One of the worst kept secrets in Sacramento is that many political insiders believe that the real reason Senate President Pro Tem Don (“The Golden Pig”) Perata launched the recall campaign against Senator Jeff Denham was to create an excuse to funnel money to Sandi Polka and members of his own family. Polka is the Senator’s longtime political consultant and very close friend – close to the point of actually being his girlfriend.

Now the East Bay Express newspaper, which has doggedly pursued Perata and done an outstanding job of aggressively exposing the powerful politician’s numerous ethical transgressions, has pointed to Polka’s financial well-being as the true motivation for the recall. (Their article is linked at the bottom of this post.) Perata spent more than $2 million to qualify the recall, launch misleading paid media attacks on Denham that failed miserably, and fund puppet replacement candidate and proven lightweight Simon Salinas. While Perata is a huge political loser because of the recall, not all of that campaign money appears to have been wasted from the… Read More

Jim Lacy has been getting the same mail I have.

These Taxpayer Protection Committee people are all over the place. I got a piece of mail at home yesterday from the California Taxpayer Protection Committee supporting Frank Sieferman, Jr. for Woodland City Council.

This piece of mail follows an automated call for Sieferman as well as another piece of mail to the good people of Woodland telling them all of the great things he is going to do for the taxpayers of my city.

For those of you that don’t know, Frank Sieferman, Jr is a former County Supervisor that I was forced to run against and beat in 2006.

Sieferman was a member of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors when he voted to use eminent domain to seize 17,000 acre Conaway Ranch so that the government could do exactly what the private owner was doing with it. This seizure was one of the reasons that Prop 98 is on the ballot on Tuesday.

Sieferman supported John Kerry for President, redecorated his office during tough budget times, accepted and supported pay raises while in office, opposed the parental consent measure on the ballot, and supported a gay pride resolution on several… Read More

A multi million dollar campaign for Fresno County Supervisor between Debbie Poochigian and Clovis Council member Nathan Magsig has been full of fireworks for several weeks now, but on the final weekend a negative mail piece designedby former Assemblyman Mike Briggs and funded by SEIUis causing quite a stir in this hotly contested battle.

At issue here are two recently formed Independent Expenditure Committees, the "Friends of the Valley PAC" and "Citizens for Representative Government". "Friends of the Valley" is so new it doesn’t even have an FPPC number. It funded the hit piece on Chuck and Debbie Poochigian, with major funding by the SEIU, a close ally of Supervisor Bob Waterston. Waterston is vacating the seat under a cloud of ethics allegations, and has vowed to remain neutral in the race. But there is no question he knows what SEIU is doing. SEIU leaders have also hinted thatthat Mike Briggs firm, Creative Campaigns, did the work on the hit piece for SEIU. Briggs is closely aligned with Nathan Magsig.

"Citizens For Representative Government", formed on May 9th, received major funding from… Read More

Proposition 98 on the June 3 ballot is a much needed reform to protectfamilies from losing their homes to government eminent domain power. We all need to vote "Yes" on Proposition 98. For this reason, I do not understand why I received a mailing from the "Faith, Family and Freedom Association," a "nonpartisan voter guide that stands for mainstream American family values" that endorses a number of candidates for local office, but is entirely silent on support or opposition for Proposition 98.

What is going on here! I recently reported another outfit calledthe "California Taxpayer Protection Committee" did essentially the same thing,claiming to be an anti-tax group but failing to give any information on the Juneballot initiative sponsored by the HowardJarvis Taxpayers Association.

Karen England, a respected conservative lobbyist in Sacramento, signed a letter in the "Family" mailing requesting signatures on the "Save Our Kids" initiative included in the mailing. That is a good thing. But the failure to even mention Proposition 98 in the mailing is… Read More

In the midst of some of the hottest San Diego area dust-ups in memory, there is so much going on I can barely decide where to start or end. A potpourri of just some of the fun…

The Primary Election Contest… If you haven’t emailed your guesses yet, it’s not too late, you have ’til 7:55 p.m. election night. I’m literally floating in entries thus far. Read last week’s Sunday column for the parameters, then shoot me your prognostications.

Fletchering the Competition… Speaking of my little contest, the first question is a throw away about the winner of the GOP nomination in 75th Assembly District (George Plescia’s termed seat). No one has submitted a wrong answer yet, although some folks are getting a little cute with entries such as "Mindy’s husband – I can’t remember his name" and the such.

As far as Mindy and Whatshisname, yesterday was apparently… Read More

I think this photo of Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill and Assemblyman Tom Berryhill speaks for itself. Need some help figuring out which of these two gets an extra ‘bump" in their pay for being the Republican Leader? Think "Ralph Lauren"… LOL.

Photo credit: Bob Phelan, taken at Jeff Denham’s campaign headquarters this morning.… Read More

The most important measure on this year’s statewide ballot is Proposition 98, the anti-eminent domain protection measure, sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Please vote "Yes" on Prop. 98, and "No" on Prop. 99, the phony alternative supported by the California Democratic Party.

That said, I received a "slate mailer" from an obscure outfit called the "California Taxpayer Protection Committee" out of Gold River, California. The mailer has some local candidates on it and explains the group is made up of volunteers and unnamed "affiliated groups" that oppose"out of control spending," claim"taxes are too high" and that "new borrowing" is "not the answer."

Now of course, I am biased here, because I represent the slate mail industry in court, havewon two Federal cases enjoining campaign restrictions against slate mail, and have a few I produce myself. I think slate mail is effective, and it is an important enough medium to have its own sections of the Political Reform Act.

But not all the Republican… Read More

If a textbook on winning campaigns is ever written, exhibit A should be the State Assembly Campaign of Nathan Fletcher. He cleared the Republican field in the open seat of one of the prize Assembly seats in California —beautiful, prosperous, coastal– yet Republican. The seat is about 80% city of San Diego, with Poway, some county land, and part of Escondido rounding it out.

Historically, this seat has been a vicious primary— lot of candidates, lot of money and the winner emerging in a tight and hotly contested race. The 2008 contest for the open seat of termed out Assemblyman George Plescia looked early to be no break from the past.

Surprisingly, when Republican voters go the polls next Tuesday they will see only one choice: Nathan Fletcher.… Read More