I’m on Blackberry, but just got the heads up from the Giuliani campaign on new endorsements from CA…

From their release:

New York City –The Giuliani Campaign announced today that Mayor Rudy Giuliani bolstered his California team by picking up more key endorsements throughout the state.

Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner today signaled their support for Rudy Giuliani for President. Los Angeles County Supervisors Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe also announced their endorsement for Mayor Giuliani.

Mayor Giuliani has garnered significant support among key Republican leaders at all levels of government, including county, state, and federal representatives. Recently, U.S. Congressmen Ed Royce and George Radanovich joined Rep. David Dreier, Rep. Mary Bono, Rep. Devin Nunes, and Rep. Jerry Lewis as part of Team Rudy.… Read More

For those of you that missed it, below is my exclusive interview with Mayor Giuliani from last month (it’s in two parts). FLASHREPORT INTERVIEW WITH RUDY, PART 1 FLASHREPORT INTERVIEW WITH RUDY, PART 2 … Read More

Have you ever read the story of Chicken Little? An acorn falls on his head that he proceeds to whip up everyone in his land up into a frenzy that the sky is falling? I am reminded of that story when I read poll results that show many Californians so worried about global warming. Lately, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been like Chicken Little with a megaphone, so of course everyone is worked up. Eventually, in the story, everyone realizes that the sky, of course, is not falling. The question I have is how much freedom and liberty will be eroded because an acorn fell on Al Gore’s head? A reader pointed out to me that the Communications Director for the California Restaurant Association, Jordan Traverso, has left there to accept a new job with the Consumer Attorneys of California (formerly the California Trial Lawyers Association). Suggestion for the CRA — you should replace Traverso with someone who actually believes that trial lawyers bear much of the blame for the high costs of operating restaurants! There is a story today about hi-speed rail travel. I am sure I speak for … Read More

Have you ever read the story of Chicken Little? An acorn falls on his head that he proceeds to whip up everyone in his land up into a frenzy that the sky is falling? I am reminded of that story when I read poll results that show many Californians so worried about global warming. Lately, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been like Chicken Little with a megaphone, so of course everyone is worked up. Eventually, in the story, everyone realizes that the sky, of course, is not falling. The question I have is how much freedom and liberty will be eroded because an acorn fell on Al Gore’s head? A reader pointed out to me that the Communications Director for the California Restaurant Association, Jordan Traverso, has left there to accept a new job with the Consumer Attorneys of California (formerly the California Trial Lawyers Association). Suggestion for the CRA — you should replace Traverso with someone who actually believes that trial lawyers bear much of the blame for the high costs of operating restaurants! There is a story today about hi-speed rail travel. I am sure I speak for … Read More

Currently held by Alan Nakanishi, the race in the 10th district is starting to come into shape. The strongest candidates making moves early on have been Paul Hegyi (Assemblyman Tran COS), David Sander (Mayor of Rancho Cordova), and Jack Sieglock (former San Joaquin County Supervisor). After a recent conversation I held with El Dorado County Supervisor Helen Baumann it now seems there are four at the head of the pack.

Baumann has hired consultant Jim Nygren and has strong ties in the wine industry which will help not only in Amador but in San Joaquin as well. If Baumann can make inroads into Lodi’s wine industry in San Joaquin it will make life much more difficult for Sieglock, who needs to have a solid win out of San Joaquin to win. Now the question is if Rusty DuPray, her colleague in El Dorado gets into the race. Two candidates splitting such a small geographic region could easily isolate them both.… Read More

"’Schwarzenegger is what conservatives think the future is,’ says Gerald Dorfman, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and an expert on British and European politics."

What?

Are these think tank guys mental? Let’s put aside social issues. We knew what we were getting there. How is running a structural deficit in any way related to what conservatives think our future is. I respected the Governor until November, 2005. Now, I don’t at all, politically. You cannot reward his spending all of our record revenue increases, continued borrowing, and stumping for necessary but unnaffordable bond measures as "business savvy". It isn’t. And we will be paying dearly for all of this inside of 18 months. Take it to the bank.

The Governor could have won re-election easily and balanced the budget at the same time and made a conscious decision not to. That is not conservatism, nor is it its future. It’s the same failed policy that led to our ouster in Washington last November.… Read More

I think that Fabian Nunez owes a beer to his friend Jerry Brown. Below is the official Title and Summary of Nunez measure that WEAKENS term-limits. It’s sure hard to tell from what the AG wrote:

Date: April 11, 2007 Initiative No. 07-0004 Amendment No. 1S

The Attorney General of California has prepared the following title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed measure:

LIMITS ON LEGISLATORS’ TERMS IN OFFICE. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Reduces the total amount of time a person may serve in the state legislature from 14 years to 12 years. Allows a person to serve a total of 12 years either in the Assembly, the Senate, or a combination of both. Provides a transition period to allow current members to serve a total of 12 consecutive years in the house in which they are currently serving, regardless of any prior service in another house. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: This measure would have no direct fiscal effect on state or local governments. (07-0004.)… Read More

Yesterday I penned a lengthy commentary entitled, Who’s in charge over at the Coastal Commission? The Commissioners? Or the Staff? Well, today we got the answer to that question. The members of the Coastal Commission voted by a large 8 – 3 majority to oppose Assemblyman Lloyd Levine’s extremest legislation that would have banned the use of fractional ownership (timeshares and the like) in coastal resort developments.

This after rumors were widely circulating that their own Commission Executive Director, Peter Douglas, had played a role in the crafting of the legislation. Douglas’ staff recommendation to the Commission, by the way, was NOT to oppose the bill, but to amend the bill (by the way, his recommended amendment would still have usurped authority currently held by his bosses on the Commission).

Apparently the dog is wagging the tail after all. Perhaps this is an indicator that the Commission staff needs to understand where it is the Commission would like to go, and work to get there. Not, as rumor… Read More