From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

Grudge Match

… Read More

Earlier this week, legislation that Assemblyman Paul Cook was carrying that would have prohibited registered sex offenders from driving those ice cream trucks that we all see in our neighborhoods was summarily killed in the Senate "Public Safety" Committee. The Committee’s Chairman, San Francisco’s Mark Leno, was quite unabashed in his opposition to the bill — reminding us all about the flap between he and former Assemblyman Todd Spitzer and the accusation that Leno is "pro-criminal" in his conduct on the committee. The defeat of this common-sense legislation certainly emphasizes how the biggest bleeding heart liberals (you know, the ones who see criminals as actually being "victims of a society that has let them down") are placed on the Public Safety Committee by leadership, ensuring a soft on crime sentiment in the key policy committee that looks at these important pieces of legislation.

Here are Assemblyman Cook’s thoughts on the demise of his legislation…

… Read More

Apparently we are getting closer on agreement of a fix for the massive state budget shortfall. From what I hear, the deal does not include tax or fee increases, which is great news. That needs to be the first priority for budget negotiators as California taxpayers already are carrying too much of a burden with their current obligations to state government.

That said, I am wondering whether or not Sacramento politicians are tightening the proverbial belt enough. I recognize that trying to deal with a shortfall of over $26 billion is not an easy task. Especially for Sacramento Democrats who are either union-controlled and don’t have the latitude to make many needed cuts, or are liberal ideologues who would rather push California to the brink than see a decline in redistributive wealth policies.

The reason that I say this is that from talking to sources and reading newspaper reports, it would appear that borrowing and gimmicks will make up billions of dollars of “solutions” for this crisis. Current negotiations call for borrowing billions of dollars from local governments – which is a terrible idea (if raising taxes is the worst alternative,… Read More

Apparently we are getting closer on agreement of a fix for the massive state budget shortfall. From what I hear, the deal does not include tax or fee increases, which is great news. That needs to be the first priority for budget negotiators as California taxpayers already are carrying too much of a burden with their current obligations to state government.

That said, I am wondering whether or not Sacramento politicians are tightening the proverbial belt enough. I recognize that trying to deal with a shortfall of over $26 billion is not an easy task. Especially for Sacramento Democrats who are either union-controlled and don’t have the latitude to make many needed cuts, or are liberal ideologues who would rather push California to the brink than see a decline in redistributive wealth policies.

The reason that I say this is that from talking to sources and reading newspaper reports, it would appear that borrowing and gimmicks will make up billions of dollars of “solutions” for this crisis. Current negotiations call for borrowing billions of dollars from local governments – which is a terrible idea (if raising taxes is the worst alternative,… Read More

Just call thisthe follow-up to the follow-up on the breaking FlashReport news about Steve Danon’s foray into the 3rd District County Supervisorial race.

I just got off the phone with Danon.

The significant question, of course, was not whether he’s taken steps to run (which he clearly has — see the post of yesterday), it’s whether he will stay in, even if incumbent Supervisor Pam Slater-Price runs for a sixth term in 2012. Given her office’s comment earlier today that Danon told them he would only run if Slater-Price does not, as well as the clear ‘and she IS running’ statement, this story might have been short-lived.

But — and I mean that — here’s what Danon had to say:

"They misunderstood. I’m 100 percent in. I’m hearing from a lot of folks, who have encouraged me to run, that 20 years on the Board of Supervisors is… Read More

I read with interest that Congress has created an "independent, bi-partisan panel" to probe the federal government’s (read: former President George W. Bush’s) handling of the financial crisis last year. Before you get hopeful that such a review would actually result in a positive outcome for taxpayers, FR readers should not that one of the appointees (by Republicans) to this panel is none other than former California Congressman Bill Thomas of Bakersfield. This appointment, frankly, makes a mockery of the entire panel. When Bill Thomas was in Congress (for decades), he was known as one of the best friends that big government had in the Republican Congress.

As the long time Chairman of the House Administration and then House Ways and Means Committee, Thomas was known in the former role for consolidated power away from conservatives in the conference, and in the latter role for empowering the growth of the federal government. The most specific and egregious example of Thomas’ quixotic quest to fatten government spending was the pivotal role he played in a massive expansion of… Read More

As a follow up to my breaking news post of yesterday, regarding Steve Danon filing paperwork to run for County Supervisor, current 3rd District officeholder and board vice-chair Pam Slater-Price’s office does have a comment. From John Weil, the supervisor’s chief of staff… Vice Chairwoman Pam Slater-Price is not leaving office. She has no plans to leave, has not discussed leaving and has never mentioned leaving. She has every intention of running in 2012.

I am aware that another candidate has pulled papers. He told me directly – and the supervisor today – that he will not run against her. He will run if the seat is open.… Read More

I was reading Assemblywoman Noreen Evans column in today’s Sacramento Bee and laughing out loud. She continues to live in fantasy land suggesting that “living within our means” is meaningless. I recommend that John Burton make her the spokesperson for the California Democratic Party and encourage her to keep on saying it. GOP majority, here we come.

But in all seriousness, during these tough times, government must live within its means and work to get the most from every taxpayer dollar. Local governments are particularly challenged as they must balance their budgets. Most are cutting services and employees, but are they getting the most from every dollar?

A report released today by the good folks at the Associated Builders and Contractors California Cooperation Committee (which you can download by clicking the link under this blog post) suggests that California’s charter cities – those with the most flexibility to bypass state regulations – aren’t taking advantage of the ability to exempt themselves from prevailing… Read More