Well, true to form, the Democrats’ budget delay tactics continue
this year.  The leaders of both the Senate (Steinberg – D Sacramento)
and the Assembly (Perez – D Los Angeles), refuse to accept the
Governor’s budget, but are offering no real alternatives.  Reportedly,
they have agreed on a few budget reductions but are no where near how
to fill the gaping $19B budget hole.

One rumor is that a delay until we run out of cash in the fall, might
play into the  "dysfunctional" Legislature theme, forcing a
"bi-partisan" agreement (read: raise taxes). Another rumor is that the
Democrats want to convince voters that 2/3 vote requirement to pass a
budget is the problem, and they are willing to inflict budget pain in
the schools and on the streets, or through IOU’s when funding stops, to
make their point. Not surprisingly, there is a measure on the ballot in
November that would allow voters to decrease the budget vote
requirement to a simple majority (50% + 1).

Without the 2/3 vote requirement, 50% (plus 1) of the Legislators could
pass taxes without the input of 50% (minus 1) of the rest of the state.
Why would you want taxation without representation?

Visiting with my grandmother recently, she handed me an old series of telegrams that her father, my great-grandfather, had sent to other officers when he was in the U.S. Navy. Stuck on some Pacific island, he kept requesting that his superiors send out farm animals. He was especially interested in receiving bulls that gave milk.

It took some of the superiors a little while to get the joke.

The telegrams put me in mind of much of the rhetoric in the governor’s race.

I got an email today. I’m quite "Internet popular" so I get lots of them. Some of the emails are informative. Some of the e-mails are funny. This
one was trying to sell me on some sham.  It came from the Marin
Institute.  (Luckily, I made their list. It’s funny, how did they know
I was from Marin?)

The subject line: "Thumbs-up on the local Charge for Harm alcohol fee!"

Thumbs up? When did a tax on alcohol become good cause for a celebratory motion of not one, but two of my thumbs?

Schoolhouse Rock songs and cartoons helped shape the minds of many
Generation Xers. If you do not believe me, call out "I’m just a bill"
to a thirty-something friend and s/he will respond "on Capitol Hill."
Those fun-yet-eccentric messages played a part in making sure I voted
at my first opportunity-in 1992-and in nearly every election since.
While some play down the issue, this most basic of civic lessons has
been overlooked by California’s Republican nominee, Meg Whitman.  I
have serious reservations about her non-voting record and feel there is "a better way."

Despite being one of the most essential of civic duties, voting can
also be one of the most easily abandoned in our busy lives.  It is
understandable that we miss elections from time to time, perhaps in off
years or simply when suffering from voter fatigue.  

To use a campaign
term, not everyone is a coveted high-propensity voter.  That being said, however, should we not call for a higher standard
when it comes to our elected officials?  If seeking national leadership
or the highest office of the state, is it unreasonable to expect that
s/he takes the time to vote?  Some may not be enthused about the
youngest, and perhaps soon-to-be oldest, governor in the history of the
Golden State, while others question whether he has the "Eye of the
Tiger," but at least Jerry Brown has a record to run on, casts his ballot on a
regular basis and does not shy away from taking a position.

Citizens of the City of Bell responded vociferously to the Los Angeles Times article revealing that top city officials pocketed outrageous salaries. The Times is not letting up on the story. Not only was there a follow-up story on the most recent city hall meeting on Wednesday, but two columns, one by Steve Lopez and one by James Rainey, on the Bell situation ran the same day.

Now comes the news that I touched on in my column on Bell last week: what Robert Rizzo, the nearly $800,000 a year Bell city manager, pockets to head out the door. According to the Times, Rizzo would command a minimum pension of $600,000 the first year (increasing dramatically over time) for the rest of his life.

Other estimates have Rizzo bringing in over $1 million a year in pension a decade from now.

Has anyone else noticed how progressives, when they’re defending big pensions for public workers, sound almost exactly like conservatives who are defending tax cuts for the rich?

There are two trickle-down theories, and here’s one thing they have in common: the belief that if you simply put money in the hands of the right people, benefits will somehow flow to the rest of us.

Here’s another thing both theories have in common: an absence of evidence that they work.

As the world of baseball mourned the death and celebrated
the life of legendary New York Yankees owner and manager George Steinbrenner
last week, I couldn’t help but think of the strong connection that exists
between sports and politics.

Especially in Steinbrenner’s case.

Some baseball fans may not know that George Steinbrenner was
a lifelong Republican. He contributed generously to the campaigns of Rudy
Giuliani, George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, and George H.W. Bush over his
lifetime.

As a businessman I know firsthand the stress and hardships of owning your own business.  Making a small business successful is hard work in itself, but being forced to deal with multitudes of red-tape from a local bureaucracy can make running a business nearly impossible.

Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy comprising 92% of businesses in the City of San Diego and supporting small businesses is critically important.

More importantly economic experts will tell you that economic recoveries start with the small business sector.  They are the first to do the hiring; they are also the first to make the capital purchases and new investments.

In a huge victory for parents in Los Angeles and throughout California, the
California State Board of Education approved emergency regulations
for the Parent Trigger. These regulations, which lay out clear and common
sense rules and guidelines for how parents can go about using the Parent
Trigger, were critical for empowering parents to actually use this new law.
The parent trigger is an historic new law that allows parents to transform
their failing neighborhood school simply through community organizing.

Specifically, if half the parents sign a petition, they can trigger radical
changes, including bringing in new leadership and staff, or converting their
school into a charter school.

For the first time in the history of america, parents now have the power to
transform schools that have been failing neighborhoods and communities for
generations — and in doing so give their children the education they need
and the future they deserve.