Last week, I proposed legislation to authorize the California Highway Patrol to activate the state’s Emergency Alert System and issue a “Blue Alert” when necessary to speed apprehension of criminals who attack or kill local, state, or federal law enforcement officers. Similar to the “Amber Alert,” which is employed when children are abducted, the Blue Alert will be activated only if a peace officer is killed, seriously wounded or assaulted with a firearm.

Blue Alert programs have been established in Florida, Texas and Oklahoma and can help avert further harm to officers and the public when a description of the offender’s vehicle or license plate are available for broadcast.

The cold-blooded killing of four officers in Oakland and four Washington State officers just this year serves as a grim reminder that law enforcement officers must often confront criminals capable of incredible violence. When attacks on peace officers do occur, law enforcement agencies and the public may be better served by activation of a Blue Alert.… Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court indeed issued decisions in three cases this morning but did not publish an opinion in the very important campaign finance reform case of Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, which remains pending.… Read More

Yesterday we featured an update on goings-on with the Young Republican Federation of California, penned by their new State Chairman Adam Abrahms. For many people in the state, there is some confusion over the fact that there are actually two different statewide YR organizations recognized by the California Republican Party — the other one is the California Young Republicans. I guess the easiest way to summarize the reason that there are two YR organizations would be this: Back in the early 1990’s, a large activist surge brought a bunch of new people into the California Young Republicans, which at that point was the only statewide YR group. The CYR leadership, afraid of "losing control" of the group as it grew in size, cheated to keep their Kern County based group in charge. This cheating caused the vast majority of CYR’s members to leave the group, forming the YRFC, which for the last fifteen plus years has really been the dominant statewide YR group.

All of that said, I have been extremely impressed, lately, with a surge of activism within the original CYR group that has come under the Chairmanship of Jenniffer Rodriguez. The… Read More

Last Friday, I visited an oil drilling platform, known as “Irene,” five miles off the Coast of Santa Barbara County. I had a chance to witness first-hand the good work that goes on here to supply energy to American families.

Irene is part of the Tranquillon Ridge Project, which would allow one of California’s leading oil and natural gas producers, Plains Exploration & Production Co., to access oil and gas reserves located beneath California state waters.

The project is a win-win for the environment and the economy:

•PXP will convey approximately 3,900 acres of land to The Trust for Public Land, including approximately 3,700 acres adjacent to the Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve in the Lompoc Valley and up to 200 acres on the Gaviota Coast. These lands will be permanently protected for open space and public access.

•The T-Ridge project will include a legally enforceable “end date” which ends all PXP’s offshore oil production on four platforms and removes the associated onshore support facilities.

•By limiting the life of the platform operations, the T-Ridge “end date” significantly reduces the risk of an… Read More

I heard a great story last week from a Leonard Letter reader that I wanted to share with all of you on Pearl Harbor Day. The USS Utah was sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship is on the opposite side of Ford Island from the Arizona and many tourists to the memorial do not even learn about the Utah or the 58 sailors still entombed in her. The Utah had a long and impressive service record before the damage at Pearl. Efforts to right and restore the ship failed so she lies on her side in the water to this day. Learn more about the Utah and her crew: I heard a great story last week from a Leonard Letter reader that I wanted to share with all of you on Pearl Harbor Day. The USS Utah was sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship is on the opposite side of Ford Island from the Arizona and many tourists to the memorial do not even learn about the Utah or the 58 sailors still entombed in her. The Utah had a long and impressive service record before the damage at Pearl. Efforts to right and restore the ship failed so she lies on her side in the water to this day. Learn more about the Utah and her crew here. Cal DeKnikker (a Navy vet, son and grandson of Navy sailors, and… Read More

Jim Costa is a Democrat from Fresno, representing the 20th Congressional District. He says he’s a "blue dog", but I’ve exposed his 97% in agreement with Nancy Pelosi voting record. His District suffers from water shortages and record unemployment. He voted yes on the job killing, budget busting health insurance reform bill in the House.

Now, in the Central Valley Times, Costa has the solution to the current jobs crisis: spend more on infrastructure. Not only is this an intellectually lazy response to the problem – what he is really saying is this: borrow more money from foreign countries.

This is vintage Costa. I don’t know if his seat is in play next year or not. The way Obama / Pelosi / Reid are going, They might lose 75 seats due to their arrogance and incompetence. Costa isn’t doing anything to distinguish himself from the Democrat leadership that America detests.… Read More

Due to an error (on my part) the featured column from new YRFC Chairman Adam Abrahms featured on our main page had text from an older column. That error has been corrected. Please click here to read what Abrahms has to share as he assumes the reigns of this important statewide Republican organization.… Read More

The rule of three has been surpassed. More than three people have told methat Senator Dave Cogdill is planning to run for County Assessor in Stanislaus County. The current County Assessor is not seeking re-election.Imeediately speculation focuses on Cogdill. Well he is in.Cogdill’s campaign team or least part of his campaign team has been activated and are making arrangements.

Senator Cogdill recently decided not to run for re-election to the State Senate. He of course was Republican Leader of the Senate an most recently was one of the major architects of the water reform and bond.Cogdill was mentioned as a possible Lt. Governor pick before the Governor choose a fellow liberal Democrat :)

It is important to note that Cogdill was in the real estate appraisal business before his election to public office.… Read More