It is no accident that with a pool of literally millions of Californians from which to choose, the composition of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board is made up entirely of former, termed-out legislators. The current members of the CUIAB include former GOP Assembly Leader George Plescia, former GOP Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, former Democrat Senator Liz Figueroa, and former Democrat Assemblywoman Cindy Montañez. Until yesterday, the Board’s fifth member was former Republican Assemblywoman Sharon Runner. She resigned and has announced a run for the State Senate seat just vacated by her husband, George, who will be sworn in as a new member of the State Board of Equalization in early January. Runner’s term on the CUIAB was set to expire at year’s end.

The appointments, three made by the Governor, and one each by the Senate President and Assembly Speaker, do NOT require confirmation… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail… Steve Poizner’s Political Ambitions Steve Poizner, California’s outgoing insurance commissioner, lost the Republican gubernatorial primary against Meg Whitman earlier this year, but he has no intention of exiting the political scene. In a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Mr. Poizner sounded like a man bent on another run for office. "Voters clearly aren’t looking for rookies," he said. "They’re looking for someone like me." … Read More

Dems get crushed by census & demographics –

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/21/AR2010122103084.html… Read More

With the controversy swirling around the sensitive document posted on the Wikileaks website, I couldn’t help but wonder where the California GOP Wikileaks page is. These are questions that I would like to see the documentation around. 1.How much did Whitman consultant Mike Murphy net? For that matter what did all of the Whitman team net? 2.What expenditures of funds did the Whitman team NOT fund? When you spend the kind of millions she did you have to wonder what was rejected. 3.What were the results of the promised Whitman lie dictator test about her illegal alien maid? While we are on that topic, what consultants knew about themaid issue and when? And who gave the order to fire her instead of hire the best immigration attorney in town and ask if she wanted a villa in her home country with a view of the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean ? For the record when I met with Meg Whitman she didn’t offer me a sandwich either. See Question… Read More

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Redistricting can produce some strange outcomes.

For example, after a court drawn redistricting map took effect in 1992 three sitting members of the Assembly ended up running against each other in Orange County.

In a closed Republican primary in June 1992 sitting Republican Assemblymembers Tom Mays (Huntington Beach), Doris Allen (Cypress) and Nolan Frizzelle (Fountain Valley) all ran against each other for the 67th Assembly District.

After public employee unions spent more than $70,000 in the race, the people of California were stuck with Doris Allen as the winner. That alone could be the subject of a book.

So 20 years latter, why is this story relevant today? Because it is likely to happen again.

Section 2d6e of Article XXI of… Read More

The California Fair Political Practices Commission is proposing a number of new regulations on political campaign speech that it will consider at a public hearing in Sacramento at their headquarters on January 28, 2011. Written comments must be received no later than 5;00 pm on January 26, 2011.

Among the new areas of proposed regulation:

-addition of the words "Paid for by" on mass mailing candidate/committee identification statements;

-additional administrative requirements on slate mail organizations imposing new record-keeping requirements, new rules governing imposition of the so-called "asterisk" rule, new rules regarding imposition of the so-called "Notice to Voters" box rule, rules regarding notices when the slate is written in another language, Spanish or Korean (for example), new regulation of slate mail emails.

-changes to candidate committee termination rules that allow for extensions of time to raise funds to terminate the committees, a reasonable change in the rules.

-changes to timing of filing of "late filing" reports to account for… Read More

For most Californians, the arrival of December means gift shopping, family get-togethers, and good cheer. But it also reignites the ridiculous feud over the word that is the main reason for the holiday season – the word "Christmas." Last month, I sent out an e-mail invitation to my constituents in the 60th Assembly district to join me for a "Christmas" open house at the district office. I ended my invitation with a saying you may have heard before: "May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace, the joy of Christmas give you hope, the warmth of Christmas grant you love." Isn’t this the true meaning of the season?

The grinches in our community reacted as if I sent them a letter that used a four-letter word which no one should dare speak in government. My office received phone calls stating that using the word "Christmas" is a violation of the separation of church and state and that it was insulting to non-Christians. I decided to ask my constituents in an email survey whether they approved or disapproved my use of the word "Christmas." An overwhelming number emphatically… Read More

I have to say, I don’t think the Hispanic fascination with Democrat candidates is anything but liberalism on their part. As I wrote in my Fresno Bee column last week, I think itsa myth that Hispanics are "culturally conservative".

Now, a former Schwarzenegger advisor Rob Stutzman is quoted in a George Skeleton column in todays LA Times that "Republicans need to understand that they live in suburbs with second-generation Mexican American neighbors whose parents came here and worked in agriculture and the service industries and are very proud of their families’ success" as a key for the GOP to get Hispanic votes.

Huh?

I think there are plenty of Republicans and conservatives, like me, that appreciate all hard working people, regardless of country of origin and skin color. Making a case that this is somehow a gateway to getting Hispanic votes is not only simplistic, but ignores the fact that 2nd and… Read More