Orange County’s Coastal State Senate 35th District is in the midst of a Special Election. There are two candidates vying for the open seat, vacated when the incumbent, John Campbell, was elected in a special election to Congress.

Since the beginning of the year, the momentum in the race has all been for Dana Point Councilwoman Diane Harkey (you can click her ad on this site to find out more about her). Her opponent, Assemblyman Tom Harmon has been relatively quiet, though presumably his name identification from having represented a good chunk of this district would be pretty high.

Harkey, who is quite affluent herself, has been raising money and putting out mail pieces the old fashioned way – where the campaign produces and mails them out.

Harmon, who has less cash-on-hand is resorting to what is probably legal but a shady practice — pumping out taxpayer-paid-for mail right in the midst of a special election (see the attachment).

I think that this will backfire on Harmon, who can’t campaign as a conservative Republican in a closely-watched primary while using confiscated tax dollars to fund his campaign. California… Read More

JESSICA’ LAW PROPONENTS TURN IN SIGNATURES Consultant and FR Friend released the news today that legilslative dynamic duo George and Sharon Runner today turned in over 600,000 signatures to qualify the tough-on-sexual-predator Jessica’s Law measure for the ballot.

Assemblywoman Runner had this to say:

"California families have waited too long for this day to come. I lookforward to November when Californians will vote to make our neighborhoodssafer for our children and grandchildren. It is unfortunate our Legislature refused to act on Jessica’s Law, but the people have a history of showinggreat aptitude to act when the Legislature refuses good public policy. The yare doing just that by qualifying the Jessica’s Law initiative."

IS DR. PHIL OUT OF THE RACE?… Read More

Environmentalists exhibit a pattern of saying pretty much anything in order to achieve their objective, whether true or not.

My favorite topic, the 241 tollway extension in Orange County, is a good example.

The enviros are fond of calling it a "private road." They think it is horrible to build any kind of road on state parkland, but to their collective sensibility it is even more offensive to build a private road. My guess is they’re trying to incite the general public with the suggestion that corrupt taxpayer susbsidies are being given to a greedy private toll road operator.

For example, a fellow named Jack Eidt – the director of a group called the Wildlife Heritage Planners — penned a letter to the editor of the Orange County Register last month opposing (surprise) the completion of the 241. In it, he stated:

My beautiful wife opened our utility bill from the City of Orange a couple of days ago, and found this inside:

I imagine these Measure M promotional pieces are accompanying municipal utility bills all over Orange County (I’ve attached a larger version at the bottom).

For those who don’t know, Measure M is Orange County’s half-cent transportation sales tax. It was passed in 1991 and endures until 2011. The Orange County Transportation Authority is putting a 30-year renewal on the November 2006 ballot.

I voted against Measure M in 1991, but I freely admit that the subsequent transportation improvements funded by it have proven my vote wrong. I’m generally supportive of renewing it, although I haven’t read through the renewal proposal, yet.

Even so, this kind of taxpayer-funded electioneering just doesn’t sit right with me. It’s one thing for OCTA to seek renewal and put it on the ballot. It’s another thing to spend tax dollars trying to persuade voters to renew it. OCTA… Read More

Yesterday I wrote a column on Monterey County’s General Plan Initiative aimed at stopping all growth and development. Yesterday a group called Plan for the People (formed specifically to fight the initiative) launched their campaign. It was well covered by the media. The Monterey Herald pointed out one of the most troubling aspects of the initiative that I forgot to mention:

"Juan Uranga, executive director of the Center for Community Advocacy, a Salinas farmworker support group, said the initiative would allow the heavily white communities of Carmel Valley, Pebble Beach and Big Sur to veto growth plans in Salinas Valley communities made up of "mostly working-class people of color."

‘I find it to be offensive to my notion of social justice,’ Uranga said.

The General Plan Initiative would require countywide votes to allow additional growth in rural areas, but foes… Read More

Three months after Prop. 77 (the state redistricting initiative) was defeated at the polls, the state Supreme Court has ruled that the initiative was properly placed on the ballot and that differences in two versions of the initiative did not render it invalid in this case. (Read the Sac Bee article here.) At issue were two versions of the initiative, one submitted to the state Attorney General for preparation of an official ballot title and summary, the other was circulated to the public. The Court, in a 4-2 decision,ruled that despite the differences in the two versions, the defects were not sufficient to keep the measure off the ballot based on the basis that there was "substantial compliance" with the law.… Read More

A quick report from the Riverside County Republican Party meeting last night. It was the first meeting as Chair for new Chairman Jeff Miller, who did a fine job as expected. The guest speaker was Assemblyman Keith Richman (R- Granada Hills). He is a candidate for State Treasurer. He spoke about how the Treasurer’s job is becoming increasingly more important given the fact that California voters may pass the Governor’s half trillion dollar bond measure. I agree, it would be nice to have a person serving as Treasurer who had some private life experience and was as being a Republican. I have sat down and had coffee with Richman. He is defiantly a moderate Republican and somewhat of a maverick within the Assembly Republican Caucus. He is a very smart guy and I think positioned to win the GOP nomination in the primary. On local note the Riverside County Republican Party Treasurer, Darrell Connerton, who is also Chairman of the State GOP County Party Treasurers Association tendered his resignation at the meeting.… Read More

The two leading candidates in the 59th Assembly District primary faced off Thursday night at a forum hosted by the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee in Rancho Cucamonga.

Anthony Adams (pictured left) of Hesperia in San Bernardino County’s High Desert and Chris Lancaster (pictured below left) of LaVerne in Los Angeles County each took questions submitted by committee members on subjects ranging from taxes to the Second Amendment to abortion and property rights. The forum was cordial, with neither candidate directly attacking the other or making any major gaffes (it’s still early, right?). Both Lancaster and Adams said they were pleased with the way the event was conducted.

Meanwhile, the other High Desert candidates, Susan Slater and… Read More