The 2014-2015 “Judicial Hellholes” report has been released, and California again is ranked among the least-balanced lawsuit jurisdictions in the nation. Why? California incentivizes trial lawyers to file abusive lawsuits against businesses and governments with promises of easy money. This report touches on just a few of them, including:

Lawsuits alleging violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Despite attempts at reform, these lawsuits keep on coming, forcing businesses to cut hours, lay off workers, or close down altogether. “Shakedown” Proposition 65 lawsuits. In 2013, these lawsuits cost businesses more than $17 million … Read More

The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently double-crossed the National Shooting Sports Foundation, as well as voters. Following a Freedom of Information Act public records request to the Fish and Wildlife agency, the shooting sports foundation obtained emails that prove the federal agency withheld pertinent, official data in its annual report on the California Condor’s lead blood levels, until well after the California state legislature passed a law in 2013 to ban all lead ammunition.

The annual update, which had been previously issued annually every June, found little change in the condor’s blood lead levels. TheCalifornia state legislatureacted, despite previous data, at the insistence of animal activists groups, led by the Humane Society, which have long said the California condor is poisoned by lead shot. I’ve been following… Read More

It took over a month to count the provisional ballots, but the results are now in for every one of the 118 local bonds and 171 local tax increases that were voted on by Californians on November 4th. Prior to counting most of the provisional ballots, as reported on November 11th in our editorial “Californians Vote for More Taxes and More Borrowing,” here were the results so far:

November 11th provisional results: “At last count, of the 118 local bonds, 72 were passed, 15 were defeated, and 31 remain too close to call. Of the 171 local tax proposals, 98 were passed, 45 were defeated, and 28 are still too close to call.”

And here is the impact, five weeks later, with all ballots counted, including provisional ballots:

December 15 final results: Of the 118 local bonds, 96 were passed, and 22 were defeated. Of the 171 local tax proposals, 117 were passed, and 54 were defeated.Final results: 81% of local bond measures passed; 68% of local tax… Read More

From Lima, Peru at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Sen. President pro Tem Kevin De Leon has had very busy Tweeting fingers.

“California is a world leader in actions to address climate change,” De Leon Tweeted.

“California and Québec sign agreement on Zero-Emission Vehicles!”

“At @UN_ClimateTalk in Lima, transforming the transportation sector is a big topic of discussion.”

“California is driving the development of a green economy,” said De… Read More

Following the two-vote victory by Republican John McCann over Democrat Steve Padilla in the November Chula Vista City Council election — or at least the two-vote certified results — it was no surprise that Padilla supporters requested a recount and fronted the required deposit to get things going.

However, following three days of recounting, in the last hour the Registrar of Voters announced that process will stop. Instead, Padilla supporters are now challenging 269 ballots that were previously not counted at all, because they were rejected by the Registrar due to the voters not being eligible to cast a ballot.

In essence, the Padilla campaign would like those ballots included in the vote total and is challenging the Registrar’s decision to exclude the votes.

The 269 ballots will be reviewed Monday. It’s safe to say a few lawyers are now really earning their pay, including County Counsel.

Prior to today’s shift in strategy by Padilla’s team,… Read More

After Joseph Stalin took the reins of power in the Soviet Union in the mid 1920’s, his image suddenly appeared in paintings of important meetings of the Bolshevik revolutionaries – which was odd because he had attended virtually none of them. Later, after each successive Stalinist purge, group photos that included previously prominent, but now ostracized, imprisoned or executed communists, would be scrubbed, so as to appear that they had never existed.

Of course attempts by politicians to rewrite their history go far beyond just doctoring paintings and photographs.

In Washington, D.C. we have the curious case of Jonathan Gruber. During the run up to Obamacare, both then Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barrack Obama sang the praises of the roll that MIT professor of economics Jonathan Gruber had played in crafting the legislation. Gruber has been described as the architect of Obamacare and, before that, the similar Romneycare in Massachusetts.

Recently, videos surfaced online showing economist Gruber telling groups that the healthcare law had been written specifically in a way to deceive the “stupid” American public so that it would not be clear… Read More

Earlier this week I found myself having to travel to the city of Rosemead, in the San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles. Unfortunately for one member of the Rosemead City Council, my trip to her working class city of roughly 54,000 people (according to the 2010 census) coincided with a decision that I made to start highlighting politicians who’s time in office has stretched on for decades, and who have become walking, talking arguments for term limits. As the President of California Term Limits, I am proud to announce that our first (of many) California Zombie Awards is being given to Republican councilwoman Margaret Clark.

Margaret Clark was first elected to the City Council in 1991 — nearly a quarter century ago. How long ago was this?… Read More

Public employee pension apologists proclaim that 401(k)-type plans (defined contribution plans) are horribly expensive, with “Wall St” gobbling up much of the profits with fees, etc. Sadly for them, there’s a major government 401(k) plan that, in effect, totally debunks this nonsense.

The WALL ST JOURNAL did a story on the federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) — essentially a 401(k) plan for federal employees. The theme of the article was why it was unwise for retirees to roll their plans over into “retail” IRA plans, because of the considerably higher fees. True enough, but what’s most important is to note the annual cost to employees of TSP. Damn near zero. http://blogs.wsj.com/totalreturn/2014/12/04/ditch-a-super-cheap-401k-for-an-ira-sure-ira-sellers-say/

*** EXCERPT: Due to its large size—with 4.6 million participants and $431.6 billion in assets, the TSP is the nation’s largest 401(k)-type plan—and the fact that the federal government subsidizes some of the plan’s administrative costs, the TSP has an average cost of 0.029% a year. That translates into a fee of 29 cents for every $1,000 invested—or… Read More