Breaking News in SD…..

Chula Vista council member indicted by grand jury By Tanya Mannes UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

CHULA VISTA – City Councilman Steve Castaneda, who has accused District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis of investigating him multiple times to pressure him to resign, has been indicted by a county grand jury, according to court records.

A listing of new filings in the San Diego Superior Court database listed the indictment dated Friday, but did not describe the charge or provide any other details. Read it all at Red County/San Diego.… Read More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Campaign to Reform Eminent Domain Abuse Kicks Off Signature Gathering Legislature Continues to Consider Meaningless Property Rights Legislation

July 3, 2007 – Today, a broad coalition announced it is launching its efforts to begin the signature gathering process to qualify the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act (CPOFPA) for the June 2008 ballot. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial Kelo v. New London decision two years ago, 41 states have enacted eminent domain reforms to protect the private property rights of citizens, with 20 states passing meaningful protections, but true reforms have eluded California so far.

Supporters of eminent domain reform cite the State Legislature’s consideration of the redevelopment industry’s ACA 8 as further evidence that no meaningful reform will be considered this year. ACA 8, submitted by Assemblyman Hector De Le Torre (South Gate), has been roundly criticized by… Read More

The environment is one of the “big three” issues that are hurting GOP candidates – particularly here in California. And frankly, it’s an issue Republicans should be leading rather than ceding to extremists on the far left.

It’s amazingly inconsistent to advocate tight control of tax-dollars, then blithely ignore the value of irreplaceable natural resources. It’s like the penny-wise businessman who watches his bank account like a hawk, but ignores routine maintenance on his building until it collapses around him. Eventually he’s going to have to deal with it, it’s just smarter and cheaper to do it along the way.

And, don’t confuse real conservationism with the wack-nut extremists who think insects are equally (or more) important than people.

We have allowed the wacky-left to define environmentalism. But these extremists are not environmentalists or conservationist – they are the anti-humans. They oppose anything that helps make people’s lives easier or better. They have gone beyond NIMBY (Not In My… Read More

The environment is one of the “big three” issues that are hurting GOP candidates – particularly here in California. And frankly, it’s an issue that Republicans should be leading rather than ceding to extremists on the far left.

It’s amazingly inconsistent to advocate tight control of tax-dollars, and then blithely ignore the value of irreplaceable national resources. It’s kind of like the penny-wise businessman who watches his bank account like a hawk, but ignores even routine maintenance of his building until it collapses around him. Eventually he’s going to have to deal with it, it’s just smarter and cheaper to do it along the way.

Don’t confuse real conservationism with the wack-nut extremists who think insects are equally (or even more) important than people.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

About 17 or so years ago a young, bright San Diego up-and-comer was contemplating a run for State Assembly. Many in GOP circles were talking about him, as he clearly had a decent chance to take a legislative seat.

There was a problem, however … although it wasn’t a personal one for him, perhaps just a political one. Personally, he was in love with a young political reporter for the San Diego Union and they had become engaged. As the reporter often covered state legislative politics, she asked her employer about the situation and was told — as the story goes — that the pending marriage represented a potential conflict of interest, thus she would have to make a decision as to whether she wanted to continue her particular role at the newspaper.

The answer was simple … the young man opted not to pursue a political career at the moment, instead deciding to pursue his true heart. A smart man, I’d say.

What is remembered the most, though, is the big, annual San Diego County Republican Party Christmas Dinner — it had to be December 1989, if memory serves — and GOP Chair Betty Kujawa (rest her… Read More

My brother, Rick, went to his local AT&T Store yesterday in San Francisco, and missed getting his new iPhone by just a few people. Well, determination is a strong suit for Fleischmans, and he was at a local Apple Store at 8am this morning, and now has his 8 gig iPhone. He’s already loaded Star Wars into it!

While we have determination in common, we don’t share our politics. To prove the point, when he was showing it to me just now, he got an email… From Michael “Sicko” Moore. Blech!… Read More

On Thursday night I attended the LA County Republican Party’s annual fundraiser in Beverly Hills. For a County Party that just a few years ago failed to be able to consistently make rent on their headquarters, the event was a huge success.

County Chair Linda Boyd and her team should be congratulated for the ongoing success of the Party.

The event itself featured several hundred paid attendees, and brought in over $100,000 to the Party. It honored longtime LA conservative fixtures Supervisor Mike Antonovich and donor extraordinaire Burt Boeckmann and his wife, Jane.

Also in attendance were CRP Chairman Ron Nehring, former CRP Chairs Shawn Steel and Frank Visco, Sheriff Lee Baca, super donor Eli Broidy, longtime politico Bill Saracino, and former Mayor Dick Riordan. It was also good to see former Assemblyman Tony Strickland, Palmdale Councilman Steve Knight, and Nathan Fletcher – each legislative candidates from around Southern California, make it out to the event.

The old adage is that money is the mother’s milk of politics, and after Thursday night, the LA County Party will have a few bucks to invest in the cause.… Read More

Today was the day the $3 million of the CRP’s Victory ’06 massive debt was due. Yesterday the current CRP Board got an extension on the $3 million dollar portion of the $4.5 million oweduntil…….. August. Or so I’m told by four non-CRP board members that have all told me the same story.

What will be different in August? The CRP will have paid about a half a million bucks in interest. The real question is when will the Governor keep his pledge to pay this debt rather than keep raising money for his own fund.

By the September CRP Convention we will only havethe shirts on our backs—if we’re lucky.

You can see my last post on this that has links to the Victory ’06 debacle here.… Read More