Our state legislators will take up an important bill this morning dealing with your tax dollars and those who seek to use their position to unlawfully benefit themselves.

The California Assembly Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security will be discussing Assembly Bill 1858, introduced by Assemblyman (and longtime FR friend) Kevin Jeffries, which if enacted would require any public employee who is hired after January 1, 2009 and convicted of a felony involving the abuse of his/her position to forfeit the government contributions made into the their pension plan, but would not affect the personal contributions made by the employee.

This common sense bill is in fact an extension of current law which maintains the same stipulation for elected officials. In spite of this, the bill seems headed for failure in committee today at the hands of union opposition.

Assembly Democrats have an opportunity to support good public policy and emphasize the integrity of public offices and stand against those who would steal from the California taxpayer.

Or, they have another opportunity to demonstrate the prevailing theory around the Capitol —… Read More

Congress has been a place of little activity of any note for about the last month. I have told you that I expected this to be an unproductive year given the looming and very unpredictable election. But we are underperforming even my low expectations. It has been unexpectedly difficult to find agreement on the expiring Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Farm Bill and No Child left Behind Reauthorization, not to mention take on the housing crisis, energy, budget, etc. The continuing Clinton/Obama battle is, I think, making consensus on things even among Democrats difficult, not to mention Republicans and the President.

So, since there’s no real news, here are some tidbits of thoughts and occurrences from the past month:

A few weeks ago, the House went into "secret session" to discuss the implications of passing or not passing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (referenced above). When in "secret session" the House is swept for "bugs" and there obviously are no spectators and C- Span is turned off. Interestingly, the session is recorded and held as a classified document for 50 years or until Congress … Read More

FR friend Jeff Flint, over at his Red County/Placer website has a blog post that spells out a potential scenario where Tom McClintock may not have the valid signatures necessary to be a candidate for Congress in the 4th District.

Never mind that the post reminds you of a theory that might be advanced by Mel Gibson’s character in the movie Conspiracy Theory, stranger things have and will take place in the world of politics.

It’s worth checking out, for sure. … Read More

Over at Capitol Weekly, they have a story up about how BIG LABOR passed a resolution demanding that Fabian Nunez give back $4 million to the California Democratic Party (we all know the CDP is a wholly owned subsidiary of the unions). Intepreting statements in the piece, it seems doubtful that Nunez is giving anything back.

But, let’s just say that Nunez would prefer to return the funds back in the form of some of his favorite products.

With their four million bucks, Nunez can buy the labor bosses:

139 bottles of rare Mouton Rothschild french wine ($28,750/bottle). 740 Monogram Motard Firebird hand bags by Louis Vuitton ($5400/purse). 548 Nights in the Belle Etoile Suite at the exclusive Parisian Hotel Meriece ($7300/night).

That said, it’s most likely that if the union bosses get anything, it will be 16,339,869 of these.… Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission finally rolled out charges in the City of SD pension mess. The Union-Trib article is posted on the main FR page, and here’s a hodgepodge of opinions on the matter (as many will have one today), as well as some straight news entries. Included are some links to the complaint and other documents:

Blogger Pat Flannery, from Red County SD…

Here is the full SEC complaint filed today alleging fraud by five former City officials in the issuance of $260 million San Diego municipal bonds. The accused officials are former City Manager Michael Uberuaga, former City Auditor and Comptroller Ed Ryan, former Deputy City Manager for Finance Patricia Frazier, former Assistant City Auditor and Comptroller Terry Webster and former City Treasurer Mary Vattimo.

Here is the… Read More

After reading the Dan Walters review of this book I almost passed.

For Brown, it has to be a disappointment when someone writes the defining biographical work of your career before you can get your two cents in. James Richardson beat Brown to the punch with his book from 1996 on the former Speaker of the Assembly and Mayor of San Francisco.

Being Mayor really did nothing to add to the legend of Willie Brown. To most conservatives it was good to have him confined San Francisco instead of roaming the state. If he wanted to spend his time getting an Amtrak station somewhere in Texas — that is his deal with President Clinton.

There are only three things that I found interesting in this book. The first is the Brown version of what happened with Assemblyman Paul Horcher after the 1994 election. It was certainly not the way I viewed it but that is his version.

The second interesting thing was his version of NIMBYism when he served as Mayor of San… Read More

Progressives may have created California’s direct democracy process, but it’s been conservatives who have perfected the use of it. Whether its landmark property tax reform or recalling an inept governor, limited government’s biggest victories have been through initiatives, referendums and recalls.

Ironically, today’s progressives thwart the direct democracy process with unconstitutional bureaucratic impediments to signature gathering. Most notable of these restrictions is a residency requirement for signature gatherers. Petitions require a massive amount of signatures in a short window of time. As someone who is actively involved in these campaigns, I know that in some cases it would be impossible to gather enough signatures without using out-of-town signature gatherers. Case in point, a San Clemente referendum to overturn a city ordinance banning second story additions. The City of San Clemente … Read More

Desert Taxpayers for Truth Launches Web & Video…

Desert Taxpayers for Truth (DTFT), a non-profit watchdog group from the Coachella Valley launched its website today: www.TaxpayersForTruth.com and announced the start of a series of TV spots that will educate voters about elected officials and their voting records.

The first video – a :60 barn-burner that out lines dubious disability claims, tax hikes and attacks on public safety — will begin airing tomorrow throughout the Coachella Valley and Riverside County.

You can view the videos from the website or on YouTube. Or tune in to most any TV station in Riverside County..

Word is this is just the start…and since DTFT is my client (yes, that’s a disclaimer) I might have an idea of what’s coming… Read More