Friday, May 23rd, 2008

Indian Gambling: Native American Indian Tribes have been allowed to hold legal gambling in many states for a long time. The original purpose of this was to give some economic activity to large numbers of full-blooded Indians living on reservations in remote areas with little economic opportunity. In many cases, such legal gambling has been successful in achieving the desired result.

However, now there is much abuse of this privilege. This abuse comes from the fact that there is absolutely huge money to be made from establishing one of these casinos, particularly if you can get it in or near an urban area. That gigantic profit opportunity comes from several factors. First of all, in most states, Indian casinos are a government-sanctioned monopoly, with little competition except from other Indian casinos. Secondly, they regulate themselves, by and large. So, unlike Nevada where the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) establishes and monitors minimum payouts, Indian casinos can pretty much pay out as little in winnings as they can get away with so their margins are much higher. And, of course, they are not subject… Read More

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the state’s biggest and second-largest school district in the nation with more than 700,000 students, known for incompetence and corruption, has yet again, come under investigation for spending an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars on questionable contracts – while the district, not to mention the state, is facing historic budget deficits. According to the L. A. Daily News, May 13, 2008, “With Los Angeles Unified facing spending cuts of as much as a half-billion dollars amid a statewide budget crunch, the district is coming under renewed scrutiny for its nearly $175 million in consulting contracts with outside firms covering everything from legal help to improving student achievement.” Taxpayers should be shocked to know that, “The LAUSD has dozens of multiyear professional-services consulting deals … Read More

Capitol Weekly broke the story that now L.A. Congresswomen Laura Richradson’s house is in Sacramento is in foreclosure. Richardson now denies that the house has been seized.

Well, which is it? The issue is relevant becasue of the possible use of equity as loan to her Congressional Campaign.

Now is the time for Richardson to release her records.… Read More

The 2008 presidential campaign is still months away from completion, but that’s no reason not to accelerate the level of speculation regarding the California 2010 election for governor. State Democrats have at least half a dozen viable potential candidates circling the field, who we will mock at another time. Republicans, on the other hand, seem to have been on a pretty clear glide path toward nominating Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

But the Poizner nomination may not be a foregone conclusion after all. State Senator Tom McClintock has decided that his future lies in Congress, but should he not win his primary next month, another campaign for governor could be in the offing. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina seems to have decided that her immediate future lies in President McCain’s Cabinet, but should Democrats win the White House, she may decide that statewide office holds some allure instead. And one prominent former Republican officeholder currently residing in the private sector has begun laying the groundwork for a campaign as well.

But the most intriguing potential challenger to Poizner might be former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Whitman… Read More

Well, we don’t have a happy ending to the Farm Bill follies. As we have written about, this Farm Bill before Congress is TERRIBLE public policy. It typifies everything that is wrong with our Congress. It takes BILLIONS of dollars and doles it out around the country to agricultural interests (from the family farm — many of which are huge) to big ag conglomerates. Anyways, the idea is that at the most basic level, this is the federal government taking from your pocket to place that money in someone else’s.

Is it shocking that such a bill would pass a Democrat-controlled Congress, no? Should it be shocking that a majority of REPUBLICANS voted for this dog with fleas? Yes. Is it really shocking. Unfortunately, no.

It is proof that Republicans in Congress don’t get it — that we lost Congress because we are no longer the party that stands for a limited federal government, lower taxes and returning the power to the people.

You can’t beat the Democrats by being 95% like them. This Farm Bill was an important vote because it helped to reinforce in my mind that our GOPers back there (well, the ones who voted for… Read More

If you haven’t already, be sure you check out the article on the main page today where former Assembly Speaker Fabian “Louis Vuitton” Nunez in essence accuses those of us who took issue with his lavish spending as being anti-Mexican — what a load of hooey. Anyways, here’s what Hector Barajas and Kevin Roberts of the State GOP have to say about it —

“There is little to be surprised by in Fabian Núñez’ outlandish statements that those who questioned his expenses were not looking out for the public’s best interest but rather was motivated by race.

In an interview with the Spanish-language program Voz y Voto on Univision, Núñez railed against the “anti-Mexican, anti-Latino” sentiment he claimed motivated the probe into his questionable expense reports. Even his spokesman, force-fed himself the racial Kool-Aid, stating, “You cannot deny there’s some overtly racial overtones to this.”

Let’s remember, as the representative of one of the poorest districts in California, the Los Angeles Times reported that Núñez spent more than $47,000 in airfare, more than $5,000 at… Read More

Back in May 2004, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered state agencies to expedite the sale of an estimated $5 billion in surplus state properties. It was an ambitious plan designed to help the state raise money it badly needed.

That November, voters backed the governor with Proposition 60A, directing proceeds from the sale of those properties be used to pay down deficit bonds. Now, four years later, the state has yet to sell off most of the targeted surplus properties, according to the Los Angeles Daily News (April 8th).

The state Finance Department indicates that the state sold off no surplus property in the 2004. And while property sales climbed to $12.9 million in 2005-06, they fell to just $1.4 million in 2006-07.

Beth Mills, spokeswoman for the Department of General Services that handles surplus state land sales, said that during the current 2007-08 fiscal year, the state is expecting to take in $31.7 million from two sales. “‘About $21 million is a payment the state is receiving from the sale of… Read More

A few minutes ago, Harry Sidhu wrapped one of the most interesting press conferences to which I’ve ever been.

It was basically two parts. First, he addressed the "Orange County Grand Jury Report" mailer sent out by the Mimi Walters for Senate campaign, attacking it as deceptive and defending his record regarding working with OCE to screen Anaheim City Jail prisoners for illegal immigrants.

Pretty standard.

Then, Harry went on to discuss the negative tone of the SD33 race, said he took responsibility for his campaign’s part in it, and then renounced any further negative campaigning, pledging that henceforth his voter communication would all be positive. Nearby Harry were boxes of negative mail produced by his campaign, which he then proceeded to feed into a big shredder next to the podium.

A cynical interpretation is that it’s easy to renounce negative campaigning two weeks before the election when you’ve already carpet-bombed your opponent with negative mail and ads, and SD33… Read More