Democrats have repeatedly crushed “self-funding” Republican candidates at the ballot box, making now a good time to ask why our party appears to go out of its way to run wealthy candidates who fund their own campaigns, and better understand how these candidates fare on Election Day.

It’s been said that the road to political oblivion is lined with the remains of self-funding candidates. President Steve Forbes, Governors Meg Whitman and Al Cheechi can each attest to how their wealth was insufficient to prevent Election Day wipeouts.

Why does our party seem to have such a bias in favor of rich candidates who can fund their own campaigns? I count four major factors at work.

1. Contribution limits discriminate against candidates who must rely on others to fund their campaigns. The Supreme Court has held that candidates have an absolute right to advocate on their own behalf with their own funds, without limits. Meg Whitman could spend $170+ million on her own campaign, but only donate $27,200 to someone else.

2. Consultants like to have their invoices paid on time. The skilled operatives who lend… Read More

During the effort to curb collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker suggested the exemption for public safety employees was necessary to avoid the possibility of a strike by “first responders.” The real reason may have been a political calculation; restricting the bargaining rights of all public employees including public safety could have triggered a losing battle. Cynics may argue that Walker, and other Republicans – from Ohio to Orange County – have stood on principle against public employee unions in general, but exempted public safety unions in particular since they tend to be heavier contributors to Republican political campaigns.

Fortunately, public sector union reform is something even Democrats are realizing is essential if governments are going to get budgets under control, implement labor-saving new technologies, reform public education, and have funds left over to rebuild and upgrade infrastructure.

Now a Democratic Senator in Wisconsin, Tim Carpenter, has picked up where Gov. Walker left off. An article in the Wisconsin Reporter entitled “… Read More

It occurs to me that for some bizarre reason the saga of San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is best played out with some clips of Jack Nicholson in several of his classic roles:

First Tim Burton’s iconic dark thriller, The Batman, where Nicholson’s portrayal of arch-villian “The Joker” steals the show. The Joker’s uncanny resemblance to Filner matched by the idea that, like the Joker, Filner is battling some inner-demons that have made him a monster.

As the accusations were made, Filner quickly… Read More

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Montana Senator Max Baucus, who led the effort in Congress to pass Obamacare, is now referring to it as a “coming train wreck”. Baucus has announced he will not to seek re-election in 2014, perhaps to avoid the inevitable embarrassment of this pending disaster. He’s not alone in his concern. The prospect that too few Americans will enroll in the program, thus rendering it unfeasible, has the administration fearful that Baucus is right — it may actually end up derailed. These enrollment fears have prompted the creation of dubious non-profit organizations to promote Obamacare. Enroll America and Organizing for Action are tax-exempt organizations, led by former Obama campaign operatives, which plan to spend tens of millions of dollars pitching Obamacare enrollment. Their funding primarily comes from special interests and healthcare related corporations who stand to profit from Obamacare.

Success or failure of Obamacare depends on the administration’s ability to sign up a large portion of the 50 million Americans currently without health insurance. One group that is particularly vital to Obamacare’s success are young adults, ages 18 to 35, who… Read More

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In a little noticed pronouncement, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors created an entirely new application process for taxpayer advocates. As a result, taxpayers will be punished in the name of good government, especially the taxpayers least able to afford it. The problem is that this process creates a new bureaucracy without getting near solving the perceived problem.

You may have missed that Los Angeles County had a discernible problem with the person overseeing the collection process for its single largest source of revenue – property taxes. The County Assessor, John Noguez, has been charged with multiple counts of accepting bribes. He and an aide were charged with accepting bribes from a tax consultant, Ramin Salari, that resulted in a cumulative reduction of tax collections for the County of $10 million.

The County Supervisors reacted by first trying to change the law so the assessor position from being one that is elected to being appointed. Their rationale was that because this is an elected position, it was more subject to influence peddling. Did the five omnipotent supervisors ever think of the irony of that position?… Read More

One of the biggest reasons for ushering in Obamacare, are the thousands of groups around the country which will be making money off of the government health system. Many in these groups are Washington D.C. insiders, and the politically well-connected, who had access ahead of passage of the Obamacare Affordable Care Act, and seized the opportunity for a little wealth-building.

One such group appears to be Young Invincibles, “a national organization representing 18- to 34-year-old Americans on the issues of affordable health care, employment and college affordability.”

Read the fine print, and the Young Invincibles website also says, “Young Invincibles is a national organization committed to mobilizing and expanding opportunities for young adults between 18 and 34 years of age on issues like higher education, health care, and jobs.”

Its website, Healthy Young America, claims to be part of the group’s outreach. “In some places, Young Invincibles will… Read More

Suppose you are offered a bargain on a pair of well-made shoes. You can have the new footwear at half price. The catch? They don’t fit and the discount is partially paid for through your tax dollars.

This is the kind of deal the public is being offered on some alternative energy vehicles. It is estimated that the Chevy Volt costs General Motors as much as $89,000 to manufacture, while it sells for $39,995. But the actual cost to the consumer is further reduced after a $7,500 federal income tax credit, and for California residents, another rebate of $2,500 from the state.

The Volt was introduced in 2010, with much ballyhoo, as the first plug-in U.S. hybrid. But Chevy has sold barely 20,000 vehicles. The public remains skeptical about this and other plug-in vehicles that take hours to charge, have short range and are served by few public charging stations. These cars don’t look… Read More

The impressive victory of conservative rancher Andy Vidak in the recent State Senate special election in the Central Valley’s 16th District gives the State Capitol’s other 36 Republican legislators a reason to be unified, focused and determined as they return to Sacramento for the five week or so final sprint to the end of the 2013 session. Come the next session in January, Democrats should go into the year with full super-majority complements of 28 State Senators and 55 Assemblymembers. But for the rest of this session, Democrats will barely have a two-thirds majority in the Senate, and will not have it at all in the Assembly.

In the State Senate, due to the election of Curren Price to the Los Angeles City Council, there will be a vacancy that won’t be filled until September 17. In the State Assembly there are two vacancies. With the election of Norma Torres to the State Senate, her Assembly seat will not be filled until a special election, also on September 17. Also, with the election of Bob Blumenfield to the L.A. City Council, his Assembly seat will not be filled until November 17. None of these vacancies will be filled before this… Read More