The editorial page of the San Diego Union Tribune has quickly become a ‘must read’ page for the well-written, provocative opinions that are written there. Certainly no small part of this success comes from the addition of Chris Reed to the editorial board (Chris immigrated to the U-T from the OC Register).

Here is a choice piece from today’s paper:

Slick vs. oblivious: No wonder Democrats are unenthusiastic San Diego Union Tribune Editorial(read it online here)… Read More

I received a missive from a conservative Republican yesterday, concerned about the prospects of Francine Busby serving in the House. Brief, but to the point. And, 100% correct:

The Bilbray team has to get this message out to pouting Republican voters: 1) This election is essentially about illegal immigration. 2) I am serious about solving the problem, Busby is not. 3) If Busby wins, her victory will send the message to all politicians that the voters are not serious about immigration issues. 4) The result will be for the nation’s border problems to be returned to the back burner — unsolved. 5) If you want the border problems fixed, YOU MUST GET OFF YOUR REAR-END AND VOTE!… Read More

Danny Ramirez may be the least known Democrat in the CD 51 Filner-Vargas brouhaha, but he may also be working for Filner.

Thanks to John Dadian for sending this along fromthe Capitol Morning Report:

Danny Ramirez, a Democrat running in the 51st CD, has announced filing a criminal complaint with the DAs in Imperial and San Diego counties and with the AG’s office against his opponent Asm. Juan Vargas and Vargas’ “campaign staff man” George Bresnahan. Ramirez says Vargas and Bresnahan violated CA Election Code 18205 by offering him “valuable consideration” in exchange for running in the 80th AD instead of the 51st CD. According to Ramirez, he and Bresnahan are acquaintances from church and Bresnahan visited his home on the evening of March 7. Ramirez recalls Bresnahan saying explicitly that he’d been “sent by Juan Vargas to make an offer or deal with me in regard to not becoming a candidate for the 51st CD.” The approach made Ramirez “uncomfortable,” he says, “so I promptly got a witness.” Ramirez remembers Bresnahan saying to him, “Danny, both you and Juan Vargas have Hispanic names, so you know what will… Read More

Just came over the wire that Governor Schwarzenegger is putting National Guard on the border, and that he is claims authority over them. I think I’ll offer up a toast to the Governor tonight.… Read More

I read with great interest Karen Hanretty’s two previous posts regarding the Governor, the first theorizing that he will sign an illegal immigrant driver license bill if he is re-elected, and the second his apparent support of single payer health care for California during a second term.

It’s time to put him on the record on both of these issues. As soon as these primaries are over the State GOP Board or Executive Committee needs a commitment from him to oppose both of these issues if he earns a second term. If we can’t get a firm commitment, there isn’t any reason to work for his re-election. The Governor needs to understand who his primary constituency is.… Read More

The Oakland Unified School District board voted yesterday to ignore state law and grant diplomas to students who did not pass the state’s high school exit exam. It was a cheap political move by the board’s part because they know that State Administrator Randall Ward is unlikely to support the decision. Without Ward’s signoff, the vote was symbolic, allowing the board to placate the people who complain that the exit exam is unfair.

Dan Siegel, the board member who proposed the resolution, said that it is "very unfair to say to students who, for 13 years, have done what we have asked them to do, ‘You can’t graduate.’"

Clearly, the Oakland schools, as run by… Read More

There are several intense races going on here in Orange County, but I’d like to focus on one in particular: the 2nd Supervisorial District.

It’s a match-up between OC Treasurer John Moorlach and Stanton City Councilman Dave Shawver.

Some quick background. Moorlach originally ran — and lost –a race against the incumbent OC Treasurer in 1994, warning that the incumbent’s risky investment strategies were going to push Orange County into bankruptcy. The usual suspects denounced Moorlach as an alarmist and dismissed him. We all know what happened next.

After the county went bankrupt, the chastened Board of Supes appointed John to the vacated Treasurer’s spot.

Fast forward 12 years. Incumbent OC Supervisor Jim Silva is termed out and running for Assembly. John Moorlach is running to succeed him, and warning that the recent round of county employee pension spiking places county finances at serious risk.

The local government employee unions are apoplectic at the prospect of Moorlach on the Board of Supervisors.… Read More

This morning I thought I would take a few minutes to share some of my thoughts about goings-on in San Diego County. It’s a crazy time in the county just to the south of my own…

Congressional District 50 – a.k.a. "Oatmeal vs. Acid" What do you do when the Republican candidate in the special election doesn’t excite conservative voters? The only issue on which he seems to be campaigning where he is in line with conservative voters is on the immigration issue, where he has been paid to be hardcore as he has represented (as a federal lobbyist) a hard-line immigration reform group. Bilbray moved into the district. He was tapped by D.C. power-brokers. He defeated a horribly split field of conservative candidates to eek out a plurality, most likely with the help of non-Republican voters. On many issues that I care about, he is only marginally better than the liberal Democrat Francine Busby. And so I read in ‘insider… Read More