From reading newspaper accounts this morning, Governor Schwarzenegger is seriously looking at calling a special session of the state legislature to deal with the fact that the economic downturn that is taking place is created a much larger than expected negative impact on the current fiscal year state budget. It is not surprising that state government income would take a hit at the same time that the California economy does – the real question is how will Sacramento politicians deal with this issue.

If there is a special session to deal with what is essentially an out-of-balance state budget (remember, the one that was just passed?), we will be going right back into the polarized environment which delivered us such a late budget in the first place.

There will be two schools of thought – more cuts in government spending, or increasing “revenue” (i.e… taxes or borrowing). The former position is the correct prescription for California taxpayers, already suffering the effects of the economic downturn. The latter position will be that of the public employee unions… Read More

From reading newspaper accounts this morning, Governor Schwarzenegger is seriously looking at calling a special session of the state legislature to deal with the fact that the economic downturn that is taking place is created a much larger than expected negative impact on the current fiscal year state budget. It is not surprising that state government income would take a hit at the same time that the California economy does – the real question is how will Sacramento politicians deal with this issue.

If there is a special session to deal with what is essentially an out-of-balance state budget (remember, the one that was just passed?), we will be going right back into the polarized environment which delivered us such a late budget in the first place.

There will be two schools of thought – more cuts in government spending, or increasing “revenue” (i.e… taxes or borrowing). The former position is the correct prescription for California taxpayers, already suffering the effects of the economic downturn. The latter position will be that of the… Read More

AD 15 GOP candidate Abram Wilson has released a new television spot (actually, it is two spots, as the district straddles two media markets). Below is the East Bay Area version… … Read More

The Creative Coalition a non profit based in NYC but rooted in Hollywood that basically lobbies for actors to be able to say F*#K on television has launched a campaign with lots of mid-level talent telling Americans they should vote.

I have been a fan of the Creative Coalition ever since my buddy Devin Dwyer (who is now running for Huntington Beach City Council) got me into one of their super-hip events at the 2000 GOP Convention in New York. They actually fight for First Amendments rights and arts advocacy. Their events which raise money for their cause feature everyone from big-time movie talent like Leonardo DiCaprio to your standard mobster character actor like Robert Davi who you would totally know if you saw a photo of him.

In addition to people you sorta know the video… Read More

Apparently the Prison Guards screwed up when they filed their draft Recall petition with the Secretary of State (for those just in from Mars Station, the Prison Guard Union is threatening a recall attempt on Governor Schwarzenegger — who is playing hard ball in negotiations with this public employee union).

The law requires that the rebuttal argument filed by the subject of the recall be included in the petition — but the Prison Guards left it out. Whoops.

I guess they will have to try again… Somehow I want to have as the take-away from this story that it is time to start privitizing prisons, and move guards off of the rolls of public employees. But since I am not Bob Salladay, I can’t connect the dots between unrelated items like he can.… Read More

I thought it was Politics 101 that a recall petition has to include a rebuttal from the targeted elected official before it can be circulated. And, that any decent consultant knows that. Or, any real player. I guess the California Republican Assembly was right to take a "watch" approach on whether to join the effort, as a way to see how the guards do in the initial stages.

Some advice to the guards: Seek advice.

Sacramento, CA – The California Secretary of State’s Office today rejected the prison guard’s recall petition because of the union’s failure to include Gov. Schwarzenegger’s response to their recall effort on the petition violates California law. … Read More

State Senator Dean Florez (Blowhard) – Bakersfield, actually proposed that the State’s retirement system, CALPERS, "invest" in the State’s debt, in a letter to State Treasurer Bill Lockyer (D). Lockyer, whose been hiding from the media during the State’s budget crisis, had no immediate comment, but he had to be thinking: "why would CALPERS jump onthe Titanic when she’s already halfway down?

Florez, who’s mom is running for Assembly against Republican Danny Gilmore, reputedly was an "investment banker" in Shafter for about 30 seconds before he decided to become a lifetime politician. Given the intellectual validity of his proposal, which is uh, zero, its not hard to see why he chose politics. Its the easiest way to "invest" everyone else’s money.

The fact is, there isn’t a market for California’s paper (for those of you in Sacramento, that mean "debt") because California has been run into the ground by Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, with a cast of willing Democrats in the Legislature pushing higher spending the entire way. Oh sure, there were a… Read More

Another bad day at Wall Street.

During the Great Depression my one of my grandfathers says he earned more as a paperboy than most of the adults in his part of town (Kansas City), since they couldn’t find work. I guess he should have know gotten to know Pendergast better.

Today’s Musical Interlude: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4yT0KAMyo&feature=related. How long before we see this behind a commercial I wonder.

Brother, can you spare $700 billion?… Read More