Libraries and pre-school. Wow, is that the best we can come up with? This election’s statewide ballot measures will go down in election history as 1) the most boring and 2) the most worthless.

The independent library system is one of the least important government institution of this century. I don’t discount their value in certain communities. But in your typical middle class community where there is a library at each school site, a (or a network of) city or county library(s) and college or university library(s), I think that makes a few too many librarians.

I have nothing against them. In fact, I quite enjoyed going to the library as a kid. Getting my own library card at 6 was a special event. But times have changed and I no longer have to go to the library on a hot summer day because it is the only place in town with an air conditioner (I am being dramatic–we had air conditioning as a kid).

I also know that large amounts of research that could once be the done exclusively at ‘the library’ can now be done on ‘the Internet’. I… Read More

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that UCLA was enrolling twenty fewer African-American students in this fall’s freshman class than it did last year. This represents 2.9% of all incoming students, which the Times points out is well below the 9.6 percent African-American presence in the 1985 freshman class. The article includes the obligatory quote from Proposition 209 author Ward Connerly (who points out that preparing African-American students for college is a preferable alternative to "tinkering with the admissions criteria to make it easier to get in.") But otherwise, the story largely steers clear of the affirmative action debate in order to instead focus on how to address the situation.

Left unsaid is that admissions to a campus as competitive as UCLA is a zero-sum game, and that increasing the number of qualified African-American students means that fewer students from other racial and ethnic groups will be admitted. As an opponent of race-based affirmative action, I don’t see that as a problem. A larger number of academically successful African-American high school seniors is a good thing all around. But the fact… Read More

Sheriff We’ve got a barn burner of a race for Fresno County Sheriff, with four "insider" candidates and one "outsider" candidate. Most of them have heavy hitters behind them. Here is how the race breaks down:

Colleen Mestas – insider candidate, Republican, supported by Congressman Radanovich and liberal County Supervisor Henry Perea. She has union money and some support in the Chamber of Commerce Community as well. The NRA Endorsement plays nicely in this County. Energetic candidate, has a good chance to make the runoff as she has closed hard in the final few weeks.

Margaret Mims – Insider candidate, Democrat with some GOP support. Fatal mistake of listing the Democratic Women’s Political Caucus and Progressive PAC in her mail. I don’t think she can make the runoff and if she does she’ll get creamed in November. She also has support from Democrat Mayors in the outlying areas of the County. She might hurt Mestas for all those voting for a women for this post by splitting this vote up.

Jose "Joe" Flores – Clovis City… Read More

The State Industrial Welfare Commission has the authority, apparently, to hike the state’s wage mandates on private employers, without any action of the State Legislature. That seems like a poor set-up. Mandates on employers like this should require a vote of the people’s representatives EVERY time. If jobs are going to be cut due to regulation on businesses, someone in elected office should be responsible, not some extremely obscure commission. Anyways, if you haven’t been following the debate over the minimum wage between the Governor and legislative Democrats, here is a short breakdown:

The Democrats want to raise the minimum wage. The Republican Governor wants to raise the mandated wage. Republican legislators, overwhelmingly, do NOT want to increase the mandated wage. The Republican Governor wants a $1 an hour hike. The Democrats also want $1 (they would probably go for $10 if they could), but also want to create an ‘auto-pilot’ indexing to inflation of the mandated wage). The Governor had one of the few GOP supporters … Read More

The State Industrial Welfare Commission has the authority, apparently, to hike the state’s wage mandates on private employers, without any action of the State Legislature. That seems like a poor set-up. Mandates on employers like this should require a vote of the people’s representatives EVERY time. If jobs are going to be cut due to regulation on businesses, someone in elected office should be responsible, not some extremely obscure commission. Anyways, if you haven’t been following the debate over the minimum wage between the Governor and legislative Democrats, here is a short breakdown:

The Democrats want to raise the minimum wage. The Republican Governor wants to raise the mandated wage. Republican legislators, overwhelmingly, do NOT want to increase the mandated wage. The Republican Governor wants a $1 an hour hike. The Democrats also want $1 (they would probably go for $10 if they could), but also want to create an ‘auto-pilot’ indexing to inflation of the mandated wage). The Governor had one of the few GOP supporters … Read More

A break from weekend political activities for a few bites from the week…

Survey USA Poll in 50th CD… Jim Sills noted it after Jon’s commentary yesterday…if you missed it, the survey was conducted 5/30-6/1 for local KGTV…448 likely voters…prior to the Busby "You don’t need no steenkin’ papers to vote" comment. The results show Bilbray up 47% to Busby’s 45%, with virtually zilch undecided. Sills astutely notes, however, that "the cross-tabs show Bilbray far ahead among voters over age 65, with Busby’s best segment being those under age 35. I think we all know the respective turnout history of those two age groups!" Survey USA’s own analysis, "Turnout Will Decide CA 50 Special Election," you can see here, along with the cross-tabs.

The North County Times… Read More

Jim Ledford maybe hiding a dirity little secret. Yesterday, as part of my ongoing coverage of Jim Ledford’s battle against CRA endorsed Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, I included anarticle about his lack of disclosure of campaign contributions. See blog here.Today’s AV Press has another story detailing Ledfiord’s continued lapses in campaign filing. He is his own Treasurer. See article here.

Sometimes lack of disclosure is a mistake, but I don’t think so this time. Jim Ledford is hiding something he was hoping GOP Primary voters wouldn’t find out about. Turns out he received a late contribution of a couple thousand dollars from SEIU United Healthcare Workers West PAC. See details here. Of course this PAC has given to a whole list of Democratic candidates and liberal causes and yes Jim Ledford!

Does Ledford have other union money or liberal money he is… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger’s radio address this beautiful California Saturday morning is about his decision to deploy National Guard troops to the border.

I think the Governor has made a very wise decision in the way he is handling this situation, and in fact I am more comfortable with the Governor’s approach than with President Bush’s proposal.

Following is the text of the radio address. Or if you prefer, you can listen to the 3 minute, 14 second address here: http://speeches.gov.ca.gov/dir/2006/June/06-03_Radio_Border.mp3

Governor Schwarzenegger: Hi, this is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with another California Report. Two weeks ago, President Bush announced that he intended to deploy National Guard troops to our border with Mexico. But the plan, as it was outlined, presented numerous logistical problems. I shared my concerns with the administration and I also made it clear that I was ready to assist in that effort to secure our border because of the problem of increased drug… Read More