One of the best barometers of statesmanship is sometimes exemplified by losing politicians who make the effort to congratulate their successful opponents.

At the national level, of course, such an act is considered a must, because of the media attention that goes along with the congratulatory phone call, often hand-in-hand with a concession. Whether the loser actually wants to congratulate—and personally concede to—a sometimes reviled opponent is irrelevant compared to the bad publicity that would follow for not doing so. In some cases, it is more important to look like a statesman than it is to actually be one. Perhaps more accurately, the threat of appearing to be a sore loser is more significant than whether one is in private.

Thus, I have always been deeply impressed by those on the short end of the election stick at the local level who take the time to congratulate the winner. In some cases, no media, no one watching, and no one knowing…short of the winner and the few that are told. Statesmanship, if it is possible to attribute that term to a non-elected, living person (and I refuse to use the "politically correct" bastardized… Read More

Shane Goldmacher on Capitol Alert reports the much anticipated proposal to lengthen term limits will be brought outwith submission to the Attorney General’s office today. Presenting it are Speaker Nunez’s consultant Gale Kaufman and Matthew Dowd of the Schwarzenegger campaign, giving it"bipartisan" cover.

The proposal as a selling point, calls for the "shortening" of total time served from 14 to 12 years, as we’ve been hearing, maxing at up to 12 years in one house. Here’s the funny part, if you are already in the Senate now, you can get an extra "transitional" term that allows up to 16 Legislator years…or,would it be18 if you served 6 years in the Assembly already and want to do 3 Senate terms? Or what if youcame inona half term in the Senate on a special election, maybe you get 14 Senate years then?

I’m not a Greek mathematician or anything but those numbers allseem bigger than 12 to me. Other details should be interesting too, like can previously termed out… Read More

One of the best barometers of statesmanship is sometimes exemplified by losing politicians who make the effort to congratulate their successful opponents.

At the national level, of course, such an act is considered a must, because of the media attention that goes along with the congratulatory phone call, often hand-in-hand with a concession. Whether the loser actually wants to congratulate—and personally concede to—a sometimes reviled opponent is irrelevant compared to the bad publicity that would follow for not doing so. In some cases, it is more important to look like a statesman than it is to actually be one. Perhaps more accurately, the threat of appearing to be a sore loser is more significant than whether one is in private.

Thus, I have always been deeply impressed by those on the short end of the election stick at the local level who take the time to congratulate the winner. In some cases, no media, no one watching, and no one knowing…short of the winner and the few that are told. Statesmanship, if it is possible to attribute that term to a non-elected, living person (and I refuse to use the "politically correct" bastardized… Read More

I’ve known David Drucker, who does the gazing westward for Roll Call, for a long time now. He’s very capable, and his assessments are worth noting. Here’s his latest:

Weathering the Storm Four Battered California House Republicans Seen as Safe for Now By David M. Drucker Roll Call Staff February 15,… Read More

Today it was announced that a coalition of ‘interested parties’ is being formed to place a measure on the next statewide ballot (presumably the February ’08 Presidential Primary) to change our current term-limits restrictions from six two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the State Senate, to a new limit that is 12 years aggregate in either chamber of the legislature. It is not clear yet what the passage of this measure would mean for all of the current incumbent legislators, though it is suspected that they would all get to serve a lot more time than they currently have left – especially important to those politicians like Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez who would face life in the private sector at the end of next year. Perhaps this is why Nunez is pledging to dip heavily into the $7+ million that he has stockpiled away in campaign funds.

Democrat strategist Gale Kaufman and Republican strategist Matthew Dowd are onboard with this measure, providing political leadership.

I reached out to Paul Jacobs, the President of United States Term Limits, the nation’s leading advocate for term limit measures around the… Read More

For the past week, I had been hearing about the pending confirmation vote to take place for Linda Shelton, a Democrat who was appointed as a Commissioner on the Board of Parole Hearings by Governor Schwarzenegger about a year ago. The more I kept hearing, the more I was convinced that while the Governor may have made this appointment in good faith, believing that Shelton would be as tough on criminals as he was, clearly she demonstrated over her first year that she was not. Frankly, the Governor probably should have withdrawn her name from consideration before it came up for a vote, which happened earlier this week.

Frankly, were in not for the hectic schedule that I had due to last weekend’s California Republican Party convention, I would have been writing ahead of the nomination, urging the Governor to pull her name, and short of that, urging Senators concerned about her history of voting to put convicted violent felons out on the streets before their full sentence was served.

Given that liberals control the State Senate (you know the type, the ones who believe that if someone is a criminal, it is because ‘society’ let them down, not… Read More

For the past week, I had been hearing about the pending confirmation vote to take place for Linda Shelton, a Democrat who was appointed as a Commissioner on the Board of Parole Hearings by Governor Schwarzenegger about a year ago. The more I kept hearing, the more I was convinced that while the Governor may have made this appointment in good faith, believing that Shelton would be as tough on criminals as he was, clearly she demonstrated over her first year that she was not. Frankly, the Governor probably should have withdrawn her name from consideration before it came up for a vote, which happened earlier this week.

Frankly, were in not for the hectic schedule that I had due to last weekend’s California Republican Party convention, I would have been writing ahead of the nomination, urging the Governor to pull her name, and short of that, urging Senators concerned about her history of voting to put convicted violent felons out on the streets before their full sentence was served.

Given that liberals control the State Senate (you know the type, the ones who believe that if someone is a criminal, it is because ‘society’ let them down, not… Read More

I don’t know about you, but to me, it seems like sometime in the last couple of weeks, it seems like someone flipped a switch and the 2008 Presidential primary has begun! Here in California, Democratic Presidential contender Barack Obama and GOP Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani are both making multi-day swings. Of course the other front-runners – Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain and Mitt Romney – have all been out campaigning in the Golden State, and all have plans to return here again soon. Of course, with the high likelihood of Californian’s Presidential primary moving up to next February (the bill has already passed the State Senate on the fast-track and is now awaiting action in the Assembly), these visits will increase even more as all of theses candidates will need to visit not only to raise money from our donor-rich state, but suddenly our delegates become more meaningful in the quest for each Party’s respective nomination. Looking at the GOP… Read More