I’m pleased to be reporting from Houston where I’ve just presented a seminar on election law and nonprofit rules to one of our clients, a national organization in favor of tax reform. And I must say, this city, which eschews many of the normal rules of urban development, looks pretty darn cool. Downtown Houston is undergoing a "Renaissance" that has included moving the Houston Astros from the old Astrodome to a new field, "Minute Maid Park," which is just steps away from major hotels and shopping and which include significant private sector support, unlike many of our new stadiums in California. The Rockets play basketball at a new stadium largely funded by Toyota (helping to keep some jobs, at least, in America!). And when I discuss the rules of election and nonprofit law here, the locals ask really great questions, such as "Why in tarnation would the government do that!?"

The last time I was in Houston was in 1981. Today, parts of the city look like Michigan Ave. in Chicago, the Galleria shopping area is great, the art museums are top drawer, and the tex-mex is outstanding! No wonder, with California, from 1976 to… Read More

Yesterday’s Washington Times headline, "Hunter’s son to run for dad’s seat," kind of missed the point. We already knew that.

Considering the story’s lede clearly points it out, a more appropo headline might have been, "Hunter’s son to run for dad’s seat from combat zone."

As Duncan Duane Hunter told me, "I found out recently that I might be called back to active duty in the Marine Corps and I might deploy this year to Iraq or Afghanistan. This is not affecting my plans on running for Congress, in fact it reinforces my desire to serve the people of San Diego supporting our President and troops in this time of war. If deployed, I will run for office as an active duty Marine serving a combat tour…it will be interesting."

Interesting, to say the least. As one local consultant put it, "If there are a dozen GOP candidates he can win from… Read More

Imagine a scenario where the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission is frustrated because four different times in recent months, "his" Commission has over-ruled the recommendations of his staff, in granting approvals for fractional-ownership hotels in California’s coastal development zone. Then imagine that the Executive Director, rather than talking with the staff about adjusting their guidelines to stay in concert with the majority of the Commission, instead goes out and recruits a liberal extremist State Assemblyman to introduce legislation to have California ban the very type of "condominium hotels" that were being approved… Sound like the classic story of the tail wagging the dog? Well that may be, in fact, what you have with Peter Douglas, the longtime Executive Director of the Coastal Commission (pictured on the cover of City Beat magazine). At their… Read More

Imagine a scenario where the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission is frustrated because four different times in recent months, "his" Commission has over-ruled the recommendations of his staff, in granting approvals for fractional-ownership hotels in California’s coastal development zone. Then imagine that the Executive Director, rather than talking with the staff about adjusting their guidelines to stay in concert with the majority of the Commission, instead goes out and recruits a liberal extremist State Assemblyman to introduce legislation to have California ban the very type of "condominium hotels" that were being approved… Sound like the classic story of the tail wagging the dog? Well that may be, in fact, what you have with Peter Douglas, the longtime Executive Director of the Coastal Commission (pictured on the cover of City Beat magazine). At their… Read More

[This is cross-posted from Red County/OC Blog]:

I spoke today with Anaheim Councilwoman Lorri Galloway about a truly astounding example of the ineptly heavy-hand Disney has been wielding in Anaheim of late.

The Los Angeles Times approached Anaheim Councilwoman Lorri Galloway about doing a profile of her, to which Councilwoman Galloway agreed provided the focus was on Anaheim Resort workers and not her per se. Last Wednesday, the LAT called Galloway and asked if she’d be available for a photographer to shoot to get some shots of her with some Anaheim Resort workers. Ultimately, it was arranged for Galloway and Ada Briceno (head of the hotel workers union UNITE HERE, OC/Long Beach chapter) to meet at the Disneyland Hotel.

According to Lorri Galloway, Briceno and she went into a back area of the hotel to meet with some hospitality workers, while the Times photographer got some shots for the article. Galloway told me Briceno signed them into the back area, and… Read More

I read today about the ambitious agenda in Sacramento and I just shake my head. Democrats and their Governor apparently don’t understand that when a building is on fire, you don’t go outside and plant flowers.

Already we are seeing devastating fissures in State revenues, after several years of record increases. Democrats and their Governor, along with just enough Republicans, have spent ALL of the increased revenue, borrowed more money, placed bonds on the ballot to incur further debt, and raised spending baselines to intolerable levels. Sounds like Gray Davis five years ago, except Arnold has sky high approval for all of this. Must be a better salesman.

I am heartened to see that Sacramento Republicans took the bold, bold step today of saying no to new taxes. What courage! The fact that a "pledge" even has to be signed in the first place is a joke.

All in all, this is shaping up to be a very bleak situation, and given the right dynamics, might be worse than what Gray did to the State from 1999-2003. What shall we say then?

After the Governor lost the special election in 2005 (the highlight of his term was… Read More

Last cycle Dems and their allies starting beating up Congressman Pombo well in advance of the 2006 election. This cycle they are back, this time targeting Congressman Gary Miller for some tax issues he may or may not have. See article here.

Where are the ads against Sanchez or McNerney??… Read More

In case you were wondering if the Democrats in Sacramento are out to reach further into the pockets of every taxpayer in California, here’s a list of tax hike measures introduced by Democrats, moving forward in the legislature right now… Paving the Way for Higher Car Taxes for California Motorists Democrats have introduced several bills to raise the car tax on California motorists, who already are struggling to pay high gas prices.

Senate Bill 240, by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, would allow an unelected body in the Central Valley to increase the car tax on Valley motorists to as high as $30 – without a vote of the people. They would also be able to impose a new $300-a-year tax on “stationary” sources of air pollution, such as homes, businesses, and farm equipment. Assembly Bill 444, by Asm. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, enables two governing bodies in Alameda and Contra Costa … Read More