If I had to rank-order public employee union bosses from evil to less so, clearly on the top of the list you would have to put the California Teachers Association. Like all of the other unions they have a voracious appetite for pursuing the "standard" trio of union goals: higher wages and benefits for their members, job security for their members, and the creation of new public employee positions that are members of their union.

That said, the CTA is particularly awful because they pursue this pro-public labor agenda under the banner that somehow all of this is somehow "better for children" and helps kids to have a better education. For anyone who wants to understand how hurtful teachers union bosses can be, go see the movie Waiting for Superman, which illustrates quite well the road blocks that teachers unions put up to keep bad teachers around. Bottom line: a good teacher can make the world of difference for child, and a bad teacher can do the opposite. But the CTA protects and defends all teachers, as if they are all of equal ability.

Anyways, a friend of mine who lives in Senate District 1 just sent me a… Read More

Three days to go.

What the heck are you doing on the blogs?

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All of Barry’s enlightening advice…and other posts. _… Read More

Jerry Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford "The Liar," issued a press release yesterday attacking Meg Whitman, Jon Coupal and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers PAC for the PAC’s endorsement of Meg Whitman. Clifford, whose performance as Brown spokesman brings to mind Jon Lovitz’ character "Tommy The Liar Flanigan," claims Jarvis endorsed and voted for Jerry Brown in 1978. Well I was there, and Clifford is lying to you, again.

The fact is Brown was a semi-hysterical opponent of Prop. 13 in 1978. After Prop. 13 passed by a 2/3rds margin in the June primary election, Jarvis endorsed the Republican candidate for Governor and even cut a TV spot for him. But after that, Gray Davis, Brown’s chief of staff, made a greasy secret deal with the Jarvis organization consultants at the time (long gone they are now from HJTA) and a meeting was scheduled to be held in a Hollywood residence between Brown and Jarvis. Jarvis thought the meeting was to discuss Brown’s implementation of Prop. 13. But the consultants knew better. When Jarvis got to the residence, a private camera crew was already set… Read More

Anyone who works in politics understands the importance of having poll watchers and ballot observers. Particularly in close races, voter fraud can influence the outcome of an election. In the past few years, this has become a huge issue—especially with the revelation of rampant voter fraud at such organizations as ACORN. There was also that infamous video of Black Panther members engaging in voter intimidation in Philadelphia. With the advent of new media and the empowerment of citizen journalism, voters can expose any instances of fraud or intimidation and broadcast it to the public. That’s exactly the concept behind a new mobile phone app created by American Majority Action. The … Read More

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The following opinion piece by Scott Wilk was featured in today’s Santa Clarita Valley Signal:

In 1994, I had the honor of serving as chief of staff in the state Assembly.

After exhaustively interviewing applicants for a vacant staff position, I received a call from a friend asking me to interview some kid named Anthony.

When the lanky young man stepped into my office, his smile brightened the room. His enthusiasm was immediately contagious.

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With the nearly $200 million campaign war being fought between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown and the shock and awe television barrage that has resulted, many Californians may not be paying attention to one of the most important elections in the state that could affect everyone’s pocket book and the actual security of your job.

The race is for the post of Insurance Commissioner. The Democratic candidate, Dave Jones, is one of the most—if not the most—liberal members in the State Legislature, and I’m talking about the all-time line ups. He has proposed one of the most extreme ideas for state-mandated health care in the country that makes the costs of Obamacare look like the equivalent of purchasing ice cream cones from Longs Drug Store. The LAO did a cost analysis on one of the single-payer health care takeovers co-sponsored by Jones, and the costs are staggering. State government would have been expanded by nearly two and one half times our current general fund spending AND we would have been saddled with an additional $42 billion annual spending deficit. Payroll taxes would have had to go up by an annual average of… Read More