Here is a bird’s-eye view of upcoming electoral contests in San Bernardino County

Of all the action in San Bernardino County this upcoming election primary season, three open state legislative contests are the focus of intense competition in the Republican party primary, while a trio of Democrats will duke it out for an open Democratic-held Assembly seat.

First, an overview of competitive Republican primaries.

SD 29: This seat, held by departing incumbent GOPer Bob Margett is the site of a two-way contest between Assemblymember Bob Huff (AD 60) and former Assemblymember Dennis Mountjoy (AD 59). Huff, who has garnered the lion’s share of endorsements, has shot to a lopsided advantage in fundraising for this heavily-Republican seat. The often colorful Mountjoy is counting on name recognition (as a lawmaker, his father represented similar legislative territory from 1978-2000) and steadfast support from social conservatives to propel him to victory. Huff, who is more mild-mannered than his opponent, nonetheless is a tenacious campaigner who has been campaigning for some time now. The winner of this race will take the seat in the Fall.… Read More

My fellow FR blogger Adam Probolsky and I today aired the first in a planned series of Red County Radio segments discussing the Red County’s recently published list: Orange County’s Top 40 Most Influential Politicos.

Adam and I covered the six listees today:

Scott Baugh

Lucy Dunn

Paul Folino

Orange County Register

Supervisor Bill Campbell

You can read the entire list on OC Blog or in the digital edition of the new Red County magazine.

And in case you are wondering, FR’s own Jon Fleischman made the list.… Read More

Which one of these is a wetland?:

This one…

Or this one…

If you picked the top photo, you’d only be half-right. The correct answer is they are both wetlands.

The second picture is of a vacant lot next to the parking lot at Sunset Harbour Marina in Orange County. When no one was paying attention, some hydrophytic vegetation crept in and the California Coastal Commission — the same folks who’d have you believe completing the 241 toll road in OC would destroy the environment — subsequently declared this to be a wetland, and therefore to be protected.

There’s even a sprinkler system installed to prevent Mother Nature from changing her mind and reclaiming it as a dryland. Call it a Brezhnev Doctrine for wetlands.

I posted on this absurdity in more detail on Red… Read More

Last night, Speaker Fabian “Louis Vuitton” Nunez convened a rare Wednesday session of the Assembly to debate their plan to raise taxes on oil production in California, which would have raised gas prices at a time when Californians are paying record prices. Democrats all but admitted that this was not a serious exercise, but just a public relations stunt to try to position themselves as “white knights” riding into to save the day from “evil Republican budget cutters.”

Democrat after Democrat rose to blame oil companies for “not paying their fair share” to the state as the reason why teachers were receiving layoff notices this month. Others bemoaned the fact that Californians received modest tax relief in recent years, blaming the repeal of the Gray Davis’ illegal car tax increase for the state’s current budget woes. They even said with a straight face that Californians have endured “heartless” budget cuts over the past four years and said they would refuse to support a budget this year that takes responsible steps to reduce spending. Perhaps we should remind them that revenue in California increased 40 percent over the past four… Read More

Sacramento Democrats are a consistent bunch. Their play sheet only has two songs — "Spend More" and "Tax More." That it. And they keep playing their two-song greatest hits album over and over again.

Last week we had Democrat Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata pledging a long summer budget stalemate until Republicans agree to $5 BILLION in new taxes. Now, on the Assembly side, Fabian "Louis Vuitton" Nunez is calling for a massive 6% increase on tax on oil in California — as if the prices of gasoline in America aren’t high enough? Nunez plan will only serve to increase reliance on foreign oil, as he seeks to make it more expensive to pump oil out of the ground here in the Golden State. Well, there is a silver lining to every cloud, they say. And in this case, it is simply this — Sacramento Democrats are setting up a great debate for the Spring, presenting the stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats. You see, while the Democrats want to increase taxes on working Californians (who do you think will get hit the hardest if gas prices increase?), Republicans have vowed to block… Read More

I just left a lunhctime meeting of the Coronado Republican Womens Federated club on Coronado Island in San Diego. It was a great meeting with a very informed and influential guest speaker…me! :-)

They wanted me to carry forth a message to our state legislators — hold the line, and don’t give in to pressure to raise any taxes!

Amen!… Read More

Sacramento Democrats are a consistent bunch. Their play sheet only has two songs — "Spend More" and "Tax More." That it. And they keep playing their two-song greatest hits album over and over again.

Last week we had Democrat Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata pledging a long summer budget stalemate until Republicans agree to $5 BILLION in new taxes. Now, on the Assembly side, Fabian "Louis Vuitton" Nunez is calling for a massive 6% increase on tax on oil in California — as if the prices of gasoline in America aren’t high enough? Nunez plan will only serve to increase reliance on foreign oil, as he seeks to make it more expensive to pump oil out of the ground here in the Golden State. Well, there is a silver lining to every cloud, they say. And in this case, it is simply this — Sacramento Democrats are setting up a great debate for the Spring, presenting the stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats. You see, while the Democrats want to increase taxes on working Californians (who do you think will get hit the hardest if gas prices increase?), Republicans have vowed to block… Read More

Update: After 2 3/4 hours and 42 speeches debating this bill, the predicted outcome is official, the bill, AB 9 XXX, a tax increase [requiring 2/3’s,54 votes] was defeated45-30, no Republicans present voted for it,all Dems present but onevoting "aye."

AB 9 of the 3rd Extraordinary session is being introduced by Chuck Calderon for Speaker Nunez. This is the bill to raise taxes on oil produced within Califonia. [Thereby increasing dependence on imported oil if you believe as I do that taxing something causes there to be less of that product or activity.] 43 Democrats are coauthoring the bill. Thankfully it requires a 2/3 vote to pass so we all know going into this debate that the bill will fail and that it will cost Californians tens of thousands of dollars to process and run this bill through committee and on our floor. Since this is ostensibly a bill to help fund education, how many teacherscould be paid instead of the costfor this bit of theater for this sure-to-failbill? Not to mention the tone-deaf attitude of this legislature toward record fuel prices… Read More