I am quite fond of former State Senator Chuck Poochigian. He’s a great guy — and a good conservative. Frankly, though, he should have turned down the offer when it was proposed to name a stretch of California highway in his name (read it here).

Frankly, it is troubling enough when we name public works for politicians who have passed on, let alone those that are with us. Frankly, every taxpayers whose money was used to fund that highway have just as much legitimate right to have their name it.

This kind of thing glorifies the role of the politician who successful spends other people’s money.

By no means is Poochigian the only living politician with something named "in their honor" — there are thousands of examples of this kind of glorification of elected officials (such… Read More

On the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert website, they have an entry Sparks Begin To Fly Over Dems’ Budget Plan where it is made clear that Republicans will not support any additional tax increases. But Senate President Darrell Steinberg suggests that Republicans will support the non-taxes portion of their package.

"Why isn’t it better to solve $21 billion instead of zero?" says Steinberg in the piece. Even if you ignore, for the sake of discussion, that some of the "non-tax" solutions in that $21 billion figure involve shameful gimmickry like paying state employees perpetually on July 1 instead of June 30, thus perennially… Read More

The news that Juan Arambula switched his Party designation from Democrat to DTS is not a big deal. Juan is now and always has been one of the most left leaning Assemblyman in the State. He is a sensible, rationale person, however, and not an angrynut job like most of his former caucus members. Even he sees that taxes in this economy are off the table. That isn’t a moderate position –its an obvious position. Juan may be wrong about a lot of issues – but he is at least thoughtful, and a gentlemen, and able to see the obvious.

His party switch is not about moderation, but distancing himself from colleagues that honestly, need to be locked away in a mental institution for the strategies they are embracing in our budget crisis.… Read More

Today’s LA Times has a story on study being released today that places blame for the loss of almost 80,000 California-based manufacturing jobs on our regulatory and tax structure. Recently, a group of us joined Assemblyman Dan Logue on a fact-finding trip to Nevada. We had a hearing with companies that have left California and heard stories firsthand just like the ones you can read about in this column. With rising unemployment, the state should be taking action to help create jobs…

Quote of the week # 1: "Do me a favor: Can you say ‘Senator’ instead of ‘ma’am’? It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it. Thank you." – California Senator Barbara Boxer to a US Army Brigadier General who addressed her as "Mam" in a committee hearing June 17, 2009.

Quote of the week # 2: "Reagan was all about America, and he talked about it. Obama is, we are above that now…in a way, Obama is standing above the country, above the world. He is, sort of, god…" – Evan Thomas, Editor of Newsweek Magazine on MSNBC’s Hardball June 5, 2009.

Floor Action: Last Thursday, the House made 53 recorded roll call votes. That is the most ever in one day in history. Most of those were repeat or procedural votes brought forth by the Minority as we protested the Majority’s limitation on amendments and debate for spending bills. The Majority had proposed to limit the time of debate and the number of amendments to spending… Read More

I watched the Democrat press conference on the Calcliptv Youtube channel

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and found several… Read More

The Politico is reporting that Antonio Villaraigosa will announce on CNN this afternoon whether or not he’s going to run for governor next year. Since politicians announcing that they are running for office tend to do news conferences and rallies with balloons and banners (oh, and supporters), the cable television option suggests that Antonio sees the poll numbers on the wall and is going to sit this one out.

That’s good news for Jerry Brown, as Villaraigosa’s base of labor and Latinos is more likely to head toward Brown than Gavin Newsom. But it opens the door even further for another Democratic candidate (Loretta Sanchez is probably already on the phone to her pollster.

And if Brown is the nominee, here’s hoping that Whitman/Poizner/Campbell realizes that running against Governor Moonbeam, Rose Bird, and the 1970’s is a dated playbook that could use some refreshing. Hint: anyone been to Oakland recently?… Read More

The New America Foundation sponsored a program and a lunch (thanks for food) regarding the topic "California v 2.0: The Roads to Fundamental Reform." Everybody there knew this was a promo for the idea of a constitutional convention. Panelists from the Bay Area Council, California Forward and the New America Foundation all are in favor of a convention. Other than some general assumptions about gridlock, partisanship, governance failure, and political malaise, they did not present any specifics on what the problems are, nor any proof that the Constitution has to be rewritten in order to solve these non-specific problems. In fact, one of the panelists, Dr. Thad Kousser of UCSD, spoiled the party by offering proof that California government was neither in gridlock nor overly partisan, but merely reflecting the expectations of the voters. He did offer that the years of the worst gridlock occur when the state has a governor of one party and a legislative majority held by the other party. Of course, the only way to eliminate that possibility is to switch to a parliamentary system of government that combines the legislative and executive branches, but… Read More