Today it was announced that a coalition of ‘interested parties’ is being formed to place a measure on the next statewide ballot (presumably the February ’08 Presidential Primary) to change our current term-limits restrictions from six two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the State Senate, to a new limit that is 12 years aggregate in either chamber of the legislature. It is not clear yet what the passage of this measure would mean for all of the current incumbent legislators, though it is suspected that they would all get to serve a lot more time than they currently have left – especially important to those politicians like Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez who would face life in the private sector at the end of next year. Perhaps this is why Nunez is pledging to dip heavily into the $7+ million that he has stockpiled away in campaign funds.

Democrat strategist Gale Kaufman and Republican strategist Matthew Dowd are onboard with this measure, providing political leadership.

I reached out to Paul Jacobs, the President of United States Term Limits, the nation’s leading advocate for term limit measures around the… Read More

Today Red County launched its third Red County blog — Red County/San Diego. San Diego is a natural place to launch a new RC blog, and we’re fortunate to have recruited an expansive — and still growing — blogpen of contributors, including:

Brian Bilbray: Congressman, 50th Congressional District Mark Wyland, state Senator, 37th Senate District Martin Garrick: Assemblyman, 74th Assembly District Barry Jantz: former La Mesa Councilman and longtime San Diego activist. Jerome Stocks: Encinitas City Councilman Jennifer Jacobs: award-winning partner in the Coronado Communications, a leading public affairs and political consulting firm.

We have a number of other contributors — some writing under their own name, and other who need to employ pseudonyms in order to blog freely. I invite all of our readers to check out Red County/San Diego, bookmark it and check it often to find out what is happening… Read More

Shane Goldmacher on Capitol Alert reports the much anticipated proposal to lengthen term limits will be brought outwith submission to the Attorney General’s office today. Presenting it are Speaker Nunez’s consultant Gale Kaufman and Matthew Dowd of the Schwarzenegger campaign, giving it"bipartisan" cover.

The proposal as a selling point, calls for the "shortening" of total time served from 14 to 12 years, as we’ve been hearing, maxing at up to 12 years in one house. Here’s the funny part, if you are already in the Senate now, you can get an extra "transitional" term that allows up to 16 Legislator years…or,would it be18 if you served 6 years in the Assembly already and want to do 3 Senate terms? Or what if youcame inona half term in the Senate on a special election, maybe you get 14 Senate years then?

I’m not a Greek mathematician or anything but those numbers allseem bigger than 12 to me. Other details should be interesting too, like can previously termed out… Read More

I’ve known David Drucker, who does the gazing westward for Roll Call, for a long time now. He’s very capable, and his assessments are worth noting. Here’s his latest:

Weathering the Storm Four Battered California House Republicans Seen as Safe for Now By David M. Drucker Roll Call Staff February 15,… Read More

One of the best barometers of statesmanship is sometimes exemplified by losing politicians who make the effort to congratulate their successful opponents.

At the national level, of course, such an act is considered a must, because of the media attention that goes along with the congratulatory phone call, often hand-in-hand with a concession. Whether the loser actually wants to congratulate—and personally concede to—a sometimes reviled opponent is irrelevant compared to the bad publicity that would follow for not doing so. In some cases, it is more important to look like a statesman than it is to actually be one. Perhaps more accurately, the threat of appearing to be a sore loser is more significant than whether one is in private.

Thus, I have always been deeply impressed by those on the short end of the election stick at the local level who take the time to congratulate the winner. In some cases, no media, no one watching, and no one knowing…short of the winner and the few that are told. Statesmanship, if it is possible to attribute that term to a non-elected, living person (and I refuse to use the "politically correct" bastardized… Read More

One of the best barometers of statesmanship is sometimes exemplified by losing politicians who make the effort to congratulate their successful opponents.

At the national level, of course, such an act is considered a must, because of the media attention that goes along with the congratulatory phone call, often hand-in-hand with a concession. Whether the loser actually wants to congratulate—and personally concede to—a sometimes reviled opponent is irrelevant compared to the bad publicity that would follow for not doing so. In some cases, it is more important to look like a statesman than it is to actually be one. Perhaps more accurately, the threat of appearing to be a sore loser is more significant than whether one is in private.

Thus, I have always been deeply impressed by those on the short end of the election stick at the local level who take the time to congratulate the winner. In some cases, no media, no one watching, and no one knowing…short of the winner and the few that are told. Statesmanship, if it is possible to attribute that term to a non-elected, living person (and I refuse to use the "politically correct" bastardized… Read More

I would appreciate it if someone who reads this blog could explain to me why Arianna Huffington’s opinion is so important that she is a regular commentator on CNN, such as the Larry King show. When I worked in the Reagan Administration, at what I consider to be the height of her capabilities, she held lavious high society parties in Washington, D.C., but some of the attendeeshad legal problems in their backgrounds, She marrieda millionairethat took out a great, long-standingincumbent conservative, Bob Lagamarsino, for the glory of just two years of service in theHouse. Thenher husbandtried to buy a U.S. Senate seat, hiring just about every conservative activist in the state on the campaign, while harboring a deep personal secret that he did not disclose until he lost the election. The Congressional seal then went to a liberal Democrat. Ralph Reed once told me that Congressman Huffington once asked to give him a hug, and what he reluctantly got was an undesiredfull frontal body pull. Wouldn’t Arianna know what was going on? Arianna should have been "over" politically when she ran for Governor and was crushed in the vote,… Read More

I want to build on Jon’s post below about my former Senate colleague, Ross Johnson, being tapped by the governor to be the Chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).

Without a doubt, this is the single best appointment Governor Schwarzenegger could have made to head this troubled agency. Ross was a brilliant legislator. Highly regarded by both Democrat and Republican members. He’ll forget more about the minutia of campaign finance reform than most of us will ever learn in our careers. During his legislative tenure he always demanded accountability from the FPPC and was instrumental in many good solid reforms.

Ross’ appointment could not have come at a more opportune time. In the past six years (at least) the FPPC has run amok – ignoring significant violations and pursuing completely frivolous cases. Their decisions appeared all too political motivated. A terrible thing for an agency that is supposed to be non-partisan.

And then there was the outrageous statement from the outgoing chair last year that unless the legislature gave them more money, they would drop… Read More