The 2008 presidential campaign is still months away from completion, but that’s no reason not to accelerate the level of speculation regarding the California 2010 election for governor. State Democrats have at least half a dozen viable potential candidates circling the field, who we will mock at another time. Republicans, on the other hand, seem to have been on a pretty clear glide path toward nominating Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

But the Poizner nomination may not be a foregone conclusion after all. State Senator Tom McClintock has decided that his future lies in Congress, but should he not win his primary next month, another campaign for governor could be in the offing. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina seems to have decided that her immediate future lies in President McCain’s Cabinet, but should Democrats win the White House, she may decide that statewide office holds some allure instead. And one prominent former Republican officeholder currently residing in the private sector has begun laying the groundwork for a campaign as well.

But the most intriguing potential challenger to Poizner might be former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Whitman… Read More

Well, we don’t have a happy ending to the Farm Bill follies. As we have written about, this Farm Bill before Congress is TERRIBLE public policy. It typifies everything that is wrong with our Congress. It takes BILLIONS of dollars and doles it out around the country to agricultural interests (from the family farm — many of which are huge) to big ag conglomerates. Anyways, the idea is that at the most basic level, this is the federal government taking from your pocket to place that money in someone else’s.

Is it shocking that such a bill would pass a Democrat-controlled Congress, no? Should it be shocking that a majority of REPUBLICANS voted for this dog with fleas? Yes. Is it really shocking. Unfortunately, no.

It is proof that Republicans in Congress don’t get it — that we lost Congress because we are no longer the party that stands for a limited federal government, lower taxes and returning the power to the people.

You can’t beat the Democrats by being 95% like them. This Farm Bill was an important vote because it helped to reinforce in my mind that our GOPers back there (well, the ones who voted for… Read More

Capitol Weekly broke the story that now L.A. Congresswomen Laura Richradson’s house is in Sacramento is in foreclosure. Richardson now denies that the house has been seized.

Well, which is it? The issue is relevant becasue of the possible use of equity as loan to her Congressional Campaign.

Now is the time for Richardson to release her records.… Read More

Back when Ridley-Thomas burst on the political scene, he promoted himself as a black first politician.As an LA city councilman, leaders of the Southern California Organizing Committee [SCOC] sent its members, mostly Latinos, to a meeting where Mark Ridley-Thomas was hosting a meeting for 8th District residents. The meeting erupted into a shouting match, with some charging Ridley-Thomas with alienatinghis constituents inthe ethnically and religiously diverse district. This took place back in 1993. Ridley-Thomas hasn’t changed much since then.

Mark Ridley-Thomas

The SCOC drew its membership from churches, block clubs and community organizations in South-Central LA. SCOC leaders say theywere incensed by what they felt were disparaging remarks made by Ridley-Thomas while voting againsttheir anti-gang program. The councilman denied SCOC’s charges that he favored… Read More

In a huge surprise, SCA 23 which would prohibit the Calif. Citizens Compensation Commission from awarding pay raises to legislators during a budget deficit year, failed in Senate committee today. It also provided clarification that the Commish could decreasethose same salaries if it saw fit to do so.… Read More

A few minutes ago, Harry Sidhu wrapped one of the most interesting press conferences to which I’ve ever been.

It was basically two parts. First, he addressed the "Orange County Grand Jury Report" mailer sent out by the Mimi Walters for Senate campaign, attacking it as deceptive and defending his record regarding working with OCE to screen Anaheim City Jail prisoners for illegal immigrants.

Pretty standard.

Then, Harry went on to discuss the negative tone of the SD33 race, said he took responsibility for his campaign’s part in it, and then renounced any further negative campaigning, pledging that henceforth his voter communication would all be positive. Nearby Harry were boxes of negative mail produced by his campaign, which he then proceeded to feed into a big shredder next to the podium.

A cynical interpretation is that it’s easy to renounce negative campaigning two weeks before the election when you’ve already carpet-bombed your opponent with negative mail and ads, and SD33… Read More

Jon just posted a blog about President Bush vetoing the pork-laden farm bill. As Jon explained, the bill was rightfully vetoed because of all the subsidies for wealthy farmers. This issue is particularly important here in the 4th CD race. Former congressman Doug Ose (and current candidate for the 4th CD) has been the recipient of such federal farm subsidies for wealthy farm owners.

Doug Ose not only accepted $600,000 in farm subsidies (more than former Enron CEO Ken Lay), he approved those subsidies as a voting member of the House Agriculture Committee. Republicans are suffering from an image of corruption, and self-serving votes like Ose’s enforce this image, especially in a district where corruption is a hot issue. Republican voters should ask themselves if they want a millionaire congressman who will take their tax dollars to pay for his personal property.

Last week Tom McClintock launched a devastating TV ad regarding Ose’s self-enriching votes on farm subsidies while in Congress. I’m disappointed that my current congressman, John Doolittle, voted for this irresponsible bill. Based on Doug Ose’s record, Tom McClintock is the clear choice. I’m… Read More

Need another reason to not trust lawyers and the Bar Associations. Conservatives have known that at the federal level the American Bar Association play politics with their rating system.

Need proof at the local level. Look at poor Bob Henry. Henry is Democrat and has been a Deputy Attorney general for two decades.

In 1992 he ran for judge and came in second. The bar rated him “qualified”. He ran again in 2004 and was rated as“well qualified. Two years ago he ran and was rated “qualified”. 2008 he runs and is now “not qualified”. To get it straight. The bar rating system four years ago had him as “well-qualified”. Since then he has been in a spiral downward dropping to “qualified” and then now to “not qualified”.

Iknow being a Democrat didn’t hurt him. So what’s changed?

Other than the make up of the review committee probably nothing.… Read More