John Myers’ is the first to report this morning policy news that Gov. Schwarzenegger supports universal health care in his second term in office. As you read, ask yourself how the government can provide health insurance for everyone without a tax increase. User fees?

"First, some news: the governor said that his goal for the first year of a second term would be, in his words, ‘to create health care for every citizen.’ The comment was made in response to a student question about universal health care, specifically the kind Massachusetts has moved forward this year.

"Schwarzenegger said the Massachusetts model won’t work, in part, because of California’s larger uninsured population. But his comments clearly sounded like he favors some new effort.

"’I believe we can really conquer that problem, once and for all, if everyone works together,’ he said. ‘It means that employers have to put money in, I think that employees have to put money in, and I think that the government has to put money in.’ The governor said… Read More

A friend called me up yesterday, laughing, saying, “Well, I’m sure this is the first and last time I’ll see a lawn sign for a Democrat in your front yard.”

She may be right, unless I continue to live in Oakland where no GOP candidates even bother to file for the mayor’s race (or my assembly district!).

Normally, I’ll just cast a vote and ignore the rest of the campaign (in 2002, I voted for the more conservative candidate in the race for mayor—Jerry Brown).

This time, I’m a little more invested in the race. Not so much on behalf of the candidate I’m supporting—City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente—but because I cannot sit back and allow the wackos in this city install Ron Dellums in the mayor’s office. I do not want to foot his travel bill to Cuba or his self-esteem meetings for the poor kids kicked out of school because they… Read More

From today’s WALL STREET JOURNAL POLITICAL DIARY

Whistling Past California’s 50th District

Republican officials in California are less nervous than their national counterparts about the prospects of holding onto the San Diego congressional seat being filled next Tuesday in a special election. Republicans have been unlucky in the seat ever since the previous incumbent Randy "Duke" Cunningham went to prison for taking bribes and cast a corruption pall over the race to succeed him. The GOP primary was a contentious affair in which a former congressman turned lobbyist named Brian Bilbray came out on top with only 15% of the vote in a divided field. He now faces… Read More

In February Hemet Councilwomen Robin Lowe’s campaign for the 65th Assembly Republican nomination was dead. Her long gone ground team failed to understand what the procedure was to get her on the ballot. She had to go to court and have a judge do what her campaign manager failed to do. Flash forward (yes it is a pun) to a week out and she is being attacked by I.E. committees. (Robin likes to travel on the city dime) Now you don’t get attacked by smart money in the end unless you are in the hunt. Robin has also picked up the endorsement of the two large Newspapers in Riverside County. Is this an upset in the making?

This one is going down to the wire. Like I said in an earlier post, hats off to Brenda Salas. She got to the right of everyone else on the hottest topic out there for Republican primary voters, illegal immigration. Finally, sources tell me that Councilman Jim Ayres campaign seems to be having a little difficulty in rebounding from the military medals flap. The last week in contested Republican primaries are always interesting, this one should be no different.… Read More

This morning I thought I would take a few minutes to share some of my thoughts about goings-on in San Diego County. It’s a crazy time in the county just to the south of my own…

Congressional District 50 – a.k.a. "Oatmeal vs. Acid" What do you do when the Republican candidate in the special election doesn’t excite conservative voters? The only issue on which he seems to be campaigning where he is in line with conservative voters is on the immigration issue, where he has been paid to be hardcore as he has represented (as a federal lobbyist) a hard-line immigration reform group. Bilbray moved into the district. He was tapped by D.C. power-brokers. He defeated a horribly split field of conservative candidates to eek out a plurality, most likely with the help of non-Republican voters. On many issues that I care about, he is only marginally better than the liberal Democrat Francine Busby. And so I read in ‘insider… Read More

This morning I thought I would take a few minutes to share some of my thoughts about goings-on in San Diego County. It’s a crazy time in the county just to the south of my own…

Congressional District 50 – a.k.a. "Oatmeal vs. Acid" What do you do when the Republican candidate in the special election doesn’t excite conservative voters? The only issue on which he seems to be campaigning where he is in line with conservative voters is on the immigration issue, where he has been paid to be hardcore as he has represented (as a federal lobbyist) a hard-line immigration reform group. Bilbray moved into the district. He was tapped by D.C. power-brokers. He defeated a horribly split field of conservative candidates to eek out a plurality, most likely with the help of non-Republican voters. On many issues that I care about, he is only marginally better than the liberal Democrat Francine Busby. And so I read in ‘insider… Read More

What happens if you are a councilman running for Assembly and you vote to take expand the Hustler Casino a day after Larry Flynt and other Casino officials donate $17,000 to your campaign?

Answer: A whole lotof great mail pieces that last couple days. That is what will happen to Gardena City Councilman Steve Bradford in his race for the Democratic Nod in the 51st Assembly District. See article here.

Shouldn’t be a legal problem though. Larry Flynt wouldn’t do something that sleazy.… Read More

Here’s one I missed…you may have missed it too. It’s about Gov. Schwarzenegger and drivers licenses for illegal immigrants.

Given how prominently the issue of drivers licenses for illegal immigrants played in the 2003 recall of Gray Davis, I thought you’d find it interesting that the Contra Costa Times reported last week that …

“The Schwarzenegger administration said it hopes to have rules in place to allow illegal immigrants to possess drivers licenses by the end of the year, but it is waiting on federal action….” (Contra Costa Times, May 23, 2006)

Now, if Governor Schwarzenegger campaigned on a promise to rescind Senator Gil Cedillo’s drivers license bill that Gray Davis signed into law, but then turns around and tries to find a way to sign a different version of the same bill, why would we believe the governor when he says he opposes tax increases? Will he turn around in 2007 and look for a way to impose a less obvious tax increase?

… Read More