Unfortunately we are all used to the fact that when the Governor issues lists of new appointees, it is filled with Republicans and Democrats and people of neither party. These days, it is not uncommon to see Republicans on the short end when you tally the batch of appointees.

What is not very common, though, is to see the Governor to appoint members of minor third parties. In the case of today’s appointments, the Governor has appointed a member of the Green Party to a position over at the Public Utilities Commission:

We’re going to start posting up .pdfs of the major slate cards that are dropping around the state (note: are you a slate mailing company? Send us your .pdfs!) — so that you can see what they look like, and who they are featuring for office. Of course each is a sample, so you’ll know who they are carrying statewide, and in the local area that happens to match up with the sample they send.

The first slate is the National Tax Limitation Committee’s Voter Guide, which is managed by Jim Lacy’s Landslide Communications. The piece goes out to 1,400,000 households, targeting GOP voters. Yes, they will mail in the fall. Go to their website if you want to inquire about how to get on it.

Click on the images to enlarge.… Read More

Well, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ace Reporter Carla "Scoop" Marinucci reports that Steve Poizner’s campaign is launching a new ad for the San Francisco Bay Area. This is notable because up until now, Poizner has had no broadcast ads up in that entire area of the state.

Below is the new ad…

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This just in from Ana Matosantos, Governor Schwarzenegger’s Director of Finance… This afternoon, Governor Schwarzenegger sends the revised version of his January budget proposal – the “May Revision” – to the Legislature. And while a budget should be a reflection of what Californians value the most – and a budget that safeguards its most important services and its most vulnerable citizens – that won’t be the case today, and the Governor will spell out clearly why that is.

What’s changed since January? Much that’s not positive. The recession’s lingering effects mean our overall revenues are below forecast. Program costs have increased and federal judges have blocked the state from implementing budget-saving measures that the Governor proposed and the Legislature approved. Because the budgetary solutions adopted in the Special… Read More

Greek Tragedy: There has been much publicity as of late, particularly among the financial community, about the fiscal problems in Greece. The Greek government has spent far more money than it has taken in and done it for enough years that they now have a huge deficit and an even bigger debt. There are fears that Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland could be next. Stock markets around the world lurched downward out of fear that these systemic debts and deficits may not be able to be repaid and that these countries may need to default on their debt.

But they are not alone. Here are the current year deficits (2010) and outstanding national debt as a percentage of that country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Greece, the largest European countries and the U.S.:

Country

Deficit as % of GDP

Public Debt as % of GDP

As I read this article in the Los Angeles Times, it caused me to want to renew my call for Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to stop his pursuit of trying to force Insurance Companies to divest from investments that he does not like, which is what is going on here. The United States government has an official process whereby, if for national security reasons, they feel the extraordinary step of suspending the property rights of Americans to invest their money where they see fit, needs to be suspended in any way.

Steve Poizner doesn’t like that some insurance companies have some investments with companies that do some business in Iran. I don’t like it either — those companies ought to make new choices. Poizner should do two things — he should ask (and probably NOT on Department of Insurance letterhead) companies to change their investments, and he can write his Congressman and Senator, like the rest of us.

In the… Read More

Today the California State Assembly debated SJR 9, authored by Democrat State Senatoe Christine Kehoe, which would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to adopt the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 1283) that institutes a policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation, and to repeal the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy.

You can read the full resolution here.

Republican Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, a Marine Corps Veteran, gave a passionate floor speech in support of ending this policy, saying that one should be able to serve openly in the military regardless of their sexual orientation.

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The lightly regulated world of social media has created high-profile privacy and security controversies for companies like Facebook, Google and others that collect and disseminate massive amounts of personal data from millions of users worldwide — issues that could create political liabilities for politicians like Democrat Attorney General candidate Chris Kelly. Bringing order to that Wild West environment has given candidates like Mr. Kelly, formerly Facebook’s chief privacy officer, a chance to work on policy making long before they hold elected office. But social media companies like Facebook also sit at the heart of intense debates over online privacy. Mr. Kelly’s campaign will be a litmus test for how these privacy issues resonate with the public in the political arena, and also for how the strengths and vulnerabilities of a background in social media companies confers on other executives who may consider running for public office. Our friends over at California Watch have written about this in more detail. Check it out… Read More