I’m flying back to California today and have finally caught up with all the hard shots and false accusations made against the Small Business Action Committee and me because we started a legal issue advocacy campaign urging Attorney General Jerry Brown to concentrate on bringing jobs to California while not taking positions that discourage job creation.

Many of the reactions to the ad were predictable. Supporters of Brown, who have spent millions on his behalf, argued our ad should not even exist even though it clearly falls within the rules of issue advocacy. Reporters said that donors to the ad should be disclosed even though that is not required, and these same reporters defend not disclosing their sources at times and often for the same reason. More on that later.

Creating a business friendly California is the mission of SBAC. Putting up obstacles to job creation hurts business and we pointed out items in Brown’s record that discourages job growth. The Fair Political Practices Commission, at its most recent hearing, noted that raising issues involving candidates for office is appropriate under issue advocacy.

When 30,000 people crowded downtown Los Angeles last week for the monthly Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk,
Angelenos from all walks of life confirmed that downtown Los Angeles’
renaissance is now.

This coming weekend, we have another opportunity to
welcome visitors downtown, this time from all over the nation. The
American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) will be in Los Angeles for its annual convention.
This highly sought-after group represents thousands of associations
that we would like to host in Los Angeles in future years.
Congratulations to LA INC., The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors
Bureau for bringing ASAE to Los Angeles.

Ever since STAPLES Center launched downtown’s revitalization in the
late 1990s, the area hasn’t looked back. Dozens of decaying historic
buildings have been transformed into beautiful art deco apartments, and
a host of new condo and apartment buildings have followed suit. The
restaurant scene has grown from a small number of eateries that
attracted the Monday-to-Friday business crowd to one of the nation’s
most important culinary destinations. Downtown is now an entertainment
destination seven days a week.

Last week on Off The Presses radio, we interviewed Joel Fox
and hounded him with questions about his new book and some Nov. 2 ballot
initiatives. Joel did a good job explaining how Prop. 25 would work in terms of
whether some taxes could be raised with a simple majority vote and the legal arguments
over the language being used in the ballot description and arguments.

Off The Presses also spoke with Variety’s managing
editor Ted Johnson about a variety of fun issues including net neutrality, Levi
Johnston, Robert Gibbs, Prop. 8 and how various politicians have responded to
recent court rulings.

Click HERE to listen
to the full show!

The following is response to the article, "Beverly Hills’ Bad Medicine," published on Tuesday, Aug. 17.

The
article looks at only one side of the issue. Beverly Hills is a
community of 35,000 residents with a day time population of up to
450,000 and with more vehicles passing through everyday then are on the
405 at LAX.

The
city has a lot of revenue to be sure and nothing here should be
perceived as a complaint about lack of resources.  On the other hand it
takes a lot of money to support the services to such a huge day time
activities and special events ranging from traffic control to endless
police services to the United Stats to assist with protection of
visiting US politicians and foreign visiting dignitaries.

In these dog days of summer the biggest political issue in America suddenly is a mosque in the shadow of Ground Zero in New York City.  Over the weekend, President Obama waded into the mosque issue, probably to his political detriment.

The controversy has reversed the usual political roles: property rights conservatives say no to building a mosque on private property so close to Ground Zero; secular liberals, who would fight a Nativity scene on the courthouse lawn or a cross on public land, suddenly embrace the Islamic mosque in the name of religious freedom.  

Here are three reasons, secular, religious and historical why this mosque should be moved to some place other than Ground Zero.

Rumblings from the Conservative side of things concern me lately.  There is suddenly loose talk about having to do something about the 14th Amendment, like one has just discovered an ant invasion in one’s kitchen after a heavy rain.

First, the whole idea has a snowball’s chance in hell of ever happening.

Second, the 14th Amendment has a long and fascinating (if you are a legal scholar) history, from its post-Civil War 19thC roots through today.  It underpins so much of our modern jurisprudence that it is unimaginable to mess with at this point.

The Beverly Hills City Council apparently doesn’t realize what it’s got.

It’s
got a city with a reputation. A huge reputation. A worldwide
reputation. The kind of reputation that other towns lust for but can
only dream of.

Beverly Hills is known as the place to get cosmetic surgery.

The race for Governor won’t be decided until November, but those in Sacramento will have a shot to cast their votes early.

The Sacramento River Cats, a minor league baseball team in West Sacramento, will host a "Bobblehead Election" on Friday.

The
Triple-A baseball team will hand out bobbleheads of Republican Meg
Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown to the first 2,500 fans. The
bobblehead that is given away first will be declared the winner of the
Bobblehead Election.

Editor’s Note: I asked both Loren Kaye and Cal State Sacramento professor and former legislative staffer, Tim Hodson, to review “California Crack-Up” by Joe Mathews and Mark Paul in an attempt to get two perspectives of the book. Unfortunately, Tim disclosed recently that he is battling an illness. We want to take this opportunity to wish Tim and his family well. Loren’s review of California Crackup is below. JF

In California Crackup, Joe Mathews’ and Mark Paul’s provocative yet breezy prescription for what ails the Golden State, the authors exhaustively survey the history of governmental and political reform that has long defined the California polity.

They convincingly argue that five separate efforts over more than 150 years to make and remake the California Constitution "would prove no more successful than its predecessors."

Their solution: another round of reform to remake the California Constitution.