The Orange County Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal today to put a charter amendment before the voters that would, if passed, give the board the authority to place county-wide elected officials on administrative leave–effectively remove a district attorney or county clerk for example from office, if 4/5 of them so choose.

It was a bad idea and I applaud the majority for their vote.

One of the most compelling speakers at the board meeting was Assemblyman Todd Spitzer–a former county supervisor and former deputy district attorney. Spitzer is known as a law and order Republican–someone who puts cop and prosecutor on a pedestal (more so than my libertarian sensibilities allow me to).

But Spitzer argued against the proposal because it is inappropriate for the supervisors to serve as judge, jury and executioner. DA Rackauckas also made similar and well put remarks recommending that the board reject the proposal.… Read More

This morning, Steve Poizner made it official – he is now heading up the statewide efforts to oppose Proposition 93, the end-run on California’s Term Limits for State Legislators. Poizner’s opening ante… $1.5 million, matched with another $1.5 from the US Term Limits folks. Given the plummeting poll numbers for 93 when there was no opposition funding… Probably not a good sign for Don Perata and Fabian Nunez, who will have to find employment elsewhere come next December. That is music to the ears of California taxpayers…… Read More

UPDATE: 12:24 A.M. — WITH ALL OF THE VOTES COUNTED, MIKE WAS THE TOP VOTE GETTER…

UPDATE: 10:00 P.M. – WE’RE CALLING THIS RACE FOR SPENCE, AS THE TOP VOTE GETTER. WITH 10 OF 16 PRINCINCTS REPORTING, IT IS VERY UNLIKELY THAT THIS OUTCOME WILL CHANGE. CONGRATULATIONS, MIKE! – FLASH

Fellow FR Correspondent Mike Spence, who perhaps received more statewide and national attention on conservative blogs than anyone running for re-election to a local school board in the history of mankind — no doubt because of his popularity on these pages and his status as CRA president — appears to easily be outdistancing the field in early West Covina Unified returns….

Vote for no more than three Candidate Votes Percent MIKE SPENCE 965 28.01… Read More

Senator Bob Dutton drafted this piece exclusively for FR readers, where he brings up a good point — the Governor has the power, and the responsibility to declare a state of fiscal emergency — now! Time is “NOW” for Governor and Legislature to Deal with Budget Crisis State Senator Bob Dutton I applaud Governor Schwarzenegger for his recognition that the State of California is in the midst of a financial crisis. According to the LA Times, Governor Schwarzenegger ordered all state departments to identify cuts of at least 10%. California’s… Read More

As California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring is fond of saying, in order for Republicans to take back our majority, we need to present a positive, contrasting message to that espoused by the other party. There is no part of the GOP’s message that is more important to that ‘contrast’ than the idea that Republicans stand for fiscal prudence, and sanity when it comes to spending. Unlike our Democrat counterparts, whose unfettered and free-spending ways are consistent with their view of a massive role for the United States government, Republicans should be able to coalesce around the idea of cutting federal spending, which happens to be consistent with our party’s long-time view that the federal government is too big, and spends too much. We’ve made no bones about it here on this page that we wish that President George W. Bush had made significantly more use of his veto pen since his first election to the White House in 2000. Some significant and important vetoes during his first term would have really put the brakes on a lot of the increases in spending that ultimately played a significant role of the GOP’s loss of the… Read More

Most of you are familiar with Norman Hsu. Youve seen the news reports. Ponzi schemes, bundled contributions for Hillary Clinton, his suicide attempt and run from the law. See his Wikipedia entry here.

On November 6, 2007 voters in the Hacienda-La Puente School District will get their chance to vote on Norman Hsu. Well, not the same one. Norman Hsu is a long time board member and a Republican on the ballot.

Is all news good new as long as they spell your name right? Check back… Read More

How would you like to open your local newspaper, and have a sealed condom fall out of it and onto your lap? If you are a student over at my alma mater, California State University, Fullerton, this could have been your fate… But for the well timed complaint of a few students, everything was in place to fold thousands of condoms into issues of the Daily Titan. With a h/t to the Orange County Register’s Marla Jo Fischer for the ‘heads up’ on this story, check it out. And this is in conservative Orange County. Lord knows what’s been distributed to students up at U.C. Berkeley via the Daily Californian paper. Seriously, we don’t want to know…

P.S. If you are a Titan, and still want your free condom, they’ll be putting coupons for free ones in the paper…… Read More

There is a war against direct democracy brewing behind the scenes in California, and advocates of the initiative, referendum and recall process (the same process that helped elect our current Governor and oust Gray Davis) need to wake up and take action before the war is lost! To wit:

1. The "Ballot Initiative Strategy Center," a liberal think-tank that is the darling of Legislative leaders, has taken aim atreducing the influence ofdirect-democracy in California (and thereby furtherempowering the Legislature) by issuinga 64-page report criticizing the initiative process and making recommendations for changes. These recommendationswill serve as a pretext forthe Legislature to enact"reforms" that will only expand their power vs. the people’s power. Thereport includes adhominen criticisms of alleged misrepresentations by signature gatherers in trying to persuade voters to sign petitions, and leverages these occasional problems (which can otherwise be dealt with enforcing rules already on the books, and the fail-safe method of the voteractually reading the petition’s short official Title and… Read More