There are a lot of issues that come up in the State Capitol, and, where the significant legislation is concerned, you can usually see a breakdown occurring on partisan lines. This is because there are distinct differences between the philosophies of the parties, and when bills seek in increase the size and scope of the government, Democrats support them and Republicans oppose them. Similarly, when legislation shrinks government, it is often hard to get a Democrat to support it. There are some pieces of legislation, though that will divide Democrats or Republicans, and clearly Senate Bill 670 authored by State Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), and advocated by state realtors, is one of those bills. Senator Correa’s bill seek to ban a type of ‘transfer cost’ that is starting to become more prevalent in home sales. The very short version of what happens is this — a home builder places this transfer cost (or fee) on the original deed, requiring that some small percentage of the purchase price (typically one percent or less) be paid to the builder at the time of sale, and perhaps what is most unusual, and disturbing to most, is that… Read More

Anemic Numbers on FEC Finance Reports highlight freshman’s weakness in the 11th CD’s population base.

In the latest filings with the FEC, congressman Jerry McNerney raised a total of $347,192.52 and reported a cash on hand total of $296,893.16. The amazing part about this is the total raised from San Joaquin County. Less than $4000 in itemized contributions were received from San Joaquin County. Stockton, by far, is the largest community in the 11th district and turned in $3550 to the McNerney fundraising effort. With another $850 from the rural portion of San Joaquin, that brings his total haul for San Joaquin County to $4400. Other San Joaquin communities did not even appear on the report including Tracy, Manteca, Lodi and Ripon.

Meanwhile, Stockton was eclipsed by such notable 11th district communities as Kew Gardens, NY ($4600), Tucson, AZ ($4600), Belvedere, CA ($4000), as well as the typical McNerney influx from Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi came in $1450 ahead of Stockton with $5000 from her PAC to the Future (Haven’t seen any Syrian donations… Read More

Reports from the College Republican convention write that Ryan Clumpnerwon the spirited campaign220-82….and that all of his down ticket slate members won by similar margins.

"After serving under our last two Chairman as Executive director and a hard fought campaign over the last few months, I am honored to have been chosen to lead CCR as Chairman. I’m looking forward to expanding on our aleady successful progams, starting new clubs in targeted areas, and fighting the left on campuses throughout the state… this is your movement, this is your organization, and this is your victory" Ryan Clumpner

Congratulations, Mr. Clumpner, and cheers to the College Republicans for the hard work they have given the Republican Party and its candidates over the last several years.… Read More

There Oughta Be a Law… For the least several weeks I’ve been diligently following the Anna Nicole Smith tragedy. Nightly watching the Nancy Grace hard news updates, pouring over the tabloids, just waiting for the story to meet the litmus test that would allow me to write about it on these pages — some semblance oftie-in to California politics.

At last, with the California Medical Board entering the fray, my opportunity is here.

It seems that every one of the 11 medications found in Anna Nicole’s room at the time of her death was prescribed by the same California physician. The State Medical Board promises an investigation…and right they should!

There oughta be a law, and if there already is one, there oughta be another. Perhaps even a handful.

We need to lead the way on this. California has more celebrities than any other state, we undoubtedly fill more celebrity drug prescriptions than most other countries… Read More

– Senator Feinstein is under scrutiny for some of her/her husbands dealings…I have always preached that we should all be careful what we wish for. If she has a true financial conflict of interest based on the law. Shame on her. If there is not legal conflict, only one that is perceived. Shame on her accusers.

– I don’t know much about the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) other than I pay it. And it is a major disincentive for charitable giving. Once the AMT kicks in, the deductions you take for contributions to non-profits often times fall out.

– State Senator Abel Maldonado is right. Mission San Miguel and others like it that dot the California landscape and shaped our history should be eligible state funds for rehab. I am not sure it isn’t the job of the Church or private sector or some non-profit (for which you won’t get a tax deduction for giving to because of the AMT) but if state funds are being used to fix up… Read More

– Senator Feinstein is under scrutiny for some of her/her husbands dealings…I have always preached that we should all be careful what we wish for. If she has a true financial conflict of interest based on the law. Shame on her. If there is not legal conflict, only one that is perceived. Shame on her accusers.

– I don’t know much about the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) other than I pay it. And it is a major disincentive for charitable giving. Once the AMT kicks in, the deductions you take for contributions to non-profits often times fall out.

– State Senator Abel Maldonado is right. Mission San Miguel and others like it that dot the California landscape and shaped our history should be eligible state funds for rehab. I am not sure it isn’t the job of the Church or private sector or some non-profit (for which you won’t get a tax deduction for giving to because of the AMT) but if state funds are being used to fix up… Read More

Today the United States Olympic Organizing Committee has decided to choose Chicago over Los Angeles as the site for our country’s bid to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to America. The field had already been narrowed down to these two finalists.

I guess this is good news or bad news depending on how you look at it. I will let other people share their perspective, but I will tell you that as far as I am concerned, this is great news on two levels.

From a concerned-taxpayer perspective, I was very disturbed to see the State of California provide a financial guarantee (courtesy of taxpayer dollars) in case the games lose money. How much? If the games were to tank financially, we’d be on the hook for up to $250,000,000.00.

Let me share another perspective on why this is good news for… me. I love the Olympic Games. There is almost nothing the beats being present to watch the best athletes in the world compete against one another! To give you an idea of my enthusiasm, in 2004, I made… Read More

As if newly elected OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen didn’t have enough to deal with (having just won by three votes and still facing a legal challenges to her seat) this morning the Capitol Morning Report pulled a two-year-old press release from the CalChamber web site talking about their support for Supervisor Nguyen’s run at Assemblyman Van Tran’s 68th Assembly District seat (even though Van is not termed out until 2010. NOT TRUE (well the part about the Chamber support is or was…read on).

Back when the jockeying for Joe Dunn’s 34th Senate seat was happening Assemblyman Van Tran was the likely GOP nominee and at that time then-Councilwoman Janet Nguyen was on track to run to replace Tran. Janet Nguyen a former local chamber government affairs exec. had the support of the CalChamber. When Tran decided to stick it out in the Assembly, the whole thing became moot.

According to FR publisher Jon Fleischman, who has been in contact with the Capitol Morning Report and CalChamber today, the correction will be published tomorrow.

While it might have been a fun war to watch, don’t count on… Read More