The Ups and Downs of The Clarksburg Sugar Mill Project

A long, long time ago…I saw Def Leppard warm up for Ozzy in Detroit…and they absolutely blew Ozzy’s band (including Randy Rhodes) off the stage…to say the least, they’ve had a roller coaster of a career since that show…drummer loses arm (bad)…slick producer saves the day (good)…alcohol kills guitarist (bad)…life certainly has it’s ups and downs…just ask my friend …the developer of the historic old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg.

A few years ago, a friend of mine, John Carvalho put forward a plan for the run-down, vacant Delta Sugar Corporation’s beet refinery – The Clarksburg Sugar Mill. John saw a converted historic brick structure becoming home to a winery, a crushing facility, to restaurants, to shops, and to homes built on the… Read More

Today I’ve written a column for the Capitol Weekly on the so-called "Shareholder Protection" measure being qualified for the June 2006 ballot by union-forces, motivated by both ‘payback’ for having Proposition 75 ("Paycheck Protection") foisted upon then, as well as to try to counter, tactically, the impact of having public employee union PAC coffers start to dry up without mandatory dues assessments on their members. In a nutshell, this measure forces a public company to have their stock holders vote before funds can be spent on political candidates or causes.

Tha analogy that union bosses are trying to make is that holders of stocks in publically traded companties deserve the same type of ‘protection’ against "their money" being used for political purposes without their express permission. This argument is comparing apples to oranges. If you are a public employee, it’s… Read More

San Francisco is a town that loves organized labor. The Board of Supervisors routinely passes labor-friendly resolutions, such as resolutions urging Head Start employees to allow their workers to unionize and opposing Assemblyman Keith Richman’s proposed ACA 5 (proposal to require new state workers to participate in a 401(k)-style system instead of the PERS system). So it’s fun when San Francisco politicians are the target of an attack from their beloved labor union allies.

San Francisco Superintendent of Schools, Arlene Ackerman, ticked off the unions this week by telling school district workers (custodians, cafeteria workers, secretaries, etc) that she plans to hire replacement workers if the union members strike, as they are threatening to do. She intends on asking the… Read More

Quick get in your car, get to downtown Los Angeles. There is still time to protest against Gil Cedillo. We all know people are outraged over his continued demands to give licenses to illegals. Illegals have their greatest fighter in Gil Cedillo. He voted for homosexual marriage, opposes the Governors reforms and the list of left-wing causes goes on and on. It is time for someone to stand up to the likes of Gil Cedillo and today Californians will unite against him!!

Today Californians will rally to force Gil Cedillo to make cockfighting a felony not a mere misdemeanor. See the press release here.

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‘SHAREHOLDER PROTECTION?’uin newsWhile the battle rages on over Proposition 75, the "Paycheck Protection" measure, union leaders are quietly circulating petitions for their version of payback, which they call "Shareholder Protection." Today in Capitol Weekly, I have a column on this subject. It begins like this:

The playing field in the 59th Assemblyelection has tilted slightly toward the High Desert end of the district. One of the two major desert-area candidates this morning dropped out of the race to replace termed-out Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy in the June 2006 primary. Todd Turoci, an attorney and son of a former county supervisor, announced that he’s bowing out because he’s concerned about being a "part-time" father for the next six years. No disrespect to Mr. Turoci or his stated noble purpose, but isn’t it curious that, according to his press release, the idea of Assembly life being hard on a single-parent family only just recently swayed his decision when it dawned on him he might actually win the election? "Based on recent polling, I am convinced that the race is winnable and that’s what made me re-evaluate the time I would be taking away from my kids," Turoci said. Although Turoci’s fundraising and endorsements had been lacking somewhat, and a few early campaign gaffes aside, his well-recognized name on the ballot could have proven problematic for the other desert candidate,… Read More

In the race for San Diego Mayor Republican Sanders has been on TV several days pretty heavy. You can see the ads at www.jerrysandersformayor.com (or if you are in San Diego just turn your TV to something other than Jerry Springer). Tom Sheppard is the consultant on the Sanders campaign. The most recent ad goes into Donna Frye’s proposal for a billion-some-odd tax increase. Right off the bat, I’m going to guess that not too many voters want to increase the sales tax in order to allow various non-public safety city workers to retire with a million dollar check they get from double-dipping for five years. A little mail on both sides… one particularly good piece from Sheppard that I’l try to post in a couple days. Frye does not appear to be on TV… or she misses me by not buying the coveted “Simpons” or “The Office” time slots.… Read More

This special election is extremely important. The reforms being pushed by Governor Schwarzenegger are critical — whether reforming teacher tenure, restructuring our state finance and budget process, giving public employee union members say over how their dollars are spent, or ensuring that we have fair legislative districts in the state. The Schwarzenegger Team is to be commended for bringing this debate to the voters and running a strong closing effort as we approach election day.

That said, I am afraid to say that at this point, we are going to have to say that the special interests who have a grip on the heart of California, and are squeezing it dead, they have won at least one minor skermish – the cartoon battle.

A few weeks ago, the Join Arnold team put out a short animated movie – it is a spoof on the union bosses literally shaking down a teacher to line their political coffers. You can see the animination here.

Shortly after this,… Read More