In tune with my commentary today, I want to highlight another item in the Los Angeles Daily News, an excellent op-ed by Jill Stewart on the decline of Cruz Bustamante and his chances for Insurance Commissioner.

An exerpt:

"…Bustamante, who made a fool of himself in the 2003 recall, is at it again in his bid for the wonky but powerful job of insurance commissioner.

"Instead of focusing on specific issues involving the vast auto, health and workers’ compensation industries, he spent months on a personal weight-loss crusade, with a Web site exhorting us to ‘Get active. Side effects include more energy, decreased stress, increased confidence, more compliments.’

"Who is… Read More

Following up on FR Bay Area Correspondent Jennifer Nelson’s illustrative commentary yesterday morning, I’m going to reveal my observations about the end of the legislative session and the activities of the Governor’s pen.

At the top of the main page today is a story by the Los Angeles Daily News titled "Governor kills fewer measures." In it, the Daily News declares that the Governor only vetoed twenty-two percent of the bills that reached his desk this year, a startlingly low percentage of vetoes for a Republican governor with a Democrat legislature.

An exerpt:

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

Following up on FR Bay Area Correspondent Jennifer Nelson’s illustrative commentary yesterday morning, I’m going to reveal my observations about the end of the legislative session and the activities of the Governor’s pen.

At the top of the main page today is a story by the Los Angeles Daily News titled "Governor kills fewer measures." In it, the Daily News declares that the Governor only vetoed twenty-two percent of the bills that reached his desk this year, a startlingly low percentage of vetoes for a Republican governor with a Democrat legislature.

An exerpt:

Schwarzenegger signed 910 bills this year and vetoed 262, or 22 percent of the total sent to his desk. In both of his first two years in office, he averaged a veto rate of 24 percent.… Read More

For a second I actually considered entitling this post after a Dickens’ novel, but that would’ve been too obvious. Suffice it to say that both Escondido and National City have received much attention in recent weeks for the polar opposite directions they are taking on the issue of illegal immigration.

National City Mayor Nick Inzunza has garnered headlines for his announcement that he would declare a "Sanctuary City" for illegal aliens, which he simply refers to as immigrants (see my prior posts). Yesterday, Inzunza signed the sanctuary proclamation (SDUT story), while — on the advice of law enforcement, apparently in no mood to try to protect him — he was holed up in city hall during another protest rally outside. This was the second such rally in two weeks, with illegal immigrant apologists… Read More

The Governor gave his veto stamp to Gil Cedllo’s SB 160, which would have given illegals grants to attend state colleges. See veto message here.

The Gov is done with all the bills. I’m know I fell better. I remember saying at the beginning os the year, that I would fell better if we just had these 910 bills signed into law. You can see the rest last bit here.

Arnold did sign a bill to give marriage tax breakx to gay couples. And he vetoed attempts to legalize hemp and ban ultrasounds.… Read More

Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman just phoned FR Publisher Jon Fleischman to let him know that the Governor had officially vetoed AB 523 (Liu). (Read the Governor’s letter of response attached below.)

Yesterday after Congress voted to finally build a fence between the United States and Mexico the reaction from the Mexican government was fairly predictable. Mexican President called the fence “shameful” and referenced the Berlin Wall. Note to President Fox: I think its rather more shameful to have a police chief of a major city gunned down in public, again. Work on your own security issues a bit before taking the time to carp about our nation dealing with ours. But I do appreciate your apt reference to the Berlin Wall. After all, on one side America guaranteed freedom. On the other corrupt dictators misruled their nations to the point where folks would do anything to get out.… Read More

As I sit down (at midnight) to write the commentary for Saturday, I’m having a hard time caring about anything other than whether or not the L.A. Dodgers make it into post-season play, having just returned from a nail-biter at AT&T Park where the Dodgers eked out a 4-3 win to keep their post-season chances alive. But I think I’ll get a note from Jon Fleishman if I subject FR readers to a commentary analyzing my team’s chances of making to the playoffs. Back to the reality of state politics…

Today is the last day of bill signing for the governor. I’m sure his legislative staff has their bubbly on ice, since they’ve worked long and hard all year, especially in these last few weeks. Personally, I’m glad that bill signing is wrapping up, ending the guessing game about what action the Governor would take on… Read More