The ACLU announced Tuesday that a New Jersey boy has been granted the right to wear skirts to school in protest of his high school’s "no-shorts" policy.

This wasin no small part thanks to intervention by the ACLU. The 17-year-old had been sent home for wearing shorts on the first day of school in October. The reason he was wearing shorts because one of his legs had been injured and in a brace during the summer. One articlepoints out that the student, Michael Coviello, "(has) been on the school’s mock trial team for four years," (hint: ‘future lawyer’), "…sings in the choir, plays the drums in the school band and is a member of the golf team." As if those activities somehow prove the kid to be macho. Actually, the article was trying to make the point that Coviello isnot normally rebellious. Yeah, right.

Anyway, the brouhaha apparently could have been avoided if the school had just used the… Read More

GOP Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon (Santa Clarita) represents the 25th District that includes portions of LosAngeles andSan Bernardino Counties (okay its has Mono and Inyo too.) McKeonhas joined Congressman Dan Lungren as a signer of the petition to have elections for several House leadership positions. He was one the signers released publicly by supporters of the vote that could change many House leadership positions and becomes the second California Congressman associated with this possible overthrow of leadership. See the story here.

Supporters of a shake-up in leadership say they have 30 of the 50 votes needed to force a meeting. McKeon is on the Armed Services Committee and is senior member of the House Education and Workforce Committee. He isn’t your normal rabble-rouser and his support for a vote shows thatleadership has some problems. You can see FR Publisher Jon Fleischman’s commentary on the topic here.

Will there be athird Congressman… Read More

More shake outs in the 59th Assembly District race as former Sierra Madre City Councilman drops his bid for the GOP nomination. Doyle cites a couple of business reasons for his decision.

Doyle also endorsed former Covina City Councilman Chris Lancaster for the seat. This leaves Lancaster as the only announced candidate from the San Gabriel Valley side of this oddly shaped District that contains Hesperia and other parts of San Bernardino County. This also frees LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich to endorse another candidate.

The race could end up as a test of geography between Anthony Adams and Chris Lancaster. Adams has worked hard and I suspect that he will have the most dollars when Jan. 31 numbers are revealed. Lancasterin now consolidating LA County, but can he reach the desert?

Awild card is the candidacy of San Bernardino businessman Barry Hartz. WhileHartz hails from the desert, he is formerly from the San Gabriel Valley part of the district and has support from the Mountjoy political operation.

You can see… Read More

PAY-AS-YOU-GO: GREAT IDEA! Today, at 11am, Assembly Republicans will release the details on a new "pay-as-you-go" infrastructure proposal, which is summarized today in the lead piece on the FlashReport – and exclusive column from Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (pictured to the right). This plan, which McCarthy’s staff says has been blessed by Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, represents a major effort by legislative Republicans to fund infrastructure projects in each budget, rather than relying exclusively on a ‘max out the state credit card’ approach to borrowing as much as possible. This proposal just makes the dynamic in the Capitol that much more confusing. The Governor has proposed and aggressive borrowing plan, the lynchpin of while is a massive $68,000,000,000.00 ($68 billion) general obligation bond package to go to voters. Some Democrats (unbelievably) has said… Read More

PAY-AS-YOU-GO: GREAT IDEA! Today, at 11am, Assembly Republicans will release the details on a new "pay-as-you-go" infrastructure proposal, which is summarized today in the lead piece on the FlashReport – and exclusive column from Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (pictured to the right). This plan, which McCarthy’s staff says has been blessed by Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, represents a major effort by legislative Republicans to fund infrastructure projects in each budget, rather than relying exclusively on a ‘max out the state credit card’ approach to borrowing as much as possible. This proposal just makes the dynamic in the Capitol that much more confusing. The Governor has proposed and aggressive borrowing plan, the lynchpin of while is a massive $68,000,000,000.00 ($68 billion) general obligation bond package to go to voters. Some Democrats (unbelievably) has said… Read More

HOUSE REPUBLICANS GET AN "F" – BUT THERE IS A CHANCE TO IMPROVE This morning, in the wee hours, I read a column from Sacramento Area Congressman Dan Lungren, in which he feels that there should be a new election for all of the GOP leadership, from Speaker on down. But from reading the first paragraph of his column, I’m not sure he wants to do this for the right reasons. You see, the second sentence says it all:

Lungren, who is ‘back’ in Congress, re-elected after being out of the House for over a decade, should have an outsider’s perspective – I guess… Read More

Last December, Rasmussen Reports polling showed that the Governator was down by a few points in one-on-one hypothetical match ups with Phil Angelides and Steve Westly. Now, a few weeks later, the same company is reporting that the race is neck and neck. I’ve reprinted some of their summary findings below, but you can read more, including survey crosstabs right here.

Nine days ago, I posted the Curiously Quiet SD County Board of Ed Vacancy. Why, I asked— with a January 27 deadline for applications looming and a big, beautiful website with all kinds of other news on it (bought with our public dollars) — the vacancy and the appointment process had not been posted for the public to easily see?

I also blasted the post to a pretty significant email list, including politicos, media types and the trustees at the Board of Education. Lots of response. No changes to the site, however.

It would seem that — Republican or Democrat — any board member wanting to look good in the eyes of the public and the media would be calling for complete and easy access to information as part of this process. Perhaps I need a question mark at the end of the last sentence.

At least now I know I’m not the only one doing the questioning. Marsha Sutton, the education writer for Voice… Read More