Yesterday marked the 37th Anniversary of the first stepsof man on the moon, by the USA’s Neil Armstrong. Strong leadership was required to see this feataccomplished, during theSpace Race era of the Cold War. Spurred onby President Kennedy in 1962,declaring we must put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, the efforts of NASA, and a country mostly united behind this goal, it did come to fruitionJuly 20, 1969.Using what is now looked at as cumbersome antique technology, our nation was able to flymen to the moon, land them and bring them home safely to Earth, something still never accomplished by any other nation.

The Voting Rights Act, passedAugust 6,1965 [the day after Armstrong’s 35th birthday] required strong leadership to succeed as well. The notion that all US citizens have the right to vote without impediments such as poll taxes or intimidation at polling places was widely held and resulted in VRA’s passage, by a strong bipartisan vote of Senate Republicans 30-1… Read More

While this is not a California-based political story, I thought fellow political junkies (especially those of us in PR/communications) would be interested in the story in today’s Chicago Tribune about the death of Earl Bush, press secretary to the first Mayor Richard J. Daley (father of Chicago’s current mayor). I’m sure that Pres. Bush’s PR folks can relate to Earl Bush’s frustration with the press!

Putting words into the mouth of the malaprop-prone Richard J. Daley wasn’t an easy task.

So consider the plight of Earl Bush, the late mayor’s press secretary for… Read More

I often think that government watchdogs and those among us who gripe about lobbyists and political fund raising and ‘influence’ in government were the kids who never cut sixth period in school. They were the hall monitors who reported the rest of us for being late to class.

If I were a research scientist perhaps I could prove that the anti-lobby crowd lacks a critical element in their genome which precludes them from forming meaningful personal relationships which make them less human and therefore less interesting and in the end, it means they have no choice but to be naysayers.

These sticks-in-the-mud lack the charm and good natured persona that allows the rest of us to operate with ease in the world of politics and government. And they hate us for that.

So the next time your local gadfly wags his finger at you for being to cozy with the mayor or some Common Cause lawyer suggests that everyone, including the mother-in-law of the homeowner who is trying to add a second story on his house and therefore needs approval from the planning commission and ‘lobbies’ for a vote, must register as a lobbyist and pay a fee to the county… Read More

I had an opportunity to work with Gerry Parsky quite a bit during the President’s first election in 2000 – Parksy headed up the President’s campaign for California and I was serving at the time as Executive Director of the California Republican Party. Generally, I would say that it would be a fair characterization to say that Parksy and I were not close. I could pen an entire column on that whole set-up, and my observations of Parsky’s job in his role for the President. But that is for another day (maybe). Let’s suffice it to say that I don’t see much or hear much about Parsky these days, other than occasional stories in the news as he is an appointee to the University of California system’s Board of Regents, and right now he is serving as the head of the board. The nexus to Parsky in this commentary will come to play in about five seconds… When you sift through 80+ websites in a morning looking for political news, you occasionally come across the kind of story that would make you choke on your Wheaties — and this morning that happened when I got to the San Francisco Chronicle. There is a story… Read More

I had an opportunity to work with Gerry Parsky quite a bit during the President’s first election in 2000 – Parksy headed up the President’s campaign for California and I was serving at the time as Executive Director of the California Republican Party. Generally, I would say that it would be a fair characterization to say that Parksy and I were not close. I could pen an entire column on that whole set-up, and my observations of Parsky’s job in his role for the President. But that is for another day (maybe). Let’s suffice it to say that I don’t see much or hear much about Parsky these days, other than occasional stories in the news as he is an appointee to the University of California system’s Board of Regents, and right now he is serving as the head of the board. The nexus to Parsky in this commentary will come to play in about five seconds… When you sift through 80+ websites in a morning looking for political news, you occasionally come across the kind of story that would make you choke on your Wheaties — and this morning that happened when I got to the San Francisco Chronicle. There is a story… Read More

Today is another ‘abbreviated commentary’ day as I flew down from Sacramento yesterday just in time to don my Reserve Deputy Sheriff Uniform and work a 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift at the glorious Orange County Fair (which runs pretty much the whole month of July). So, on four hours of sleep, FR readers don’t get to expect too much out of me after I have now compiled all of the day’s news on the main page. I did want to take a moment to talk about Congressman Ed Royce. Now let me start out by saying that I have known this Orange County politician since I first got involved in politics back in 1987, in my youth-activism days with Young Americans for Freedom. I really enjoyed getting to know YAF’s alumni in the State Legislature, including then-State Senator Ed Royce, who once-upon-a-time was Executive Director of California YAF (a position I went on to hold myself one day). I had an opportunity intern with Royce in the State Capitol, and I served as a special assistant to freshman… Read More

Today is another ‘abbreviated commentary’ day as I flew down from Sacramento yesterday just in time to don my Reserve Deputy Sheriff Uniform and work a 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift at the glorious Orange County Fair (which runs pretty much the whole month of July). So, on four hours of sleep, FR readers don’t get to expect too much out of me after I have now compiled all of the day’s news on the main page. I did want to take a moment to talk about Congressman Ed Royce. Now let me start out by saying that I have known this Orange County politician since I first got involved in politics back in 1987, in my youth-activism days with Young Americans for Freedom. I really enjoyed getting to know YAF’s alumni in the State Legislature, including then-State Senator Ed Royce, who once-upon-a-time was Executive Director of California YAF (a position I went on to hold myself one day). I had an opportunity intern with Royce in the State Capitol, and I served as a special assistant to freshman… Read More

If you live in Sacramento County, the loud ‘sucking sound’ you hear is an alliance of billionaires and bureaucrats who are salivating at the thought of gauging county taxpayers with a new 1/4 cent increase in the local sales tax — and for what?

Well, according to a story that was first reported below by ace Sacramento Area FR Correspondent Joe Justin and also now appears on the Sacramento Bee website, the tax would provide public funding for a new stadium/arena for the Sacramento Kings, and also provide addition funds into the hands of local politicians to spend as they see fit. Specifically $1.2 billion or so is projected to be raised by this tax increase,… Read More