**Update 830pm – Apparently the local county registrar offices until 9/28 to perform this manual count. That is a tall order, but right about now I am sure that Fabian Nunez is using every means at his disposal to "crack the whip" on county governments. The drive of Fabian Nunez to extend his career knows no bounds — Flash**

I am on an informative trip to Sacramento today, indeed.

Unknown to all of us in the real world, apparently all of those watching the signature verification for the Perata/Nunez measure have been noting the very low percentage of valid signatures.

Well, apparently Los Angeles County just came in with what I am told is a very low 59% rate.

Now, are the low qualification numbers enough to keep this measure off of the ballot? No. But it is very likely that this will keep it off of the all-important-for-termed-out-incumbents February ballot.

When the random-sample percentages are too low, then a longer manual count begins in the 58 Country Registrar offices. But this process would take too long for the measure to be on the February… Read More

I was talking to a state legislator yesterday, and he threw out to me a very disturbing thought. We’ve all read about the recent passage by Democrats of this bill to place a ‘straw poll’ vote on the February ballot on whether Californian’s support the war in Iraq. Well, it doesn’t take much thought to understand that this measure authored by Democrat Senate President Don Perata is a cynical plot to drive up liberal turnout for the election on which the Perata/Nunez Career Politician Term Limits Weakening Initiative will appear. Perata (and Nunez) are completely fixated on trying to blow a hole in the state’s term limits so that they can cling to their prestigious offices. This legislator to whom I spoke was expressing concern that perhaps the Governor would allow this Iraq-vote measure to be ‘in play’ in negotiations taking place over redistricting proposals. That he might actually be open to signing this terrible and politically-motivated bill. To this we say that our nation’s foreign policy, and the lives of American soldiers should not be chits in political maneuvers surrounding legislative… Read More

Shakespeare’s classic question, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…”, shines light on the significance of a name. It leads us to ponder the potency of a name when we hear about an ineffective San Francisco program that is called “One Stop.”

Maybe this juggernaut like name was given to the workforce development program in hopes of breaking the city’s history of bureaucratic, convoluted endeavors. In essence, the program’s name, One Stop, conveys the antithesis of its actual nature (disorganized, unaccountable, and wasteful). It’s anything but a sweet-smelling rose for taxpayers. According to the San Francisco Chronicle (August 3, 2007), “A city audit has found that San Francisco is spending at least $29 million a year on employment programs while placing a disappointingly low number of people into jobs and without knowing whether the jobs they are receiving are permanent or temporary.” The audit… Read More

Fugitive Democrat fundraiser the subject of latest missive from John Fund in the Wall Street Journal’s Political Diary… Oh yes, NOTE TO PROSECTORS: HSU IS DOING A FUNDRAISING EVENT FOR HILLARY IN WOODSIDE, CA, ON SEPT. 30. Perhaps a good opportunity to make an arrest?

In Case You Forgot Who John Huang Was…

Hillary Clinton suddenly has her own version of John Huang, the mysterious fund-raiser and former Clinton political appointee who was at the heart of her husband’s 1996 campaign scandals. He’s Norman Hsu, a wealthy New Yorker and Democratic fundraiser whose questionable political giving was the subject of an investigative report in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Mr. Hsu also happens to be an official high-dollar… Read More

I was talking to a state legislator yesterday, and he threw out to me a very disturbing thought. We’ve all read about the recent passage by Democrats of this bill to place a ‘straw poll’ vote on the February ballot on whether Californian’s support the war in Iraq. Well, it doesn’t take much thought to understand that this measure authored by Democrat Senate President Don Perata is a cynical plot to drive up liberal turnout for the election on which the Perata/Nunez Career Politician Term Limits Weakening Initiative will appear. Perata (and Nunez) are completely fixated on trying to blow a hole in the state’s term limits so that they can cling to their prestigious offices. This legislator to whom I spoke was expressing concern that perhaps the Governor would allow this Iraq-vote measure to be ‘in play’ in negotiations taking place over redistricting proposals. That he might actually be open to signing this terrible and politically-motivated bill. To this we say that our nation’s foreign policy, and the lives of American soldiers should not be chits in political maneuvers surrounding legislative… Read More

The lead consultants for the Speaker’s Term Limits Weakening Initiative, which apparently won’t make the February ballot, have to write a memo to their client. We decided to draft one for them…

URGENT MEMORANDUM To: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez From: Gale Kaufman and Matthew Dowd RE: Failure to Save Your Career Dear Fabian, We are in the midst of a top-to-bottom review of our collective failure to place our carefully orchestrated end-run on term… Read More

The Federal Election Commission has established a new service that reveals total contributions to Presidential candidates generated by state, and even within a “first three” zip code, and you can click through to see actual donations by individuals within the zip codes! The generosity of Californians to Presidential candidates in both parties is most interesting.

Through the mid-year reports, Californians were responsible for a total of $37 million in contributions to all registered Presidential candidates, of a total of almost $296 million raised nationwide (about 12.5% of total contributions). Democrat candidates earned $23 million of this support, with Clinton and Obama essentially tied at $8.8 million; and Republicans drew $14 million, with Romney taking the cake with $5.4 million and Giuliani next in line with a little over $4.1 million.

The zip code contributions from California are fascinating. In coastal Orange County’s signature zip codes (926XX series, such as 92660 (Newport Beach)) contributions to Republican Presidential candidates for the first half of this year topped $2.4 million, and Democrats were just $800,000 from the same… Read More

In less than two weeks, the California Republican Party Convention will take place in Indian Wells, in the Palm Springs area. At the convention, delegates will have an opportunity to take positions for or against ballot measures set to appear on the February 2008 ballot. I have authored a resolution to oppose what I call the Perata/Nunez Career Politican Term Limits Extension Act. (Will you support my resolution? Drop me a line.) I have signed the following letter to all CRP voting delegates: