Sept 19 was the date set for the recall of two of three remaing pro- Wal-Mart council members in Rosemead. See last post on Rosemead here.However, there is an outstanding court case that may screech this to a haly again. See here. This kind of election bring out all kinds of wackiness. The targets of the recall voted to ban all outdoor smoking and ant- Wal-Mart types are looking at everything Wal-Mart is doing on the building site. See here.

Of course for me the ironic part is that the election will take place after theGrand Opening of the Wal-Mart which, could put an anti- Wal-Mart council in charge of spending the tax revenue Wal-Mart produces. Only in California.… Read More

There is no commentary today. The main page has been updated with today’s California political news. I am getting ready to revamp the links to blogs on California politics on the site, so send along any suggestions of places that you visit that you think should be linked on our Blog Roll. Have a great day! Jon

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

You can blame Tony Strickland for Controller Campaign Manager Paul Hegyi for the brief commentary this morning. Paul, who hails from Sacramento was down in Sacramento (he is also Assemblyman Van Tran’s Chief of Staff). FR Managing Editor Nicholas Romero and I took Paul to see Bill Cosby perform at the Orange County Fair, and the evening went quite late from there. Paul was excited to share that early polling shows Strickland ahead of his opponent — which is a great place to start given the significant voter-registration advantage that Democrats enjoy over Republicans here in the Golden State. We’ll be spending a lot of time between now and November talking about the real potential in the State Controller’s race for a GOP win. FR friend Martyn Hopper is the State Director of the National Federation of Independent Business for… Read More

You can blame Tony Strickland for Controller Campaign Manager Paul Hegyi for the brief commentary this morning. Paul, who hails from Sacramento was down in Sacramento (he is also Assemblyman Van Tran’s Chief of Staff). FR Managing Editor Nicholas Romero and I took Paul to see Bill Cosby perform at the Orange County Fair, and the evening went quite late from there. Paul was excited to share that early polling shows Strickland ahead of his opponent — which is a great place to start given the significant voter-registration advantage that Democrats enjoy over Republicans here in the Golden State. We’ll be spending a lot of time between now and November talking about the real potential in the State Controller’s race for a GOP win. FR friend Martyn Hopper is the State Director of the National Federation of Independent Business for… Read More

The FlashReport congratulates Congressman Richard Pombo (R-Tracy) on the apparent decision by national Democrats to drop their nominee, Jerry McNerney, in Congressional District 11.

This intel comes from ace political reporter Hank Shaw at the Stockton Record on his blog (which doesn’t have its own URL but try this linkthen click on Hank’s blog).

Of course, credit for this has to be split three ways. Pombo gets credit for running hard. Then there is the unlucky Dems whose ideal candidate lost the primary. Finally you can’t leave out the smart people who created a Congressional District boundary that was made to elect and keep electing a Republican…… Read More

It appears Angelides had enough out of Mulholland after last week’s comments comparing the Governor to Kim Jong-Il. So, now Mulholland’s been benched for long-time Democratic Party operatives Roger Salazar and Steve Maviglio.

Roger Salazar has already been popping up with quotes and press releases attacking the Governor. Steve Maviglio, who now works for Speaker Fabian Nunez, has been brought on temporarily to help Brian Brokaw set up a "rapid response" system for Angelides’ communications shop. I can think of no worse job than defending $10 billion in tax increases…rapidly.

It’s only July but Angelides is already reaching deep into the veteran bag of Democratic Party operatives to help his struggling campaign staff.

Salazar is fresh off of the Rocky "did anyone see who was driving the freight train who ran us over" Delgadillo campaign and Maviglio… Read More

It always continues to amaze me that big businesses like PG&E, Gap and Clorox continue to have their corporate headquarters in San Francisco or Oakland. Both cities are governed by people who take businesses and the jobs they create for granted.

The other day the San Francisco Chronicle printed an excellent op-ed by Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, that pointed out the many ways San Francisco city government is pushing businesses out of the city. According to a Colliers International report Wunderman cited, businesses in San Francisco pays 100 times it would in Walnut Creek, 10 mores than in San Mateo and double the amount in Oakland. Further, since 1990, 54 of the Bay Area’s top 200 businesses have left the city, with only 37 remaining.

What’s San Francisco’s the latest assault on jobs? Universal… Read More

OK, I have had about all that I can stomach of this post-primary Abel Maldonado ‘flame out’ on Arnold Schwarzenegger. While it is true that Senator Maldonado was an ally to the Governor — both in supporting his candidacies and in authoring the Governor’s controversial mandate on businesses, requiring them to pay a higher wage to employees — it is also true that the Governor was certainly very helpful to Maldonado in return. Maldonado wrapped himself in the Governor’s image, and happily sucked up to a lot of the Governor’s big donor friends. If the Governor had formally endorsed Maldonado in his contested GOP primary against former Assemblyman Tony Strickland, I don’t think it would have brought anything more to the table for Maldonado.

But you have to ask yourself, is it really that unexpected for an incumbent Republican Governor who is seeking re-election to not endorse one candidate over another in a contested Republican primary for statewide office? After… Read More