You have to love the quote in today’s San Francisco Chronicle story on Sen. Chuck Poochigian attacking Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown on the city’s crime problem (78 homicides this year so far compared to 41 at this time last year). Kevin Spillane told the paper, “Brown has ignored the City of Oakland to run for attorney general, and it’s having disastrous effects. Violence is out of control. People are dying. This is serious.” Brown spokesman Gil Duran responded that "there is probably not a mayor in the state that spends as much time with police on crime issues as Jerry Brown."

Jerry, it is quality—not quantity—that the Oakland residents want and need. We don’t care that the police higher-ups get a ton of your time. We just want the killings, beatings and rapes to stop.… Read More

California state senator Debra Bowen – and oh, by the way, candidate for Secretary of State – is getting a jumpstart on the idea of campaign public financing.

And who can blame her. With a paltry $140K cash on hand in her campaign account, she is significantly behind her opponent, current Secretary of State Bruce McPherson who has nearly $600K in his campaign account, per the most recent filing information. Members of the state legislature find themselves in a bully-pulpit-conundrum when it comes to summertime campaigning. You see, when the legislative session adjourns for the summer as it is scheduled to do on August 31st, legislators lose what little spotlight they can crawl under. So despite the fact that Sen. Bowen is Chair of the Senate Committee on Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments, there’s not much she can do with the committee to draw attention to herself after Labor Day. A real bully-pulpit-conundrum.

Bowen is industrious, though, and in true do-it-yourself form (on the taxpayer’s dime), built her own bully pulpit from which to reach the masses. With hammer and nails, and a few winks and nods,… Read More

See my original post of two days ago here. Essentially, that entry was just some photos of the Gov’s "Town Hall in the Park" visit to La Mesa on Tuesday, facing an "open to all" crowd.

Yesterday the SDUT ran a story on the visit, Governor criticized at town hall meeting, which he was, but in turn the headline and other stories about the "Rolling Thunder Review" beg a question:

Is the criticism Schwarzenegger potentially faces at these open and uncontrolled events bad enough from a media standpoint that he should either 1) not have them, or 2) go back to controlled, staged, by-invite-only rah-rah rallies?

Joseph Turner offered this comment in response to my initial post:

What say you all about the press coverage of the La Mesa stop for the Governor? I am of… Read More

Phil Angelides might want to think about taking a family vacation to shore up votes on the home-team, as he starts to plummet so low in public opinion polls that he might not even get a majority vote at a family reunion. Who would have thought that in a state with a plurality of Democrat voters that a nominee of the party of Barbara Boxer would be suffering a double-digit deficit to a Republican Governor? Well, it isn’t rocket science. Phil Angelides is his own worst enemy. We are talking about someone who has embraced just about every form of higher taxes possible, and who has views on everything from the environment to illegal immigration that put him so far out to the left that he makes Arnold’s Uncle, Ted Kennedy, look moderate. But as much as we would all like to give Phil Angelides full credit for his deficit in public polling, we can only give him credit for being an ultra-left wing radical who has all of the charisma of a Certified Public Accountant (sorry if I have offended any of my CPA friends). Much of the credit for the Governor’s now 13 point lead (there are lots of polls, with varying leads, but that’s the latest… Read More

Phil Angelides might want to think about taking a family vacation to shore up votes on the home-team, as he starts to plummet so low in public opinion polls that he might not even get a majority vote at a family reunion. Who would have thought that in a state with a plurality of Democrat voters that a nominee of the party of Barbara Boxer would be suffering a double-digit deficit to a Republican Governor? Well, it isn’t rocket science. Phil Angelides is his own worst enemy. We are talking about someone who has embraced just about every form of higher taxes possible, and who has views on everything from the environment to illegal immigration that put him so far out to the left that he makes Arnold’s Uncle, Ted Kennedy, look moderate. But as much as we would all like to give Phil Angelides full credit for his deficit in public polling, we can only give him credit for being an ultra-left wing radical who has all of the charisma of a Certified Public Accountant (sorry if I have offended any of my CPA friends). Much of the credit for the Governor’s now 13 point lead (there are lots of polls, with varying leads, but that’s the latest… Read More

The article below runs in Roll Call magazine. While it would certainly seem that Jerry Lewis, our Californian who heads up the House Appropriations (spending) Committee, is willing to ‘game’ the system to help his staff, it more importantly illustrates the problem with this earmarking system in Congress. We need a solution, and fast. Of course, Lewis’ PR problems would be much less if his track record as Chairman of the House ‘Spending’ Committee was one of fiscal conservatism. Instead, he is part of a House Leadership that has presided over unprecented growth in the federal government, while giving lip-service to the idea of a limited federal government.

Pay Cut Let Lewis Aide Dodge Ban By Paul Kane… Read More

I about pissed my pants (can I say that on here?)when I read the comments responding to Henretty’s recent post……I’ve never met Steven Maviglio and I’m sure he’s not just some Democrat staff spokes guy…he’s got a little experience I gather…but the entertainment value alone that Mulholland’s replacement (?) actually had the time tospend togo back and forth with Henretty on her blog….after the Field Poll….and now the PPI poll…my sense is that you have plenty to do…and probably should spend your limited time shoring up theKossaks over at the dailykos….not Karen….or the readers of this site….but as I said the entertainment value alone was freaking worth the price of admission….keep coming back.… Read More

The other day I had coffee with an un-named gentleman who has been in California and national politics since probably the 1950’s. He looked over his coffee (black, thank the Lord) and noted that when he was in his 30’s most business was done in smoky, more whiskey and gin laden atmospheres. And that he thought the more social aspect of politics in years gone by also lubricated the actual getting of things done. He also mentioned the particular formula of his favorite drink – a gin martini.

Having made the wide-awake at midnight, knot in the stomach promise to that self-same deity above that if I won a particular race or two in June I would run 3 miles a day or so and drink nothing but beer as a shield against boring conversation, until the quickening of the November Election and my return to San Diego’s dread Alby’s, the recipe of this un-named gentleman’s martini interested me. From time to time, before my pledge, you see, I was inclined to order a gin myself.

Anyway, so this was on my mind as I was reading “Casino Royale” which I believe to be the first James Bond novel (Ian Fleming, 1953). And on page 40 there… Read More