Just over the transom from State Senator Jeff Denham:

Over the past week, much is being said and written as to whether I should be the next vote to help pass the state budget. I would agree that it is irresponsible for our state government not to pass a balanced budget on time, but I also believe that it is reprehensible and deplorable for the Democrats to adjourn the legislature for almost a month without passing any gap funding for California’s critical programs.

As Democrat legislators continue to enjoy their vacation, Californians most vulnerable and many of our medical care providers are starting to have their lives negatively impacted. Without a state budget, hospitals, health clinics, summer programs, community colleges, and remediation programs risk being scaled down or completely eliminated.

As noted in one of our newspapers, “One of the most dramatic shortfalls was in Medi-Cal funds for 500 hospitals and… Read More

It turns out that the obscure recall effort against Republican State Senator Jeff Denham was nothing more than a political ploy from the California Democrat Party, undoubtedly still chafed that they did so poorly at trying to win that State Senate seat last November.

Shane Goldmacher is reporting the discovery of the CDP expenditures over at the SacBee Insider (sorry, no link because they charge money to read that page). Previously State Dems were not willing to own up to this effort.

To demostrate the grass-roots nature of the efforts, the spokesperson quoted in Goldmacher’s story — loony Bob Mulholland, who hails far, far away from the Central Valley, up in Chico.

’nuff said.… Read More

In our commentary yesterday, we featured some input on the state budget from State Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard (you can read that here).

Mike Genest, the Governor’s Director of Finance (who has written a couple of columns for this site in the past, so he gets high marks from the FR team) penned this "rebuttal" as it were to Leonard’s comments: First, regarding Bill Leonard’s comments on the bonds, there… Read More

A critical part of putting Long Beach on the map has been the anchoring of the Queen Mary decades ago. The only problem is they haven’t made any money. There are currentlyfour bids to develop that area. See here.

LBReport has revealed one councilwoman’s idea to turn the Queen Mary in to a gambling site. See here.The Queen Mary brought my grandfather to the US from Germany after WWII. No word on if they also transported an Native Americans. Maybe it it will affiliate with the nearby Larry Flynt’s Hustler Casino. Still seems this is a bad idea….that would make a lot of money.… Read More

Alameda County is working on a project that would shock most taxpayers…not because of the project itself, but because the project wasn’t completed years ago. The County has hired the former County Fire Chief to ensure that our public safety officials and first responders county-wide can communicate with one another during a crisis. In a post 9/11 world, I think most people in Alameda Co. assume that our firefighters, police and county sheriffs can all get on the same radio frequency and coordinate emergency responses. Unbelievably, that is not the case, and well-placed sources who wish to remain anonymous (for now) say Assemblywoman Hayashi is part of the problem.

In order for this new communications system to be implemented, each city within Alameda Co. must have a city council vote in favor of joining the JPA (Joint Powers Agreement) that will institute the new communications capability. So far, only eleven of the fourteen cities in Alameda Co. have joined. Why the hold outs? According to my sources, Hayashi has informed certain city council members in these hold out cities that they will not receive Democratic Party support in their next race if they vote… Read More

What an incredible past few days for California political news. First, the fundraising disclosure reports were unveiled, state budget deliberations ongoing, and a surprise development in a targeted Congressional seat.

In what clearly was the harshest week for freshman Democratic Congressman Jerry McNerney (CD 11), McNerney learned that he continues to frustrate his strongest base of supporters: the far-left grassroots activists and liberal internet denizens who last November helped the political neophyte topple 7-term incumbent GOP Congressman Richard Pombo in one of the nation’s most shocking Republican Party defeats.

Earlier, McNerney angered his supporters and donors when he voted against Congressman James McGovern’s proposal to order an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. On Democratic Party-affiliated websites, former supporters and campaigners for McNerney blasted the frosh lawmaker for “voting with Bush enablers on Iraq.”… Read More

Over the last two weeks, the state has been locked in a fight to keep the bad guys in prison, over the insistence of several liberal federal judges to let them go. Two months ago, the Legislature approved a prison reform package in an attempt to alleviate the so-called overcrowding problem, but to no avail. Judges Henderson and Karlton decided to take over the prison system, and run it their way.

Here’s a suggestion for the Governor, his staff and the Department of Corrections. Tell the federal judges to go pound sand in a particularly uncomfortable place.

Prisons are a unique state function. There are some federal prisons, but, by and large, the corrections system is a state function. More importantly, the federal government’s intervention, through the courts, is constitutionally dubious. While federal judges have tried to interfere in the state operation of prison’s by way of the eighth amendment, the argument that our current prison system constitutes cruel and unusual punishment is absurd on its face. So, why not tell the federal courts to get out of our prison administration forever.

First, policy wise, it is a great… Read More

What an incredible past few days for California political news. First, the fundraising disclosure reports were unveiled, state budget deliberations ongoing, and a surprise development in a targeted Congressional seat.

In what clearly was the harshest week for freshman Democratic Congressman Jerry McNerney (CD 11), McNerney learned that he continues to frustrate his strongest base of supporters: the far-left grassroots activists and liberal internet denizens who last November helped the political neophyte topple 7-term incumbent GOP Congressman Richard Pombo in one of the nation’s most shocking Republican Party defeats.

Earlier, McNerney angered his supporters and donors when he voted against Congressman James McGovern’s proposal to order an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. On Democratic Party-affiliated websites, former supporters and campaigners for McNerney blasted the frosh lawmaker for “voting with Bush enablers on Iraq.”… Read More