Judging by the campaign reports, some very rich left-wingers in San Francisco feel very strongly about the importance of electing Jose F. Moreno to the Anaheim City Council, 600 miles away. Moreno is a left-wing professor of Chicano Studies at Long Beach State, and is running to take out one of two incumbent Republican members of the Anaheim City Council. Moreno was also the lead plaintiff on the ACLU lawsuit that sought to force Anaheim to impose by-district elections without a vote of the people. As part of the settlement with the city, the matter has been placed on the November ballot.

PowerPAC.org Voter Fund, a left-wing political committee based in San Francisco, has so far spent almost $54,000 in independent expenditures for Moreno’s council candidacy.

A good chunk of that money comes from wealthy liberal heiress Susan Sandler of San Francisco, whose parents founded Golden West Savings. Sandler gave $65,000 to PowerPAC.org Voter… Read More

The core issue of Sacramento Measure L, popularly referred to as “Strong Mayor,” is straight forward: it makes the chief executive of the city directly accountable to voters – the people who pay the bills and live with results.

Measure L changes the City of Sacramento from Manager-Council system to a Mayor-Council system. Despite claims from alarmists, it does not grab power from the City Council, who retain all their authority as a deliberative body. Measure L does, however, shift policy making authority from an unelected city manager and returns it to the elected Mayor.

Measure L also creates an independent budget analyst, requires the city to increase transparency, establish an ethics committee, and shifts redistricting powers from politicians to a citizen redistricting commission.

That’s why Measure L has been endorsed by the Sacramento County Republican… Read More

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and the Sacramento Bee appear to be trying to gin up race issues in Sacramento in order to win a campaign.

Mayor Johnson had two big stories about him in Sundays’ Sacramento Bee. The front page, above-the-fold story, was about Johnson’s Measure L Strong Mayor initiative – his fourth attempt.

The front page of the Forum/Opinion section featured a half-page photo of Johnson, above an op-ed by the Mayor, who said he hopes the recent alleged police racial violence in Ferguson, MO doesn’t happen in Sacramento.

This was the ugliest, and most irresponsible yellow journalism, I’ve seen in a long time. And this was an attempt to distract from Mayor Johnson’s actual performance… Read More