[Cross-posted from OC Blog]

An interesting story has emerged from last month’s California Coastal Commission hearing on the 241 toll road completion.

One news story (I can’t find it at the moment) mentioned the rapid-response operation toll road opponents had going at the hearing. Whenever a speaker testified in favor of completing the 241, this operation would print out the speaker’s name, their remarks and a rebuttal and pass it out to the media.

This slick operation was due to the efforts of Cerrell Associates and Sacramento-based GOP consultant Joe Rodota, who were brought on board to help kill the 241, as I reported in September 2007.

Rodota is a… Read More

As part of my job, I’ve spent the entire week reading through and analyzing the hundreds of new bills introduced in the Assembly and Senate last week. As you can imagine, there are some doozies this year. If it weren’t so sad for the future of our state, it would be funny. Next week I’ll post some of the highlights (and lowlights) of this session’s potential laws. You’ll probably laugh, but you’ll most likely cry when you read what some lawmakers want to make law.

Last week there was media coverage of a bill Assemblyman John Benoit introduced that requires all welfare recipients be subject to random drug testing. It’s a great idea, but the subject of the media coverage was the bill idea’s source: a sixteen-year-old high school student in Benoit’s district. The student, R.J. Field, won an essay contest sponsored by Assemblyman Benoit called “There Ought to be a Law.” You may be surprised to learn that many lawmakers sponsor similar contests in their districts—including many Republicans.

Last year the product of one such contest was a bill that would have mandated community… Read More

Yesterday was one of those really crazy days, where blogging, doing some consulting work, being a dad and heading up to U.S.C. to speak to a class of graduate students had me on the run.

As such, when I reflected on my "FYI" post relative to Chuck Quackenbush and being in an officer-involved-shooting in Florida, I realize that I probably did Chuck a disservice, and I really have no excuse other than being on the run.

You see, for over five years, I worked in media relations for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. And on many occasions (countless, actually) I would roll my eyes as some COPS beat reporter would pen something for their paper that seemed to paint one of our deputies in the worst possible light.

As that post said, our former Insurance Commissioner these days is a Sheriff’s Deputy in Florida’s Lee County, where is has been putting… Read More

Gabriella Holt is a Republican candidate for State Assembly in the 54th Assembly District. She was recently endorsed by the Lincoln Clubs of Los Angeles Countyaz. Lincoln Clubs Chairman Bob Virtue sent this over about his organization’s support of Holt:

American Solutions for Winning the Future is a new, non-partisan organization built around three goals: to defend America and our allies abroad and defeat our enemies, to strengthen and revitalize America’s core values, and to move the government into the 21st Century. Its General Chairman is former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

They have opened a new office here in California, in the Silicon Valley, staffed by David Kralik, who is the group’s Director of Internet Strategy.

Instead of me talking about the significance of this announcement, how about I let former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich to the honors…

… Read More

American Solutions for Winning the Future is a new, non-partisan organization built around three goals: to defend America and our allies abroad and defeat our enemies, to strengthen and revitalize America’s core values, and to move the government into the 21st Century. Its General Chairman is former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

They have opened a new office here in California, in the Silicon Valley, staffed by David Kralik, who is the group’s Director of Internet Strategy.

Instead of me talking about the significance of this announcement, how about I let former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich to the honors…

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just… Read More

Over a year ago I wrote about the "Assault" that took place at a city council meeting in Carson. A recall proponent of the mayor swiped some papers at an opponent and shazaam there is an assault case. Now this is going to trial. The youtube Video says it all and the winner is….… Read More

In politics, it seems like people like to put "labels" on things to make them appear to be other than what they are… The latest attempt to "linquistically twist" reality is one that is commonly used by the left, and was recently used by the state’s Legislative Analyst, and now, apparently, by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The phrase that is being used is "closing a tax loophole" — but when put through the free translation services available to anyone who understands English, that translates to "raise taxes."

In her proposed "alternative budget" the Legislative Analyst, Elizabeth Hill, proposes increasingly the amount of money that taxpayers are forced to pay into the coffers of state government by BILLIONS of dollars. But never once is this called a tax increase, instead the language "closing tax loopholes" is used.

What Hill refers to as a "loophole" was a specific decision by California lawmakers to either not tax a certain area, or perhaps to give a tax credit in a certain area. Using the phrase "loophole" makes it sound like some sort of technical error… Read More