From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…… Read More

FR has covered the controversy of the competing claims of leadership of the Republican Party of Los Angeles (RPLAC) of Jane Barnett and Robert Vaughn, including the outcome of the May 26, 2010 court case. The court ruled in Barnett’s favor.

A reporter called me right before the case for a comment and I told the reporter that the outcome of a court case wouldn’t decide the future of the RPLAC, but the following weeks Central Committee elections would. I should point out I have been an elected RPLAC member for almost two decades. Yikes!. And I am a local Lincoln Club Chair.

Here is a quick look at it. I should note that RPLAC could have over 200 members. With people elected from districts that have little GOP registration to some that have a lot. Some District are very small, like the LA portion of the 61t AD. Needless to say in some districts you get whomever runs and that is it.

As I look at the winners, Barnett clearly was the winner. She had help from the LA County Lincoln Club that bought slates in the very competitive areas.

There help had a big… Read More

Frequent FR readers are well aware of my views about SEIU, but I am in the mood for venting today, so here goes. It drives me nuts when I read quotes by state workers saying they are being used as "pawns," or that the Governor is "balancing the budget on the backs of state workers."

These are absolutely ludicrous statements.

It is as if the people who make these statements are in denial of the fact that they are members of one of the biggest and most powerful unions in the country—SEIU. The same SEIU that was a top political contributor to California Democrats last year, and that regularly strong-arms Democrat legislators on everything from appointments to bills to the budget. And more importantly, the same SEIU whose leadership has made drastic measures like furloughs and minimum wage necessary because of their refusal to make any compromises.

Compare SEIU to the National Federation of Independent Business. The NFIB is comprised of small business owners who run businesses, meet overhead, comply with labor laws, and pay taxes. Their bottom is line is the private sector. In addition to this they spend some time (too little)… Read More

I am opposed to legalizing marijuana because encouraging the public, particularly young people, touse drugsin order to increase state revenue is reprehensible.

After listening to testimony today from RAND researchers, my resolve is strengthened: Legalizing pot is a bad idea.

The researchers put forth plenty of questions (how much money will California generate from marijuana sales? Will tax invasion on marijuana sales become a problem? Will the usage of marijuana increase dramatically?), but they were only able to offer theories instead of concrete answers.

That’s because nobody really knows the outcome of legalizing pot since it’s not been done anywhere in the world. California would be swimming in uncharted waters if Proposition 19 were to pass in November. In other words, once again California would be the great experiment for the rest of the world at the expense of public safety, community health and common sense.

One thing the RAND researchers were certain about: California would not save that much money in law enforcement costs – maybe $300 million, some of that General Fund money, some local dollars. Why the nominal savings?… Read More

According to the latest Field poll released today, the race for Governor is all tied up. So much for Jerry Brown’s lead after having no primary challenge. Proves that vibrant primaries ultimately are helpful, at least in my mind. As we go into the November elections, nothing presents a more illuminating difference between candidates than ones that have signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge, and those who have not. By the way, “I don’t sign pledges” is code for “I want to be able to keep tax increases on the table.” Have you signed up for the FlashReport Twitter feed? I very much dislike being chained to Twitter. That said, I push a lot of information out that way that doesn’t make the FlashReport’s website. It’s also where we break news first! Does anyone out there really think that you should get full-time benefits for part-time work? Every City Councilmember, School Board member and Water Board member out there (with the exception of big cities with full-time Councilmembers) who take health care benefits (or payment in lieu of) should be ashamed. If … Read More

I finally figured out that AB 32 is actually supposed to put people out of work. If you don’t drive to and from work, your carbon emissions are significantly reduced. I read an article where local “First 5” Commissions are reducing budgets because they are funded by taxes on cigarette sales, and less people are smoking. There is a lesson to be learned here – I’m still thinking about what it is. Senator Boxer is on what she calls a “jobs tour” of the state. Yet she is appearing where government spending is providing jobs. Boxer doesn’t understand that we need jobs that don’t come from deficit spending in Washington, D.C. I guess in some cases, no one is better than someone. It is very reassuring to not have Abel Maldonado in the State Senate during this coming budget show-down. Californian’s were unwise in passing a ballot measure to require that California chickens have larger cages, it means higher prices for eggs. The legislature and Governor have made it worse for consumers by applying this standard to imported eggs, too. Look for those McNuggets to get pricier! … Read More

Pacific Gas and Electric coming out against Prop 23 to suspend AB 32 doesn’t shock me. As a utility completely regulated by a government commissioner (the PUC) all of whose members have swallowed the Al Gore Kool-aid, did they have a choice? It seems like every July, I ponder the dysfunction of our state legislature. We had no budget – let me repeat, NO BUDGET – yet legislators are on recess instead of working collectively to get the job done. Shame on the Senate President and Assembly Speaker. Guess what? There is no way to solve the pension crisis without significantly reducing benefits for current employees of state and local government. Creating a “new tier” for new hires just won’t cut it. Any and all leverage to achieve these reductions is warranted. I don’t agree with the Fresno Bee Editorial Board all of the time. But today they ask why their local legislators aren’t in Sacramento trying to work out a budget. I agree with that. All 120 legislators should be chained to their desks, if need be – but they won’t be. My friends Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts at CalBuzz asked if FlashReport … Read More

The “Incredible Shrinking San Diego Union-Tribune” has been the topic of a blog or two of mine in the past, although not recently. The reasons for the newspaper’s reduction in size have become pretty well known, so no new news is not news…or something like that.

Yet, while relaxing over the holiday weekend, it did occur to me to take a look at the size of the Sunday edition of the U-T, just as a reference point, since the new management has now settled in, with another round of staff cuts following a few weeks ago. Picking it up, sans advertising inserts, it felt about the same weight as when I had noted several months ago the paper had dwindled to 66 pages or so from about twice that size, if one doesn’t count the classifieds.

But, there on the front page, under the index was the reference: 15 sections; 136 pages. Really?

I decided to count the pages myself, so proceeded to place the sections in orderand commenced…

Section A: World, National, State, Region News / Business – 16 pages

Section B: Our Region (Local) / Dialog (Opinion) – 8 pages

Section C: Uhhh, hmmm…there is no Section… Read More