ON SURVEYS IN THE FINALS DAYS… As we get closer and closer to election day, the media’s voracious appetite for stories related to the election will only increase. This is always the case. My favorite phenomenon takes place around now, when we get within two weeks of the big day. The press folks all look for a ‘big story’ and then rush to print it. [the visual here would b e when you put food in a fish tank, and all of the fish swarm to eat the little flakes in the water]. This is the period of time where all of these different polling companies will release information, all in the most startling manner possible, in order to gain notoriety for their individual poll.

Today’s headlines are dominated by the first of these ‘last minute’ polls — this one from the Public Policy Institute of California, based out of San Francisco. These folks have news-making down to a science. First they set up… Read More

Here’s a great federal government in action story for you…

GOOD IDEA: Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents checking military installations throughout the country. Apparently since 9-11, the feds have been cracking down on those in the country illegally having access to military bases. Just in April, 18 foreign nationals were arrested in San Diego. Apparently they worked for a contractor to the Navy and all 18 had valid credentials to go in and out of the 32nd Street Naval Station.

POOR EXECUTION: There is an… Read More

Quick get in your car, get to downtown Los Angeles. There is still time to protest against Gil Cedillo. We all know people are outraged over his continued demands to give licenses to illegals. Illegals have their greatest fighter in Gil Cedillo. He voted for homosexual marriage, opposes the Governors reforms and the list of left-wing causes goes on and on. It is time for someone to stand up to the likes of Gil Cedillo and today Californians will unite against him!!

Today Californians will rally to force Gil Cedillo to make cockfighting a felony not a mere misdemeanor. See the press release here.

… Read More

‘SHAREHOLDER PROTECTION?’uin newsWhile the battle rages on over Proposition 75, the "Paycheck Protection" measure, union leaders are quietly circulating petitions for their version of payback, which they call "Shareholder Protection." Today in Capitol Weekly, I have a column on this subject. It begins like this:

The NO on 77 campaign used a pretty good trick to get me to open their direct mail piece…the smaller than business sized envelope has an official looking "Jury Duty is Good Citizenship" logo on the front and a personalized letter showing though a window on the envelope.

Inside they urge support of the Governor’s reform agenda EXCEPT for Prop. 77. The letter features quotes from Speaker Hastert and Congressman Doolittle. As well as text from a GOP Senate Caucus "briefing book" all suggesting Prop. 77 or some part of it is bad.

Clever. But I hear Yes on Prop. 77’s Steve Poizner is planning a lawsuit–not sure on what grounds, but stay tuned…… Read More

San Francisco is a town that loves organized labor. The Board of Supervisors routinely passes labor-friendly resolutions, such as resolutions urging Head Start employees to allow their workers to unionize and opposing Assemblyman Keith Richman’s proposed ACA 5 (proposal to require new state workers to participate in a 401(k)-style system instead of the PERS system). So it’s fun when San Francisco politicians are the target of an attack from their beloved labor union allies.

San Francisco Superintendent of Schools, Arlene Ackerman, ticked off the unions this week by telling school district workers (custodians, cafeteria workers, secretaries, etc) that she plans to hire replacement workers if the union members strike, as they are threatening to do. She intends on asking the… Read More

Today I’ve written a column for the Capitol Weekly on the so-called "Shareholder Protection" measure being qualified for the June 2006 ballot by union-forces, motivated by both ‘payback’ for having Proposition 75 ("Paycheck Protection") foisted upon then, as well as to try to counter, tactically, the impact of having public employee union PAC coffers start to dry up without mandatory dues assessments on their members. In a nutshell, this measure forces a public company to have their stock holders vote before funds can be spent on political candidates or causes.

Tha analogy that union bosses are trying to make is that holders of stocks in publically traded companties deserve the same type of ‘protection’ against "their money" being used for political purposes without their express permission. This argument is comparing apples to oranges. If you are a public employee, it’s… Read More

Big News. Bill Simon is leaving the race for State Treasurer. The Sac Bee has the story here. He had money, name ID and a solid base. This leaves a gaping hole in the GOP Primary. Now, the two top candidates are Keith Richman and Claude Parrish.

Keith Richman is a state Assemblyman from the San Fernando Valley. He is way out of any type of GOP mainstream. He is the only Republican Lawmaker that won’t support Prop. 73. See more on that here. On fiscal issues he voted for the Gray Davis budgets but not Arnold’s. Why? They didn’t have tax increases. Does the Republican Party want a fiscal liberal as its’ standard-bearer in this kind of race?

Claude Parrish is on the Board of Equalization representing Southern California. I guess now he is theconservative candidate. He has filled out… Read More