It’s no secret that Jerry Brown’s main funding source for his gubernatorial run is labor unions, many of them state employee “associations.”

Of course, the goal for these union bosses is to continue fleecing taxpayers through the payment of ludicrous pension and compensation package for state workers, and maintain prevailing wage – and other imbalances in the work place – even in the midst of the worse economy since the Great Depression.

Lesser known, is the labor unions’ strategy to buy a seat on the Board of Equalization vis-a-vis Chris Parker, a candidate for BOE District 2, Barbara Alby’s seat.

Obviously, the second district is a safe Republican seat that will be won by candidate (and Flash Report blogger) George Runner.

Still, the Republican Party cannot afford to ignore the donations to Parker’s campaign by labor unions — $35,000 since April including from:

Four years ago I pointed out that Imperial County tends to vote for candidates with Latino surnames. My example was the Lt. Governor candidate Liz Figueroa won only a small umber of counties. It might have been her home county of Alameda and Imperial.

I got nastygrams from multiple people that told me I was wrong, racist, and mean to the people of Imperial County.

Four years later I have another prime example of why Imperial County is not like the rest of the state.

Take a look at the race for Insurance Commissioner in the Democratic primary. Hector De La Torre won a single county by a wide margin. He won with 67% of the vote actually.

Was it Los Angeles county where he lives and people know him? That would be a good guess but wrong.

Was it Sacramento County where people know his opponent Assemblyman Dave Jones? That would also make sense if you have observed Jones but not correct.

The correct answer would be Imperial County where despite being crushed by Jones statewide by a margin of 61-39 he got more than 2/3 of the vote. The map is pretty easy to… Read More

On Sunday, many families will celebrate Father’s Day. As a Dad, I look forward to this day because it means spending extra time with my kids and grandkids. But in all seriousness, Father’s Day provides a great opportunity for people to recognize the important role men play in their families.

According to a 2008 survey, 95% of Californians agree that fathers are just as important as mothers in influencing their children. Hardworking dads who make an effort to be there for their kids contribute positively to their self-esteem and decision-making abilities. A strong father figure is irreplaceable in a child’s life.

Just this last week, I authored a Father’s Day resolution (SCR 112) commending the important role fathers play in their household and community. Annoyingly, the resolution wasn’t even given a hearing, but was blocked by progressive liberals. It’s funny that the party whose members claim to champion families and disadvantaged kids would choose to ignore a resolution with such a positive message.… Read More

We’ve been seeing reductions in staff at MSM newspapers for years now, as these publications deal with the significant decline in revenues and print-circulation. As these cuts have taken place, we’ve seen a serious pruning of veteran California political and policy reporters.

In the Voice of San Diego today there is an article about a new wave of cuts at the San Diego Union Tribune as its new owner makes changes in how they will operate. Included in the broad cuts are a number of local political reporters.

But of glaring interest (and alarm) to FR readers should be that longtime veteran political reporter and analyst John Marelius is among those departing the U-T in this latest reorganization. This is terrible news. John’s been observing and reporting on political here in the Golden State for as long as I can remember. Heck, I first met and dealt with John when I was an up… Read More

As implementation of Proposition 14 looms – which will emasculate political party primary elections – the organization and activities of local Republican Central Committees will become all the more important in helping to define differences between candidates. But the same election that spawned Prop. 14 also brought some curious changes to Republican Central Committees across the state as well. In Orange County, a whopping 17 incumbents were defeated in re-election bids for their party posts. And in Placer County, high profile GOP Chairman Tom Hudson and First Vice Chairman George Park both finished dead last in their districts and were thrown out of office. Why? The phenomenon did not occur in a number of other locations. Back in Orange County, high profile leaders like Scott Baugh and Tom Fuentes finished at the top of the ticket in their districts. The losers seemed contained for some reason. And in San Diego, Tony Kravric’s team was re-elected pretty much in tact. One observation was that “tea party” activists got traction in areas of some counties. That might be true in Orange County, but Hudson and Park claimed to represent the… Read More

From Today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary Email…… Read More

There was a lot of talk about the effect of Proposition 14 in the last election, and its effect on the legislative and congressional elections. The stated reason for enacting the "top two vote getters" idea for determining who gets to run in the general election was to "moderate" the caucuses, the idea being that if a moderate and an ideologue advance to the general election as the top two vote getters in the primary, the moderate is more likely to be elected, as members of the party whose candidates lost in the primary would be more likely to vote for the moderate of the other party.

While this idea is untested in practice anywhere in the country, interestingly enough, if Prop 14 was in effect in this election, it would not have accomplished its stated goal, at least on the Republican side of things. Of the 153 Congressional and Legislative elections held in the recent primary, only 10 would have sent two of the same primary to the general election. There would be 7 Democrat districts with two Democrats running in November, and 3 Republican districts with two Republicans. The Republican districts would have been Assembly District 25, and… Read More

It is summer and I just can’t avoid vacations centered around Gay Pride Days, at least that is what my friend and fellow YAFer Darin Henry says. I honestly don’t plan my vacations around these colorful events. Not that there is anything wrong with them. But it just happens. And too much!

Three years ago my wife and I planned a vacation to New York City and were able to snag a nifty room at the Peninsula Hotel at 555 Fifth Ave. Turned out it was ground zero for the annual Pride Parade, which I honestly had no idea was occurring this weekend. Below is a picture I shot at the time of one of the Pride Day participants. Streets were shut down all around the hotel and our lunch ended up being a dirty dog at a stand, because we couldn’t cross the street for raviolis.

Then we went to San Francisco last year for vacation. What happened? Pride Day Parade weekend. Lunch in the hotel. We decided we would go to church the next day.

I’m off to Dublin next week to work on my family tree. I’ll be in that lovely city for five days, working at the archives at Trinity College to pull info on 12… Read More