In less than an hour, Assembly Speaker Fabian “Louis Vuitton” Nunez will be holding what is being billed as his “last press conference as Speaker” – thank goodness. It is tiresome, as we all know, to hear self-absorbed people speak at a microphone.

Anyways, according to a blog post over on the Nunez Propaganda Website, the Speaker’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Steve Maviglio, says that Nunez is going to unveil yet another attempt to reduce legislative term-limits (apparently the Speaker’s memory extends backwards around ten weeks, but not much longer) – coupled with some sort of redistricting reform and a fundraising “blackout period” during budget negotiation season (yeah, those are so effective).

Once again, though, it is the Fabian “Party of One” – where Nunez figures out what he wants, announces it from a podium, and he is off to the races. This worked like a charm for his health care boondoggle, and his Career Politician Term Limits Weakening Initiative (Prop. 93), didn’t it?

As demonstration of Nunez’ ongoing… Read More

FRIENDS OF JEFF DENHAM AGAINST THE RECALL Date: May 6, 2008 To: Jon Fleischman/The FlashReport From: John Franklin, Campaign Manager RE: Grassroots Turnout Impressive – But Important Days Ahead Jon, thanks for asking for an update for FlashReport readers on how things are going here at the political epicenter of Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata’s petulant attempt to recall Republican State Senator Jeff… Read More

Every 12years Los Angeles County voters get to choose a new Supervisor. Under the racially compliant redistricting rules District 2 is the "black" seat. Although the district is vigorously trending Latino.

There are two competitors for a job most politicians believe is better than Congress. An LA Supervisor has 2,000,000 constituents, a huge staff, multiple offices, an easy commute, great salary, amazing benefits, a giant personal slush fund and best tickets to the Hollywood Bowl.Plus the 5 regents control billions and billions of tax dollars.

Former LAPD Chief and current LA City Council Bernard Parks is resisting efforts by controversial state senator Mark Ridley-Thomas for the seat.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

Every 12years Los Angeles County voters get to choose a new Supervisor. Under the racially complaint redistricting rules District 2 is the "black" seat. Although the district is vigorously trending Latino.

There are two competitors for a job most politicians believe is better than Congress. An LA Supervisor has 2,000,000 constituents, a huge staff, multiple offices, an easy commute, great salary, amazing benefits, a giant personal slush fund and best tickets to the Hollywood Bowl.Plus the 5 regents control billions and billions of tax dollars.

Former LAPD Chief and current LA City Council Bernard Parks is resisting efforts by controversial state senator Mark Ridley-Thomas for the seat.

The differences between them are stark. Chief Parks is primarily for vigorous law enforcement, skeptical of endless government union demands and pro business. And yet he has the enthusiastic support of a large coalition extending from Congressman Maxine Waters to Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

On the other hand… Read More

Today is an important milestone in world history. Israel celebrates its birthday as a sovereign nation amid a period of great uncertainty and tension in the Middle east region. As it has for many of its years, Israelis will be marking the anniversary of their nation with joy and glee, but also a sense of guarded optimism and concern for the future of a country that has been at the forefront in the battle against militant extremism. Israel’s existence is extraordinary, and not just to those of the Jewish faith. For many Americans, however, today’s birthday for Israel may not appear as significant in the overall state of international affairs, but I can assure you Israel’s 60th anniversary is more than a milestone marking the birth of a nation, it is a metaphor for the struggle against radical anti-American extremism. If one listens to the radical jihadists, one can see that militants are hell bent on the destruction of western civilization as we know it. Many Americans will correctly point out that the United States on 9-11-01 was… Read More

I won’t take credit for being the first political columnist to take umbrage with Fontana Mayor Mark Nuaimi, but I will say that it seems to have caught on… I will now refer to him as the "embattled King of Fontana" who is at the center of swirl of controversy… Or should I say controversies (plural)? This guy is now commonly referred to as "The Conflict King" because of his dual role as the Mayor of Fontana while also being the Assistant City Manager of the nearby city of Colton.

He is controversial to this columnist because he is a Republican, but yet seems to have no trouble using his office to overtly and covertly push his personal vision for the city of Fontana on private property owners, regardless of what they want to do with their property. You can read through to what I’ve written or posted on Nuaimi in the past by going here. But I have one heck of a column coming your way based on information sent to me after I first started writing about "The King" — so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I have yet another video about… Read More

Today the Governor announced that he is taking steps to make the State Capitol "wi-fi" friendly, with the first phase being a wireless "hotspot" in the Governor’s Press Conference Room on the first floor. Outstanding. The next phase of his plan is to make some portion of the Capitol cafeteria a "hot spot" – which is cool. These are great first steps.

But the big project, to which any project to bring wireless to the State Capitol must include, is making the Senate and Assembly Chambers wireless, so that people up in the galleries (or the press corps or guests in the back of the chambers) can access wireless. After this, it should be the Committee Rooms where the most influential meetings take place.

Speaking on behalf of the blogging community, it really would enhance our ability to live-blog about the goings-on in state government.

Now I don’t know where the boundaries are between where the Governor has jurisdiction to create "hot spots" versus the legislature — but someone should get right on this!… Read More

After years of litigation – costing millions of taxpayer dollars – the California Department of Education has finally settled with a whistle-blower turned former employee. This whistle-blower claimed retaliation by the Department and former Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin when he reported massive fraud in the department.

According to the Sacramento Bee (April 23, 2008), the California Department of Education paid "$4.25 million to the former worker who said he suffered retaliation after he reported corruption to then Superintendent Delaine Eastin." The trouble began when the California Department of Education dished out millions of dollars, not to California’s classrooms, but to people seemingly just trying to make a buck off the system. "The case centered on corruption in a program that handed out money to community-based organizations between 1995 and 2000 to teach English and citizenship to recent immigrants. Some of the schools that got grant money didn’t even exist."… Read More