In my last blog about the California Small Business Association I asked President Betty Jo Toccoli to respond to my question about how legislators were chosen for various awards given out by her organization. Her response, which I found a bit witty in the first paragraph, is here – unedited and without my editorializing. Agree or disagree with one another, I respect her addressing the issue (is that editorializing?).

Dear Mr. Dichiara: CSBA has a long history of working with all parties. This is a deeply rooted tenant of CSBA’s philosophy. Getting Democrats, along with Republicans, to care about small business issues is an important goal of our organization and critical for the future of small business in California. I can understand that you have a different view as a Republican Party campaign consultant. At the same time, many Democrats are livid with CSBA for supporting the effort to delay AB32 and releasing a study showing that the regulatory costs of the program could be significant. We must be doing… Read More

What a difference a year makes. Last year the Tea Partiers could barely gain notice on local TV stations and newspapers. They were dismissed as irrelevent and merelya tool of the Republican Party.

One year later, the Tea Party movement has flourished in numbers and grown in strength. Now the media is taking the movement serious. Even the Capitol’s paper of record included a pre-event story on the front page, "above the fold." (I may not agree with the story but the placement shows how important the movement has become).

Congratulations to my Tea Party friends. I applaud and support their efforts. They have bravely challenged the status quo and questioned the Sacramento establishment.

They didn’t walk away when liberals dismissed them as a fad, or when political pundits downplayed the attendance numbers at Tea Party events.

The good news is now the media and politicos are listening. Some Left-leaning politicians may act unflappable, but everyone knows that liberals in targeted seats – on the state and federal… Read More

Congratulations California taxpayers! Today is Tax Freedom Day in California. That means Californians have worked well over three months of the year—from January 1 to April 14 —before they have earned enough money to pay this year’s tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels (according to data compiled by the National Tax Foundation).

That’s a slight improvement over last year when Californians achieved Tax Freedom Day on April 20 – or 110 days into the year.

(Nationally, Californians work longer than taxpayers in all but seven states to reach Tax Freedom Day).

And now the bad news: It’s highly likely that we reached this “achievement” through the federal stimulus package, which created artificial tax reductions.

But what the heck! Celebrate today – for next year and many years after you will work hard to pay off the money the government borrowed from you last year.… Read More

Last night “Republican” State Senator Abel Maldonado was hanging out with Democrat Senator Rod Wright. A number of us who saw them thought out loud that between the two, Wright is fundamentally more conservative.… Read More

OC Sheriff Sandra Hutchens was appointed to her post, but it looks like the voters will keep her there. Our new Voice of OC/Probolsky Research Poll shows the Sheriff winning with a 2-1 lead.

There are a lot of undecided voters at this point. Voters are generally uninterested in who the Sheriff is unless he/she is under federal investigation or something more dramatic. As long as they feel safe and a deputy comes when you call 911 – the incumbent is probably going to win.

Hutchens is on top among all the major demographic groups like all parties, men and women and age groups. Challengers Bill Hunt, a former deputy is running along with Craig Hunter, Anaheim Deputy Chief are trailing.

Someone needs to come in with big money to change this outcome.

The article about the poll can be found here. The full report can be found here.… Read More

When Republican voters in San Diego County open their June sample ballots in the next few weeks, most will see something new — a color GOP fundraising appeal in the middle of the other usual black and white pages, touting the party’s locally supported candidates and positions on ballot measures.

When San Diego Democrats glance at their versions of the sample ballot, they obviously won’t see the Republican advertisement. Yet, they also won’t see one of their own.

A little known and perhaps long forgotten 1970s-adopted section of the California Elections coderequires every county Registrar of Voters to provide to each party committee the space for a letter or insert of solicitation in the June voter pamphlet. This year local Republicans submitted an advertisement, then yesterday successfully fended off a legal challenge over its contents in Superior Court.

As only the Republicans will have such a sample ballot letter during the primary election, this is — to slightly paraphrase the words Vice President Joe Biden utilizes to describe… Read More

When Republican voters in San Diego County open their June sample ballots in the next few weeks, most will see something new — a color GOP fundraising appeal in the middle of the other usual black and white pages, touting the party’s locally supported candidates and positions on ballot measures.

When San Diego Democrats glance at their versions of the sample ballot, they obviously won’t see the Republican advertisement. Yet, they also won’t see one of their own.

A little known and perhaps long forgotten 1970s-adopted section of the California Elections coderequires every county Registrar of Voters to provide to each party committee the space for a letter or insert of solicitation in the June voter pamphlet. This year local Republicans submitted an advertisement, then yesterday successfully fended off a legal challenge over its contents in Superior Court.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

Between TiVos of American Idol and Dancing With the Stars arranged by my lovely wife tonight, I did manage to grab the laptop and see that Republican Assemblyman Bill Emmerson had about 40% of the vote in the special election for the Inland Empire’s 37th State Senate district being held today. The vote included absentees and a small group of precincts as of about 9:45 pm. Republican challenger Russ Bogh had about 22%. I did some lawyering for Emmerson in the campaign. Looks like he will be the winner.… Read More