Great news from Jessica’s Law co-sponsors Senator George Runner and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner (both pictured center right), who have announcedthat 713,787 signatures were submitted today to election officials throughout the state. Thisvirtually assuresthe ballot-initiative version of Jessica’s Law will go before the state’s voters in November. The campaign needed to collect 373,816 valid signatures to qualify the statutory measure. "This is a historic step in our efforts to protect Californians and especially our children and grandchildren, from sexual predators," said George Runner.

This morning, local Jessica’s Law supporters gathered at the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters’ Office to turn in 63,000 signatures. Below is the text of a release from the Jessica’s Law campaign regarding the San Bernardino signature turn-in.

SAN BERNARDINO — Fourth District Supervisor Gary Ovitt (Jessica’s Law Statewide Co-Chair), Assemblyman… Read More

A laugh for the day….read the San Francisco Chronicle’s story on the Richmond music teacher who is so upset that the kids in his community are gang-bangers with asthma that he felt compelled to chain himself to a park bench in Oakland for the week to protest the war. He’ll be getting up for bathroom breaks at the nearby Grand Lake Theater, which regularly posts diatribes on the marquee which alternate between calling for President Bush’s impeachment and deploring the use of Diebold voting machines. The protester was going to chain himself to a federal building, but decided he didn’t want to get charged under the Patriot Act. Like most of us, he couldn’t get a phone call returned from the Oakland police (after calling to see how much trouble he’d get into chaining himself to a city bench, so he just went ahead and did it).… Read More

Based on a ton of emails that I have received since my post yesterday afternoon on the California Republican Party hiring Patrick Dorenson to be its new Communications Director, I felt like I needed to follow up with a note.

You see, I thought it was incredibly newsworthy that the CRP has hired a prominent former Democrat political operative to head up their Communications effort. I first heard about this hire from reading about it in Capitol Weekly, who also thought that Dorenson’s past work for the campaigns of Al Gore and Bill Clinton were worthy of note, leading with that in their story.

The reason for this note is that many are assuming that because I pointed out this ‘unique’ (to say the least) background for Dorenson, that this means that I am unhappy or displeased with his being hired. That is not the case at all. As a matter… Read More

Dr. Phil Kurzner has decided to end his quest to become California’s next Insurance Commissioner. During my opportunities to talk with Phil, I found him to be an intelligent, engaging and savvy candidate. While I understand the politics of his departure, I do lament a process that causes some of our better candidates to decide not to run.

Phil’s departure, combined with the very low-key candidacy of Gary Mendoza appears to leave the doors wide open for businessman Steve Poizner from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Here is a statement released today from Dr. Phil Kurzner on his departure from the race:

"If the United States didn’t have a military, all in all we would be in a much better place." – San Francisco Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval on Hannity and Colmes.

Former State GOP Communications Director Karen Hanretty appeared last night on Hannity and Colmes to talk about this startling statement from a prominent Bay Area Supervisor. You can click here to see Sandoval’s outrageous comments and hear Karen talk with Hannity and Colmes. (Once you click through, then you need to select the program, "Fighting for the U.S.S. Iowa.")

This Democrat Supervisor was such a nut that on this program, even Susan Estrich, who appears with Hanretty doesn’t want anything to do with him.

This is Sandoval’s… Read More

THREE AND A HALF CONTENDERS FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL I am a huge fan of contested primaries. I think that the whole argument that a candidate is better off because they have "cleared the field" is a misnomer and misplaced. Of course the challenge of winning a party primary means that resources will need to be raised and spent in order to do so. But it is this process that makes a candidate the best they can be for the general election. A primary hones a candidates speaking skills and fundraising skills. A primary allows a candidate to understand who really supports them. A primary also causes candidates to have to make some very real decisions and choices that allow party members to appreciate the candidate who becomes their nominee. I think the same holds true whether we are talking about candidate for the Democrat or Republican nomination. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a stronger candidate for re-election this… Read More

The next several days on this blog will probably devote a lot of time to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s relationship with the Republican Party. But before we descend into this weekend’s state GOP convention bubble, it’s worth taking a quick look at this past weekend’s news coverage of the two Democratic candidates. Both Phil Angelides and Steve Westly have had great fun riding the coattails of the nurses and the public employees’ unions for several months of sustained Arnold-bashing. But over the last few days, both have taken their turn in the barrel. Which probably wasn’t nearly as enjoyable for them.

The Sacramento Bee went after Angelides, describing how the environmentally conscious candidate wasn’t nearly as green during his days as a developer, when he fought with local, state, and federal agencies over threatened species and wetland protection to the point where the EPA threatened him with criminal penalties.

Westly took it on the chin… Read More

NRDC attorney Joel Reynold’s op-ed in Saturday’s LAT was so rife with error that a single post is insufficient to rectify it.

For example, Reynold’s claimed the TCA "now proposes to bisect Reagan’s legacy from top to bottom, closing 60% of the park."

Where did Reynold’s get that figure? Who knows? In reality, the toll road will require about 300 acres — and mind you that San Onofre State Beach the park covers 3,036 acres.

And the land is owned by the US Marine Corps, which has the right and has agreed to grant TCA an easement for the tollway. Furthermore, the Marines insist on the tollway being located in the state park lease area, since it is Camp Pendleton’s northern-most border and subsequently has the least impact on their mission.

Reynold’s lambastes the 241 tollway completion for "destroying [San Onofre State… Read More