While the California Legislature is trying to ban reparative therapy for gays who don’t want to live a gay lifestyle, the sham sexual harassment investigations of predatory lawmakers continue en force with lawmakers still enjoying attorney-client privilege, which I have written about since November 2017.

Friday the Joint Committee on Rules Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response announced policy changes in response to widespread accusations of sexual harassment/assault and gross sexual misconduct by elected legislators and senior staff. However, the committee has no information about the policy changes on its… Read More

The flood of sexual groping, assault and harassment complaints in California’s State Capitol is turning into a tsunami. So far, accusations have been levied by women againstState Senator Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (D-Arleta) Assemblyman Matt Dababneh (D-Los Angeles), Assemblyman Devin Mathis (R-Visalia), and more to come. The“whisper network” inside of the Capitol tells much: Several additional lawmakers are being named as harassers, and I heard that one leader’s Chief of Staff contacted former female staffers to offer incentives to avert any potential accusations. Ouch.

In a lengthy conversation with former Assemblywoman Linda Halderman Tuesday, she shared some very disturbing incidences that took place when she was a freshman Assemblywoman.

Dr. Linda Halderman, whose professional experience prior to and post politics as a general/trauma surgeon, was elected to the California Assembly in 2010, representing Fresno, CA. Halderman said shortly after she arrived in fall of 2010, the freshman Assembly members were required to attend training conducted by former Assembly… Read More

As the current legislative session winds to a desultory close, I had the occasion recently to look back on the bills Republican Assembly Members had offered to make the state more business friendly. The sight was not a pretty one. Dead Republican bills littered the committee rooms and assembly floor. The local morgue does not have enough toe tags for all of the good, pro-jobs bills killed this year in Sacramento.

For example, the Republicans proposed several bills offering tax incentives to small businesses. Paul Cook’s AB 166 eliminated the yearly Minimum Franchise Tax on small businesses to make easier expansion and the hiring of new workers. If wholesale elimination was too much for the Democrats, then Martin Garrick offered AB 821 reducing that Minimum Franchise Tax from $800 to $100 for the second through tenth years of operation. If even that was too much, Mike Morrell proposed AB 368 to cut the tax for only the first six taxable years. And finally, if all else failed, Jim Silva had a bill, AB 831, to at least provide a break in the Minimum Franchise Tax to the few entrepreneurs who establish single member limited liability companies. No, no, no, no,… Read More