Yesterday my good friend and occasional FR colunnist, Lance Izumi, was named president of the board of governors of the California Community College. Pacific Research Institute, the think tank for which Lance works, issued the following release today:

PRI’s Lance Izumi Named President of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges

San Francisco – On Tuesday, January 15, Pacific Research Institute’s director of Education Studies Lance T. Izumi succeeded Kay Albiani as president of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. The Board sets policy and provides guidance for the 72 districts and 109 colleges within the system. It is the largest system of higher education in the country with more than 2.6 million students.

“Kay Albiani has been one of the greatest leaders of the state’s community colleges,” Mr. Izumi said. “I look forward to continuing that tradition of… Read More

There have been a lot of questions raised since Governor Schwarzenegger introduced his proposed 2007-2008 budget last week. First and foremost, the Governor is to be firmly commended for coming out of the gate with a verbal commitment not to raise taxes to deal with the huge overspending problem facing California state government. As most FR readers know, the Governor directed his agency and department heads to work on a state budget that cuts state spending across the board by 10% (well, actually, it was really a 10% decrease in what the anticipated budget would have been… I know, it’s confusing.) When the proposal was unveiled, it contained in it some very "high profile" cuts that would be very impactful on Californians — two that immediately come to mind are the closing of a great number of state parks, and everyone has heard about the Governor’s proposal to grant an early releases to tens of thousands of "non-violent" felons. It was all very dramatic when announced, and definitely drove home the message that Californians all around the state were going to be negatively impacted by the "austerity… Read More

1st Supervisor District Score a big win for OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen. The California Court of Appeals just issued a ruling upholding last year’s OC Superior Court decision that made her the winner of the 1st Supervisor District special election over Trung Nguyen by a mere 3 votes. Trung appealed that ruling, seeking to be declared the winner.

This comes on the heels of last week’s surprise decision by former state Sen. Joe Dunn not to challenge her re-election, leaving OC Democrats scrambling for a candidate.

71st Assembly District Mission Viejo Councilman John Paul Ledesma has dropped out of the GOP primary and endorsed Corona Mayor Jeff Miller, the leading fund-raiser in the race. You can read my take on this here.… Read More

Oakland likes to dub itself, “The Bright Side of the Bay.” But, recent activities lead me to wonder exactly how bright Oakland’s government officials are. With former Oakland mayor and Attorney General Jerry Brown’s skewed view of the city’s rising crime rate, Oakland continues to be the home of political denial.Oakland City Attorney John Russo seems to have taken a trip down the same river of “denial” by giving himself a good-sized kickback. According to The San Francisco Chronicle (December 19, 2007), the City Attorney gave himself a significant raise withoutpermission:“John Russo boosted his $207,000 salary by $28,000 this year by giving himself management leave and vacation pay typically reserved for non-elected department heads and managers, city records show.” The rules for vacation pay are simple: “Unelected Oakland … Read More

OK, the main page was up late this morning.

Blame the captivating Anthony York over at Capitol Weekly. He called me and we got absorbed into a conversation and then… well… late… sorry…

Jon… Read More

Today the proponents of the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act announced that their initiative has been officially qualified for the June 2008 ballot! This is OUTSTANDING news as this measure, if passed, would provide REAL and MEANINGFUL protections for the rights of property owners against egregious "takings" by government agencies through the use of eminent domain proceedings.

If you are keeping crib notes, this measure is the GOOD Kelo reform measure, sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the California Farm Bureau Federation, and the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights.

This would be as opposed to the EVIL faux-reform measure, being promoted by the very people who current use eminent domain to the detriment of private property owners — local governments at the state redevelopment lobby. They are pushing their own measure, which actually strengthens their ability to subordinate the rights of property owners to the "master planning" of government.

694,354 valid signatures were needed to qualify for the ballot.… Read More

Cross posted at Red County San Diego….

San Diego City Councilmember Brian Maienschein just confirmed with me he will run for SD city attorney. This after a rumor that he was introduced as a candidate at a Rancho Bernardo Chamber of Commerce mixer last night.

"I have been encouraged for awhile to run and I will be doing so," Maienschein said, "The important thing is to beat Mike Aguirre. I think I have a good chance."

He further indicated that a formal announcement is planned in the next two weeks.

I’ll leave any analysis for later. As a recap, however, Deputy D.A. Bill Gentry dropped out of the race earlier in the week, opting to endorse Judge (and former Assemblyman) Jan Goldsmith. Goldsmith has been endorsed by the County Republican Party. Former SD Unified Schools Superintendent Alan Bersin is still analyzing his chances.

Maienschein, as well as Goldsmith are Republicans.… Read More

Despite California’s prominent role in this year’s Presidential nominating process for the GOP, I have yet to receive any mail from a Presidential contender. But my good friend Paul Hegyi, who is a candidate for Assembly, and Chief of Staff for Assemblyman Van Tran, did. It wasn’t from Rudy Giuliani, nor Mitt Romney. It wasn’t from John McCain nor was it from Fred Thomspon.

Check out the links below to see the front and back of the mailing from… Aww, we’re not going to spoil the surprise. Look yourself!… Read More