In an email to me Duane DiChiara expressed some passing interest in my last post on the Orange County election reform legislation that referenced election "reform" restrictions in ancient Rome. His email inspired me to jot down a few more items herein that might cause political reformers to think some of their ideas may not be so new.

Take, for example, the Freedom of Information Act, or as it is known more appropriately in California, the Public Records Act. Reformers passed these laws in the post-Watergate era to try to make government more transparent, of course, to help the public gain access to government writings.

Government writings, chronicling of events, and public access to them, however, are nothing new.The keeping of official records was an early feature of the Roman state, over 2,000 years ago.Butdo you know why they kept these records? Because the Governmentcould take no formal action without first formally ascertaining the will of the gods, which required the keeping of records. Thus, government records were a matter that also involved religious authorities, who kept an annual register ofgovernment… Read More

Arnold Schwarzenegger, you ran for Governor as a strong supporter of term limits and an opponent of career politicians who are too often disconnected from their constituents. Time is running out for you to stand by his words of support for term limits and oppose the deceitful scam known as Proposition 93. The closer to election day you come out against 93, the less impactful your opposition will be…

You made a very clear case – that there needed to be a package deal. That you could support term limits reform of some sort, but only if it was tied to the legislature placing a fair redistricting measure on the ballot along with it. Of course, they did no such thing.

I know that you care a lot about what newspaper editorial boards think about major policy matters – so I am sure that you know that 14 newspapers – including the San Jose Mercury News, the Sacramento Bee, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Fresno Bee, the Riverside Press Enterprise, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the Modesto Bee, the Bakersfield Californian, the Orange County Register, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, and the San Bernardino County Sun have already… Read More

Okay, so I was one of the idiots that thought Arnold Schwarzenegger would be the answer to the State’s problems. I confess my transgression, and beg forgiveness. After riding a historic recall wave in 2003, fueled largely by support from the State Republican Party, we went along with the "refinancing" of the Davis mess with a $15 billion bond. Then the Governor signed historic Workers’ Compensation Reform, his only significant public policy achievement. Then he gave a great speech at the Republican National Convention but it was clear by then that he was his own entity, not the head of the State Republican Party.

His failed 2005 ballot initiatives were courageous and necessary, but his conduct since that defeat has been political cowardice at best as he himself has become a "girly man". He’s allowed state spending to rise faster than it did under Gray Davis. He was re-elected against a weak candidate in 2006 and put the State GOP millions in debt to finance his landslide, all while ignoring down ballot candidates. He was rude and dismissive of the Republican leadership in 2006 and signed some of the most insulting… Read More

This was recently post over at The Corner (maintained by National Review Online):

Cutting Taxes Is Critical [Victor Davis Hanson] The candidates haven’t had much discussion about why they should cut taxes as much as possible. The Bush tax cuts created more, not less, revenue. They were slurred only because spending during the first term vastly outpaced the rate of inflation — in part due to the wars, the dislocations from 9/11, and new entitlements (e.g., prescription drugs, No Child Left Behind, etc) that led to rising deficits. Tax cuts have to be coupled with either spending restraint or cuts, or the additional revenue gained is forgotten when sums far vaster are spent.… Read More

On this quiet Sunday morning, be prepared to be blown away with the latest and one of the most evil ideas that has come along for the expansion of the Nanny State… The following is penned by longtime FR friend Bill Leonard, who serves as a member of the California State Board of Equalization…

Pry the Thermostat from My Cold, Dead Hands By Bill Leonard

I have written about the number of people leaving California for any number of reasons— high taxes, traffic congestion, poor public schools, burdensome business climate—but yesterday came word of a new one: the cooler cops. The California Energy Commission is proposing in its Title 24 regulations that newly installed heating and cooling systems in… Read More

On this quiet Sunday morning, be prepared to be blown away with the latest and one of the most evil ideas that has come along for the expansion of the Nanny State… The following is penned by longtime FR friend Bill Leonard, who serves as a member of the California State Board of Equalization…

Pry the Thermostat from My Cold, Dead Hands By Bill Leonard I have written about the number of people leaving California for any number of reasons— high taxes, traffic congestion, poor public schools, burdensome business climate—but yesterday came word of a new one: the cooler cops. The… Read More

Longtime GOP Activist Patrick Moir, who toiled here in the Golden State for many years, now calls Nevada home. He sent this missive over, worthy of sharing with FR readers…

As Sunday night comes to a close, I’m in my house in Las Vegas reviewing the upcoming week and next weekend and realize that the Nevada Caucus is coming up on Saturday. I have received nothing from the Nevada Republican Party about the caucus, its location or how it works. I visited their website after seeing a small ad in the local paper and learned that I need to go to a high school a few miles away "for my precinct caucus."

I’m also surprised candidates have so little interest in my vote. As a 3 of 4 Republican male (I didn’t vote in the city general election that had only a municipal court judge on the ballot in Summerlin), I would expect to be contacted as much as Shirley Horton’s campaign spoke to people in the 2004 election, but I have… Read More

Red County 2.0… The Red County network has upgraded, with a new format and new locations for the regional blog sites. Something dubbed 2.0. Ok, I’ll buy that. It also means a new URL for the local SD site. Take a look…when not posting there myself, it’s my second choice every day for the latest insider political news…after FR of course! You can check out Red County SD and its localized content here

Sheriff La Suer?… Is the former “number two” at the Sheriff’s Department eying the seat? Jay La Suer, also the immediate past 77th AD assemblyman and prior to that a 10-year member of the La Mesa City Council, is said to be doing just that. Once considered a possible contender for Duncan Hunter’s open congressional seat, La Suer has endorsed Hunter son Duncan D. for the spot. Short of waiting for an open senate seat from a termed-out Dennis Hollingsworth, the one-time undersheriff has few prospects if interested in another office.

Roger Hedgecock… Read More