This just in from our friends at the Foundation for Educational Choice, who will be holding a press conference today on this subject at 11:30 near the State Capitol (send an email here to get details)…

California’s public retirement systems are more than three times underfunded than state officials projected, a total of $326.6 billion when combining the state’s teachers’ and public employee programs, according to a new study released today by the Foundation for Educational Choice. [You can see a .pdf of the study by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post.] Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Orange County, local pension systems… Read More

A little after midnight last Wednesday, Congress, both the House and Senate, adjourned until after Election Day. Apparently, we will come back for a "lame duck" session starting November 15th. This adjournment occurred earlier than had originally been planned, as a majority of Democrats were desperate to get home and campaign.

Normally, and particularly with this Congress, any time the House and Senate are out of session, the nation is much better off than when we are in session spending money, raising taxes, restricting freedom, and killing jobs. However, Congress left town last week leaving one major piece of work undone. On January 1, 2011, the largest tax increase in American history will occur unless Congress acts. All Republicans and dozens of Democrats in both houses have publicly stated that they support extending the current tax rates for ALL taxpayers, at least for a couple of years. Based on these announcements, it is pretty clear that a bill to extend all of those rates would pass both houses should a vote be taken today. But, in a demonstration of the importance of who it is that holds the gavel of Speaker and Majority Leader, Pelosi… Read More

Two pieces today in the mail.

#1 Meg Whitman "A New California". As a writer of mail myself I can be a bit picky. I like this piece. It’s clean and to the point. Job well done.

#2 COPS Voter Guide. I particularly enjoyed the statement by the President of the organization (who I know, and usually like) "PORAC endorsements are non-partisan and CANNOT BE BOUGHT nor influenced by political or special interest pressures" (my bold). Then in the official disclosure "Appearance is paid for and authorized by each candidate and ballot measure designated by an *". Several in fact have the * in question. But not Jerry Brown. He’s a free bee. Sigh. Isn’t Jerry Brown the guy who appointed Rose Bird?… Read More

As the horse races for the top of the ticket races continue to see-saw every few days – one candidate ahead, then the other – Attorney General candidate Steve Cooley continues to lead Kamala Harris day after day, in every measurable way.

Throughout the summer, Cooley has been racking up public safety endorsement after public safety endorsement – even among labor groups that often traditionally tilt left – a result of Harris’ inescapable record as a soft-on-crime DA in San Francisco.

Then last Saturday, the Field Poll came out showing Cooley with a 4-point lead over Harris among likely voters. This, despite the fact that the Field Poll didn’t test Cooley with his proper ballot designation identifying him as Los Angeles County’s District Attorney – a geographic addition to his ballot designation that will only further help Cooley by cutting into what should be a reliably vote-rich region for Harris.

With Cooley ahead in endorsements and ahead in the polls, the release of updated financial reports showing Cooley with a significant financial advantage only completes the trifecta. In the numbers just released… Read More

Less Than One Month To Go!

We are now less than one month from Election Day and our campaign is traveling from Eureka to San Diego to speak to you, the voters, about your concerns with how state government is being run in Sacramento. I wanted to share some exciting news from the campaign trail with you and let you know how you can get involved in taking back Sacramento on November 2nd.

Today, the National Federation of Independent Business awarded me a 100% approval rating for my work… Read More

Not so sure I’m going to be able to keep this up for the next four weeks.

Signage, ahhh, signage. We’ll deal another day with the question of whether it was worth it for you to purchase all those campaign signs, as well as the inordinate amount of time you are now spending in maintaining their presence.

But, as long as you did, let me ask. Those large signs…why for the love of Pete do you have some of them placed along main traffic routes positioned parallel to the roadway, instead of having the wording facing the oncoming traffic?

How many people do you know that while driving 45 miles per hour suddenly turn their heads 90 degrees to the right or left to read something facing the middle of the street? Do you?

Just askin’.

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All of Barry’s enlightening advice…and other posts.

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From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail… Gallup Delivers a Stunner As Election Day draws closer, every major public opinion poll shifts from interviewing registered voters to those whom it identifies as "likely" voters. Gallup, the oldest U.S. polling company, first developed the model it uses for identifying likely voters back in 1950 and its final election polls have proven highly accurate. Yesterday, Gallup delivered its first 2010 "likely voter" poll and the results floored the political community. In the generic ballot question, which asks which party a voter would favor in a generic House contest, Gallup gave the GOP a 46% to 42% edge. But… Read More

It’s not often that conservatives have many positive things to say about the main stream media—especially California’s newspapers. But based on its recent reporting, I think the LA Times deserves some credit. In recent months, the Times has done some great investigative journalism and uncovered lots of government corruption—exactly what we want our media watchdogs to do. First, back in June the Times reported on the welfare cash card abuse. Over $1.8 million was withdrawn from ATMs in casinos—a complete waste of taxpayer money. Second, the Times exposed the City of Bell salary and pension scandal in July. The scandal was so huge it grabbed … Read More