You can blame Tony Strickland for Controller Campaign Manager Paul Hegyi for the brief commentary this morning. Paul, who hails from Sacramento was down in Sacramento (he is also Assemblyman Van Tran’s Chief of Staff). FR Managing Editor Nicholas Romero and I took Paul to see Bill Cosby perform at the Orange County Fair, and the evening went quite late from there. Paul was excited to share that early polling shows Strickland ahead of his opponent — which is a great place to start given the significant voter-registration advantage that Democrats enjoy over Republicans here in the Golden State. We’ll be spending a lot of time between now and November talking about the real potential in the State Controller’s race for a GOP win. FR friend Martyn Hopper is the State Director of the National Federation of Independent Business for… Read More

When Democrats do the right thing, it’s important to point it out and say “thank you.”

So this morning, I offer a word of thanks to Democratic Assemblyman Paul Koretz and the six members of the CalSTRS board who voted to support AB 2941, which would prohibit CalPERS and CalSTRS (the nation’s two largest public pension funds) from investing in companies with business operations in the Sudan.

Long before Hollywood actor George Clooney took up the cause of the Sudan, Center for Security Policy president Frank Gaffney was writing that the Islamofacist government in Khartoum is a “terrorist-sponsoring, slave-trading, weapons-of-mass-destruction-proliferating and genocidal regime…” (NRO, 1/20/06)

Gaffney wrote in 2001: “…more than two million Christians and animists in southern Sudan have been systematically murdered, raped, brutalized, sold into slavery and banished from their homes by forces loyal to the government of Sudan. This 18-year old genocidal campaign was spawned by the determination of the Islamic supremacists in Khartoum to liquidate what they call dhimmis… Read More

Metropolitan News-Enterprise is a LA paper that covers various legal issue in La and distibuted in la Courthouses. If you ever get a ticket and are waiting around for the judge you will end up reading this paper, but I digress.

Today at Metnewsis story about a guy suing the Ninth Circuit Court for being part of a conspiracy against him. Of course he lost. Poor guy didn’t have a chance—-if you know what I mean.

The story is pasted below.

Thursday, July 13, 2006 Page 3

Man Unsuccessfully Sues Entire Ninth Circuit Bench for Conspiracy

By TINA BAY, Staff Writer

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed the dismissal of a Nevada man’s lawsuit accusing all of the Ninth Circuit judges of criminal conspiracy.

Tevis R. Ignacio failed to establish subject matter jurisdiction, the panel ruled.… Read More

George Skelton writes today about Joe Klein’s new book, taking the common approach reporters love to take: bashing political consultants. Like reporters don’t play a role in shaping modern day campaigns.

Klein’s book is called "Politics Lost — How American Democracy Was Trivialized by People Who Think You’re Stupid." Klein and Skelton see the "People" in that title as political consultants; I’m sure the political consultants would say that "people" could easily be switched out with the word "reporters."

Klein writes: "I am fed up with the insulting welter of sterilized speechifying, insipid photo ops, and idiotic advertising that passes for public discourse these days. I believe that… Read More

Gov. Schwarzenegger issued the following statement regarding today’s events in the Middle East [the part of the quote in italicized red really wasn’t said by the Governor, but I added it to say what I think the Governor could have added]: "As violence and terrorism once again erupts in the Middle East, we pray for the safety of all the people in the region. I urge all Californians to join with me in disavowing terrorism wherever it lives and rejecting any expressions of hate. No one benefits from violence whether they are Israeli, Palestinian or Lebanese." After the senseless attack on Israel and her people by the Hezbollah, not only do I not blame Israel for their attack on neighboring Lebanon, who shelter these terrorists, but I commend their strong action. There is only one way to deal with terrorism — and that is with force, and a resolve to never give in to their demands, which in this case, are for the end to a Jewish home state.

Israel is fighting for its very existence and for the lives of its citizens who live in constant fear for their lives at all… Read More

State Sen. Abel Maldanado is apologizing for his publicremarksabout the Governor. Below is the short press statement. Can’t wait to see what is said tomorrow. Heads are spinning pretty fast, but that may be better than heads rolling.

RELEASE FROM ABEL MALDONADO’S OFFICE

Statement from Senator Abel Maldonado regarding his comments in July 12, 2006, Los Angeles Times: “I apologize to Governor Schwarzenegger for my public comments to the Los Angeles Times. The Governor and I have worked together for the past three years on important issues beneficial to California’s Latinos. I will continue to support the Governor in his efforts to strengthen… Read More

It always continues to amaze me that big businesses like PG&E, Gap and Clorox continue to have their corporate headquarters in San Francisco or Oakland. Both cities are governed by people who take businesses and the jobs they create for granted.

The other day the San Francisco Chronicle printed an excellent op-ed by Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, that pointed out the many ways San Francisco city government is pushing businesses out of the city. According to a Colliers International report Wunderman cited, businesses in San Francisco pays 100 times it would in Walnut Creek, 10 mores than in San Mateo and double the amount in Oakland. Further, since 1990, 54 of the Bay Area’s top 200 businesses have left the city, with only 37 remaining.

What’s San Francisco’s the latest assault on jobs? Universal… Read More

Back on June 6th I did a final prediction / wrap up on the Fresno County Sheriff’s race, where I predicted that retired CHP officer Cal Minor would get 38% of the vote and that Colleen Mestas, backed by Congressman George Radanovich, would finish second with 23%. I was wrong.

Minor received 37.35% of the vote and liberal Democrat Margaret Mimms scored 27.89%. Mestas was a distant 4th, at 13.47%. Mestas, ever the team player, has endorsed Minor.

Now, we actually have a dream matchup. Republican Cal Minor versus Democrat Margaret Mimms. And in this bright red county, where even the Democrats are to the right of many Republicans (Westly got 59% in the Demo primary for Governor) , it looks like a walk for Cal Minor in November. He’ll win with 58% of the vote to 42% for Mimms, as the County Republicans and like minded voters overwhelmingly come our for State Senator Chuck Poochigian, Tom McClintock, Governor Arnold and others.

Game over.… Read More