On Tuesday, Valerie, Ella, and I squeezed into the Volvo and began the long drive home. We had beeninSan Diego for over 120 days, and it was time to clean up the yard before the neighbors rose up as an angry mob and took their pitchforks and torches to us.

At 9:30am we left downtown San Diego. It was 60 degrees. Actually, I thought recording the weather might be interesting but it turns out, as you may read, the temperature was pretty constant everywhere we passed through.

At 10:00am we passed through Oceanside. Other than a short pause on the 805 in Sorrento Valley, we averaged around 70mph through the county, and about 10mph faster through the Marine Base. The immigration check point was closed, but we actually saw what I imagine was an illegal alien being detained in the middle of the freewaynext tothe dividing fence, so I guess the signs that warn drivers against running down folks running across the road actually have a reason. It was 62 degrees.

At 10:30am we hit the 405/5 interchange in Irvine. It was 67 degrees and there was no traffic. We decided to take the 405 north.

At 11:15 we passed LAX, where it was 69 degrees. Readers will… Read More

The Orange County Registrar of Voter is a nice guy. Neal Kelley breaks the mold of the chain smoking, old school government employee.

I have written about him before and praised his use of technology. Today I have to mention it again.

On Election Day I voted using a provisional ballot because I had moved and not re-registered. I could have just voted the absentee ballot that was sent to my office–I knew that my new house was in all the same political subdivisions all the way down to water district. But it was the “signing under the penalty of perjury” that I could not bring myself to do. Because it specifically states that you must LIVE in the precinct in which you are voting.

So I ended up going to my old polling place and voting provisionally. The nice poll workers gave me a card with a “provisional retrieval code” and a call-in number. They said to wait a few weeks and then call to see if my vote was counted.

I forgot about it until today when I came across the card. All I did was call the number 1-888-OCVOTES and press ‘4’ to check the stats of my provisional ballot, enter my code and it… Read More

Bravo California Coastal Commission!

Peter Douglas, Executive Director of the CA Coastal Commission, put forward a staff report that was soundly rejected by his Commissioners yesterday. In a room packed with Sierra Club activists and Mothers for Peace who joined Mr. Douglas in his apparent quest to “stick it” to PG&E, I witnessed some very level-headed Commissioners go against the staff report, and do the right thing in the face of tremendous pressure.

There is a 74 page staff report on the issue, but in a nutshell…

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has a nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo that is licensed by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate through 2024-25. All environmental impact has been taken into consideration, and has been mitigated. The plant provides… Read More

Former Orange County GOP Assemblyman Ken Maddox has been tapped by Board of Equalization Member Michelle Steel to be her Sacramento-based Director of Legislative Affairs, looking out for the insterests of her office in relation to the goings on of the legislative process taking place in the State Capitol.

This selection is a good one for Steel, who is a strong fiscal conservative. Maddox, as a GOP legislator, was a strong voice for fiscal sanity.

Maddox served three terms in the State Assembly before being forced to retire from the legislature due to term limits. Prior to serving in the Assembly, Maddox was a long-time member of the Garden Grove City Council.

Interestingly, California’s other Republican member of the Board of Equalization, Bill Leonard, also has a former Republican legislator on his team — his Chief of Staff is Barbara Alby, who has also served since 1996 as California’s Republican National Committeewoman.… Read More

From Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard:

***Huge Tax Hike on Beer Drinkers***

State law is full of gray areas and ambiguities. One old one is now the real culprit in this week’s headlines. When the Legislature wrote the first alcohol laws after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, California defined what a beer is and what wine is. The definition was simple – anything added to beer or wine renders it something else. Sometime thereafter beer and wine producers started adding things such as preservatives, flavor enhancers and other things. So narrowly reading the law there is NO such product as either beer or wine sold in California today. Now common sense and alcohol regulators know that is not true and so for years have ignored this narrow… Read More

Jon has posted a letter to the editor in the Washington Times from Nathan Fletcher. Fletcher served two years overseas in Iraq and Africa fighting for our country. He is also a top-notch political operative. I first met him when he was working for the CRP. He was the speaker along with his wife (Mindy Fletcher, Deputy Campaign Maager for the Gov.) at the San Gabriel Valley Lincoln Club and will also be the speaker at the South Bay chapter.

Nathan lives in San Diego. Why would he travel up her to LA? 2008 George Plescia is termed out and guess who is running for that seat?

Fletcher almost ran in ’06 when it looked like Plescia might run for Congress or State Senate. He raised around a100K in that limited time. He will be one candidate that will have to be beat.… Read More

Thegroup of Republican volunteers that filed the original failed lawsuit challenging Jerry Brown’s qualifications to be Attorney General has been allowed to amend their complaint in Sacramento Superior Court, and they are now getting a second try to keep Brownfrom taking office.Their complaint centers on the fact that Brown allowed his official status with the state bar to become "inactive" for a few years while he was serving as Mayor of Oakland. The prohibition the Plaintiffs are relying on puts form before substance in determining the qualifications of a candidate for Attorney General: it is California Government Code section 12503, which states, "No person shall be eligible to the office of Attorney General unless he shall have been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the state for a period of at least five years immediately preceding his election or appointment to such office."

Brown was admitted to the State Bar of California in June 1965 but was an "inactive member" from Jan. 1, 1997, through May 1, 2003, bar records show.

I didn’t vote for Brown in the election, but I… Read More

Today’s Commentary is guest authored by Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers’ Association. Coupal takes the opportunity to offer his perspective on the healthcare proposal recently released by State Senate President Don Perata…

Senate leader Don Perata has a plan to provide all uninsured working Californians with Health Insurance at an estimated cost of $5 billion to $7 billion without a tax increase. Okay…

The Perata plan would force businesses that do not provide health insurance, and their employees, through a payroll deduction, to pay into a state agency that would attempt to negotiate for “affordable” coverage. When paying taxes, workers would have to show proof of medical insurance.

**There is more – click the… Read More