UNIONS HAVE ONE MAIN FOCUS – MORE GOODIES FOR THEIR MEMBERS I am very pleased for my friend Bruce McPherson that his campaign yesterday was able to trumpet the endorsement of the California Professional Firefighters in his first election to the position of Secretary of State (he is the appointed incumbent, so this is his first run for the office – though he did run statewide for Lieutenant Governor last go-around). It is a good endorsement to have — it is a major public employee union, and as we saw in the 2005 special election, the unions are a powerful force in politics. He also has the endorsement of the California Teachers Association. McPherson’s union endorsements gives me an opportunity to express my concern about employee… Read More

I am happy to report that the new House Republican strategy to address illegal immigration is picking up steam. Last week, the conference unveiled a series of bills focused on border security and enforcement that we will be taking up over the next few weeks. Most of these proposals were included in the broader House bill we already passed, but by breaking them up we will be able to send them to the Senate and hopefully circumvent the current stalemate with them over the guest worker issue. This strategy will take the focus off of “comprehensive” plans and force the Senate to evaluate each piece of border security for their individual merit. So far, it looks like it is working. Last week, the House passed a bill to create 700 miles of border fence. This leaves the Senate with no choice but to take up the bill, and they are expected to hold a vote later this week. In the mean time, the House is scheduled to vote on three bills focused on border security and enforcement priorities: H.R. 6089 – Combines the Dangerous Alien Detention Act and the State and Local Law … Read More

Dan Walters is right, the clock is ticking, and Phil Angelides doesn’t appear to have a rabbit he can pull out of a hat to make thiselection close. Stunningly, he doesn’t even appear to have a campaign anywhere, erasing from memory the Gubernatorial campaign of Dan Lungren in 1998 as the worst statewide effort in history.

Angelides incompetence has allowed the Governor to ignore conservatives, sign offensive legislation and occupy the entire center left spectrum – leaving only room to his right, where Angelides cannot tread. Union contracts have been signed, education is fully funded, the State is running billions in deficits, the minimum wage is being increased, greenhouse gas bills are being signed, transvestites have new rights in the workplace and billions more in borrowing are on the November ballot. The only antidote to this is conservatism, and it is nowhere to be found in the choice for Governor.

With the signing of the bill handing Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa control of LA unified the Mayor’s silence is all but assured this fall – offering only the "headfake" level of support for his fellow… Read More

Remember Steve Westly? Well just as the memory of his failed bid for governor is fading, he has announced he has a new PAC according to Kate Folmer at the Mercury News.

The stated goal of Mr. Westly’s new personal political sandbox is to help elect Iranian, LGBT and business community candidates. See for yourself. Isn’t it GLBT Steve or did you purposefully want to highlight the ‘L’ over the ‘G’?

Westly also says that one of his target races is the only real competitive state senate seat where he will be supporting Lou Correa in the 34th District in Orange County.

GOP Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher who is performing remarkably well so far in her bid for the 34th Senate Seat against Correa ought to take notice of Wesley’s intentions and perhaps try to unite Republican voters rather than divide them as she headlines in the battle of Rep. v. Dem in November.… Read More

The Long Beach Press-Telegram has an article detailing what County Supervisors get in LA County. Of course we lead they way. I like the $2,200 they get to spend on plants myself. See the article here.… Read More

Conventional wisdom suggests that politics at the upper echelons, is a rich man’s game. And you can find plenty of examples including our own governor.

However, having money does not necessarily mean you have political acumen. Warren Buffett is a fine example of this. Back in 2003 during the heat of the Recall Election battle, Schwarzenegger announced that Billionaire Warren Buffett would be a key economic adviser.

Buffett’s first act as adviser: tell the media that taxes were too low in California.

Flash forward to September 25th, 2006 and the Governor has pulled Buffet into a day-long fund raising effort starting in San Francisco, in LA for lunch and Orange County for an evening reception.

I hope the Join Arnold folks haven’t forgotten that Buffett is so rich that he tends to say things that us little people just don’t understand and that perhaps he should keep he public… Read More

POMBO LOOKS OUT FOR STATE’S RIGHTS – WITH THE DOER ACT! Right now, there is no federal law that bans drilling for oil off of the coastline of the United States. There are two temporary bans — one that is passed annually by Congress, and another which is even more tenuous, an "executive order" of the President which the Chief Executive can undo with the stroke of a pen. There are many who believe that drilling for oil offshore is a bad idea, and some that think it is a good idea. California Congressman Richard Pombo has been pushing hard to pass legislation that simply makes the issue of whether such oil drilling should happen off of the coast a state’s rights issue rather than a decision made by politicians in Washington, D.C.

The political reality is that the California legislature would never approve such drilling on its own coastline, but that doesn’t mean that other coastal state governments might choose to… Read More

Today in USA Today, the newspaper has a pretty hard-hitting and right-on column blistering Congress for their serious earmarking/pork addiction. Newly re-minted United States Congressman Brian Bilbray has a short column (reprinted below by Duane Dichiara as well) in which he praises the action taken late last week by the House of Representitives to start shining light on the ‘earmarking’ process:

Last week, the House of Representatives took the first step in changing the culture that has left so many Americans disillusioned with their government. With the public demanding reform, the House adopted rule changes to the practice of… Read More