Below is the general consensus of the competitive races in California’s House delegation. Said races are – to put it mildly – the result of one of the most comprehensive shakeups in state-level redistricting that we’ve seen in a while. Combined with a new jungle primary rule (basically: the top two vote getters in the primary advance to the general, regardless of party affiliation), the | Read More »
It’s interesting. If you look at these two ads from American Action Network – one for California, and one for New York – solely from the perspective of a national observer, it’s a headscratcher as to why a conservative-leaning group is targeting six Democratic Members of Congress (Tim Bishop, Lois Capps, John Garamendi, Jerry McNerney, Bill Owens, & Louise Slaughter) in two Blue States; particularly | Read More »
Slightly contra Instapundit, this call for Mickey Mouse as a write-in on the California ballot is a blogger’s joke rather than an actual movement [UPDATE: I am informed in comments here that this is meant absolutely seriously; please be assured that I had no intention of mocking either the sentiment or the activity], but if it’s kidding then it’s kidding on the square. And it’s | Read More »
Come, I will conceal nothing from you: the Ricky Gill campaign is busily bringing up the odd detail that his likely opponent for CA-09 – Rep. Jerry McNerney, who was essentially accused by ProPublica last month of having that district redrawn for his benefit – has not yet moved into CA-09. Given that McNerney’s been putting this move off since at least last July, I | Read More »
To summarize: $92.6 billion in spending (7% increase over last year’s); $9.2 billion deficit over eighteen months (half in the first six months, the other half in the next twelve). Brown is requesting $7 billion in new taxes, mostly from raising the sales tax again (to 7.75%) but with a faux-populist-friendly soak-the-rich* (actually, soak-the-small-business-owner) increase to 10.3%. Or the state can ‘cut’ an additional $4.8 | Read More »
Before we talk about this race, some quick background on this district: as you probably know, California did some pretty severe internal redistricting after the 2010 Census. What you probably didn‘t know – but probably suspected anyway – is that the Democrats who run the state managed to pervert was supposed to be a nonpartisan process by the blatant use of astroturf, front groups, and | Read More »
I originally blogged about this speech by Rep. Tom McClintock (R, CA) to the Council for National Policy over at AoSHQ*, but it is simply too good not to share. Tom’s in full Post-Apocalypse Survival mode in this speech, and you will not find a dull word in it: I want to welcome this groundbreaking scientific expedition to the savage lands of the Left Coast. | Read More »
Not that, if they did, they intended to do that, mind you: they were probably just intending to scare their donors into giving them money (link via @MattCover) by screaming about how us awful, awful Republicans are so insistent that you should show have to show a picture ID when you vote. Well, they’re Democrats. Screaming about Republicans is what they do – besides, these | Read More »
Your move, Governor Moonbeam. The measure, aimed at an increasingly popular tactic used by 2nd Amendment activists, would make California the first state since 1987 to outlaw the controversial practice of publicly displaying a weapon. The governor — a gun owner — has not taken an official position on the bill, passed by the Legislature last week. He has argued both sides of gun control | Read More »
These things usually come in threes. First and foremost is the highly embarrassing – and possibly expensive – Kinde Durkee affair. For those not following along with that story: Durkee was a Californian accountant used by numerous Democratic campaigns on the federal, state, and local level. Said campaigns are all now freaking out, because Durkee was just recently arrested on multiple accounts of mail fraud | Read More »
The can has been kicked for another year. Lawmakers on Friday sent Gov. Jerry Brown a compromise bill that delays California’s effort to force online retailers such as Amazon.com to collect the state’s sales taxes while retailers lobby Congress for national rules governing online sales taxes. Essentially, California legislators passed a bill earlier this year that ‘exploited’ a loophole in federal case law that would | Read More »
Just thought I’d let you know: about this? The CBC is trying to help by organizing job fairs across the country. [Congresswoman] Waters also wants to help by putting more pressure on the big banks to help with mortgages. “If they don’t come up with loan modifications and keep people in their homes that they’ve worked so hard for, we’re going to tax them out | Read More »
…from the Sacramento regime: Under AB 889, household “employers” (aka “parents”) who hire a babysitter on a Friday night will be legally obligated to pay at least minimum wage to any sitter over the age of 18 (unless it is a family member), provide a substitute caregiver every two hours to cover rest and meal breaks, in addition to workers’ compensation coverage, overtime pay, and | Read More »
[UPDATE]: Folks, this is one of those where if you’re on the East Coast you might as well go get some sleep; this is going to take a while. The polls have closed; results may be seen here. Will Democrat Janice Hahn manage to take this D+12 district from Republican Craig Huey? Well, the fact that this is actually a question of some interest says | Read More »
I was absolutely certain that there was insufficient moral courage in the California state government to actually make stick the new rule that if California legislators don’t produce a balanced budget on time every year, then California legislators don’t get paid until they actually do produce a budget. That’s probably because I’m a bit cynical when it comes to political foxes and fiscal hen-houses, particularly | Read More »
(Via RCP) Well, the full-time ones at Newport Beach do; more than half of the 14 in 2010 (13 now) made more than 100K in salary, and all but one of ‘em made made more than 100K in salary-plus-benefits. Before you ask: those are the permanent people on salary; the city also hires over 200 part-timers, who don’t get that kind of compensation. Why, because | Read More »
(By the way: if you want to contest the idea that Loretta Sanchez is a known racist, I suggest that you take it up with former Congressional Republican candidate Van Tran. The race-baiting in that campaign reached the point where Sanchez was openly declaring that the Vietnamese were trying to steal the seat from ‘our community,’ which was almost as ironic as it was racist.) | Read More »
Oddly, the original story about Senator Barbara Boxer (D, CA), Boxer’s son, a regenerated Native American tribe, and a rapidly-looming San Franciscan casino seems to have disappeared from The Hill’s site, but a copy can be found here. It’s fascinating reading. The short version: back in the 1990s, Rep Lynn Woolsey introduced legislation that would reinstate an officially defunct Native American tribe (the Miwoks), with | Read More »
I really, really wish that I was making this up, actually: For those without video, it shows Rep. Maxine Waters (D, CA-35) of the House Financial Services Committee… actually, summarizing this piece is almost impossible. The CNBC folks try their best to get some sort of coherent information out of Rep. Waters, and this is what they gleaned:
I spoke with Lt. Colonel Swindle yesterday on the subject, mostly in terms of Senator Barbara Boxer’s surprising pickup of the PAC’s (NOT the parent organization’s) endorsement. Swindle was not, shall we say, particularly pleased that the PAC (which he is not a representative of) did this: The very short version: the VFW membership didn’t authorize this, they are ticked off about this, and the | Read More »
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