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

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

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

Legal opinion needed:

The Washington Times says Congressman Hunter’s son, Duncan Duane Hunter, may be called back into active duty in the Marines Corps and redeployed. Canhe run for Congress while on active duty?

In the Washington Times he says "if deployed I will run for office as an active duty Marine serving a combat tour".

My reading of the rules indicates that if on active duty he cannot run, cannot solicit votes, and cannot encourage anyone else to run.

Anyone?

Update… well several lawyers calls and emails later the short answer is I don’t have any better idea on any of htisthan I did two hours ago. First, though, I’d point out, none of this matters IF Hunter Jr. is not redeployed or IF he gets back before filing.… Read More

Imagine a scenario where the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission is frustrated because four different times in recent months, "his" Commission has over-ruled the recommendations of his staff, in granting approvals for fractional-ownership hotels in California’s coastal development zone. Then imagine that the Executive Director, rather than talking with the staff about adjusting their guidelines to stay in concert with the majority of the Commission, instead goes out and recruits a liberal extremist State Assemblyman to introduce legislation to have California ban the very type of "condominium hotels" that were being approved… Sound like the classic story of the tail wagging the dog? Well that may be, in fact, what you have with Peter Douglas, the longtime Executive Director of the Coastal Commission (pictured on the cover of City Beat magazine). At their… Read More

Yesterday’s Washington Times headline, "Hunter’s son to run for dad’s seat," kind of missed the point. We already knew that.

Considering the story’s lede clearly points it out, a more appropo headline might have been, "Hunter’s son to run for dad’s seat from combat zone."

As Duncan Duane Hunter told me, "I found out recently that I might be called back to active duty in the Marine Corps and I might deploy this year to Iraq or Afghanistan. This is not affecting my plans on running for Congress, in fact it reinforces my desire to serve the people of San Diego supporting our President and troops in this time of war. If deployed, I will run for office as an active duty Marine serving a combat tour…it will be interesting."

Interesting, to say the least. As one local consultant put it, "If there are a dozen GOP candidates he can win from… Read More

I’m pleased to be reporting from Houston where I’ve just presented a seminar on election law and nonprofit rules to one of our clients, a national organization in favor of tax reform. And I must say, this city, which eschews many of the normal rules of urban development, looks pretty darn cool. Downtown Houston is undergoing a "Renaissance" that has included moving the Houston Astros from the old Astrodome to a new field, "Minute Maid Park," which is just steps away from major hotels and shopping and which include significant private sector support, unlike many of our new stadiums in California. The Rockets play basketball at a new stadium largely funded by Toyota (helping to keep some jobs, at least, in America!). And when I discuss the rules of election and nonprofit law here, the locals ask really great questions, such as "Why in tarnation would the government do that!?"

The last time I was in Houston was in 1981. Today, parts of the city look like Michigan Ave. in Chicago, the Galleria shopping area is great, the art museums are top drawer, and the tex-mex is outstanding! No wonder, with California, from 1976 to… Read More

Imagine a scenario where the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission is frustrated because four different times in recent months, "his" Commission has over-ruled the recommendations of his staff, in granting approvals for fractional-ownership hotels in California’s coastal development zone. Then imagine that the Executive Director, rather than talking with the staff about adjusting their guidelines to stay in concert with the majority of the Commission, instead goes out and recruits a liberal extremist State Assemblyman to introduce legislation to have California ban the very type of "condominium hotels" that were being approved… Sound like the classic story of the tail wagging the dog? Well that may be, in fact, what you have with Peter Douglas, the longtime Executive Director of the Coastal Commission (pictured on the cover of City Beat magazine). At their… Read More