What’s missing in most government representation these days is actual representation of the citizens. The city of Fresno, CA is fortunate to have a councilman who works on behalf of its residents. And now, Councilman Clint Olivier, a Republican, is running for State Assembly. But what makes his race so interesting is he announced his Assembly run early to replace Assemblyman Henry Perea, D-Fresno. However, complicating issues, Perea just announced last week he is resigning office effective December 31.

There will be a Special Election to fill out the remaining months of Perea’s term, likely to be held in early April, if all goes well.

“If Olivier’s name isn’t familiar, be thankful,” I wrote in June. “He’s not the son of a politician. He’s not from Hollywood. He didn’t get independently wealthy as a hedge-fund manager on oil and coal investments. He hasn’t sold rocket launchers to Filipino Muslim separatists, or offered bribes to FBI agents.”

Assemblyman Perea shook up the race for his seat as he announced his resignation last week to head for a lucrative lobbying job. The two previously announced contenders for the Assembly seat… Read More

re·ac·tion·ar·y,rēˈakSHəˌnerē,adjective 1.(of a person or a set of views) opposing political or social liberalization or reform. – Source: Google search “what is a reactionary”

When it comes to civic financial health and quality public education, “reactionary” is a word with increasingly bipartisan connotations. But the other qualities connoted by the word all still apply; shrill and divisive rhetoric, an almost militant unwillingness to acknowledge any of the opposition’s arguments, and, of course, an unyielding position favoring the status-quo, no matter how untenable.

Pension reactionaries embody all of these characteristics. For the most part, they are also hypocrites. Because their devastatingly effective campaigns against pension reformers are fundednot only by public employee unions, but also by powerful elements of those same Wall Street financial interests those unions routinely deride. They employ distortions of fact, they demonize reformers, and they employ inversions of logic.

Let’s examine some of the misleading arguments and tactics of the pension reactionaries, in no particular… Read More

This is the second part in a series; Part l is here.

California businesses are being targeted for retribution through a bill passed by the Legislature and signed into lawby Gov. Brown October 10, rewriting the definition of the labor rules governing piece-rate compensation in California.

Assembly Bill 1513 unfairly singles out two of the largest fruit growers in the San Joaquin Valley, for discriminatory treatment, based on demands that these two companies be excluded from protection under the bill’s affirmative defense. Both companies are targets of United Farm Workers unionizing efforts.

It is however, a violation of the U.S. Constitution to single out members of a group so as to inflict punishment on them without a judicial trial (United States v. Lovett).

Fowler Packing Company and Gerawan Farming are the victims of an injustice done at the behest of the… Read More

In Obama’s world, Catholic, Presbyterian and Jewish Americans with guns are more dangerous than heavily armed Islamic terrorists.

In his Oval Office speech to the nation Sunday evening, following the San Bernardino terrorist attacks, President Barack Obama offered no new plan, and no new strategy in the war against Islamic extremism. He was silent about Americans empowering themselves in the face of this latest attack.

The only assurances he gave were to our enemies.

Obama spent more time speaking about anti-Muslim bigotry than he did… Read More

My attention was drawn to a recent Kiplinger study purporting to compare the attractiveness of states for retirees. It took five minutes for me to verify the report constitutes sloppy work. I’m genuinely puzzled how and why a supposedly reputable financial advisory firm would distribute such a slipshod analysis.

But sadly, as I point out below, at least Kiplinger got California right. Yup, we rank as the worst state. Again. That matches the Fidelity retiree study done in 2014.

To check the veracity of the study, I went to their Texas summary, ranked as the 10th worst state to retire in. While there are many factors that affect a state’s attractiveness, some are objective facts that should be easy to glean.… Read More

There is an old expression, “carrying coals to Newcastle,” to describe a useless activity or fool’s errand. Sort of like shipping pineapples to Hawaii or, bringing it closer to home, sending more tax dollars to Sacramento.

The truth is, Sacramento is awash in cash. The Legislature’s budget analyst estimates that this fiscal year will end with $3 billion more than anticipated and, by 2017, state reserves may even top $11 billion.

For the political ruling class, this is an embarrassment. Last summer, the Governor called a special session of the Legislature in an attempt to secure legislative approval of a new health care tax on managed care organizations (MCOs) because the current tax is about to expire. He also called another special session to deal with transportation funding. In both cases, Republicans in the Legislature are making trouble for those backing new taxes by pointing to the obvious: The state already has plenty of money.

To read the entire column click here:… Read More

California’s gun control leftists hold some responsibility for the mounting deaths in Wednesday’s vicious terrorist attack in San Bernardino.

California’s gun laws are some of the strictest in the country, and Gov. Jerry Brown continues to make them even tighter. The bottom line is that citizens aren’t allowed to protect themselves in the Golden State.

The mass shooting took place Wednesday morning in San Bernardino, California at the Inland Regional Center, a facility for developmentally disabled adults, where 14 people were killed and at least 17 injured. Two of the suspects are both Muslim, a husband-and-wife team named Syed Rezwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27. Both were killed by police. Some news reports say there are thought to be more suspects involved.

… Read More

The IRS scandal in the headlines for several years revealed the Internal Revenue Service developed a scheme to prosecute conservatives who publicly oppose President Obama’s policies.

California Gov. Jerry Brown and his legislative Democrats have just accomplished a similar scheme with the passage of a bill targeting two large agriculture businesses, which dared to challenge the illegal stranglehold on Brown’s appointed Agriculture Labor Relations Board by the waning United Farm Workers labor union.

Family owned and operatedFowler Packing Company and Gerawan Farming are targets of Assembly Bill 1513, which unfairly carves-out the two employers who have long been targeted for UFW unionizing efforts, from the limited safe harbor provisions in the recently passed and signed bill.

Both large employers and growers, Fowler Packing grows peaches, nectarines, plums and mandarins, and Gerawan grows nectarines, peaches and grapes.

Wag the… Read More