UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL Misguided measure Don’t mix politics and investment decisions April 4, 1940

When it comes to your retirement savings, do you want investment decisions to be made by professional money managers or by freshman Assemblyman Joel Anderson of La Mesa?

Anderson, a conservative Republican who claims to be pro-business, thinks he knows better than the professionals how to invest the $386 billion in pension funds controlled by the California Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System. Consequently, Anderson has introduced a bill to require CalPERS and CalSTRS to sell off an estimated $24 billion worth of stocks and bonds in 300 foreign companies.

Why? Because the firms, mostly large multinationals with operations all over the globe, do business in NAZI GERMANY.

If Anderson’s measure is approved, CalPERS and CalSTRS would have to divest such historically profitable companies as DaimlerChrysler, Hyundai, Alcatel and Siemens. The result, according to the professional money managers, would almost certainly be a… Read More

[NOTE: I cross-posted this yesterday on Red County/OC Blog and Red County/San Diego]

With the fall of the Iron Curtain, droves of Russian and other Communist apparatchiki found refuge and gainful employment within the bowels of California government, or so it may seem to avid watchers and participants in the Golden States’ politburo.

A prime example is the California Coastal Commission, which has been described by one noted policy analyst as combining "bureaucratic ideology of near- Stalinist zeal with corruption of the worst kind."

Despite repeated attempts to kill the Commission, it continues to operate as a kind of Central Committee, with executive director Peter Douglas as General Secretary – ruling with an iron fist and virtually no accountability to the public as it issues nyet after nyet on development matters – unless of course, the proponent happens to be on the celebrity ‘A’ list.

The commission stands as a monument to favoritism, corruption and a situational view of property rights. Its history… Read More

Assemblymember Anthony Adams’ hometown newspaper, the Hesperia Star, last week featured a profile of the 59th Assembly District’s new assemblymember (and Flashreport State Capitol correspondent). The Hesperia Star noted Assemblymember Adams’ hectic Capital and District calendar of events as a staff reporter interviewed him over coffee at a neighborhood Starbucks.

Excerpts from the Star piece on Adams:

“But the recently-elected state assemblyman — Adams took office last December after winning handling in November — is accustomed to such flurries of activity.

In Sacramento, Adams’ typical day begins with a 7:30 a.m. breakfast meeting, at 8:30 he gets to his office at the capitol, at 9 he conducts yet another meeting, the first of several activities sandwiched into tidy 30-minute segments.

On some days, he attends committee meetings. (Adams is on the… Read More

Assemblymember Anthony Adams’ hometown newspaper, the Hesperia Star, last week featured a profile of the 59th Assembly District’s new assemblymember (and Flashreport State Capitol correspondent). The Hesperia Star noted Assemblymember Adams’ hectic Capital and District calendar of events as a staff reporter interviewed him over coffee at a neighborhood Starbucks.

Excerpts from the Star piece on Adams:

“But the recently-elected state assemblyman — Adams took office last December after winning handling in November — is accustomed to such flurries of activity.

In Sacramento, Adams’ typical day begins with a 7:30 a.m. breakfast meeting, at 8:30 he gets to his office at the capitol, at 9 he conducts yet another meeting, the first of several activities sandwiched into tidy 30-minute segments.

On some days, he attends committee meetings. (Adams is on the… Read More

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has announced plans for their annual “Hold Their Feet To The Fire” rally and citizen lobbying effort in Washington, DC. FAIR organizers promise hundreds of immigration reform supporters will be in Washington during April 22-25, 2007 to discuss comprehensive measures to combat illegal immigration.

During the three-day confab, participants will be treated to dozens of talk radio personalities who will be broadcasting live from the event. Among those expected to attend the conference are hugely popular Southern California talkers John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou (“John and Ken”) of KFI Radio.

Information on the event From FAIR’s website, www.fairus.org:

There’s an old expression that if you want to get politicians to see the light, make them feel the heat. That’s just what FAIR and dozens of radio talk show hosts from around the country are planning in April.

FAIR’s annual Hold Their Feet to the Fire rally in Washington DC will be held April 22nd to the 25th.

Teaming up once again with… Read More

Richard Wills Dichiara Born April 2, 2007 6 pounds, 3 ounces 18 1/2 inches 17 years, 363 days until he registers Republican… Read More

A friend forwarded this memo from the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board which has some tough words for those who dare to send documents to the Board that are not properly hole punched. I kid you not. Check this out for your laugh of the day.… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail, our ‘virtual’ FR Correspondent John Fund:

Daddy Warbucks

Why did Senator Dianne Feinstein of California suddenly resign as chair of a powerful military appropriations subcommittee last week? That’s the question much of Washington is asking, and liberal government watchdog groups are apparently not going to give her a pass on the issue. They believe her withdrawal is linked to her subcommittee’s allocation of millions of dollars in defense contracts to companies partly owned by her husband.

The story began two months ago when Metro Newspapers, a group of alternative weeklies in northern California,… Read More