A friend just forwarded the following:

Welcome to Citizens for the California Republic! Dear E-Team Member:

Like you, I have been watching the disastrous turn to the Left thatis nowtaking place in Sacramento – and like you, I don’t intend to sit idly by.Spending is growing faster and the deficit is growing bigger than underGray Davis. The Governor who promised to "cut up the credit cards" hasdoubled our debt burden in just three years. And 72 hours after he tookthe oath of office, the Governor who promised never to raise taxesproposed the second biggest tax increase in California’s history to provide free health insurance to illegal aliens.

I have formed a committee called "Citizens for the CaliforniaRepublic."Its purpose is provide the 75,000 citizen politicians like you whosupported me in the recent elections with a steady stream of informationand practical suggestions to enable every one of us to make our voicesheard.

Our first project is completed: a new web site at… Read More

* It didn’t seem appropriate to take this post down, but apparently this rumor is not true. Vallante has made no such announcement. – FLASH

An excellent source just told me the California Republican Party’s Chief Operating Officer, Mike Vallante, is joining the Rudy Giuliani for President campaign and will be running his California operations.

This could be a leading indicator of a coming scramble for California talent by the major presidential contenders, spurred by the prospect of a February 5 presidential primary.

UPDATE (2-7-07): Vallante may not have made an announcement, but I stand by this post. Once the CRP convention is over and the new regime is elected, Vallante is going to go to work for the Giuliani for President campaign.… Read More

With the year-end campaign finance numbers in, it is apparent that Jerry McNerney is going to be a major drain on the DCCC to keep the 11th district in play in 2008. Despite two fundraisers that the McNerney campaign promoted by sending out on his Christmas cards (not kidding and they actually sent one to Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian’s office), McNerney managed to limp into the new year with $42,357.50 in the bank to go with still unpaid debt of $124,108.49.

McNerney is now going to have to raise money to pay for a political operation while he tries to keep up with the pace of being a new member of Congress with no political experience. Add to that the responsibilities of needing to spend time getting around the district to continue to underwhelm his new constituents in a Republican district and it doesn’t leave much room for error. If McNerney doesn’t pick up his fundraising in the March report he might end up with an even higher spot on the political "Endangered Species List."… Read More

Assemblyman Joel Anderson introduced legislation earlier this week to divest the Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) of investments in Iranian-connected businesses, appropriately questioning whypublic funds should support terrorist states (read the original FR post and Joel’s SDUT op-ed).

At the time, not even he likely comprehended the amount of monies invested, as research was still being conducted to determine the total. Granted, California may have the best-funded retirement system in the world, but the answer is still unbelievable.

According to Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG), a Washington, DC-based research and consulting firm that specializes in corporate ties to Iran and other security concerns, CalPERS is invested in 152 companies with ties to Iran with investments that total some $14 billion. CSAG further identifies 69 of these companies,… Read More

Last night the phone lines were blazing when the story hit the wires about Mayor Gavin Newsom’s affair with a woman who was 1) a staff member; 2) a substance abuser and 3) the wife of a staffer with whom Newsom was personal friends. Newsom’s deputy chief of staff confronted him yesterday after his wife confessed the affair.

Yesterday, Newsom refused to comment. Today, Newsom admitted the affair: "I want to make it clear that everything you’ve heard and read is true, and I am deeply sorry about that. I am deeply sorry, and I am accountable for what has occurred."

I’m betting that Newsom’s public approval numbers in SF actually go UP after this story and the accompanying… Read More

Assemblyman Joel Anderson introduced legislation earlier this week to divest the Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) of investments in Iranian-connected businesses, appropriately questioning whypublic funds should support terrorist states (read the original FR post and Joel’s SDUT op-ed).

At the time, not even he likely comprehended the amount of monies invested, as research was still being conducted to determine the total. Granted, California may have the best-funded retirement system in the world, but the answer is still unbelievable.

According to Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG), a Washington, DC-based research and consulting firm that specializes in corporate ties to Iran and other security concerns, CalPERS is invested in 152 companies with ties to Iran with investments that total some $14 billion. CSAG further identifies 69 of these companies,… Read More

Senator Joe Biden made a really stupid and seemingly racist comment that is running in the Feb. 5, 2007 The New York Observer about Senate colleague Barack Obama. He said. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

I take issue with the "mainstream" part of his comment as much as the "clean" part. Some people would argue that it is just ‘old out-of-touch white man speak’ rather than racist. Maybe, but either way it’s pretty bad.

It did however remind me of some of my other favorite racist rants. Here are a few, two were said while on California soil:

Back in July 2004 then-Education Secretary Richard Riordan told a little girl at a Santa Barbara library reading program that her name, Isis, "means stupid, dirty girl." After she asked him if he knew what it… Read More

Any commis

Virtually city council and county board of supervisors in California establish and appoint commissions that advise them on issues like planning and traffic and housing and parks. In some cases, such as with most planning commissions, they hold statutory powers to approve things like conditional use permits.… Read More