The latest from FR correspondent Bradley Benbrook, who is keeping a close eye on the redistricting process as we move closer to the redrawing of legislative lines… One Step Closer To The Prop 11 Redistricting Commission Bradley Benbrook

California’s new redistricting process took another step forward this week with the selection of a three-member “applicant review panel,” comprised of three CPA’s from the Bureau of State Audits (one Republican, one Democrat, and one decline-to-state) who will review a mountain of applications for Proposition 11’s Citizen’s Redistricting Commission. Next year this panel will publicly interview applicants and ultimately narrow the field to three… Read More

[Cross-posted from RedCounty.com]

Former Anaheim Councilman Tom Tait’s campaign for Mayor is metastasizing into a freight train of momentum.

Current Mayor Curt Pringle, who is close friends with Tom (whose last two years on the council overlapped with Curt’s first two as mayor) organized a kick-off Tait fundraiser at The White House in Anaheim that was monstrously successfully, raising $190,000 for Tom’s campaign.

You heard that right:$190,000.

There are candidates who have been running for legislative offices for more than a year who haven’t raised that much money. For a city council candidate to raise that much is practically unheard of. Curt Pringle raised more than $300,000 at a single event for his 2006 re-election drive.

In this case, the candidate has ben out of elected office for almost six years. The massive haul is testament not only to Curt Pringle fundraising prowess, but to Tom Tait’s popularity, which cuts across… Read More

Well respected political analyst Charlie Cook has issued his latest assessment of which U.S. Senate and House races are in play.

In the Senate he places Boxer in the "Leans Democrat" column.

For California House races, most of the seats are either "Safe Democrat" or "Safe Republican."

Here is a breakdown of those in-between (seven seats "in play" – 4D, 3R):

Likely Democrat Cardoza (CA-18) Costa (CA-20) Sanchez (CA-47)

Lean Democrat McNerney (CA-11)

Lean Republican Lungren (CA-3) Calvert (CA-44)

Likely Republican Mary Bono Mack (CA-45)… Read More

November 19, 2009

It’s a Tax, stupid.

by Acquanetta Warren

Halloween is over, but the fright is just beginning. At a time when taxpayers are struggling with a faltering economy, plummeting home values, declining retirement investments and education savings, salary cuts or job losses, and reduced public safety services, the state is there to help by adding to the burden. Talk about dumb.

It shouldn’t be allowed to happen, but it is – and at the worst possible time.

I’m talking… Read More

UC students in Los Angeles almost shut down a UC Board of Regents hearing this morning on the UCLA campus. The board was considering a 32 percent increase in undergraduate fees and students were so outraged by the increase that they flooded the meeting, chanting, interrupting and holding a raucous protest outside. The estimated cost per student if the fee is passed will be $2,500. That’s an enormous increase, especially for students who already face loan balances making them indentured—but educated—servants. The students’ frustration is understandable. In fact, most taxpayers can completely sympathize. The state government just started withholding an additional 10 percent from our paychecks. And the legislature continually passes new taxes and fees to pay for their pet projects. College students … Read More

Mayor Ashley Swearingen today announced the first round of major budget cuts for the City of Fresno as part of a predicted restructuring due to plummeting tax revenues.

I have a lot of confidence in Ashley. She”s a tough, smart pragmatic leader who listens well and does her homework. While we might not agree on some issues, she’ll never be accused of being unprepared, and she doesn’t back down from her positions with nuanced explanations.

For these economic times, the City of Fresno, along with City Council Members Lee Brand, Andreas Borgeas and Larry Westerlund (all Fresno County Lincoln Club Members) is in good hands. Stay tuned.… Read More

Noting our publisher’s self-congratulations on predicting Tuesday morning the essentials of the Norby win in the 72nd AD special election that same day, I’ll do the same here, because my own poll, first published here a month ago, showed the victory in the making weeks before Jon’s prediction. My poll, taken Oct, 22-25, showed Norby’s positives at about 38% and Linda Ackerman’s as 19%. Though limited to Republicans, these figures are startlingly close to the actual vote results in the race. In addition, while my poll showed overall Republican voter support as 27% for Norby and 17% for Ackerman (underpredicting Norby’s election day strength a little but pretty much nailing Ackerman’s vote) the cross-tabs for the absentee vote almost exactly mirror the actual result of the election on November 17. Adam Probolsky attempted to sully my poll in this publication by calling the survey “funny numbers” in a post. He was wrong. The actual results strongly support the credibility of my poll results and I certainly don’t mind pointing that out to FR readers.… Read More

Meg Whitman’s credibility with voters in the Central Valley was destroyed today by yet another revelation about her effort to protect the Delta smelt over the needs of our farmers in the Central Valley. To make matters worse for Whitman’s candidacy, she is proudly standing by her past donations to defend the Delta smelt.

This morning, the San Jose Mercury News reported that after contributing $100,000 to the EDF in 2007, Meg Whitman contributed an additional $200,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund’s efforts to protect the Delta smelt as recently as a year ago in 2008.

… Read More