that will be familiar to Hesperia voters.

"I think that public safety is an important issue that we keep on the forefront," he said. "Quite often in these sorts of economic times, you see an increase in crime, so it's important for local government to keep their eye on the ball."

He praised city officials for budgeting an additional two San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputies for the next fiscal year.

"I think transportation is always going to be a big deal in Hesperia with constituents," Kirk said. "We have to continue to work hard on that."

The city's economy rounds out Kirk's three main issues.

"And then I think the other big issue is economic development. We still don't have the number of high-paying jobs here in the desert that we need to have. So our residents are driving down the hill for their jobs," Kirk said. "We need to do a much better job as a city and as a region to get those high-paying jobs up here."

Two-term councilman Tad Honeycutt has said he will not run for reelection this year, and 2008 may be a year with many candidates throwing their hats into the ring.

"I don't think this is going to be an election cycle where people have to choose the lesser of two evils," Kirk said. "I think they'll have a lot of good choices, and hopefully they'll think that I'm one of them."