Back in the 90’s there was a song, Kick Him When He’s Down by the group Offspring.

The title of that song came to mind as I recently came across the news that the controversial “Conflict King” of Colton and Fontana, Mark Nuaimi, had been axed from his full time job as Assistant City Manager for the Inland Empire City of Colton. Nuaimi apparently still retains his elective office of Mayor of the City of Fontana, which is just blocks from Colton. It was Nuaimi’s “dual role” of being a top level management official in one city while being the top level elected official in the neighboring city which earned Nuaimi the title of “Conflict King” – and garnered him a starring role in a lot of You Tube videos such as this one below…

… Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court indeed issued decisions in three cases this morning but did not publish an opinion in the very important campaign finance reform case of Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, which remains pending.… Read More

Yesterday we featured an update on goings-on with the Young Republican Federation of California, penned by their new State Chairman Adam Abrahms. For many people in the state, there is some confusion over the fact that there are actually two different statewide YR organizations recognized by the California Republican Party — the other one is the California Young Republicans. I guess the easiest way to summarize the reason that there are two YR organizations would be this: Back in the early 1990’s, a large activist surge brought a bunch of new people into the California Young Republicans, which at that point was the only statewide YR group. The CYR leadership, afraid of "losing control" of the group as it grew in size, cheated to keep their Kern County based group in charge. This cheating caused the vast majority of CYR’s members to leave the group, forming the YRFC, which for the last fifteen plus years has really been the dominant statewide YR group.

All of that said, I have been extremely impressed, lately, with a surge of activism within the original CYR group that has come under the Chairmanship of Jenniffer Rodriguez. The… Read More

Last Friday, I visited an oil drilling platform, known as “Irene,” five miles off the Coast of Santa Barbara County. I had a chance to witness first-hand the good work that goes on here to supply energy to American families.

Irene is part of the Tranquillon Ridge Project, which would allow one of California’s leading oil and natural gas producers, Plains Exploration & Production Co., to access oil and gas reserves located beneath California state waters.

The project is a win-win for the environment and the economy:

•PXP will convey approximately 3,900 acres of land to The Trust for Public Land, including approximately 3,700 acres adjacent to the Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve in the Lompoc Valley and up to 200 acres on the Gaviota Coast. These lands will be permanently protected for open space and public access.

•The T-Ridge project will include a legally enforceable “end date” which ends all PXP’s offshore oil production on four platforms and removes the associated onshore support facilities.

•By limiting the life of the platform operations, the T-Ridge “end date” significantly reduces the risk of an… Read More

Jim Costa is a Democrat from Fresno, representing the 20th Congressional District. He says he’s a "blue dog", but I’ve exposed his 97% in agreement with Nancy Pelosi voting record. His District suffers from water shortages and record unemployment. He voted yes on the job killing, budget busting health insurance reform bill in the House.

Now, in the Central Valley Times, Costa has the solution to the current jobs crisis: spend more on infrastructure. Not only is this an intellectually lazy response to the problem – what he is really saying is this: borrow more money from foreign countries.

This is vintage Costa. I don’t know if his seat is in play next year or not. The way Obama / Pelosi / Reid are going, They might lose 75 seats due to their arrogance and incompetence. Costa isn’t doing anything to distinguish himself from the Democrat leadership that America detests.… Read More

The rule of three has been surpassed. More than three people have told methat Senator Dave Cogdill is planning to run for County Assessor in Stanislaus County. The current County Assessor is not seeking re-election.Imeediately speculation focuses on Cogdill. Well he is in.Cogdill’s campaign team or least part of his campaign team has been activated and are making arrangements.

Senator Cogdill recently decided not to run for re-election to the State Senate. He of course was Republican Leader of the Senate an most recently was one of the major architects of the water reform and bond.Cogdill was mentioned as a possible Lt. Governor pick before the Governor choose a fellow liberal Democrat :)

It is important to note that Cogdill was in the real estate appraisal business before his election to public office.… Read More

As someone who has been engaged in the process of politics in California for well over two decades now, I have developed a “thick skin” when it comes to watching our state’s policy makers, dominated by the ideological left, make decision after decision that makes no sense whatsoever when juxtaposed over the reality of life. But I am used to the fact that we have too many policy makers who are very comfortable over-taxing, over-borrowing, over-spending and over-regulating. For a great many of these policy makers, they pursue this kind of “taking” of individual liberty and freedom with the fervor of a religious quest – decrying those who believe in individual liberty and people’s rights over collective rights and societal responsibility like we are heretics.

One can only imagine what this menagerie must look like to a commercial fisherman or recreational boater who one day hears a rumor, “Guess what? California politicians are going to ban fishing and boating in wide swaths of the ocean, off of the state coastline!”

I’m sure disbelief transitioned to shock which then became outrage and by now these folks are well on their way to… Read More

I’ve always said the problem with California schools isn’t about how much moneywe spend but rather howwe spend it.

Take the story of San Jose Community College Chancellor Rosa Perez, who has received a 48 percent pay increase in just four years, which includes nearly $300,000 in annual income and a $147,000 bonus for staying on the job for four years.

The California Taxpayers’ Association reported yesterday that it wasn’t enough for Perez to pull in a king’s ransom every month, she also charged taxpayers for lavish hotel stays in San Jose (even though Perez lives in San Francisco!) and trips to El Salvador and Scotland.

At a time when California schools are laying off teachers, it’s disappointing to read about greedy "educators" who are supposed to have the best interest of the students in mind. Don’t get me wrong; I believe people deserve pay commensurate with their talent. But in these fiscally difficult times, everyone should share in the pain — that means taking pay cuts and curtailing unnecessary spending.… Read More