Two potential death penalty cases have been in the news lately. One involves the murder of Chelsea King earlier this year in San Diego by John Gardner. That has earned world wide media attention. The other involved the murder of Yolo County Deputy Sheriff Tony Diaz by gang member Marco Antonio Topete in June 2008. It is the big news around the Sacramento region.

The father of Chelsea King made a difficult but wise decision by supporting a plea bargain that will mean that Gardner dies in prison. This saves the taxpayers millions of dollars in the initial case and the appeals. This case would have been a media circus and cost San Diego County a fortune. It also will bring some closure to a community that has had to deal with the horror of this crime.

The problem is one that was identified when Chelsea’s father Brent said, "While our unequivocal first choice is the death penalty, we acknowledge that in California that penalty has become an empty promise." He is so right. The most likely cause of death on California death row in old age.

So here in… Read More

The Tax Man Cometh: I am sure most of you loyal readers of this missive do not need a reminder, butyesterdaywas April 15, and you know what that means…Tax Day. If you think your taxes are bad now…you need to take a look at the lists below.

Tax Increases Enacted since January 2009

This list, totaling more than $670 billion in tax increases includes the Health Care Bill, SCHIP, the Stimulus Package, and several other pieces of legislation which have been signed into law by President Obama.

Pending Tax Increases if Congress Takes no Action

2010:

Congressman George Radanovich minces no words in his criticism of his former colleague, Richard Pombo, in a hard-hitting column submitted to us here at the FlashReport…

It begins… Those who work with me know that I rarely resort to public exchanges with other members of Congress and reserve that right only when I feel all other reasonable approaches have been exhausted. It is for this reason that I am writing in response to recent columns about former Rep. Richard Pombo, who is a candidate for the 19th Congressional seat that I now hold, and statements made by Rep. Devin Nunes. After nearly 16 years representing our district, I announced late last year that I would not seek reelection so I could spend… Read More

This past Thursday, the Modesto Bee ran an article about Steven Edwards, a parolee and convicted sex offender accused of stalking a young girl. Thanks to his GPS monitoring device, it was easy to prove Edwards had been within 500 meters of the victim’s home and school.

The story clearly illustrates why the safeguards provided by Jessica’s Law, such as requiring GPS monitoring devices and not allowing sex offenders to live closer than 2,000 feet of a school, are so important. In the article, Prosecutor Annette Rees hits the nail on the head when she says, "Here is a case where the mandatory GPS tracking of sex offenders literally prevented further victimization and helped up put away a very scary individual."

Along these same lines, I recently introduced a piece of legislation, SB 1452, that would give local law enforcement the power to require non-revocable parolees to wear GPS devices while they are on parole.

The kind of technology provided through GPS can be a very effective tool in the hands of law enforcement. In this case, I am thankful… Read More

What a difference a year makes. Last year the Tea Partiers could barely gain notice on local TV stations and newspapers. They were dismissed as irrelevent and merelya tool of the Republican Party.

One year later, the Tea Party movement has flourished in numbers and grown in strength. Now the media is taking the movement serious. Even the Capitol’s paper of record included a pre-event story on the front page, "above the fold." (I may not agree with the story but the placement shows how important the movement has become).

Congratulations to my Tea Party friends. I applaud and support their efforts. They have bravely challenged the status quo and questioned the Sacramento establishment.

They didn’t walk away when liberals dismissed them as a fad, or when political pundits downplayed the attendance numbers at Tea Party events.

The good news is now the media and politicos are listening. Some Left-leaning politicians may act unflappable, but everyone knows that liberals in targeted seats – on the state and federal… Read More

In my last blog about the California Small Business Association I asked President Betty Jo Toccoli to respond to my question about how legislators were chosen for various awards given out by her organization. Her response, which I found a bit witty in the first paragraph, is here – unedited and without my editorializing. Agree or disagree with one another, I respect her addressing the issue (is that editorializing?).

Dear Mr. Dichiara: CSBA has a long history of working with all parties. This is a deeply rooted tenant of CSBA’s philosophy. Getting Democrats, along with Republicans, to care about small business issues is an important goal of our organization and critical for the future of small business in California. I can understand that you have a different view as a Republican Party campaign consultant. At the same time, many Democrats are livid with CSBA for supporting the effort to delay AB32 and releasing a study showing that the regulatory costs of the program could be significant. We must be doing… Read More

Every night at midnight I get an e-mail from Scott Lay at ElectionTrack.com. Many of you may know Scott from around the Capitol or from the Community College circuit.

If you are interests in politics his daily e-mail at midnight will give you an idea of how money in moving around the state. Personally, I look at it every night before I go to bed.

The e-mail which is free — tells you all the contribution required to be reported in the 24 hour reporting cycle. You can sign up at www.electiontrack.com

The other night I was looking at my e-mall on my blackberry as I was walking upstairs and noticed that Forest City Residential was nice enough to give Jerry Brown $10,000. That was similar enough to the name of Forest City Residential West that is the company name for Kevin Ratner that serves on the Board of Directors of the California State Chamber of Commerce. He is one of the four people that signed the letter regarding pulling the ad off the air that was critical of the Attorney General.

What was great is that when I went to the Board of Directors for Forest City I found that seven of them… Read More

OC Sheriff Sandra Hutchens was appointed to her post, but it looks like the voters will keep her there. Our new Voice of OC/Probolsky Research Poll shows the Sheriff winning with a 2-1 lead.

There are a lot of undecided voters at this point. Voters are generally uninterested in who the Sheriff is unless he/she is under federal investigation or something more dramatic. As long as they feel safe and a deputy comes when you call 911 – the incumbent is probably going to win.

Hutchens is on top among all the major demographic groups like all parties, men and women and age groups. Challengers Bill Hunt, a former deputy is running along with Craig Hunter, Anaheim Deputy Chief are trailing.

Someone needs to come in with big money to change this outcome.

The article about the poll can be found here. The full report can be found here.… Read More