Tom Harman’s misguided attempt to promote "Community Service" was unanimously passed by committee. (Wyland, Maldonado voted yes with the Democrats) The bill has changed since Harman wanted to conscript California’s youth into so-called "community service". As a side note why call it service? Service sounds like they want to do it. At least change it to community work.

Conservatives on several grounds opposed the original bill. See here. This bill is still bad and will do nothing to help kidsmeet state standardsin math or reading. But, what legislator cares about that?

Now the bill only forces local school districts to offer elective classes in community service. See how much Republicans support local control?

The legislative analysis says that such activities should be non-partisan and “non-sectarian”.

There was some discussion of that in committee but no real resolution. Can a student counsel a homosexual student about changing their life? Can someone volunteer at a church homeless shelter? Church Youth Group? What… Read More

From today’s WSJ Political Diary E-mail:

Corruption and the House GOP

During last year’s GOP House leadership elections, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx pointedly asked a question of every candidate: Would a Member be allowed to hold a position of trust if he or she was under criminal investigation? John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who eventually became Minority Leader, answered that it would be unwise to prejudge such cases. His message, according to one source who was present: "We have to be careful… Read More

Will Secretary of State Debra Bowen weigh in on the Trung Nguyen appeal?

On May 2, 2007, the Court of Appeals in Orange County will decide whether to take up the writ filed by ersatz Orange County Supervisor Trung Nguyen. The issue at hand — do the paper ballots created by electronic voting machines have to be recounted as part of an overall recount?

In the 2006 election, then State Senator Debra Bowen ran on the issue of electronic voting. She sponsored a bill, Senate Bill 370, which among other things, mandated that paper ballots created by electronic voting machines “shall” be counted “for any full recount”.

A recent Orange County election for Supervisor was decided by seven votes on election day. The candidate who lost, then-Garden Grove Councilwoman Janet Nguyen, requested a recount, as I certainly would have done. As part of her recount strategy, Janet Nguyen had the paper ballots recounted manually looking for errors. Then, mid-recount, seeing that she had picked up enough votes to probably be in the lead, her campaign made a tactical decision to switch counting methods and requested that the remaining ballots — the… Read More

Will Secretary of State Debra Bowen weigh in on the Trung Nguyen appeal?

On May 2, 2007, the Court of Appeals in Orange County will decide whether to take up the writ filed by ersatz Orange County Supervisor Trung Nguyen. The issue at hand — do the paper ballots created by electronic voting machines have to be recounted as part of an overall recount?

In the 2006 election, then State Senator Debra Bowen ran on the issue of electronic voting. She sponsored a bill, Senate Bill 370, which among other things, mandated that paper ballots created by electronic voting machines “shall” be counted “for any full recount”.

A recent Orange County election for Supervisor was decided by seven votes on election day. The candidate who lost, then-Garden Grove Councilwoman Janet Nguyen, requested a recount, as I certainly would have done. As part of her recount strategy, Janet Nguyen had the paper ballots recounted manually looking for errors. Then, mid-recount, seeing that she had picked up enough votes to probably be in the lead, her campaign made a tactical decision to switch counting methods and requested that the remaining ballots — the… Read More

Hunter’s Son May Not Scare Off Others By David M. Drucker Roll Call Staff April 19, 2007 Duncan D. Hunter (R) has his father’s name, and the status of being an Iraq War combat veteran, which leads many political observers to believe that he is Rep. Duncan Hunter’s (R) heir apparent in California’s 52nd district * except that he might not be. … Read More

The California Parks and Recreation Department is a kind of Sierra Club with governmental powers. It works closely with the Environmental Left — for example, in their hyperactive opposition to allowing any asphalt to touch one square inch of a state park (like San Onofre State Park, for instance)…

..except when it comes to a road they think is OK for reasons that fail to dissuade them from opposing, say, the completion of the 241 tollroad.

Read this post "Yeah, But This Is OUR Road" on Red County/OC Blog.… Read More

I just got off of the phone with State Senate Republican Leader, who had this to say about Speaker Fabian Nunez’ proposal to have the Little Hoover Commission public members in charge of drawing new legislative boundaries:

"This plan is a non-starter with my Caucus. We need an independent commission in charge of redistricting, not a group of political appointees."… Read More

Today we all are treated to the next chapter of "Tales of Incredible Hubris, Starring Fabian Nunez" — as the Speaker introduces his version of redistricting "reform" in the form of Assembly Constitutional Amendment One. You’ll never guess who would have 100% authority to draw the boundaries for State and Federal legislative, as well as Board of Equalization districts? Care to take a guess? POLITICAL INSIDERS. That’s right — in a blatent rejection of the idea that a fair drawing of districts requires constituting a group of folks who are not beholdin’ to the Sacramento and Washington, D.C., power structures — Nunez has said that the members of the California "Little Hoover" Commission (LHC) should draw the lines, minus it’s legislative members. Is this wasn’t such a serious matter, I would really be laughing at this proposal. Just a consideration of the way that the LHC is constituted should be a clear billboard reading CONFLICT. Nunez calls for the nine… Read More