March 5, a street in the middle class city of Lakewoodis rocked by the expolsoion of ILLEGAL fireworks. The fire destroys a home and damages a few others.

City Council members must act. They know the solution ban LEGAL fireworks.

The brightest that Lakewood citiznescould elect have scheduled a November election to ban all fireworks in the city. If passed it will cut off funds to various non-profits.Don’t worry taxpayers will pick up the tab for the non-religious ones. See the story here.

Take that illegal firework merchants.… Read More

Exception political law attorney Dana Reed send this along. Pardon if the formatting is messed up as this is being posted from a Blackberry PDA:

FROM DANA REED:

"The Democratic primary election to succeed Senator Joe Dunn in the 34th SD (Central Orange County) was expected to be one of the most expensive legislative races in California’s history. Assemblyman Tom Umberg and County Supervisor Lou Correa were poised to re-enact the Gunfight at the OC Corral, and spend over $1,000,000 each in doing so.

The lines were drawn in the sand. Business interests and moderate Democrats were supporting Correa. Trial lawyers and environmentalists were on Umberg’s side. It was going to be fun to watch.

But Correa has shot himself in the foot and his name might not appear on the ballot. If Umberg’s attorneys are successful, Correa will be forced to run as a "write in" candidate, a daunting task at best.

What happened?

Well, the Correa campaign failed to follow the rules in submitting the proper number of signatures on their candidate’s Nomination Documents, and they got… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger’s came into Fresno yesterday and outlined his aggressive support of vocational education. He laid out a comprehensive policy agenda which you can read here.

That said, it was his trip over to the editorial board at the Fresno Bee that has been burning up the blogosphere. While meeting with the Bee folks, when the subject of Rob Reiner came up, for the first time, the Governor was not silent. He said that he has no plans to appoint a new Chairman to the Children and Families First Commission and thus ‘retire’ Reiner. You can read more about this on… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger’s came into Fresno yesterday and outlined his aggressive support of vocational education. He laid out a comprehensive policy agenda which you can read here.

That said, it was his trip over to the editorial board at the Fresno Bee that has been burning up the blogosphere. While meeting with the Bee folks, when the subject of Rob Reiner came up, for the first time, the Governor was not silent. He said that he has no plans to appoint a new Chairman to the Children and Families First Commission and thus ‘retire’ Reiner. You can read more about this on… Read More

Sharon Runner is one of the most respected among the California State Assembly’s Republican members, and she will be re-elected.

Assemblywoman Runner has represented the 36th District for the past two terms after succeeding her husband, now-Senator George Runner, in 2002. She serves as Assistant Republican Leader and asVice Chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee.

So why would Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford file to run against Runner in the upcoming Republican primary? Well, I believe it’s time to shed some light onto the man who wouldchallenge someone who recently co-wrote the Jessica’s Law initiative andconvinced 713,000 California citizens to signpetitions to put Jessica’s Law on the November ballot.

Most of the 36th District’s elected officials, including Congressman Buck McKeon, L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and San Bernardino County Board… Read More

Winston Churchill once said, "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."

Perhaps that is how professional environmentalists see themselves: eco-warriors whose cause is so noble it permits them to say ahything that advances their cause.

But whatever truths they once fought for, they only part of Churchill’s aphorism that still applies to environmental extremists like the National Resources Defense Council is the "bodyguard of lies" part.

What sparked this thought is this anti-241 tollway op-ed in Sunday’s Orange County Register. It is bylined by Irvine Ranch heiress Joan Irvine Smith and "co-written" by NRDC senior litigator Joel Reynolds. Since this column is nearly identical to a Feb. 18 Reynolds-bylined column in the Los Angeles Times, it is fair to assume Reynold’s penned it and Orange Countian… Read More

This writer is bearish on the Governor’s chances this November and I have written extensively about his struggles. In today’s Fresno Bee I made some commentsabout why our GOP base is depressed. Its quite simple, and not entirely Arnold’s fault.

First, the federal budget deficit and immigration reform are not being addressed. Bush and Congress have created this mess and are failing, while in the majority, to tackle other problems. This negatively impacts the passions of Republican voters in California – and hurts Arnold.

Second, Arnold has allowed State spending to careen only marginally less out of control than under Gray Davis. He has lost his moral authority as a fiscal conservative and doesn’t appear to care. We understand that he would never run his companies this way, yet he runs the Government with structural deficits. Where is the business acumen?

Third, the base doesn’t like borrowing and spending and this is the centerpiece of Arnold’s program. We view borrowing and… Read More

Martin Wisckol of the OC Register reported earlier today that Assemblyman Tom Umberg has filed suit to removeopponentLou Correafrom the Secretary of State’s list ofcertified candidates forthe Democrat nomination for the 34th SD. (Read Wisckol’s article here.)

The suit, which was filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, names the Secretary of State and the OC Registrar of Voters as respondents and Correa as real party in interest. The suit can be read here. Umberg alleges that Correa should be removed from the list of qualified candidate because Correa submitted more than the permitted number of nomination signatures.

SD 34 is one of the few competitive districts in California. And given that Republicans actually have a registration edge in the district and given thatUmberg has been reported to have some character problems stemming from his admitted extra-marital affair, this hardball tactic may have some interesting… Read More