Today Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown announcedthey arecalling on a federal court to put an end to the prison receivership (held by J. Clark Kelso) and his excessive $8 billion prison construction plan.

As an intervener in the court action regarding California’s prison system, I have steadfastly opposed the prison receiver’s demand for $8 billion. California taxpayers do not owe prisoners a gold plated health care system, especially when some law-abiding citizens struggle with their own health care needs.

So obviously I am pleased that the governor and attorney general agree with our position and I welcome their support and involvement. They pointed out the many reasons why the prison receiver’s plan is wrong for California, including questions of constitutionality.

If the three-judge panel does not agree with Republicans, the governor and the attorney general, I believe the issue should be brought before the U.S. Supreme court –and hopefully put to rest, once and for all.… Read More

There is a lot of waste in San Bernardino County government these days. The sad revelations of former GOP rising star, County Assessor Bill Postmus’ drug use, and the scandal about alleged illegal political operations in his county office, affecting another young staff member, underscore how a career in public service originally based on good intentions, can end up wasted.

But the real waste, for taxpayers, is in the extraordinary effort the Board of Supervisors is putting into prosecuting Postmus. Reports are they have hired an outside private prosecutor, the guy who did the Enron prosecution of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, with a $250,000 contract. The $250,000 is the initial contract. As a lawyer, I can tell you that with a quarter million green light, that prosecutor will not only be sure to spend all the money, he willbe coming back for more.

Hiring a national big gun lawyer to prosecutewhat is essentially acriminal meth case with some added public agency abuse claims is like blowing up an ant hill with an atom bomb. It is over kill. It is a waste of resources. Like all other counties, San Bernardino… Read More

Jim Sills just pointed out to me the recent Rasmussen poll asking Californians how they would vote today on Proposition 13, the Howard Jarvis property tax roll-back of 1978. The answer was 65% yes, only 26% no, and 9% unsure.

Proposition 13 has always been popular, but the stunning new news, unearthed in the cross-tabs by researcher extraordinaire Sills, is that young voters under 30 backed Prop. 13 by a 3 to 1 ratio after it was explained to them, and that African-Americans sided with Prop. 13 by a 4-1 margin! Middle-class, women, and lower middle-class voters all support Proposition 13 by big margins.

I am wondering whomakes up that 26% against Prop. 13? I’m thinking it must be very rich people who don’t care about taxes, Hollywoodand San Francisco liberals, most entertainers, and a smattering of various freaks and communists around the state. However, Sills couldn’t quiteconfirm thatany of my assumptions were statistically valid.… Read More

Radical liberal former Berkeley Mayor now State Senator Loni Hancock (pictured left, of course) has taken the opportunity to tee-off on Americans for Tax Reform, the ATR No New Taxes Pledge, and blasts away at the requirement in the California constitution to have a super-majority vote to raise taxes. You can read her rant here. Below I am pleased to present an official response to Hancock’s rant from Patrick… Read More

Radical liberal former Berkeley Mayor now State Senator Loni Hancock (pictured left, of course) has taken the opportunity to tee-off on Americans for Tax Reform, the ATR No New Taxes Pledge, and blasts away at the requirement in the California constitution to have a super-majority vote to raise taxes. You can read her rant here. Below I am pleased to present an official response to Hancock’s rant from Patrick… Read More

Some of the more interesting items in relevant to California in the D.C. press today:

Sen. Boxer and Sen. McConnell wage a war of words, noted here in Politico. Elsewhere in Politico, Eamon Javers and Jim Vandehei look at the ins and outs of the stimulus bill in a piece entitled: "The case for doing nothing." Rep. Darrell Issa takes issue with the plan here in an op ed placed in the paper.

Over in The Hill, the paper notes that the hedge fund industry is ramping up hirings to shore up political support for things to come. The paper’s Susan Crabtree writes on a recent Carribean trip attended by several democratic lawmakers that may have pushed the edge of the ethics envelope, here.

Finally as noted on Drudge and elsewhere, Republican Rep. Peter King (New York) has sponsored legislation requiring that telephone cameras make a clicking sound when a photograph is taken to prevent any… Read More

Last week the Treasury Department finalized its $1.5 billion loan to the financial armof Chrysler (a privately held firm ). That follows a $6 billion government "investment" in General Motors lending arm, GMAC.

The money came from the $700 billion "Troubled Asset Relief Program," which even some California Republican Congressmen supported. But conservative national Congressional Republicans are upset that the money for the auto bailout is coming from "TARP," and among the reasons is the fact that it allows a sort of "shell game" to occur, where some members can claim to the public that they opposed the auto bailout (but really supported TARP, which is funding the auto bailout), or supportedthe auto bailout, (but opposed TARP). It is all a mess, because some members actually do try to play games with their votes, and try to "have it both ways." It gets confusing to a less informed, "outsidethe Beltway" public. When I worked for Howard Jarvis he would occasionally refer to the Congress as "535 clowns." Ithink that is a bit harsh, however, when I… Read More

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