I’m on the run this morning — but this press release is worth sharing. Sorry for re-posting verbatim (I’m sure Team Carly won’t mind) — but prominent Democrats backing Fiorina is a big deal…

Former Assemblywoman Nicole Parra and Former Kern County Supervisor Pete Parra Endorse Carly Fiorina Parras to Spearhead the Democrats and Independent Voters For Carly Coalition

SACRAMENTO, CA – In reflection of the broad-based support building behind her campaign to defeat Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina today earned the endorsement of former Kern County Supervisor Pete Parra and former California State Assemblywoman Nicole Parra.… Read More

The voracious appetite of liberals in Sacramento to use government to manipulate our behavior, and steal more of our freedom has no greater poster child than Assembly Bill 1998. Sponsored by the “environuts” at Heal The Bay, the legislation would ban every grocery store (regardless of proximity to a bay, tributary or river) from being able to put your groceries into a plastic bag.

Heal The Bay’s bag ban bill amounts to a massive tax increase on Californians (well, assuming that you go into a grocery store). Those plastic bags you use now – the stores give you those. Under AB 1998, if stores put your groceries in a paper bag, they will charge you a per-bag tax of a minimum of a nickel. It could be a lot more.

AB 1998 is not the first attempt by Heal The Bay and their allies to ban infringe on your ability to use plastic bags to take home your groceries. But this year represents the first time that the lobbying arm of the large grocery store chains is supporting the bill. Why would they do that? The key is that the per-bag tax does not go into government coffers, that money goes into the pockets of – you guessed it – the grocery… Read More

It now appears that FinReg is the generally accepted shorthand name for the financial regulatory reform bill that the president will sign into law this week. As most readers of this missive know, I opposed this bill because it will not solve the problems that led to the 2008 financial crisis and it will make consumer and small business credit more difficult to get and more expensive. Therefore, it will be another addition to the list of bills (health care, cap and trade, stimulus, etc.) which will increase taxes, lower growth, and destroy even more private sector jobs in this country. The bill has 3 basic elements which I will describe briefly below. Also, I will tell you what I think the economic and societal effects will be. When all of this becomes apparent during the next 12 months, remember that this is the piece of legislation driving it.

Derivatives regulation: I support much of this effort, unfortunately however, the bill fails to create sufficient exceptions for end users of derivatives (such as farmers), who do not use derivatives as an investment, but rather as a “hedge” to insure against market volatility in an … Read More

The ‘must watch’ of the day (and perhaps the week) is from Reason television. Ted Balaker of Reason sits down with Steve Greenhut for a thoughtful interview that runs about nine minutes long. Greenhut heads up the Pacific Research Institute CalWatchdog project, which provides reporting on California state government with the healthy perspective of skepticism…

… Read More

Conservative political law observers have been rather pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court’s series of fairly recent rulings that have recognized the primacy of the First Amendment in political speech and have rolled back some infringing rules, namely, most of the McCain-Feingold "reforms," which would have had the Federal Election Commission actually banning books that mention people who are candidates for Federal office.

But the Roberts’ Court’s stalward support of free speech hasn’t resonated well at the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento, which is apparently trying to revive in California the type of book-banning rules the Supreme Court has turned back nationwide. Today at 10:00 am, the FPPC will be holding an "interested persons" meeting at its headquarters to "elicit public input on possible Commission action focused on the Commission’s interpretation of ‘express advocacy.’" In nonlawyer talk, that means "hold onto your wallets" if you care about free speech.

"Express advocacy" is generally defined as a communication that… Read More

[Cross-posted from RedCounty.com]

Martin Wisckol posted about another, more reasonable campaign diagnosis by political handicapper Allen Hoffenblum: that AD68 represents an opportunity for a Democratic upset in November.

The GOP nominee is Costa Mesa Councilman Allan Mansoor and the Democratic choice is businessman Phu Nguyen.

The angle here as that Nguyen’s ethnicity and strong fundraising position him to pull off an upset in a district with lots of Vietnamese voters. The termed-out incumbent, Assemblyman Van Tran, is running against Loretta Sanchez in overlapping CD47. His efforts to turn out Vietnamese voters may well benefit Nguyen as an unintentional byproduct. If that is true, it stands to reason Phu Nguyen’s efforts to turn out Viet voters will also help Van Tran’s candidacy. The underlying presumption here is… Read More

Jim Sills at SD Rostra has the first newsbeat of the recount in the 40th District, as Juan Vargas tries to hold on to a 22 vote lead…

RECOUNT DAY 1….SALAS LOSES 1 VOTE IN SD REGISTRAR’S REPORT OF SD 40 MANUAL COUNT Day 1 of the 40th state senate recount is over in San Diego county. Juan Vargas began the day leading by 22 votes overall in the 3-county district.

And the 1st Day recount figures from San Diego show that 13 precincts from Chula Vista and Coronado were checked for accuracy with a Manual (aka “Hand”) count vs. the original machine count.

The only change came in Coronado precinct 43900. The Registrar’s report states, “Challenged Ballot did not Count… (-1 Salas).” The report thus appears to show a net loss of 1 vote for Mary Salas on the day.

Meanwhile, Riverside county is also doing a recount, but no new results are available there to date.

You can review today’s SD Registrar’s … Read More

JOHN CHIANG: CONTINUING TO PLAY THE BLAME GAME Blames old technology as the reason he’s defying the law yet refuses to explain why after four years and millions in taxpayer dollars his payroll systems remain out-of-date Thousand Oaks – Today’s Sacramento Bee published portions of an interview with Controller John Chiang that left more questions than answers about the Controller’s ability to lead and to manage taxpayer dollars. … Read More