Since it is Friday, that means I was once again on KTKZ AM 1380 in the Sacramento Area with my friend Eric Hogue. What did we talk about? The State Budget, FR’s Top 20 Bills to Veto, the 1st State Senate Special Election, and Karen England’s write-in bid for Lt. Governor.

Check out the audio…… Read More

I can think of no more worthless title than Mayor Pro Tem. I know some city council members covet the position and proudly display it on their business cards. And I have even heard council members correct me when introducing them: "Well, actually I am Mayor Pro Tem." The same goes for vice-chairman and vice-president of a commission or school board.

So it is highly amusing that someone actually went to court over the title of vice president of the Bethel School District. The case is detailed in this month’s Colantuno & Levine, PC newsletter.

Basically Blair was vice president of the school board and spoke out against the superintendent. His board colleagues stripped him of his veep title and he sued. He lost.

The 9th Circuit Court reasoned that the public expects elected officials to be openly partisan.… Read More

I am appalled – but not shocked – that the great scheme known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has amounted to nothing more than throwing money down the drain.

But even this report that shows only 55 jobs were created in the City of LA’s $111 million share of ARRA is beyond the pale.… Read More

Yesterday I received a phone call from my longtime friend Karen England. Some of you may know Karen in her role as head of the Capitol Resource Institute – others may know her as a leader in the California Republican Party. Karen was calling me to tell me that she had decided to announce a write-in candidacy for the office of Lt. Governor. She told me that, from her perspective, the choice between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and appointed Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado represented no choice at all for committed Republican voters. She went into a litany of issues where she found substantial fault with Maldonado.

After hearing Karen out – I told her that while I shared many (well, to some degree, all) of her concerns about Maldonado, that Republicans need to stay unified behind out party’s nominee as chosen in the primary we held in June. I let Karen know that I was committed, as an officer of the California Republican Party, to the election of Maldonado (despite our significant differences on some policy and political issues). I even went a step further and counseled Karen not to do this – not to run as a… Read More

The single most important column of the year.… Read More

Pugno Fact #3 Emotion regarding social issues is clouding the political judgment of political observers and the local press in the race for the 5th Assembly District between Republican Small Business Owner Andy Pugno, Democrat Community Physician/Educator Richard Pan, and Peace and Freedom College Student Elizabeth Martinez. So the Pugno campaign will attempt to provide some facts for people to consider about the race, the district and the candidates. Fact #3 Proposition 8 passed in Assembly District 5 by a margin of 55-45 in the best turn out year for Democrats in more than a decade. Note: This is the same margin that it passed in Speaker Perez’ District. Pugno Fact #2 In 2008, Peace & Freedom candidate Karen Martinez won 8% of the vote for Assembly District 5 in a 3-way race. This year it is again a 3-way race with Peace & Freedom candidate Elizabeth Martinez (her daughter) on the ballot. Polling shows the… Read More

The thoughtful commentary below submitted to us from longtime FR friend Amy LeFever. LeFever joined thousands and thousands of Californians over the weekend and on Monday in urging Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado, in his capacity as Acting Governor (Governor Schwarzenegger is on a trade mission in Asia) to file an appeal of the lower court decision in the Proposition 8 case.

Maldonado did not file the appeal, and disappointed many people because of it. Popular talk radio show Dennis Prager devoted a large amount of his time to urging Maldonado to "do the right thing" and file the appeal. Former Attorney General candidate John Eastman had even done all of the necessary legal work, so all that was required of Maldonado was his signature.

So the upshot? It was very disappointing that the Republican Party’s nominee for Lt. Governor would not stand with his party on this key issue.

It was disappointing that Maldonado did not file the appeal — but let us remember that Governor Schwarzenegger himself deserves the brunt of the criticism. His responsibility is to represent the people of California, who voted to pass… Read More

Today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail was so interesting, I thought I would post it up here. As a shout-out to the WSJ, let me encourage you to go to this link and sign up to get the Diary to your own email account. There is a small fee — but as you can see from below, well worth it… The last item below is California-specific. … Read More