I found it to be very ironic that the news that Governor’s Schwarzenegger’s pick to replace retiring California Supreme Court Justice Ron George had officiated over a same sex marriage was tucked in a Los Angeles Times story (by Maura Dolan) with the innocuous headline, Chief Justice Nominee Avoids Hot-Button Issues. Appellate Court Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye (pictured, right) actually, and probably unwittingly, has plowed robes-first into what a great many would consider to be California’s most high-profile “hot button issue” – gay marriage.

Californians are very polarized on this issue, which has been the subject of a couple of high-profile statewide votes. In a split decision, the very court to which Cantil-Sakauye has been nominated issued a 4-3 split decision, throwing out voter-approved Proposition 22… Read More

I found it to be very ironic that the news that Governor’s Schwarzenegger’s pick to replace retiring California Supreme Court Justice Ron George had officiated over a same sex marriage was tucked in a Los Angeles Times story (by Maura Dolan) with the innocuous headline, Chief Justice Nominee Avoids Hot-Button Issues. Appellate Court Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye (pictured, right) actually, and probably unwittingly, has plowed robes-first into what a great many would consider to be California’s most high-profile “hot button issue” – gay marriage.

Californians are very polarized on this issue, which has been the subject of a couple of high-profile statewide votes. In a split decision, the very court to which Cantil-Sakauye has been nominated issued a 4-3 split decision, throwing out voter-approved Proposition 22… Read More

Because of false, misleading and unfair ballot language submitted by Attorney General Jerry Brown, today the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has gone to court, as a leader in the effort to pass Proposition 23, filing a petition to compel amendments to the official label, title and summary that will be provided to voters by the State.

HJTA has taken this legal step because it certainly looks as though the Attorney General has crafted a description intended to sway voters to vote “no” on Prop. 23.

As the sitting Attorney General, and in his campaign for Governor, Jerry Brown should avoid even the appearance of impropriety. But he crossed a clear legal line when he presented official ballot language that fails to meet the test of impartiality in describing the initiative to voters.

Specifically, the petition for Writ of Mandate we filed contends, “that the Attorney General is attempting to influence the election with a misleading and clearly biased ballot label, title and summary in violation of the elections code” and “has used biased words and phrases that advocate for [Prop. 23’s] defeat rather than merely informing voters of its chief… Read More

This is great…

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the "ghost" pages in the Sunday edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Alas, I didn’t seem to spark an interest; few others seemed to be curious that the paper claimed 136 pages, when I could only find 98.

So, let me throw out a challenge today, to readers of the actual non-online newspaper…

On page A-1 of today’s U-T, in the lower left-hand corner, the paper claims 162 pages. So, readers: find them. Count the regular pages, including the classifieds (pretty simple math, considering each section lists the page numbers in the upper corner). Go ahead and count the Real Estate advertisement section. Include Parade Magazine and the Comics in your tally. Heck, even go ahead and total the ad "sections" for Big Five, Harbor Freight Tools, and Ortho Mattress…count that as a gimme (even though they really are inserts).

No fair counting the regular advertising inserts, clearly not sections or pages of the… Read More

Did you know that just a couple of weeks ago, the largest jury-granted award for damages in America took place, right here in California? The award was for $613 million in statutory damages, and $58 million in restitutionary damages (so this award doesn’t even include any punitive damages, though as you will read on, that would be a moot point).

The case was a class-action lawsuit filed by trial lawyers on behalf of wronged nursing home residents against Orange County based Skilled Healthcare, which operates nursing homes right here in the Golden State.

As a columnist who writes on a myriad of California’s public policy and political issues, I am hardly an expert when it comes to the specific issues of nursing homes and the regulations that govern their activities. I will say that like in just about every legal case I know, the plaintiff’s made accusations of wrong-doing, and the defendants staked out their ground, that they did nothing wrong. After a lengthy trial, a jury found for the plaintiffs.

My issue is not with the finding of the jury, I admit that I have not… Read More

Many FlashReport readers that closely follow California policy are familiar with the California Budget Project. Hiding behind a rather innocent-sounding name, this group is staffed with hard-left ideologues who are passionately committed to the idea that bigger government is better government (right on their website’s splash-page is an article entitled, "Why Tax Cuts Don’t Work.").

While we respect them for being passionate ideologues, we think it is important when possible to provide counter-point to their advocacy for the modern welfare state.

Proposition 24, which will appear on the November ballot (courtesy of major funding from the California Teachers Association) seeks to undo changes in the state tax code implemented last year that, for all practical purposes, would make Californian a costlier place to do business for a good number of the state’s larger employers. While we here at FR were very unhappy about the 2009 budget deal, and its massive tax increases, these tax code changes were a positive by-product.

The No on 24 campaign released a University of Southern California study on how the passage of 24, repealing… Read More

Back before the June primary, I penned this commentary in which I strongly endorsed my friend and conservative colleague Janice Rutherford (pictured) in her campaign to unseat incumbent San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane.

While the main reason for my support for Janice comes from the fact that she is awesome, and I would be inclined to support her for any office (incumbent or no), I also have significant issues that Biane opposed having the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors go on record opposing the 2009 budget deal, and the largest tax increase in history of any state.

Anyways, Biane clearly and early identified that Janice, a popular councilwoman from Fontana, would be his main opponent. He spent down his campaign coffers, blasting Janice (undeservedly) with negative campaign mail — especially attacked her role as a steward of… Read More