The rush to judgment on the Kaloogian photo is so absurd, it’s laughable. So, let’s laugh. Forwarded by Jack Orr, on the supposed Howard "controversy"….

"I received the following forwarded message today from Tom Hanscom,obviously a person of wit and good humor. Finally, a truly funnymoment in an otherwise deadly serious campaign":

I’m assuming (since you’re giving the 50th race so much attention)that you’ll probably address the Kaloogian-photo-of-Baghdad"controversy."

Before you give Howard too hard a time, please consider that he hascorrected the mistake, replacing the photo from Istanbul with a realone from the Iraqi capitol. As you’ll note in the verified photo, the streets are packed with unworried, unhurriedIraqis. The sidewalks are lined with flowers (probably sprouted fromthe bouquets thrown at our soldiers three years ago); Americanpresence is strong (note the U.S.-held building at left); andbuildings are hardly the bombed-out shells we see exclusively on TVnews reports (note one of Saddam’s palaces, intact, in… Read More

Naturally when I am out of the country on vacation, we have one of the busiest days in California political news in a long, long time. It took me a long time to put together the main page this morning, which means less time to write up a commentary on the news. We’ll try it in bullet-point format today:

The lead column today is by California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson. Today marks the one-year anniversary of his appointment to this post by Governor Schwarzenegger, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Democrat Kevin Shelley. Shelley had been elected to the post in 2002, but was forced out of office due to scandals. McPherson has really been doing a great job with the office – and has thoroughly ‘cleaned house’ from the previous administration. The culture of corruption has been replaced with a culture of hard work, and desire to bring the principles of representative government to every Californian. Please take a few minutes to read his column! Yesterday Rob Reiner finally called it quits from the Prop. 10 commission. In doing so, he may be attempted to shift the limelight away from the boatload of … Read More

Kevan Otto, the Republican President of a Police Union has withdrawn from the race for the GOP nomination for the 59th Assembly District. He endorsed Chris Lancaster. While Otto’s name will be on the ballot, the Union supported anti- Prop 75 vote among Republicans won’t be as diluted. Lancaster has significant union support. This leaves Lancaster as the only active candidate from the San Gabriel Valley part of this sprawling district. A definite plus. See the attached Press Release. See past posts on this race starting here.… Read More

Naturally when I am out of the country on vacation, we have one of the busiest days in California political news in a long, long time. It took me a long time to put together the main page this morning, which means less time to write up a commentary on the news. We’ll try it in bullet-point format today:

The lead column today is by California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson. Today marks the one-year anniversary of his appointment to this post by Governor Schwarzenegger, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Democrat Kevin Shelley. Shelley had been elected to the post in 2002, but was forced out of office due to scandals. McPherson has really been doing a great job with the office – and has thoroughly ‘cleaned house’ from the previous administration. The culture of corruption has been replaced with a culture of hard work, and desire to bring the principles of representative government to every Californian. Please take a few minutes to read his column! Yesterday Rob Reiner finally called it quits from the Prop. 10 commission. In doing so, he may be attempted to shift the limelight away from the boatload of … Read More

The 69th AD battle for the Democrat nomination could be a brutal.

The campaign of Santa Ana Councilman Jose Solorio has announced he has received the endorsement of two statewide unions: California Federation of Teachers and California Professional Firefighters

Solorio’s chief opponent is Santa Ana City Councilwoman and OC Deputy District Attorney Claudia Alvarez, the third candidate in the race is Armando de la Libertad, an executive with Wells Fargo who does community development, even though he lacks elected experience, I never discount someone who hands out money for a living.

All three candidates bought ballot statements. Alvarez has over $100,000 cash on hand while Solorio and de la Libertad each have about $75,000.… Read More

Click here to read John Wildermuth’s (SF Chronicle reporter) blog entry on Phil Angelides’ appearance on Al Franken radio show this morning at the Crest Theater in Sacramento. Liberal voters will be thrilled to learn that Anglelides plans to "make California home to a new progressive movement." If Angelides bests Westly in the Democratic primary, hopefully Republicans who are now planning to sit on their hands in November will rethink the power of their vote. While I’m not thrilled with everything that Schwarzenegger is doing (I share Matt Cunningham’s feeling of "It’s getting to the point where I’ll be surprised if I’m not disappointed by the Governor’s actions."), my vote will be cast as a "anybody but Phil vote." I can see it now–the Big Five under Governor Angelides will be Angelides, Al Franken, Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan and Susan Sarandon.… Read More

Teachers unions on both sides of the Bay Bridge are threatening to strike. Yesterday, an Oakland Teachers Association representative said the union shortly would be announcing their “scheduled work action” plans while San Francisco teachers gave a big thumbs up to the union’s plans to strike if the district does not go along with their pay demands. The SF union representatives said that a strike could happen by mid-April if negotiations don’t go their way. Rumors in Oakland have been flying about a possible strike as early as next week, although parents and teachers have been working on plans to run “strike schools” for quite some time.

The big disagreement in … Read More

The good news is Rob Reiner has finally done the right thing and resigned as chairman of the California Children and Families Commission, colloquially known as the First 5 Commission. It would have been nice if Reiner was resigning because he knows it is wrong to use tax dollars to promote his universal government pre-school ballot initative, but the world is an imperfect place. We’ll have to content ourselves with a resignation letter equal parts self-pity, self-congratulation and moral obliviousness (probably penned by Reiner’s new smashmouth PR guru, Mark Fabiani).

The bad news is our Governor has replaced Reiner with a political clone (of Reiner, not Schwarzenegger) named Hector Ramirez, head Para Los Ninos (Spanish for — what else? — For The… Read More