There was a lot of talk about the effect of Proposition 14 in the last election, and its effect on the legislative and congressional elections. The stated reason for enacting the "top two vote getters" idea for determining who gets to run in the general election was to "moderate" the caucuses, the idea being that if a moderate and an ideologue advance to the general election as the top two vote getters in the primary, the moderate is more likely to be elected, as members of the party whose candidates lost in the primary would be more likely to vote for the moderate of the other party.

While this idea is untested in practice anywhere in the country, interestingly enough, if Prop 14 was in effect in this election, it would not have accomplished its stated goal, at least on the Republican side of things. Of the 153 Congressional and Legislative elections held in the recent primary, only 10 would have sent two of the same primary to the general election. There would be 7 Democrat districts with two Democrats running in November, and 3 Republican districts with two Republicans. The Republican districts would have been Assembly District 25, and… Read More

It is summer and I just can’t avoid vacations centered around Gay Pride Days, at least that is what my friend and fellow YAFer Darin Henry says. I honestly don’t plan my vacations around these colorful events. Not that there is anything wrong with them. But it just happens. And too much!

Three years ago my wife and I planned a vacation to New York City and were able to snag a nifty room at the Peninsula Hotel at 555 Fifth Ave. Turned out it was ground zero for the annual Pride Parade, which I honestly had no idea was occurring this weekend. Below is a picture I shot at the time of one of the Pride Day participants. Streets were shut down all around the hotel and our lunch ended up being a dirty dog at a stand, because we couldn’t cross the street for raviolis.

Then we went to San Francisco last year for vacation. What happened? Pride Day Parade weekend. Lunch in the hotel. We decided we would go to church the next day.

I’m off to Dublin next week to work on my family tree. I’ll be in that lovely city for five days, working at the archives at Trinity College to pull info on 12… Read More

Only a foolish politician would make a crucial decision based on seeking revenge instead of enacting good policy. For proof, look no further than the Sacramento City Council and its mayor who voted last night to boycott any Arizona-based business in contract with the City.

It’s too early to tell if the act will have an injurious affect on Arizona, but I am willing to bet that Sacramento will suffer more than our neighboring Cactus state. A Sac Bee story reports about one AZ-based construction company (Sundt) that will lose contracts with the City of Sacramento, but at the cost of nearly 70 local jobs. (Insert Homer Simpson’s famous "Doh!" here).

Some people might ask why I care about the goings-on of the Sacramento City Council since I am a resident of Lancaster. But the fact of the matter is I spend time in the Sacramento city limits where I live part-time and purchase goods and services from local business people. I have reason to care and a right to be angry about local leaders choosing to engage in a political stunt over performing their civil servant duties entrusted in them by voters.

Furthermore, the Bee article states… Read More

My friend Larry Levine, a Democratic consultant, posted a very interesting factoid on our election law blog today. It is too interesting a matter to pass up on presenting here, so I want to be sure I am crediting Larry.

If Proposition 14 were in place in the most recent election, the top two vote getters for Attorney General would face off in the Fall general election. Who were they? Well, Republican Steve Cooley got the most votes of any candidate, Democrat or Republican. He would definitely be in the runoff. But conservative Republican John Eastman is currently within 9,435 votes of being the second biggest vote getter in the primary, as that is the small margin separating him and Kamala Harris, who won the Democrat primary.

Wow. The situation was caused by the fact that there were more candidates running in the Democrat primary for AG than the Republican primary, thus depressing overall vote among the Democrat candidates. That is a very interesting clue about how Proposition 14 will work in future. But could it be that under Proposition 14, Republicans will "own" the Attorney General position?… Read More

Last week, I mentioned that overmy next few blogs, I would provide someshort observations on the state of things here in Washington, D.C…and here is a group of several additional observations. Enjoy!

For decades, the assumption has been that government employees were paid less than their private sector counterparts. But the tradeoff was that the public sector jobs were more secure and often times, youcan’t be fired without gross malfeasance. That has since changed. Big time.The American Enterprise Institute, just completed a study whichshowed that the average government employee now makes significantly more than their private sector counterparts when pensions, generous vacations, and other benefits are taken into account. Equivalent workers in the private sector only make half that much! This is on the heels of another study which showed that government employees now earn about 25% more than private sector workers in straight salary without taking benefits into account. And of course, the … Read More

My blogging yesterday was light as I was down in San Diego County hanging out with U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and another buddy of mine, David Rivera, who is a leading candidate for an open U.S. House seat in South Florida.

Today’s blogging will also be light as I am off to Sacramento today. Former Senate (and Assembly) Republican Leader Jim Brulte, along with the current Senate and Assembly Republican Leaders, are hosting a two-day event for all of the GOP nominees for State Senate and State Assembly. Brulte asked me to participate as part of the program for that event this afternoon. (Hey, my flight lands in Sacramento at noon — I offer credit in the FR for any FR friend who wants to give me a lift to the Hyatt!).

By way of brief commentary, it will be funbto watch the final numbers gel in the Republican primary for Insurance Commissioner. Former Assembly Republican Leader (and Kennedy Library Honoree) Mike Villines is literally neck-and-neck with DOI Enforcement Attorney Brian FitzGerald, the latter having spend only a few thousand dollars on his campaign. Clearly the big factors… Read More

In a joint conference call for the press, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring unveiled the RNC’s Victory 2010 operation for California. Chairman Nehring made a point of emphasizing the unprecedented partnership between the CRP and the RNC and the enthusiasm Republicans are already showing as the general campaign season begins in earnest.

Since February of 2009 the RNC has played a role in more than 30 successful races across the country, including statewide victories in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. The Republican National Committee is laying the groundwork to compete aggressively not only in California, but in all fifty states for victory in November.

The RNC announced that it will be supporting the CRP’s statewide efforts with the necessary funding and resources to help effectively communicate the stark contrasts between the Republican and Democrat candidates seeking office. This means the RNC will provide them with… Read More

It’s been one week since Meg Whitman soundly defeated Steve Poizner in the Republican gubernatorial race. Tonight Poizner sent an email message to his supporters thanking them for their work on behalf of his campaign (posted below). But most notable in the email was the lack of conciliation. Still harping on the fact he was outspent “four-to-one”, Poizner goes on to intimate that Republicans sold out their principles by voting for Whitman—a “hollow victory.” John Myers, the Sacramento Bureau Chief and Political Reporter for KQED Public Radio, even tweeted about the “defiant” missive from Poizner. It’s understandable that Poizner would still hold some resentment considering the bruising nature of the governor race, which was particularly tense in the closing month. But at some point Republicans need to unify behind their candidate to beat the … Read More