From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

Meet Chris Cox

While the Democratic slugfest sucks up all the media attention, John McCain will have at least one big chance to move back to center-stage — when he picks his veep nominee.

Mr. McCain needs to bolster his economic street cred, especially after admitting minimal expertise on the subject. He needs to rally pro-growth Republicans and calm the fears of ordinary voters amid the mortgage meltdown. Who to call? California Republican Chris Cox was on George W. Bush’s shortlist eight years ago and didn’t get the nod. Now his… Read More

I am not the world’s greatest negotiator. If I were, I would be rich. I have however learned one thing in life. Negotiating in the government sector is not like negotiating in the private sector. Every deal in the private sector is a win/win deal (or at least it is perceived to be so at the time the deal is made). It has to be win/win, since both sides enter into the deal voluntarily. Yes, any person wants to get the best deal possible, but in the end, both sides have to get something for the deal to be consummated. That is why voluntary transactions are preferable. By definition, if both sides perceive themselves to be better off from the deal, the result to society is a net positive, all of the time.

Government deals, however, are win/lose, or maybe even lose a little/lose a lot. The only reason government intervention is necessary is when one side or the other thinks they will lose something from the deal. If they are going to lose in the deal, they have to be forced to enter into it, and government is the only party that has the right to use force to require people to interact. Since the best that a deal can be with government intervention… Read More

Governor Arnold, heard at a town hall meeting in Northern California this week:

"’The way we are taxing. I mean, we are missing a lot out there,’ the governor said. ‘There’s whole new economies that are developing, service-oriented economies. Manufacturing is going down.’"

Wow. That is deep stuff. I mean, there is lot’s of stuff out there we can tax.

Milton Friedman, where are you when we need you?… Read More

When you are going into a fight for your life, you want to make sure that everyone in your fox hole is at the top of their game — and it looks like State Senator Jeff Denham, who is the subject of a frivolous and political recall effort but can take nothing for granted, has put together quite a team. Fresh off the "No on 93" team are lead consultants Wayne Johnson and Tim Clark of JohnsonClark Associates, consultant and media strategist par excellence Kevin Spillane, and uber-research specialist Mark Bogetich of MB Associates. They’ve already kicked Don Perata’s porky butt once, and I am sure relish the opportunity to do it again… Rounding out the team: Veteran pollster Steve Kinney of Public Opinion Strategies, Capitol fundraiser John Bovee of the Bovee Company, district fundraiser Jane Clark of the JLC Group — and on the ground: tapped as the on-site campaign manager is John Franklin (from Darrell Issa’s political team, he recently managed the successful election campaign of Brian Bilbray in the very high profile 2006 special election to fill Duke Cunningham’s seat). Franklin’s Deputy… Read More

In the wake of incumbent school board Trustee Luis Acle’s failure to qualify for the ballot in San Diego Unified (the FlashReport broke the story two Sundays ago and your extremely humble blogger alerted the “mainstream” media to the development), folks were scrambling in the days to follow for analternative candidate.

Last week, it was confirmed what I already knew. Charles Wesley Kim, Jr. had filed his nominating papers by the extended deadline, but even he guessed he didn’t get enough valid signatures submitted. The resulting U-T story even caused Jon Fleischmanto ask on the FR mainpage, "Keystone Cops?," given the fact thatboth an incumbent and a new candidate had failed to qualify, thus leaving labor organizer Richard Barrera as the lone, unopposed heir to Acle’s seat.

Please bear with me on this one.

The 200 signature requirement in the City of San Diego is… Read More

AB 1940, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore’s bill to grant pregnant women temporary disabled parking passes, failed to make it out of the Assembly Transportation Committee this afternoon. In an unusual move, every member of the committee abstained from the vote with the exception of Cathleen Galgiani (Yes) and Betty Karnette (No), the final vote being 1 to 1 (there are 14 committee members).

Assemblyman DeVore had offered an amendment to the bill that would have prevented use of the permits in paid municipal meters, which already have high usage in urban locations. The National Organization for Women testified in opposition to the bill, once again proving the hypocrisy of their group’s title. Responding to their allegations that AB 1940 classified pregnant women as disabled, DeVore stated that pregnancy is a temporary state, not a permanent disability, much like when an athlete is injured and needs some assistance for a few months.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists argued that such permits would discourage women from getting exercise. DeVore countered that many of the stories coming in to his office were from mothers who actually turn… Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court today announced a dismissal on jurisdictional grounds of the expedited appeal of Citizens United in their case challenging Federal Election Commission regulation (read: ban) of advertisements for a full-length feature movie that is highly critical of Hillary Clinton, a la the Michael Moore method. The law seems to be that Citizens United can show the movie, they just can’t tell anybody about it in the normal method of advertising, unlike what Michael Moore does for his movies attacking Republicans.

Citizens United filed the expedited appeal to try to get a decision on the constitutionality of buying advertising (the content of which would appear critical of Clinton – a presidential candidate) during this year. The Court’s action means that the Citizens United case can continue to work through the lower court, where it is still active, but that a final resolution of the issue will not occur until after the election, when the reason for it all will be rather moot.… Read More

San Francisco’s City Hall is going to install a ten-foot-long chunk of history and it’s projected to cost over $1.1 million dollars.This new wheelchair ramp has to be gold-gilded Yellow Brick Road that leads to the Land of Oz.How else can one explain the extravagant costs?

According to The San Francisco Chronicle (February 27th), “[t]hanks to a maze of bureaucratic indecision and historic restrictions, taxpayers may shell out $100,000 per foot to make the Board of Supervisors president’s perch in the historic chambers accessible to the disabled.”There is no truth to the rumor that the only way to enter the chamber is by clicking the heels of one’s red ruby slippers. “[T]he little remodel job that planners first thought would take three months has stretched into more than four years – and will probably mean the supervisors will have to move out of their hallowed hall for five months while the work is done.”As in Oz, time is relative when it comes to city money.… Read More