Shakespeare’s classic question, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…”, shines light on the significance of a name. It leads us to ponder the potency of a name when we hear about an ineffective San Francisco program that is called “One Stop.”

Maybe this juggernaut like name was given to the workforce development program in hopes of breaking the city’s history of bureaucratic, convoluted endeavors. In essence, the program’s name, One Stop, conveys the antithesis of its actual nature (disorganized, unaccountable, and wasteful). It’s anything but a sweet-smelling rose for taxpayers. According to the San Francisco Chronicle (August 3, 2007), “A city audit has found that San Francisco is spending at least $29 million a year on employment programs while placing a disappointingly low number of people into jobs and without knowing whether the jobs they are receiving are permanent or temporary.” The audit… Read More

I was talking to a state legislator yesterday, and he threw out to me a very disturbing thought. We’ve all read about the recent passage by Democrats of this bill to place a ‘straw poll’ vote on the February ballot on whether Californian’s support the war in Iraq. Well, it doesn’t take much thought to understand that this measure authored by Democrat Senate President Don Perata is a cynical plot to drive up liberal turnout for the election on which the Perata/Nunez Career Politician Term Limits Weakening Initiative will appear. Perata (and Nunez) are completely fixated on trying to blow a hole in the state’s term limits so that they can cling to their prestigious offices. This legislator to whom I spoke was expressing concern that perhaps the Governor would allow this Iraq-vote measure to be ‘in play’ in negotiations taking place over redistricting proposals. That he might actually be open to signing this terrible and politically-motivated bill. To this we say that our nation’s foreign policy, and the lives of American soldiers should not be chits in political maneuvers surrounding legislative… Read More

The lead consultants for the Speaker’s Term Limits Weakening Initiative, which apparently won’t make the February ballot, have to write a memo to their client. We decided to draft one for them…

URGENT MEMORANDUM To: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez From: Gale Kaufman and Matthew Dowd RE: Failure to Save Your Career Dear Fabian, We are in the midst of a top-to-bottom review of our collective failure to place our carefully orchestrated end-run on term… Read More

In less than two weeks, the California Republican Party Convention will take place in Indian Wells, in the Palm Springs area. At the convention, delegates will have an opportunity to take positions for or against ballot measures set to appear on the February 2008 ballot. I have authored a resolution to oppose what I call the Perata/Nunez Career Politican Term Limits Extension Act. (Will you support my resolution? Drop me a line.) I have signed the following letter to all CRP voting delegates:

The Federal Election Commission has established a new service that reveals total contributions to Presidential candidates generated by state, and even within a “first three” zip code, and you can click through to see actual donations by individuals within the zip codes! The generosity of Californians to Presidential candidates in both parties is most interesting.

Through the mid-year reports, Californians were responsible for a total of $37 million in contributions to all registered Presidential candidates, of a total of almost $296 million raised nationwide (about 12.5% of total contributions). Democrat candidates earned $23 million of this support, with Clinton and Obama essentially tied at $8.8 million; and Republicans drew $14 million, with Romney taking the cake with $5.4 million and Giuliani next in line with a little over $4.1 million.

The zip code contributions from California are fascinating. In coastal Orange County’s signature zip codes (926XX series, such as 92660 (Newport Beach)) contributions to Republican Presidential candidates for the first half of this year topped $2.4 million, and Democrats were just $800,000 from the same… Read More

In less than two weeks, the California Republican Party Convention will take place in Indian Wells, in the Palm Springs area. At the convention, delegates will have an opportunity to take positions for or against ballot measures set to appear on the February 2008 ballot. I have authored a resolution to oppose what I call the Perata/Nunez Career Politican Term Limits Extension Act. (Will you support my resolution? Drop me a line.) I have signed the following letter to all CRP voting delegates:

Congressman Darrell Issa looks on. Photo Credit: Anthony Porrello.… Read More

Although FR Blogmeister Jon Fleischman was kind enough to give it a plug already, I felt it my duty as Red County online editor to do it as well.

The Red County family of blogs has expanded once again and into Northern California for the first time: I am pleased to announce Red County/Placer!

For those who don’t know, Placer is a rapidly growing and deeply red… Read More