My friend Jon Fleischman has opined today that Governor Arnold won the debate on bonds. I beg to differ. It does not take a genius to know the infrastructure needs of the State, if one lives here. Nor does a take a genius to know that we cannot afford any more significant general obligation debt. It simply takes an ability to add and subtract. Nor does it take courage to propose massive borrowing. What was most disappointing about the bond debate is that not enough legislators came forward and told the truth about whether we can run a structural deficit, as we are now, and heap more debt on top of an unbalanced budget. We simply can’t, and in this debate we didn’t make that argument at all.

The people of the State seem to have a better grasp of this than Arnold does. If in fact the Democrats killed this deal they did us all a favor. At some level we need to make a strong case for balancing our budget, not spending more year over year, and applying surplus revenues to projects on a pay as you go basis. This is only a realistic strategy if you tell the truth to the voters over and over… Read More

Orange County Republicans were bracing for the primary battle of all time — with Republican Assemblymembers Van Tran and Lynn Daucher preparing to square off against each other this June, for the honor of representing the Republican Party in the general election in the highly competitive 34th State Senate District.

The contrast was between the more moderate Daucher (pictured to the left), who was actually elected to the legislature with the assistance of non-Republican voters back in 2000, the only election cycle when the ill-fated Open Primary measure was in effect, and the more conservative Van Tran, who cut his teeth back in college as an activist with Young Americans for Freedom.

There were a lot of dynamics at play that lead up to Van Tran’s ultimate decision to seek re-election in the 68th… Read More

The California Republican Party FILES ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST FRANCINE BUSBY Democrat candidate used government resources to promote campaign for Congress

SACRAMENTO – Today, March 16, 2006, the San Diego County Republican Central Committee and the California Republican Party (CRP), sent an ethics complaint to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), the California Attorney General, and the San Diego… Read More

From time to time, FR friend Dan Weintraub, over at the Sacramento Bee, links to something featured on this blog. So, it seems only fair that we return the favor on occasion. Weintraub, considered to be keen thinker on the capitol polical scene, and its juncture with the world of public policy, has taken a stab at why he thinks that no infrastructure plan is on the June ballot. He says:

What went wrong?

By Dan Weintraub from his blog:

With the bond deal dead for June and in danger of not happening at all, Schwarzenegger now risks looking like a hapless governor who can’t get along with Democrats but also can’t depend on his own Republican allies for votes when… Read More

Perhaps to brag, but I’m just about on my way to SDSU’s Cox Arena for Round One of March Madness, FOUR basketball games between 11:40 this morning and 9:00 tonite, so just wanted to get a quickie posted on the 50th before seeing Marquette, UCLA, Illinois and Washington take on their equally impressive opponents. Life’s rough, but at least a defense contractor didn’t buy me my tickets.

Politics can be like the ups and downs of basketball, and the missives and rumors are flying in the Cunningham Replacement Thing. The SD Politics Blog has Alan Uke considering hanging it up, based on the big money spending by Eric Roach and Bill Hauf. If you saw Duane’s post two days ago on the Competitive Edge poll, you know that Uke’s half a mil is only translating into 3.6%, so you understand the Uke concern, if it’s true.

On the other… Read More

Perhaps the saddest commentary on the very sad state of politics in Sacramento comes from Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata. Asked why the Legislature and the Governor couldn’t produce an infrastructure bond for the June ballot, Perata offered this excuse: “We ran out of time.”

Were this the military, there’s be an even simpler, one-word answer: SNAFU. Racing the clock — and failing to beat the clock — is standard operating procedure for the Capitol gang.

From the first moment Governor Schwarzenegger talked about infrastructure in his State of the State to the deadline for the June ballot — roughly 10 weeks — California’s best and brightest couldn’t come up with a plan. But this happens pretty much every year in Sacramento. It’s called the budget, which rarely if ever gets done on time.

Who gets the blame for this latest failure to launch? Pretty much everyone involved. The Governor’s Office didn’t do a terribly effective of prioritizing what came first in terms of the state’s needs — was it levees, or roads? Or maybe both, plus schooIs… Read More

There will be no infrastructure bonds on the June ballot. This is a certainty. But what does that mean?

There are a host of articles linked on the main page today where you can read the ‘spin’ out there from over a dozen different political reporters (or in some cases "teams" of political reporters). I will take a few minutes here and put in my ten cents. Let me first talk about the Governor. Arnold Schwarzenegger has certainly won the debate — there is no question from any corner about the need for California to invest in significant infrastructure needs for the state. The Governor laid out a bold plan last January, and has spent months making a case for this. It’s not too hard a case to make when you spend hours on clogged highways, or see the state of disrepair of many of California’s levees.

So why, with the need so great, and a ‘superstar’ Republican Governor making a very passionate and persuasive case to the people of California about a need for strategic infrastructure growth, did the legislature fail to place anything on the June ballot? After… Read More

There will be no infrastructure bonds on the June ballot. This is a certainty. But what does that mean?

There are a host of articles linked on the main page today where you can read the ‘spin’ out there from over a dozen different political reporters (or in some cases "teams" of political reporters). I will take a few minutes here and put in my ten cents. Let me first talk about the Governor. Arnold Schwarzenegger has certainly won the debate — there is no question from any corner about the need for California to invest in significant infrastructure needs for the state. The Governor laid out a bold plan last January, and has spent months making a case for this. It’s not too hard a case to make when you spend hours on clogged highways, or see the state of disrepair of many of California’s levees.

So why, with the need so great, and a ‘superstar’ Republican Governor making a very passionate and persuasive case to the people of California about a need for strategic infrastructure growth, did the legislature fail to place anything on the June ballot? After… Read More