Over at Capitol Weekly, they have a story up about how BIG LABOR passed a resolution demanding that Fabian Nunez give back $4 million to the California Democratic Party (we all know the CDP is a wholly owned subsidiary of the unions). Intepreting statements in the piece, it seems doubtful that Nunez is giving anything back.

But, let’s just say that Nunez would prefer to return the funds back in the form of some of his favorite products.

With their four million bucks, Nunez can buy the labor bosses:

That said, it’s most likely that if the union bosses get anything, it will be 16,339,869 of these.… Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission finally rolled out charges in the City of SD pension mess. The Union-Trib article is posted on the main FR page, and here’s a hodgepodge of opinions on the matter (as many will have one today), as well as some straight news entries. Included are some links to the complaint and other documents:

Blogger Pat Flannery, from Red County SD…

Here is the full SEC complaint filed today alleging fraud by five former City officials in the issuance of $260 million San Diego municipal bonds. The accused officials are former City Manager Michael Uberuaga, former City Auditor and Comptroller Ed Ryan, former Deputy City Manager for Finance Patricia Frazier, former Assistant City Auditor and Comptroller Terry Webster and former City Treasurer Mary Vattimo.

Here is the… Read More

After reading the Dan Walters review of this book I almost passed.

For Brown, it has to be a disappointment when someone writes the defining biographical work of your career before you can get your two cents in. James Richardson beat Brown to the punch with his book from 1996 on the former Speaker of the Assembly and Mayor of San Francisco.

Being Mayor really did nothing to add to the legend of Willie Brown. To most conservatives it was good to have him confined San Francisco instead of roaming the state. If he wanted to spend his time getting an Amtrak station somewhere in Texas — that is his deal with President Clinton.

There are only three things that I found interesting in this book. The first is the Brown version of what happened with Assemblyman Paul Horcher after the 1994 election. It was certainly not the way I viewed it but that is his version.

The second interesting thing was his version of NIMBYism when he served as Mayor of San… Read More

Once the LA Times only bright spot, Mike Ramirez won his second Pulitzer earning the distinction as one of America’s best cartoonist.

Ramirez who presently works with the Investor’s Business Daily, handing the pro business journal its first Pulitzer. Ramirez was removed from the Times, as further evidence of the LA Times market deterioration, but the IBD picked up Ramirez. Mike Ramirez’s clever political cartoons are syndicated to over 450 newspapers.

The big question is why the Flashreport doesn’t carry the prize winning cartoons?

You can see Ramirez’s work at http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:Ek_dpjmNAIYJ:www.investors.com/editorial/cartoon.asp+%22michael+Ramirez%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us . Or google him.

… Read More

Tomorrow (Tuesday), Orange County Supervisors will consider taking positions on the two eminent domain ballot measures that will appear before voters in June.

By most accounts, most observers expect the Board of Supervisors to unanimously endorse Proposition 98, the ballot measure that protects all private property from eminent domain abuse and oppose Prop. 99, the phony alternative measure placed on the ballot by public agency associations representing politicians and developers.

According to sources, this news will be overshadowed by the news that Board of Supervisors may also decide to withhold its dues to the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) until the taxpayer financed organization addresses complaints first reported in the Orange County Register (to read article, click here) that they, along with other such government associations, have funneled more than $4 million from anonymous sources to qualify Prop. 99 and to fight Proposition 98.

While CSAC and the California League of Cities continue to profess innocence, the Orange County… Read More

Tomorrow (Tuesday), Orange County Supervisors will consider taking positions on the two eminent domain ballot measures that will appear before voters in June.

By most accounts, most observers expect the Board of Supervisors to unanimously endorse Proposition 98, the ballot measure that protects all private property from eminent domain abuse and oppose Prop. 99, the phony alternative measure placed on the ballot by public agency associations representing politicians and developers.

According to sources, this news will be overshadowed by the news that Board of Supervisors may also decide to withhold its dues to the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) until the taxpayer financed organization addresses complaints first reported in the Orange County Register (to read article, click here) that they, along with other such government associations, have funneled more than $4 million from anonymous sources to qualify Prop. 99 and to fight Proposition 98.

**There is more – click… Read More

Damage Control by Eric Dezenhall and John Weber is an excellent book if for no other reason than it tells the whole story of the 1982 Tylenol recall case and why it is not the only way to handle a corporate crisis.

Dezenhall is the CEO of Dezenhall Resources in Washington DC. One of the areas that they specialize in is crisis communications.

This book has many lessons for those that are involved in politics about the way to handle a problem.

The one thing that stood out is something that has always baffled me about the California business community. Why do they continue to give campaign money to the people that attack them? It can’t be because they support what the person stands for.

Dezenhall mentions a client that wondered how this attack group was able to afford to challenge the client. The truth was that the client was trying to buy peace. This is something that rarely works.

This is a great book that is a quick read. Most of the principles involve… Read More

McCain Sings Streisand… A sure bet to start or end your Sunday right. In case anyone forgot this gem — or never saw it before— Sen. John McCain’s appearance on Saturday Night Live in 2002 doing a reverse Barbara Streisand parody is a hilarious classic. Make sure you watch ’til the end so you don’t miss all the McCain political "statements." It was funny in ’02, now it’s even funnier.

POA Yanks Hartley Endorsement… One week you’re the law and order candidate, the next week you don’t have a pot to…well, forget it. If you missed the prior news ofJohn Hartley’s allegedunique precinct walking methods, find it here. The SD Police Officers Association now understandably reneges on its support for the former and wannabe-again member of the city council.… Read More