Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of joining the better part of a thousand guests at the storied Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the venerable Claremont Institute.

Each year the Claremont Institute hosts a wonderful evening dinner event at which they bestow their coveted Statesmanship Award to a deserving individual who has, in word and deed, furthered the mission of the Institute, which is, to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. These principles are expressed most eloquently in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that "all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." To recover the founding principles in our political life means recovering a limited and accountable government that respects private property, promotes stable family life, and maintains a strong national defense.

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Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of joining the better part of a thousand guests at the storied Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the venerable Claremont Institute.

Each year the Claremont Institute hosts a wonderful evening dinner event at which they bestow their coveted Statesmanship Award to a deserving individual who has, in word and deed, furthered the mission of the Institute, which is, to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. These principles are expressed most eloquently in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that "all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." To recover the founding principles in our political life means recovering a limited and accountable government that respects private property, promotes stable family life, and maintains a strong national defense.

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Sheriff Watch… Two weeks ago in Sunday San Diego it was noted that a challenge was filed against Sheriff candidate Jim Duffy’s use of the ballot designation, "Sheriff Lieutenant." Duffy was pinning his hopes for using the title on the County of San Diego’s personnel department indicating he was on leave of absence from the position and legally able to return.

Last week the Registrar of Voters weighed in on the matter, in essence saying that leave of absence or not, since Duffy hadn’t acted in the role of a lieutenant in more than a year, he could not use the title. He will however be able to use "Chief of Staff," a positionhe held withCounty Supervisor Ron Roberts more recently.

Short of the possibility of Duffy taking the matter to court and reversing the Registrar’s interpretation, the decision has some significance, especially with the other candidates, Bill Gore and Jay La Suer, using the designations "San Diego County… Read More

Earlier this month, FR friend Andrew Breitbart, long with U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, was a featured speaker at one of the breakfast functions. Since I was on hand (in a cruel maneuver, State GOP Chairman Ron Nehring asked me to lead the Pledge of Allegiance to our nation’s flag at this very early event), and I had the "FlashFlipCam" in hand, I captured video of Breitbart’s remarks. They are worth watching — note that, as usual, Andrew delivers his thoughts extemporaneously, with no prepared notes…

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How ironic that successful international movie star and businessman Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is literally volunteering his time as Governor of California, has overnight become the largest donor to the campaign to pass Proposition 14, the "Top Two" initiative, which purports to somehow make things work "better" in Sacramento.

The reason for the irony is that Proposition 14 is truly the "wealthy, special interests empowerment act" where the vastly wealthy people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the vastly wealthy special interest groups that dominate state capitol politics (starting with the public employee unions and big business) will significantly increase their influence.

Why is this? First and foremost, Proposition 14 makes it a whole lot more expensive to campaign for public office, while doing nothing to make it any easier for a candidate to raise money. So this really advantages those players in system who have money to spread around.

Let’s also remember that the stated purpose of this measure is to decrease the role of "ideologues" in the legislature. This will play right into the hands of the… Read More

The Los Angeles Times posted an astonishing article today about the Assembly’s refusal to disclose the salary figures for staff members. Well, to be more accurate, the manner in which such information is disclosed.

Apparently the Assembly’s chief administration officer, Jon Waldie, will only hand out printed copies of the data; he refuses to send electronic versions. So, essentially, only those who can get a hold of Mr. Waldie in person can obtain data that is required by law to be publicly disclosed.

FR readers, I wanted to apologize for a couple of days of light blogging on my part. Yesterday I took the day off, after getting the main page up, for some much needed R&R. Today I am in the Coachella Valley for the memorial service of longtime friend and FR contributor Barry Nestande, who so tragically lost his life last Friday (he passed of an apparent heart attack while working out).

I’ve just pre-written a fun item that will pop up around 1000am, and Mike Spence has a good post in the queue!… Read More

Yesterday in Havana, Cuba, that country’s long time totalitarian dictator Fidel Castro praised the passage of the Obama/Reid/Polosi health care bill, calling it a, "miracle."

Seriously.

While it may disturb "normal" Americans that the head of a country where freedom and liberty are merely parts of whispered fables, there is one California Congressman who is undoubtedly quite proud of Castro’s encouragement.

Democrat Congressman Jim Costa, from California’s Central Valley, proudly displays a photo of himself with Castro on the wall of his Washington, D.C., office (see photo).

You have to wonder what other aspects of government-controlled life in Cuba that Costa is interested in bringing here to the United States…… Read More