There is a lot of interesting reading linked to the main page of the FlashReport this morning.
A quick summary of the highlights:
- The LA Times has Republican Congressman Gary Miller in their crosshairs. In addition to being a Member of Congress, Miller is a very successful businessman, apparently owning a lot of property. At issue in the LAT piece today are a serious of land transactions where Miller made millions of dollars in profits, but did not pay capitol gains taxes because he claimed that these property sales were forced due to eminent domain decisions by local governments. The Times says that, upon closer investigation, these sales were not compelled by local governments. I will ask you this question: If the government condemns your land, or just says, "if you don’t sell it to us, we will condemn it" — isn’t that the same thing?
- Carla Marinucci is a veteran political reporter and analyst at the San Francisco Chronicle. Today she pens an interesting piece on the turnabout in political fortunes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, focusing on a four-person team of folks largely responsible: Spouse Maria Shriver, Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy, Campaign Manager Steve Schmidt, and the Governor himself. Worth a read.
- The Golden Pen recipient today, who has won this honor before, is Orange County Register senior editorial writer Steve Greenhut, who uses an example in San Clemente to illustrate how City Councils can feed off of NIMBY’s ("not in my back yard") and even NIMLOS ("not in my line of sight") to trample on private property rights. Take a read — if you go far enough, you’ll even see some praise from Greenhut for one of the FlashReport’s two Orange County Correspondents, Adam Probolsky!
- There is a lot of other great reading — but don’t miss three columns on the issues of term-limits and redistricting.
**There is more – click the link**
August 13th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Jon,
I really enjoyed Carla’s article today.
Best regards,
TET
August 13th, 2006 at 12:00 am
My God, I had no idea Arnold had executed a comeback …
Oliver is a great director. Wall Street is an underappreciate classic. My favorite scene? Michael Douglas tells Charlie Sheen that “information is the most valuable commodity I know of.”
August 13th, 2006 at 12:00 am
What the press is likely missing is that this was almost certainly a regulatory taking. While they may not have actually threatened to condemn his property through eminent domain (due to restrictions on the money), I’m willing to bet they had told him they wouldn’t approve any development on that property. That leaves him with two choices: 1) Keep your own property as open space while continuing to pay taxes on it, or 2) Sell to the city at an artificially reduced rate because of the limitations on development.
For many, these regulatory takings are a far more common reality than actual eminent domain. At least he finally convinced the city to pay him for what he couldn’t use–many people never get that offer.