Last week, I had an opportunity at the invitation of the California Chamber of Commerce to participate on a couple of panels at a meeting of their advocacy council at the Chamber’s amazing offices a block from the State Capitol. Right before lunch, as a panelist, I got to take on 3-1 odds going up against three proponents of weakening term-limits, Rob Stutzman, Tim Hodson, and the iniative’s chief flack Gale Kaufman. The lunchtime speaker at the event was none other than conservative syndicated columnist Bob Novak. Below is an article that Novak penned, inspired by his recent visit to the Golden State…

As I read it, I tried to remember the Governor, in all of his recent lobbying of Congress to take on the battle against global warming, just once call for making permanent the tax cuts passed a few years back…… Read More

San Jose State’s Survey Policy and Research Center just released some survey results on the term-limits weakening measure, public sentiment on illegal aliens, and popularity numbers for the Governator. You can read the summary release which is attached below. Of particular note in this survey were the numbers on the term-limits weakening measure being placed on the ballot by termed-out legislative leader politicians Don Perata and Fabian Nunez. On the first pass, the career politician set would be chuckling with glee as respondents to the survey, based on having the ‘official’ description of the measure read to them, seem to support the measure with 56% saying they would vote for it. Well, that is where the good news stops for them and the good news for those who oppose career politicians begins. The analysis with the attached survey penned by survey director Melinda Jackson makes it clear that it is Jerry Brown’s slanted wording that is responsible for… Read More

Last Wednesday I featured a guest commentary is this space from State Senator Tom McClintock. Entitled Ethanol Economics, McClintock made the case against a recent decision by the California Air Resources Board to mandate that by 2010, every gallon of gasoline sold must be made up of at least 10% ethanol. Bonus link: What is ethonal? The Wikopedia entry is here.

Today I am pleased to feature a ‘rebuttal piece’ penned by former California Secretary of State Bill . Jones, the Republican Party’s nominee for U.S. Senate a few years back, is now the Chairman of the Board of Pacific Ethanol:

… Read More

From the SDUT News Blog…..

Note as well that Cal-PERS, Cal-STRS and the CTA continue to argue that the legislation infringes on their fiduciary responsibility to invest in terrorist states.

Senate Committee Approves Iran Divestment Bill

A key Senate panel approved a bill on Monday afternoon that would require the state’s huge pension funds for teachers and government workers to divest from companies that do business in Iran.

Assembly Bill 221, sponsored by Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-El Cajon, won unanimous bipartisan support from the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee. The bill would require the funds… Read More

Just wanted to verify Jubal’s (Matt Cunningham) scoop – the CRP Board of Directors just voted unanimously to confirm Bill Christiansen as an interim Chief Operating Officer of the party. Bill has agreed to serve until he is replaced.

I caught up with Steve Schmidt, formerly the campaign manager for Governor Schwarzenegger last year, who worked extremely closely with Bill, and he was very pleased with the quick, decisive action of bringing Bill onboard, adding, "The selection of Bill to be the CRP’s new interim COO is an outstanding one. He was the director of our party-based Victory Operations last election cycle, and I was one of a great many who were impressed with him. He is experienced and well qualified."… Read More

I am participating in a national conference call right now with election lawyers and professors, and am concluding that the consensus view is that the Supreme Court’s decision today in Wisconsin Right to Life does gut McCain-Feingold, but also establishes a new standard for regulated electorial speech: express advocacy of a candidate PLUS words about candidate character/qualifications/fitness for office. And interestingly this is anEXPANSION of the old Buckley v. Valeo case. Nevertheless, the sum is less regulation of speech in elections. If a policy-oriented communication from a nonprofit, corporation or union avoids the types of words mentioned above,it can mention candidates and be outside the realm of FEC/FPPC regulation. This is a big win for the First Amendment, because McCain-Feingold banned such communications based on timing, regardless of content. Thus, the new analysis is content-based, ad-by-ad, so political consultants: careful review of text is critical.… Read More

Jubal at the Red County/OC Blog has the news. This is a great move by the CRP to aggressively and quickly address yesterday’s fallout:

Bill Christiansen To Be Interim COO of the CRP

I’ve learned Bill Christiansen, former long-time executive director of the Republican Party of Orange County, will be tapped as the interim COO of the California Republican Party.Read it all here. … Read More

Once again, today, I had someone try to tell me that the President’s proposal to grant amnesty to the millions of criminal aliens here in America is actually NOT amnesty.

According to the latest White House propaganda sheet on the Bush/Kennedy package, they make the following case as to why the proposal is not amnesty:

This Proposal Is Not Amnesty Because Illegal Workers Must Acknowledge That They Broke The Law, Pay A $1,000 Fine, And Undergo Criminal Background Checks To Obtain A Z Visa. To apply for a green card at a date years into the future, Z visa workers must wait in line behind those who applied lawfully, pay an additional $4,000 fine, complete accelerated English and civics requirements, and compete in the merit system based on the skills and attributes they will bring to the United States.

Apparently the folks at the White House aren’t familiar with the term proportional justice, which essential says, "Let the punishment fit the crime."

It would seem that the President and supporters of… Read More