The biggest job killer law in the world was the center of this week’s Senate Rules Committee confirmation hearing of Mary Nichols, who has been named by Governor Schwarzenegger to the important position of Chairman of the Air Resources Board.

FR readers may not be aware that Nichols held this position once before — for Jerry Brown when he was Governor! After being a part of the left-wing administration of Governor "Moonbeam" she served as campaign manager for Los Angeles Mayor turned candidate for Governor, Tom Bradley. She worked for groups on the deep end of the environmental wackos list – Natural Resource Defense Council and Environment Now Foundation. But it’s even worse — she was a senior level appointee of former President Clinton in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and was Resources Agency Secretary under the now-disgraced and recalled Governor Gray Davis.

I know – you’re thinking the same thing that I am — that Republicans won the Governor’s seat in California. That’s another story — suffice… Read More

Fresno Mayor Alan Autry, in reacting to federal judge Oliver Wanger’s settlement ruling against the city and its treatment of the homeless, has been summoned to federal court Tuesday by the judge, who will call upon Autry to justify his comments in law.

The judge has threatened to void the settlement based on Autry’s comments.

Autry, who is often governed by his heart rather than his judgement in such matters, will likely bring the city attorney along with him for the hearing. Ruh Roh!… Read More

I don’t make it up to San Francisco as often as I would like, as I am reminded by how much I enjoy myself on each visit, even a quick overnite stay like last night.

I came up at the invitation of Dr. Sally Pipes (one of the country’s top experts on health care policy) to speak over dinner to the Board of Directors of the Pacific Research Institute, an outstanding think tank that produces tremendous amounts of useful research on a myriad of policy issue.

I thought I would make a "Top Ten" list of silly or astounding observations made – in no particular order:

— Oakland PD motor officers are now tooling around in Harley Davidsons, stopping crime and making a LOT of noise.

— According to my cabbie, more people are using cabs during this period of high gas prices. But cabbies are still losing money because the City of SF won’t let them raise rates to accomodate for a 100 percent rise in gas prices in one year.

— The "stress releiving" lotion provided in my hotel room did little to relieve my stiff neck from watching the Lakers lose their second straight game to the Celtics.… Read More

I have known Ken Calvert for a very long time. Back when I was a youth activist in politics, he served as Chairman of the Riverside County GOP. I’ve run into him from time to time since his election to Congress. As a matter of fact, he endorsed my candidacy for Vice Chairman South of the State GOP just last year. For my interactions with him, Calvert has been a really nice guy.

That said, there is certainly a tension out there because Calvert is a very big proponent of this Appropriations-driven model of governance that we have in the House of Representatives. It is some sort of mentality that seems to boil down to this: our constituents are taxed so much that our job is to drive home as much federal spending back to our districts as possible. Of course this is a totally flawed outlook — conservatives should not argue to increase spending to "mitigate" high taxes, but should fight to lower the taxes.

Anyways, when the GOP took control of Congress in the big "Contract with America" 1994 sweep that propelled Newt Gingrich into the Speaker’s chair, Republicans started to go down the wrong road with an embrace of the… Read More

While Legislators gear up to battle over the State budget crisis, a new group is emerging as a leader in the anti-tax debate this year.

Americans for Prosperity has been taking the state by storm since kicking off their "Already Taxed to the Max!" (ATM) Tour in May, traveling the state with a giant ATM machine and asking Legislators and citizens alike to sign a petition for "no new taxes" in this year’s budget.

And, as the new Democratic Speaker of the Assembly Karen Bass proposed a whopping 6.5 billion in new taxes last week, Americans for Prosperity’s campaign comes not a moment too soon.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

While Legislators gear up to battle over the State budget crisis, a new group is emerging as a leader in the anti-tax debate this year.

Americans for Prosperity has been taking the state by storm since kicking off their "Already Taxed to the Max!" (ATM) Tour in May, traveling the state with a giant ATM machine and asking Legislators and citizens alike to sign a petition for "no new taxes" in this year’s budget.

And, as the new Democratic Speaker of the Assembly Karen Bass proposed a whopping 6.5 billion in new taxes last week, Americans for Prosperity’s campaign comes not a moment too soon.

With gas prices at an all-time high (thank you, environmentalists) and grocery prices poised to rise even higher, California families are, in essence, "being forced to choose between a gallon of milk and… Read More

The football adage of "If you get into the end zone, act like you have been there before." I would also add — act like you are going to come back.

Since last Tuesday I have noticed that around that state we have some poor sports. A few of the people have been those that lost on Tuesday.

The vast majority of poor sports have been those that have won races.… Read More

It is arguable that no single person has had more influence on the development and popularity of American wines than the late Robert Mondavi. Mondavi, considered the modern-day pioneer of the San Franciso Bay Area’s wine region was an inventor, a businessman, and foremost a visionary. He saw where the wine industry could be, and then lead the charge over decades to take it there.

At the time of Mondavi’s passing, we dedicated much of our main page to this pioneer – who was a master of the politics of wine.

As I pen this blog post, I am with my brother deep in the heart of the Napa Valley. We spent the better part of an hour this morning in the To Kolon Reserve Tasting Room at the Robert Modavi winery, sipping a vertical tasting of some outstanding reserve Cabernet Sauvignon wines, and toasting to the life of one who has made so much impact on an industry so important to California, and one very impactful to the publisher of this website.

To Robert Mondavi — salut!… Read More