Thanks to Jerry Brown’s recent appointment of Walnut Creek City Councilman Kish Rajan as director Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), Rajan has withdrawn from his race for re-election to the Council. Councilman Rajan was the only Democrat in this year’s race.

Rajan’s departure has left four candidates competing for three open seats: Contra Costa County Deputy District Attorney Barry Grove, CPA Loella Haskew, Mayor Bob Simmons, and local business owner Justin Wedel. Grove, Haskew, and Wedel are Republicans, and Simmons is registered decline-to-state. The two remaining councilmembers, who are not up for reelection until 2014, are decline-to-state Kristina Lawson, and Republican Cindy Silva.

Even if Simmons, the only non-Republican in the race, wins re-election, the remaining two spots are guaranteed to go to Republicans. If all goes well, and the three Republicans win all three spots, Republicans will have a 4/5 supermajority on the Council.

This is certainly welcome news for Bay Area Republicans, who have seen the party’s share of voter registration decline in nearly every city in the region during the past… Read More

Republican Party membership has now dropped below 30% in the Golden State, marking a further decline in the party’s statewide strength and affecting the prospects of Republican victories in future years.

Understanding what is, and what isn’t, contributing to this development is important so Republican candidates, and more importantly, elected officials, can make increasingly necessary adjustments. Misdiagnosing the problem risks sending precious resources off in the wrong direction.

First, let’s recognize that party registration follows party self-identification. People register with the party with whom they identify.

Paid voter registration programs focused in targeted districts are designed to register people who by and large already consider themselves Republicans. By concentrating a disproportionate effort into a tightly confined area we can, and do, move the needle. Think of placing a hot poker into a bathtub: the water next to the poker becomes much hotter, but not the water at the… Read More

Recently at a forum in Yorba Linda, I was asked to present the statewide initiatives in my customary non-biased informational way and answer any questions.

Representatives of some initiatives did show up and received a few minutes to present their case. One representative from the local teachers union explained why in her view Proposition 32 was flawed. She then said anybody that wants to exempt themselves from political dues can. It is easy.

Really?

The West Covina School Board of which I am a member unanimously changed some of our policies.

The Classified Service Employees Association (CSEA) recently filed a charge of us committing “unfair labor practices”. I know, like I would be unfair to a union? They already are so disadvantaged with having state law mandate that they represent all employees and forcing employees to pay whether they likeit or not. Add in the disadvantages suffered from the special laws protecting unions and mandating rules and benefits passed in Sacramento and the factunions being the top political spenders. One would never want to be “unfair”.

The “charges” contained a lot of… Read More

In what is arguably the most conservative Assembly District in the State of California, Riverside County’s 67th, two Republicans are in a knock-down fight to the finish line — Phil Paule, who is Congressman Darrell Issa’s District Director and an elected Water Board member, and Melissa Melendez, who is a member of the Lake Elsinore City Council.

Yesterday afternoon I received a telephone call from my good friend Larry Smith, President of the influential Family Action PAC conservative group. I should probably tuck into this post that I am a member of the Family Action PAC. Early on this organization had endorsed Melendez before the June election, and she has touted her support from the FAP on many occasions, and the group’s endorsement is prominently featured on Melendez’s website. Larry called to tell me that the Board of his organization had held a meeting yesterday, and decided… Read More

In 1993 and 1994, I was involved in the passage of California’s Three Strikes law. Then Assemblyman Bill Jones introduced it in the Legislature, and Mike Reynolds pressed the initiative. I had a role, mainly exposing the legislative process to radio talk show hosts John and Ken, who then created a public outcry that changed California politics for, well, a year. I however was engaged in the discussions and debates about the scope and effect of the law.

One of the key debates about that three strikes law then was what should constitute a third strike. The Reynolds/Jones bill said the first two strikes had to be “serious or violent felonies,” but the third strike could be “any felony.” The theory was that a person who had committed two serious or violent felonies was probably a bad guy anyway, and if he (or she) still engaged in any criminal behavior, he (or she) should be isolated from the rest of us for the rest of his or her life. Some on the left tried to pass legislation that would require three serious or violent felonies before a life sentence would be imposed, but I was persuaded by the argument, made by Jones and Reynolds, that… Read More

Remember the words “you didn’t built that- someone else did!”?

That seminal moment in the 2012 Presidential race may seem like years ago, as this political season has really ramped up and thousands of commercials, emails and mail pieces have inundated your TVs and mailboxes since President Obama stood on the stage in Virginia that summer day and stumped: “If you have a business, you didn’t build that. Someone else built that.”

The President’s aides and liberal pundits quickly stammered into damage control mode, claiming that the President’s words had been taken out of context and what he really meant was that all businesses are successful because of collective things provided by the government such as public roads and the internet.

In today’s 24 hour partisan media market, it seems at times the pundits are watching every candidate’s moves, waiting with bated breath for someone to slip up, say something wrong or veer of message, and when one does, it is as if Christmas came early.Any opportunity to take a statement and spin it, exploit it or take out it of context can produce days of political fodder, millions of dollars worth of TV… Read More

It’s bad enough that California’s gas tax is among the highest in the nation. It’s even worse that the gas tax goes up whenever gas prices rise.

Today I released data showing that high gas prices have resulted in a record windfall for government at the expense of California consumers.

California motorists paid a record $8.3 billion in state and local fuel taxes during the 2011-12 fiscal year.

From July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012, the California State Board of Equalization collected $6.9 billion in motor vehicle fuel taxes, up from $6.7 billion the prior year. Excise tax revenues accounted for $5.2 billion, while sales tax revenues accounted for $1.7 billion.

Over the same time period, the state collected $1.4 billion in diesel fuel taxes, up from $1.2 billion the prior year. Excise tax revenues accounted for $343 million, while sales tax revenues accounted for $1.1 billion.

… Read More

Anyone who still has the hope of reforming California knows that it must begin with the political system. Far too many politicians in California are so heavily influenced by big money that constituents seem to be nothing more than an afterthought and a group to pander to for political advertisements.

For many years politicians have sought political contributions from corporations and unions, then voted the way those special interests ordered.

And, unfortunately, too many politically ambitious Republicans have gone along with the big-government party plan instead of thwarting the political dominance from unions and big corporations.

The only way to begin real reform in the Golden State is to neuter the money influences. Proposition 32, the “Paycheck Protection” ballot initiative, could begin the reform process.

Big bucks… Read More