Veteran KNBC sportscaster Fred Roggin contacted me earlier this month and invited me to be a regular commentator on his new program "The Filter," a fast-paced news and opinion program currently airing evenings on KNBC’s Digital Channel 4.2.

Yesterday was my debut on "The Filter." I appeared opposite Charlotte Laws, another regular who is a member of the Greater Valley Glen Council.

Here’s the first half of the segment, in which the topics were how Barbara Boxer’s "ma’am" incident with Grig. Gen. Michael Walsh is impacting the U.S. Senate campaign, and whether employees usage of employer cel phones enjoys privacy protection:

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I was born and raised in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. For the duration of my life, it has been a Republican district – until now. Liberal Mark Schauer defeated Republican incumbent Tim Walberg 49-46% in 2008. Now I like Tim Walberg and I’ve rarely disagreed with him. But his path to Congress and his performance along the way demonstrate why conservatives cannot afford him as the nominee in November if we are going to capitalize on the current advantages the GOP has going into 2010. Nick Smith represented the 7th District from 1992-2004 and comfortably held the seat with nearly 60% of the vote every time. After his retirement in 2004, a crowded primary which featured his son, Brad, Walberg, and a few others (in a race that divided the conservative base), nominated moderate Republican Joe Schwarz. Schwarz went on to win the 7th handily. In 2006, Walberg, recognizing… 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

As the cold, harsh realities of California’s dismal economy continues to settle into many California households, it’s no wonder taxpayer groups (like Californians Against Higher Taxes) are beating the drum: No new taxes! Read more here.… Read More

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

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