This appears in today’s online Wall Street Journal… (An entirely separate question, after reading this, is how Crane could be a major donor to the Gubernatorial campaign of Jerry Brown… But that is for another day…) Dow 28,000,000: The Unbelievable Expectations of California’s Pension System Because Calpers failed to disclose pension costs and liabilities 10 years ago, taxpayers will be on the hook for hundreds of billions. By DAVID CRANE In 1999 then California Governor Gray Davis signed into law a bill that represented the largest issuance of non-voter-approved debt… Read More

Who is on my mid-week flight to Sacramento? I'm hanging with 20 year FR friend and Assemblyman Van Tran. Also on the flight are Jonathan Choi of Dart Enterprises (need a LOT of plates or cups? He's your man – also Judy Legan is off to advocate for Apartment Owners, and my buddy former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Charlie Walters is on his way to a state criminal justice commission meeting. That's a wrap!… Read More

Lonely day in the mailbox. COOPER FOR SHERIFF “Endorsements” pretty clean, good piece… doesn’t point out he is a Democrat.… Read More

Just got this in at Casa De Flash…

One of the most recognizable slate mailers that comes out is Tim Carey’s California Voter Guide. This go around his program will include over 5 million pieces of mail! Below are examples of his two slates that have mailed. Carey also has an innovative online slate card program, which we’ll feature in a future post… Tim will happily give you a quote for his general election slate…… Read More

The California Fair Political Practices Commission has started publishing "top ten" lists, as if they have nothing better to do. On second thought I guess having them grind their data is a better thing than terrifying campaign treasurers. In March they published a list of the "top ten" slate mailers in California, all political parties, by gross revenue. But they used old data from 2007/2008. Two of my Landslide Communications slate mailers made the top ten for the whole state. Not bad. My friend Tim Carey’s slate mailer was listed number one in gross revenue. Not bad. I look forward to the statistics this next time around, and as Carey and I agreed yesterday, there is nothing wrong with a little healthy competition. Though I think my slates win more elections, and I’m going to ask the FPPC to start sorting through the data that way.

In any event, the most recent top ten list from the FPPC are the top recipients of Independent Expenditure money in legislative races, and it comes as no surprise to seasoned observers that Democrats dominate the money in California elections. Number one was Orange County Democrat… Read More

The National Rifle Association blasts Republican Senate candidate Tom Campbell for being terrible candidate on gun-rights and ownership issues. They like both DeVore and Fiorina. Here is the text of an e-mail they are sending far and wide… Maeve Reston has more on this on the Los Angeles Times PolitiCal Blog…

From the NRA… PROTECT OUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS – VOTE FREEDOM FIRST ON JUNE 8 May 15, 2010 Dear California NRA Member: … Read More

Assemblyman Dan Logue today released a copy of an evaluation conducted at his request by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), which reviewed possible economic consequences of California implementing AB 32 in the absence of similar actions elsewhere in the nation.

“The LAO’s most recent analysis clearly indicates that California’s go-it-alone approach to global warming policy will have serious consequences for our state’s jobs, businesses and economy,” said Mr. Logue. “It also identifies critical deficiencies in the California Air Resources Board’s (ARB) evaluation of the costs of AB 32 in the context of ‘leakage’ of jobs and economic activity to other states.”

“With California struggling with over 2.3 million unemployed, a multi-billion dollar budget deficit and ongoing economic crisis, the LAO’s comments call into renewed question the wisdom of moving ahead with billions of dollars in increased energy costs and job losses that will put our state at an even greater competitive disadvantage,” concluded Logue. “The only fiscally responsible option here is to send ARB back to the drawing board to conduct a more… Read More