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

Yesterday, I went to the opening of the Victory 06 HQ in Whittier. This is one big building. It is in the first floor of the building that previously housed Richard Nixon’s Law office. (I hear there are no more wires).

Most interesting the previous occupant was cited by the city for running a strip joint and lost the liqour license. When cleaning the building they found a box of feather boas used by well you know.

25,000 sqaure feat. Arnold should be visiting this site soon, they can pack them in. Read about it here.

Of cousre they have to staff it with volunteers for the 40 phone stations. That is the real challenge.… Read More

Rick Caruso, a friend and supporter of Gov. Schwarzenegger and a former member of the LA Police Commission, has abandoned plans to build a Grove-like mall on the same property as the Golden Gate Fields racetrack. Caruso, president and CEO of Caruso Affiliated, has spent more than a year working with community groups to help mold the plans for his project to fit the needs of the community, as he has done with other projects in Southern California. Of course, the Bay Area has its own special needs. Caruso told me that the Albany project was the first time that any community group had requested a dog park as part of a development.

But, the reality is that no amount of negotiating and accomodating will satisfy the Bay Area community groups who just don’t… Read More

I love local Government. That is where the fun is. Check this out courtesy of the Rio Hondo Community College Board here in LA County.

The Board President wants to discuss the Superintendent’s evaluation. She attacks him for ordering her to book a ocean view room for a conference in Hawaii and he tells her to…..

Better than a soap opera. Read it here.And stuff like this makes local government everything the Founders intended. Right?… Read More

Eminent domain reform taking place in many states has Iowa now as a bellwether of what regular folks think of what EmDo has morphed into.

An eminent domainreform bill, passed overwhelminglyby the Iowa legislature this spring, was vetoed by Democratpresidential hopeful, Governor Tom "No Chance" Vilsack (pictured) in June. This bipartisan effort in response toKelo vs. New London that OK’d taking private property for other private use, with the ‘public use’ fig leaf justification being more tax dollars for the government. Iowa’s House passed it by 89-5 and their Senate by 43-6.

Nice career move Guv. This ignited a prairie fire that culminated in their legislature reconvening from adjournment for the year [they would’ve been out for six months, ahem] for consideration… Read More

The following piece with my thoughts on urban runoff ran today in the Orange County Register:

Putting urban runoff on the run Ocean-bound water can be cleaned without Draconian measures The ocean water quality off Orange County’s beaches needs to be improved. There isn’t much debate about that. Whether you are a surfer who has experienced sickness after catching rights on a Saturday morning; or a businessperson suffering losses after another summer day with the beach closed by high bacteria levels in the ocean; or someone who just believes it’s the right thing to do, there is agreement that our economic and environmental health is well-served by dealing with the problem of urban runoff polluting our beaches.

So, how do we do it?

My flights home to “The OC” from Sacramento always make for some interesting posts (well, to me anyways). Previous flights have been loaded with legislators and luminaries (not that I do not include legislators AS luminaries).

This flight is more subdued. I did have a chance to chat briefly with Bill Habermehl, who is Orange County’s elected Superintendent of Public Instruction. We took a few minutes to discuss the swirl of bad publicity around Capistrano Unified School District Superintendent Jim Fleming. If you need more info on this, you can ‘google’ it up. I did tell Bill that Fleming is close to a tipping point that would ultimately lead to his ouster. As for Habermehl’s take…well, he probably doesn’t want his take on the www…

This post is a good opportunity to praise President Bush for his veto of the controversial legislation on his desk having to do with stem cell research. His logic is sound – this is a controversial area of scientific exploration, with many millions of Americans being at least uncomfortable if not upset about the potential immorality of some of the research. Tax dollars should… Read More