Three greatest words in a congressional staffer’s life: district work period. Ergo, it’s sleepy in town because of all the "Spring District Work" being conducted. The last few days, protesters have shut down downtown and the Hill, they didn’t seem to mind most of Congress is back home.

Politico profiles the dapper, dandy and nattily attired on the Hill, here.

I may be the last to know, but chalk it up to going to bed early and to little kids. Former California resident (doing time with NCG-Porter Novelli) and current White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was on the Daily Show recently, noted here and here.

We’ve all been there: a campaign ended too early or not in your favor. Wonkette links to the pleas of a former Thompson staffer.

Dance like a… Read More

Veteran Capitol columnist Dan Walters was pretty accurate yesterday in the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert Blog (free registration required and encouraged) when he referred to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) as, "…a Naderite, Santa Monica-based thorn in the side of California business for the past two decades…"

Apparently the group has decided to change its name to "Consumer Watchdog" — what a farce.

The only thing that this group cares about is creating more and more ways and opportunities to file more and more lawsuits. The FTCR is a vibrant and active front-group for the trial lawyer community.

While they wave a rhetorical banner of trying to "help consumers" — it’s just not true. It hardly helps consumers to see all… Read More

As we keep reminded everyone that will listen, what we have had in California State government is a massive over-spending problem. Here is a staggering figure for you — since 2003, spending in the state budget has increased over TWENTY FIVE BILLION DOLLARS.

The team over at the Senate Republican Caucus, under leadership of Senator Dick Ackerman, has put together a great source document to help you to understand the size of this increase, and also make you wonder whether this massive increase in spending was effective. There are lots of charts and graphs to help you to digest what is really some complex financial data.

Check it out here.… Read More

Veteran Capitol columnist Dan Walters was pretty accurate yesterday in the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert Blog (free registration required and encouraged) when he referred to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) as, "…a Naderite, Santa Monica-based thorn in the side of California business for the past two decades…"

Apparently the group has decided to change its name to "Consumer Watchdog" — what a farce.

The only thing that this group cares about is creating more and more ways and opportunities to file more and more lawsuits. The FTCR is a vibrant and active front-group for the trial lawyer community.

While they wave a rhetorical banner of trying to "help consumers" — it’s just not true. It hardly helps consumers to see all… Read More

While I think it is a positive thing that NO DEMOCRAT FILED AGAINST REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR ABEL MALDONADO, it is rather curious given that this seat should be "in play" and a top target for Senate Democrats.

I just read a well-though-out piece musing about this by Robert Cruickshank over on the left-wing-haven-of-socialist-ideas The California Progress Report, a Democrat activist who lives in that district.

He muses that the fix might just be in..… Read More

2 minutes of television news coverage that Assemblymen Joe Nation and Mark Leno will be trying to make sure that every one of Senator Carol Migden’s constituents watch, as they are both trying to "retire her" in this June’s primary… (h/t to CalClip TV for making the video footage available)… … Read More

[Publisher’s Note: With yesterday’s decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn an Appellate Court decision, and re-instate a draconian open primary scheme passed by Washington State voters a few years back, we turned to California Republican Lawyers Association President Steve Baric, a rising star among respected attorneys who have an expertise in political and elections law, to give us his analysis of the decision. Baric not only makes the case for why this was a poor decision by the Court, but undoubtedly is accurate in his concern that those who brought us Prop. 198 will be back again to attack the fundamental rights of political parties to the Constitutional right to freedom of association… – Flash] REFERENCES: SCOTUS OPINION, SCALIA DISSENT … Read More

[Publisher’s Note: With yesterday’s decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn an Appellate Court decision, and re-instate a draconian open primary scheme passed by Washington State voters a few years back, we turned to California Republican Lawyers Association President Steve Baric, a rising star among respected attorneys who have an expertise in political and elections law, to give us his analysis of the decision. Baric not only makes the case for why this was a poor decision by the Court, but undoubtedly is accurate in his concern that those who brought us Prop. 198 will be back again to attack the fundamental rights of political parties to the Constitutional right to freedom of association… – Flash]

REFERENCES: SCOTUS OPINION, SCALIA DISSENT… Read More