The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must stop dragging its feet and issue a delisting decision in response to petitions from the Riverside County Farm Bureau to remove the Stephens kangaroo rat (pictured) from listing under the Endangered Species Act.

This is the position of attorneys with the Pacific Legal Foundation who today filed a lawsuit in federal court today on behalf of their client, the Riverside County Farm Bureau.

"For 14 years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been disobeying the legal deadline for properly responding to the Riverside County Farm Bureau’s petition to delist the SKR," said PLF attorney Damien Schiff. "Today we are asking a federal court to order the agency to get off the dime, obey the… Read More

The Legislature is working on legislation to make California eligible – and hopefully competitive – for federal “Race to the Top” grant funding worth up to $750 million for California. SB5X 1 by Senator Gloria Romero (D- East Los Angeles) is the bill that I, education reformers, and the Governor support, but it is sitting in limbo in the Assembly Education Committee. The California Teachers Association is opposed to it. The Romero bill contains many genuine reform elements that deserve support and applause. It permits pupil education data to be used for teacher and administrator evaluation and employment decisions; removes the statutory cap on the number of charter schools in California; creates the “Open Enrollment Act” permitting pupils in specified low-performing schools to transfer to other schools within or outside their district; requires intervention in the 5% of California schools that are identified as the most persistently low-performing; allows the creation of alternative teacher credential programs for science, technology, engineering, math and career technical educators; allows 50% of the parents of children in specified… Read More

2010 will be a very positive year for supporters of Steve Poizner’s campaign for governor. Today Poizner confirmed what most of us have known for a long time – he plans to win this campaign and return conservative principles to Sacramento. Poizner’s campaign announced earlier today that he will be contributing $15 million to his campaign for governor and spending it on spreading his fiscally conservative message. In other news that should keep Poizner supporters smiling throughout the holiday season, the Orange County Register’s editorial board penned a glowing assessment of Poizner’s campaign and candidacy in Sunday’s print edition of the newspaper. Specifically the OC Register notes that: “Mr. Poizner is an energetic, tech-savvy Silicon Valley businessman turned politician. He is seeking the state’s … Read More

Oops! they did it again: public trusts Britany as much as Legislature on budget. A statewide poll conducted by Wilson Research had an interesting item – it turns out the public is almost equally split between the California Legislature and Britany Spears on who they trust more to manage budgets. Here’s the excerpt from the toplines: Q17: And, who do you think would do a better job handling your family’s budget [ROTATE] California legislators or Brittany Spears? 1. California Legislators 35% 2. Brittany Spears 31% 3. DK/Refused [DNR]… Read More

The Republican primary for governor just got a lot more interesting.

For weeks, Meg Whitman’s been running statewide radio ads at high levels, and not coincidentally has been building herself a solid lead in early polls. Because Steve Poizner has not been spending for advertising as well, rumors have been circulating that he was not committed to the race and might even be looking for an early exit rather than try to compete with what’s likely to be huge levels of Whitman spending.

But earlier tonight, Poizner sent an email to supporters announcing that he had contributed $15 million of his own money to the campaign. That’s more than enough to finance an ad blitz that could pull him even with the frontrunners by early next year. More immediately, though, it puts the rumors to rest. Steve Poizner is definitely running for governor.

The next question is when his ads start running. Assuming that both Poizner and Whitman are willing to stay on the air all the way until June, it’s also safe to assume that every man, woman and child in California will have both candidates’ ads memorized long before the primary.… Read More

Last Tuesday’s failed recall election against Oceanside Councilman Jerry Kern was a clear repudiation of an attempt by labor to wrest control of the city council in one of San Diego County’s largest municipalities.

Fellow SD FlashReport blogger Duane Dichiara wrote about the results on Wednesday, in A Crushing Defeat for Labor in Bellweather Oceanside Election. Here too are several SD Rostra posts on the election.

In many (if not most) cases, local elected officials — including Republicans — are fearful of not having public safety union endorsements, as voters will often respond positively to police and fire association messages and endorsements. Yet, the outcome in Oceanside shows how the public will respond when they are truly informed about the issues at hand.

The overall lesson is that when a city is caught up in the emotion of a recall election for several weeks, with both sides focused on messaging in a very singular fashion (not… Read More

As the United States Senate takes on the health care issue, there is a clear difference of opinion on whether this $850 billion program will rein in rising health care costs or further bankrupt our nation. In a piece written recently, Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters noted a provision inserted into the 2,000-plus page health care bill that would wreak havoc on California.

Walters wrote that 34 years ago California passed a law that imposed a $250,000 limit on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases. Walters also noted that during the 1970s, in response to the skyrocketing insurance premiums for malpractice insurance, many doctors threatened to leave the state or abandon specialized practices, particularly obstetrics.

However, California’s malpractice cap, which also was enacted in 30 other states, has been put on the chopping block by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the health care bill pushed through the House. In the recently approved House health care bill, any state that repeals the malpractice cap would receive "incentive payments"–a modern day payoff.

As noted in by Walters, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)… Read More

I’ve read some comments on this blog andanother conservative blogthat State Senator Abel Maldonado "votes with the Democrats most of the time."

I decided to invest 15 minutes of my time to research how Maldonado actually votes in Sacramento. I did not contact Maldonado, or any of his critics, to do this research. I just wanted to see what I could easily find on the internet, and do the work on my own.

Here is what I found on Abel’s voting record:

According to the California Chamber of Commerce, Maldonado votes within their highest range of support for the business community, 80% or more. On 13 bills important to the California Chamber, Maldonado supported 11 and voted against 2. By comparison, conservative State Senator Tony Strickland supported 12 and opposed 1, and liberal DemocratDarrell Steinberg, supported just 3 of the bills and opposed 10. The "median" or average Democrat vote was to support 2 and oppose 11 of the bills.

I alsoexamined the California Chamber’s 13 key bills and determined they were all pro-taxpayer,… Read More