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Tab Berg

MacGlashan running for re-election, supports Sander in AD10

Earlier, fellow blogger Tom Ross complimented County Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan for her tough stand to protect children and noted that her conservative votes and effectiveness on the Board positioned her well for a GOP primary in AD 10.

Tom’s assessment was right – but MacGlashan is running for re-election to the Board of Supervisors – and she’s endorsed Rancho Cordova Mayor David Sander for AD 10. (disclaimer: McGlashan and Sander are clients of TABcommunications).

Sander currently serves as Mayor of one of the largest cities in AD 10 and is an impressive fundraiser – he’s raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his city council races and nearly $1 million for community causes over the past couple of years. Sander announced today, and has already lined up numerous area GOP elected officials – including MacGlashan, Supervisor Susan Peters, Elk Grove Councilwoman Sophia Scherman, Rancho Cordova Council… Read More

Tab Berg

Craig MacGlashan is new Sac County GOP Chair

Sacramento County Republican Party just elected Craig MacGlashan as County Party Chair by a 27 to 15 margin.

MacGlashan had nearly universal support from GOP elected officials and had an effective whip program to help propel his strong victory.

Craig has been clear his goal is to emphasize political basics — raising funds, registering voters and turning out GOP to help elect Republicans — especially at the local level.

If San Diego, San Bernardino, Monterey or Santa Clara Counties are any indication, Sacramento will see a strong surge in GOP effectiveness in the coming elections!

Good luck to Craig and his new team!… Read More

Jon Fleischman

Court of Appeals takes up Nguyen-Nguyen Election Contest

Yesterday Truong Nguyen filed an application for an emergency writ to the Court of Appeals regarding his election contest with Janet Nguyen, who has been seated as an Orange County Supervisor. Trung Nguyen won the election day vote by seven votes and after the recount Janet was declared the winner by 3 votes. Truong then filed an election contest to the issue as to whether or not, in a recount, the paper trail that is produced by electronic voting machines must be recounted. The trial judge ruled that they did not have to be recounted, and Truong appealed this on this ground and on the ground that someone requesting a recount cannot shift counting methods back and forth between machine counts and hand counts based on what beneifts them the most. The Court of Appeals summarily denies 98.5% of writs filed before them, either on the grounds that it is not an emergency, or on the grounds that the writ has no merit. Today the Court of Appeals issued and order in this case taking up the matter and ordering that briefing be completed by May 7, 2007. The decision in this… Read More

Jon Fleischman

Coastal Commission smacks down their Executive Director

Yesterday I penned a lengthy commentary entitled, Who’s in charge over at the Coastal Commission? The Commissioners? Or the Staff? Well, today we got the answer to that question. The members of the Coastal Commission voted by a large 8 – 3 majority to oppose Assemblyman Lloyd Levine’s extremest legislation that would have banned the use of fractional ownership (timeshares and the like) in coastal resort developments.

This after rumors were widely circulating that their own Commission Executive Director, Peter Douglas, had played a role in the crafting of the legislation. Douglas’ staff recommendation to the Commission, by the way, was NOT to oppose the bill, but to amend the bill (by the way, his recommended amendment would still have usurped authority currently held by his bosses on the Commission).

Apparently the dog is wagging the tail after all. Perhaps this is an indicator that the Commission staff needs to understand where it is the Commission would like to go, and work to get there. Not, as rumor… Read More

Mike Spence

New Technology Upending Politics

West Covina is on the cutting edge of technology. The issue is who should be Mayor. I really don’t want to get into the background on this thorny issue, but at the council meeting a citizen (assisted or not assisted by a councilman), showed a video of past comments made by council members at council meetings to embarass the council majority. See article here.

Local officials beware!!!… Read More

Jon Fleischman

AG Title and Summary on Term Limits measure is a joke…

I think that Fabian Nunez owes a beer to his friend Jerry Brown. Below is the official Title and Summary of Nunez measure that WEAKENS term-limits. It’s sure hard to tell from what the AG wrote:

Date: April 11, 2007 Initiative No. 07-0004 Amendment No. 1S

The Attorney General of California has prepared the following title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed measure:

LIMITS ON LEGISLATORS’ TERMS IN OFFICE. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Reduces the total amount of time a person may serve in the state legislature from 14 years to 12 years. Allows a person to serve a total of 12 years either in the Assembly, the Senate, or a combination of both. Provides a transition period to allow current members to serve a total of 12 consecutive years in the house in which they are currently serving, regardless of any prior service in another house. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: This measure would have no direct fiscal effect on state or local governments. (07-0004.)… Read More

Michael Der Manouel, Jr.

Schwarzenegger is what?

"’Schwarzenegger is what conservatives think the future is,’ says Gerald Dorfman, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and an expert on British and European politics."

What?

Are these think tank guys mental? Let’s put aside social issues. We knew what we were getting there. How is running a structural deficit in any way related to what conservatives think our future is. I respected the Governor until November, 2005. Now, I don’t at all, politically. You cannot reward his spending all of our record revenue increases, continued borrowing, and stumping for necessary but unnaffordable bond measures as "business savvy". It isn’t. And we will be paying dearly for all of this inside of 18 months. Take it to the bank.

The Governor could have won re-election easily and balanced the budget at the same time and made a conscious decision not to. That is not conservatism, nor is it its future. It’s the same failed policy that led to our ouster in Washington last November.… Read More

Jon Fleischman

Wednesday Thoughts…

A few thoughts…

When scarcity of resources drive energy costs up in California, look back to yesterday’s vote by the State Lands Commission to reject a proposal by BHP Billiton to place a liquefied natural gas facility about 15 miles off of the coast of Los Angeles County. And when you do that, remember that it was John Garamendi and John Chiang who cast the two "no" votes (the Governor’s representative voted for the proposal). Ask yourself whether Lt. Governor McClintock or Controller Strickland would have made a difference…. Is there a groundswell movement in California for the potential Presidential candidacy of Law & Order actor and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson? Much is being made of an upcoming speech he will give in May to the Lincoln Club of Orange County. Keen observers will see that there is now a Draft Thomson ad up on the right side of the FlashReport… The new Schwarzenegger doctrine of ‘shared responsibility’ is a pseudonym for government expansion. Instead of focusing on how government can mandate Californians to buy insurance, we should be figuring out… Read More