Affecting my old Assembly district, Siskiyou and Modoc Counties, comes todays news that the PacifiCorp group, who owns a series of dams on the Klamath River which runs basically parallel to and near the Oregon-California border, has agreed to surrender its ability to produce clean renewable Hydro power, which does not bode well for new projects of any kind in California.

This settlement agreement has been a long time in process, about nine years, with farmers, fishermen, local tribes and a plethora of environmental groups all wrestling along with many government agencies of 2 states and the federal level and the actual owners of the dams. 4 dams now are slated to be destroyed and removed if the provisons ofthe agreement come to fruition. Indeed there are 29 signers to this settlement agreement draft. The net loss to Californians and Oregonians will be low cost, renewable, green hydroelectric power that serves about 75000 customers, power that will have to be replaced. With theever tightening noose of regulations of how and where electricity is sourced for… Read More

I’m pleased to report that my long-time friend, Laura Cunningham, is seriously exploring a run for Orange County Clerk-Recorder. She received encouragement to run after Sup. Chris Norby jumped into the 72nd Assembly District special election, instead.

Laura has already racked up some significant endorsements, such as OC Supervisors Bill Campbell and Pat Bates, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, former Supervisor and current Assemblyman Jim Silva, as well as a number of local elected officials. John Lewis and Matt Holder, who have run a number of successful county-wide races, have agreed to serve as her consultants.

I’ve known Laura for many years, and think she would make a tremendous Clerk-Recorder. She brings leadership skills, political savvy and organizational and operational experience from both business and government. Given her breadth of political experience and connections, Laura will make a formidable candidate."

This may be déjà vu for some long-time OC politicos: Laura ran for the post 12 years ago when incumbent Gary Granville decided to retire. She… Read More

I regret that I was unable to attend the CRP Convention this past weekend and having been catching up on my reading, the big story seems to be Meg Whitman’s history of failing to exercise her rights to register to vote and to vote.&NBS; A bigger story still is her failure to handle the issue at a press conference, or her seeming lack of preparation for the questions.&NBS; And now, we find out that being a mother and CEO of Eba is to blame.

These excuses are weak.&NBS; I can’t think of another job requiring more full attention multi tasking than Governor of this mess of a State we are in.&NBS; I am stunned that, in this age of downloading voter registration cards on line, completing and mailing them in that anyone is "too busy" to do this simple task.&NBS; I’m even more perplexed at the "motherhood" excuse.&NBS; I’m as involved as anyone with kids and I’ve not ever missed a vote.&NBS; It isn’t that hard to participate in our system of government, we’ll even mail you a ballot.

I don’t know how much life this issue really has, and I don’t know that anyone will care… Read More

When I fly to Sacramento I typically blog about the politicos on the flight. Sacramento being the mecca for California politics, there is always a familiar face on that flight.

Today I am flying up to San Francisco, and I am relatively pleased to say that I don't recognize anyone on my flight!

I did spot some familiar faces in John Wayne Airport — coming off of their flight from Sac were Dick and Linda Ackerman! So it is still a small world.

Wheels up!… Read More

Let’s Tax Services and Make Everything Worse By The Honorable Michelle Steel, Member, Board of Equalization We’re all over-regulated. A recent study for the California Small Business Advocate’s Office shows that regulation costs California’s families $492,994 billion. This translates to a total cost per household of $38,446.76 – just about the median household income – or $13,052.05 per resident. In terms of jobs, this means 3.8 million lost jobs – that’s a tenth of California’s total population! Because of high regulation, we lose a third of gross state output and four and a half times the state budget every year.… Read More

The Orange County Taxpayers Association released their public critique of the California Tax Commission in the form of a letter from its President, Reed Royalty, to Commission Member Curt Pringle. I thought it was quite good….

September 28, 2009 The Honorable Curt Pringle Member, California Commission on the 21st Century Economy State of California Department of Finance 915 L Street, 8th Floor Sacramento CA 95814 Dear Commissioner Pringle, Thank you for your… Read More

Just off the transom…

In response to the release of the California Tax Commission report, Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, released the following statement today:

We are pleased that the California Commission for the 21st Century Economy has arrived at proposals which do no violence to Proposition 13. It should be noted that the original charter for the commission was to deal primarily with the issue of revenue volatility. Of the three major revenue streams to government in California, the property tax under Prop. 13 is the most stable. Thus, it has not only saved taxpayers from being taxed out of their homes, it has proven to be a moderating influence during economic turmoil.

It should also… Read More

Republicans are big supporters of law enforcement. We believe in the fair and just application of the law and support our men and women in law enforcement. However, Republicans also have a healthy distrust of big government and irresponsible prosecutors. Prosecutors wield immense power and this power can do severe damage to the average citizen when it is not exercised justly.

The recent case of the State of California v. Joel Angeles is a perfect example of how unjust the system can be when corrupted by an irresponsible prosecutor. The case surrounded events which occurred outside the June 18, 2008 Tony Strickland fundraiser featuring Mitt Romney. The race to replace State Senator Tom McClintock was hotly contested. Both sides spent nearly 6 million dollars each and when the dust settled Tony Strickland had prevailed by less than 1500 votes (or as Strickland likes to say, he won by about one vote per precinct).

It was in this environment that a group of Democrat protesters arrived at the Strickland event. It became clear that the intention of the group was to engage with the Strickland supporters who were gathered in front of the hotel.… Read More