When you get beyond the anger and the calls for boycotts and the real possibility of major civil rights violations, the new Arizona law on immigration really is a good thing.

It gives so many different people what they want. Republicans can use the law to appeal to their anti-immigrant base. Democrats can use the law to appeal to try to drum up Latino turnout at the polls.

And best of all, Californians can look to another state with a sense of superiority.

We don’t get enough chances to do that these days.

Feeling bad about the California budget? Arizona’s budget, in percentage terms is in much worse shape than ours.

Today, all Californians can rest easy knowing that the State of California’s tax enforcement and administration functions are split between two agencies.  The Franchise Tax Board (FTB), who administers the Personal Income and Corporation Tax laws, and the Board of Equalization (BOE), whose responsibilities include the administration of the state’s sales and use taxes, excise tax, special taxes and fees, as well as property valuation.

In addition to the BOE’s regular duties, the Board also serves as adjudicator of personal and corporate income and tax appeals after specific issues have exhausted the FTB’s administrative dispute process. Under current law, if the BOE denies the taxpayer’s appeal, the taxpayer may bring action in state court.  However, if the FTB’s original decision is overturned, the taxpayer has prevailed and the issue is considered resolved.

Meg Whitman hosted a fundraiser in Silicon Valley with some of the most influential political leaders in America on Friday night. Whether you agree with them or not, it is no small task to get former Secretary of State George Schultz, former MA Governor’s Mitt Romney, former FL Governor Jeb Bush, and U.S. Senator John McCain in the same room to talk to titans of technology like Bill Draper, John Chambers, Ray Lane, and John Chen. This is not a passing fancy. Meg is the real deal.

Superstars who have played important roles in past Presidential Administrations from Ford to the current regime were on hand. More than 550 attendees came out on a Friday night to raise another $1.5 million plus to support Meg Whitman.

Secretary of State George Schultz, who served under Reagan, only sang a few bars of “California Here I Come” but reminisced about how Governor Ronald Reagan loved that song as well as the California State song. (What is the CA state song again?) Many may not remember that Schultz was the Secretary of Labor under Ford but I do – I saw his rendering in the U.S. Department of Labor when I was the west coast labor rep. Schultz represents Reagan more than any other national figure I can think of. He fought the evil empire and won. He is a living legacy and he is supporting Meg Whitman.

Gavin Newsom is the Mayor of San Francisco, which is a “sanctuary” city. That means it is his policy to hide illegal aliens from law enforcement and protect them.

Mayor Newsom used tax dollars to give illegal aliens attorneys to defend themselves against deportation or criminal charges.

Mayor Newsom used tax dollars to send teen age illegal alien drug dealers to San Bernardino County, on a bus, to hide them from law enforcement.

Under Federal law, he has formed a conspiracy to protect illegal aliens. His city is over $450 million in deficit, but he used money from the poor and middle to protect and defend the criminal class—illegal aliens.

Federal law is clear, illegal aliens need to be found and deported. Why?

Gaining headlines with the release of the Pew Research Center’s survey last week was the fact that Americans don’t trust government. But buried in the survey numbers on the negative feeling Americans had about most institutions was a major exception – small business.

While the federal government garnered support from only 25% in the survey, large corporations achieved the same level of support, the media corralled 31% support, labor unions 32% and entertainment industry 33%, small business was sitting atop the survey at 71% support from the American public.

Support for small business crossed party lines. Over 70% of Democrats, Republicans and Independents look favorably on small business.

There’s the old math, there’s the new math, and then there’s California Republican gubernatorial primary math.

So if you read Steve Poizner campaign chair Jim Brulte’s April 23 memo to supporters of the state insurance commissioner’s gubernatorial campaign, you’d learn where this race really stands:

Poizner’s got this primary in the bag.

Lots of businesses know about the magic of bankruptcy court. There, heavy debt
can be lifted. Expensive leases can be undone. Burdensome contracts can
be erased.

Indeed, a bankruptcy judge can make your bad decisions disappear like magic. You can get a do-over.

Businesses know this, which may explain why some business people, including former
Mayor Richard J. Riordan, are urging the city of Los Angeles to file
for bankruptcy.

Cross-posted at NewGeography.com

In this least good year in decades, someone has to sit at the
bottom. For the most part, the denizens are made up of "usual suspects"
from the long-devastated rust belt region around the Great Lakes. But
as in last year’s survey, there’s also a fair-sized contingent of former hot spots that now seem to resemble something closer to black holes.

Two sectors have particularly suffered worst from the recession, according to a recent study
by the New America Foundation: construction, where employment has
dropped by nearly 25%, and manufacturing, which has suffered a 15%
decline. The decline in construction jobs has hit the Sunbelt states
hardest; the manufacturing rollback has pummeled industrial areas such
as the Great Lakes as well as large swaths of the more recently
industrialized parts of the Southeast.

Immediately following my swearing-in this afternoon as California’s
47th Lieutenant Governor, I convened a meeting with regional economic
development leaders statewide to let them know how important it is that
their needs are met and to communicate that spurring jobs, and creating
a prepared, skilled work force are my highest priorities.

California
families have worked hard over the past two years to put food on the
table, provide for their children, pay their mortgages and live within
their means to survive the current recession. I have been tremendously
moved by the stories I have heard about the second and third jobs
people are taking so that their households stay afloat.

Now that our
economy is showing signs of recovery, now is the time to act to
stimulate the economy and help households who have been hard hit. We
are at a critical cross-roads and efforts to stimulate our economic
growth are the priority of the day. This meeting was my first order of
business as Lieutenant Governor, and it will persist as my focus.