Plaintiff Jim Gilchrist has cried "Uncle" and dismissed his own case in Orange County Superior Court in which he attempted to gain back control of the Minuteman Project, Inc.

The Court was scheduled to hear argumentstomorrow (4/25) on whether or not Minuteman should go into receivership pending a trial on who the members of the Board actually are. (Background: the lawsuit was brought by Gilchrist on 2/22/07 against my clients, Deborah Peterson, Barbara Coe, and Marvin Stewart, who state they are the majority of the Board of Directors. Gilchrist claims to be the "sole director.") In the short time since filing the case, Gilchrist and his lawyers lost three applications for Ex Parte Orders, lost a request for a Writ of Possession of the property of the organization, lost most of his request for a preliminary injunction, and were headed to defeat on the issue of receivership set for this Wednesday. His only victory was a tangential interim "preliminary injunction" pending trial restrictingDefendants from spending $4,000 of Minuteman funds in their possession and using stationary for fundraising under Jim Gilchrist’s name… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:

Freedom Fighter

Ward Connerly is on a roll. Less than six months after leading a successful effort to abolish race and gender preferences in government contracting and college admissions in Michigan, the former University of California regent is taking his cause on the road again. This week he announced he will promote anti-quota ballot measures in Colorado, Missouri, Arizona and Oklahoma in the November 2008 elections.

"We’re calling it the Super Tuesday of Equality," says Valery Pech Orr, who is spearheading the fight in Colorado. The measures are… Read More

Welcome to Anaheim, California. As you read this column, there are professional signature gatherers who have been hired by a coalition headed up by the Walt Disney Corporation to qualify a ballot measure in this central Orange County city. No, the measure is not to name Mickey the official mouse of the Anaheim (I would be surprised if that wasn’t the case already!). Actually, the measure they are circulating is a very bad one — which actually is the reason for me spending some time on this local issue.

The measure, in a nutshell, would institute an extreme form of what is called ‘ballot-box zoning’ in this city of well over 300,000 residents. Specifically, Disney is pushing a measure that would set into stone the current city zoning ordinances (the ones that dictate the ‘acceptable uses’ on property) in the Disney Resort Area around the Magic Kingdom. It would do so by requiring that ANY changes (like if you own a coffee shop and want to convert the use into an apartment building) would have to go through a citywide vote for approval at the next regularly scheduled municipal election. Normally you would persue this… Read More

Welcome to Anaheim, California. As you read this column, there are professional signature gatherers who have been hired by a coalition headed up by the Walt Disney Corporation to qualify a ballot measure in this central Orange County city. No, the measure is not to name Mickey the official mouse of the Anaheim (I would be surprised if that wasn’t the case already!). Actually, the measure they are circulating is a very bad one — which actually is the reason for me spending some time on this local issue.

The measure, in a nutshell, would institute an extreme form of what is called ‘ballot-box zoning’ in this city of well over 300,000 residents. Specifically, Disney is pushing a measure that would set into stone the current city zoning ordinances (the ones that dictate the ‘acceptable uses’ on property) in the Disney Resort Area around the Magic Kingdom. It would do so by requiring that ANY changes (like if you own a coffee shop and want to convert the use into an apartment building) would have to go through a citywide vote for approval at the next regularly scheduled municipal election. Normally you would pursue this… Read More

The aforementioned, in today’s FR, bill to ban incandescent light bulbs moved through the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee this afternoonwith a 9 to 3vote.… Read More

Well, unfortunately, Assemblyman Doug La Malfa, FR’s North California Correspondent, didn’treally need to exercise much of hisconsiderable forensic talentin this morning’s televised "debate". The goodfolks at CNBC seemed to supportively suggest to Assemblyman Lloyd Levine that consumers drive the market — not government — and evenrhetorically questionedLaMalfa about his awareness of the fact that the rest of the country thinks California is a "laughing stock" for bills like Levine’s light bulb ban, the topic of discussion.

AB 722 would simply ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs in California by 2012. Levine, again, diagnoses the lack of consumer interest in substitute light bulbs that might save energy and money as a "market failure", a term used by political… Read More

FR readers will recall that a couple of weeks ago I told you all about yet another lame bill from Assemblyman Lloyd Levine – this is the one that would, in effect, stop any new construction of hotel resorts along the coast. Levine would like you to neuter your dog. How about instead, we neuter his bill which is up for a vote this afternoon?

I’m pretty sure than no GOPer would vote for it — but I guess Dems will have to decide if they would support a bill so extreme that even the pretty liberal Coastal Commission opposes it…… Read More

Pennsylvania Boy

The writer behind the blog "PA for Hizzoner, Rudy Giuliani" put the best possible spin on the results of this weekend’s presidential straw poll at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, a key barometer of GOP activist sentiment in the state. The headline was "Rudy Leads All Presidential Candidates," but the blogger had to confess the headline "may be a little deceptive," since the former mayor actually got 16% and tied for second with Newt Gingrich, who spoke at the conference. The winner was non-declared candidate Fred Thompson, who "slaughtered the field" with 35% of the total vote.

Mr. Thompson was a non-candidate on a roll this weekend. He also came out on… Read More