The Governor was in Fresno yesterday, and for the 43rd straight time, members of our Lincoln Club were not summoned to go out into the masses and defend his agenda. That aside, it was good to see him out with the people again at the Fresno County Fair. There were a “few enemies of reform” ** following him with “For Sale” signs but they were generally pretty orderly. The Governor, as reported in the Fresno Bee, was in Fresno to receive the California State Farm Bureau’s endorsement of his upcoming special election issues. Responding to the Governor’s visit, “enemy of reform” spokesperson Steve Maviglio (of Gray Davis fame) said that “Clearly, he’s on the side of corporate interests in just about every field…”. Of course Steve, corporate interests are EMPLOYING your union members and providing the tax base for your monstrous spending schemes every year. The Governor did a great job yesterday and if he continues to go out into the masses of people, flanked by supporters who will defend his agenda ***, and define his opponents as “enemies of reform” he will win in November, even being outspent… Read More

CALIFORNIA YAF LETTER I have no idea whether this fellow, Pierre Richard Prosper, is even really looking at running for State Attorney General. It was reported yesterday in the San Francisco Chronicle that he is considering a run. But that hasn’t stopped Chairman of the state’s preeminent conservative youth organization, Young Americans for Freedom, from sending out an e-mail firing a ‘warning shot’ across the bow — conservatives are pleased with Poochigian as a candidate. You can read Powers’ letter below. 200 AT $100,000+ That’s how many staff members of the California legislature are making six digit salaries according to today’s issue of Capitol Weekly magazine. CW publishes on Thursday’s, and they make a lot of their content available online. You should check them out – I link to many of their news stories and columns each week (check out the news links today). I will disclose… Read More

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has been in the headlines this week for embracing the idea of providing free wire Internet access for his city’s residents. He ballparks the cost at $8-20 million (by comparison, Philadelphia, which is three times the size of SF, just inked a deal with Earthlink to do citywide wireless at a cost of $10-15 million).

This raises two questions:

1) Will whatever system SF ends up with be on the cutting edge by the time it’s operational (imagine the stupidity of having done citywide DSL system five years ago)?

2) What does this say about the Mayor’s priorities?

While Newsom wants to boldly venture into cyberspace — exploring strange new worlds, seeking new life and new civilization, and bolding spending money where few mayors have spent before — he’s playing hardball with the San Francisco Fire Department, which wants to refit the city’s hydrants to accept standard 2-1/2-inch fire hoses. Newsom’s leery of the $800,000 price tag. He’s right to be cautious, but I’d like to see him likewise holding Google’s and oth er wannabe… Read More

….not in Yolo County she doesn’t…..she takes sanctuary.

Surely, The Cult’s hit song would have received little or no airplay on local Yolo County radio because Big Brother doesn’t like music…especially if it were popular today. You see, the word Take (as in Taking) rolls of the tongue so much easier to the supporters of AB 1747, the politicians in charge, and The Rumsey Band of Indians.

AB 1747, what I’ll call The Conaway Ranch takings bill is currently sitting on the Governor’s desk. It should be vetoed. And because I’m not the smartest guy on Earth, my reason is simple: We live in America.

The parcel in question, the17,000 acre Conaway Ranch, has been held privately for over a century and serves as sanctuary for a vibrant waterfowl habitat and a sanctuary to the current owners who perceive managing the land, the water, and the habitat as the key to their success.

With AB 1747, Assemblywoman Lois Wolk and Yolo County have provided a… Read More

Wow. A fight is brewing in Los Angeles over a bill sponsered by Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff and Republican CongressmanDavid Dreier over cop killers from Mexico. Mexico refuses to extradite cop killers and other accused of murder and some other crimes because the United States may executethe poor little cop killers or sentence them to prison for a long time.

The big case in Los Angelesis the murder of Deputy David March.

The bill would have originally stripped Los Angeles Distirct Attorney Steve Cooley and other locals from prosecuting killers of peace officers and given it to the federal government. The want the US to stop aiding Mexico until they turn them over. Dreier has voted against this approach.

Cooley and the Los Angeles Police Union were furious. Cooley went on the John and Ken radioshow to denounce it. Schiff-Dreier made some changes that still didn’t satifsy Cooley and Company. Read it here.

Enter Steve Ipsen, the head of the Assocaition of Deputy District Attorneys, who appeared at the re-eletction kick-off of Dreier to counter… Read More

Excerpted from the Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2005

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made two big announcements at last month’s Republican state convention. The first was that he will seek a second term in 2006; the second was a formal endorsement of Proposition 75, a ballot measure in the November 8 special election that would affect how public-sector unions can spend members’ dues. The second is more important to the state’s long-run future. Mr. Schwarzenegger’s goals as governor include shaking up Sacramento, where an intransigent legislature beholden to special interests had turned the state into an economic basket case. Arnold does have something to show for his efforts to date, insofar as the fiscal bleeding seems to have stopped. California’s credit rating is out of the gutter, and the economy has created a quarter-million new jobs in the past year.

Still, important reforms remain unaddressed, and the passage of Proposition 75, also known as “paycheck protection,” would go a long way toward ending California politics-as-usual. By forcing public-sector unions to get written permission from employees… Read More

Today’s SF Chronicle reports that Proposition 76, the Governor’s budget reform initiative, may be starting to see its financial support being redirected toward other Schwarzenegger ballot priorities.

"Campaign finance reports released last week showed that supporters of Prop. 76, which would give the governor more power over the state budget, had only $7,600 in the bank on Sept. 24, compared with $914,000 for Proposition 75 and $3 million for Proposition 77." Go to the story here.

Maybe this is just a natural ebb and flow that happens when the same donor base is funding four initiatives. But if this is part of a considered strategy, it’s a smart move. If you’re going to be outspent, it makes sense to target your resources as narrowly as possible. Passing redistricting reform and/or Paycheck Protection is enough for Team Arnold to claim victory, so concentrating their fire on one or both of them increases their chances for winning. Even if the budget initiative loses, Arnold can still legitimately make… Read More

Who is this man? He is an official with the Bush Administration, and he may run against State Senator Chuck Poochigian for the GOP nomination for State Attorney General.

Read more in my daily commentary posted with the news each day on this website.

There is always something going on in California politics. And I guarantee you and my fellow contributors and I will always have something to say about it.

Take care, Jon… Read More