A couple weeks ago theradical Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a rulling declaring that the Voting Rights Act requirement that election materials be in various languages applies to recall petitions. The case was the succesful2003 recall of Nativo Lopez from the Santa Ana Unified School District Board. See a quick recap here.

A bitter campaign by unions against Wal-Mart in Rosemead has been derailed by that decision. After the city council apporoved 5-0 a development plan for a Wal-Mart, the unions and other Wal-Mart haters went to work. First they defeated 2 or the three incumbents that supported Wal-Mart.

That still left them one vote shy of a majority. So Wal-Mart opponents started a recall against the two incumbent members that weren’t up for election. They collected enough signatures and the election was on until the Ninth Circuit made their decision.

Now, the majority put off the election citing the lack of multi-language recall petitions. See the story here.

For now the liberals… Read More

As a follow up to my post the other day on the Grossmont Union High School District charter proposals, lots of media since then:

U-T: Support for charter plan urged

U-T EDITORIAL: Spectacle and substance at Steele Canyon High

NEHRING OP-ED: A plan for more charter schools in East County

On a side note, it seems the Grossmont donnybrook that took place the other night during the meeting on the Steele Canyon charter proposal, included some contentiousness over the election of board officers.President Jim Kelly retained his seat on a 3-2 vote, but only after an “attempted” nomination of board member Priscilla Schreiber.Attempted, in that – apparently – her nomination was somehow out of order, and a parliamentary challenge… Read More

RECALLED GOVERNOR DAVIS GETS PORTRAIT IN CAPITOL Well, the news loves to eat up photo-opportunities like this one. At any other time, disgraced former pay-for-play Governor Gray Davis would have slinked into the state capitol for a subdued ceremony to unveil his ‘official’ portrait to adorn some obscure wall on the ‘old site’ of the capitol. But Gray Davis’ stock is on the rise now, as two of his former Deputy Chief’s of Staff have now taking on two prominent spots as Chief of Staff to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Chief of Staff to First Lady Maria Shriver. Sound like a nightmare to you? Me, too. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you wanted: Here are two choice quotes for you:

Conventional wisdom is that the major issues facing the Congress leading up to the 2006 elections will be immigration, the deficit, and the war in Iraq. From where the Republicans sit today, we are in big trouble with less than a year to go, but a year in politics is three lifetimes. The GOP has a real opportunity to show improvement on all three defining issues in that year.

Today, the House Judiciary Committee will mark-up immigration reform legislation. This legislation, a Judiciary-Homeland Security Committee bill, will deal with border security and law enforcement and will likely sail through the House. The Senate could take up immigration reform in the next few weeks but likely won’t deal with it until next year (I know, it’s shocking that the Senate is moving too slow, but hey, they had to take this week off). Expect to see a bill signed by the President by spring at the latest, with a Senate-sponsored guest-worker program.

With modest deficit reduction ($50 billion over 5 years) working its way through Congress and a humming economy, the deficit is going to drop further. In fact we could see impressive… Read More

Now that a month has passed since the defeat of the Governor’s reform ballot measures (Props. 74, 75, 76, and 77), it may be a good time to begin a frank policy discussion about whether the initiative power should be itself reformed.

Back when the initiative power was added to the California Constitution, its purpose was to provide the people of the state with a direct way to implement public policy without having to go through the state legislature and governor to make needed reforms. The idea was that if special interests had a stranglehold on the state legislature, meaningful reform could still be implemented by direct democracy. How things have changed. Now, the initiative power is a virtual cash cow for political consultants and election lawyers (your humble author included) who often create from whole-cloth initiative proposals for the sole purpose of creating issues that give candidates a way to distinguish themselves from each other (recall Proposition 187), to advance a client’s singular interest (such as Propositions 79 and 80), or to provide a source of income in off-year elections. [Yes, I know I am cynical.]

Its not… Read More

"Gilchrist indicated that his next political opponent could be Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif). He said running for a federal position might be in his future." — Daily Pilot, December7, 2005 Here’s some free advice for Jim Gilchrist: don’t do it.

When he’s not denying he is a one-issue candidate, Gilchrist has declared the purpose of his candidacy is to make Washington crack down on illegal immigration. His candidacy was successful in making a powerful point about that issue. If Gilchrist is sincere that his crusade is about his issue and not his ego, I suggest he channel that 25% showing back into his Minuteman Movement. That would keep the focus on his issue, rather than himself. The more focus is on the latter, the more the discussion is about his…eccentricities and past irregulaties, to the detriment of the issue he cares about.

As Gilchrist told the media last week, John Campbell is a gentlemen. Campbell, for the most part,… Read More

As tomorrow’s clemency hearing for Stanley Tookie Williams approaches, brace yourself for some serious spin from the anti-death penalty crowd: redemption, mercy and the public’s queasiness over sending Williams to his maker.

The guess here: "Save Tookie" advocates will try to convince the press that Californians are having second thoughts not just about this case, but capital punishment in general.

I’ve done some research on this, and the numbers are interesting.

1) In a March 2004 Field Poll, 68% of Californians said they’re pro-death penalty. That was down four points from its 72% support in 2002, but 5% higher than its 63% support in 2000.

2) At no point in the past 35 years, according to Field, has death-penalty support fallen below 58%; over that same period,its opposition has never climbed higher than 34% (that was in 1971).

3) From 2000-2004, opposition to the death penalty actually decreased, from 30% to 26%.

The counter to all of this is that "only" 58% of Californians, in that same 2004 poll, believe that the death penalty is implemented in a just manner.… Read More

The furor over Susan Kennedy shows no signs of dying down, but this morning’s San Jose Mercury News reports on what may be another Democratic staffer-incuded headache for Schwarzenegger. Terry Tamminen, the governor’s cabinet secretary and top environmental advisor, opened for Al Gore at a Stanford event yesterday, in which the former VP spoke out against global warming. No problems there, as Schwarzenegger has already signed on to a host of pro-green legislation since taking office.

But the San Jose Mercury News reported that Tamminen delivered the "most politically biting jokes" of the day. And guess who Tamminen bit?

"Tamminen began his remarks by reading from a piece of paper he said was given to him by TV producer and environmental activist Laurie David: “The top five things President Bush says he will do to address global warming.” Among the satirical suggestions made by Tamminen: switching the power on Vice President Dick Cheney’s pacemaker to nuclear power, and invading Silicon Valley to secure more solar panels.

“The No. 1 thing President Bush says he will do to address global… Read More