Presidential Primary Moves from February Back to June

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation June 29 to end California’s experiment with a February presidential primary.

Adding the third election in 2008  — an attempt to give California more clout in the selection of a presidential candidate — cost more than $96 million.

Said the bill’s author, Assemblyman Paul Fong, a Mountain View Democrat:

“Current law is out of compliance with national party rules and requires California to hold three separate statewide elections in 2012, imposing a huge cost on the state and local governments at a time when our fiscal situation is in crisis.     Read more »

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Random Observation…

Nothing screams “Use Mass Transit” louder than a busy bus stop reeking of urine.    Read more »

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Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom Pushes Ambitious Economic Development Plan

Export more, increase innovation, get greener and manufacture more of what is invented in-state, are the cornerstones of an economic development plan being unveiled today (July 29) in San Jose by Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom.

Nine months in the making, the 30-page Economic Growth and Competitiveness Agenda for California lays out a general strategy to improve the state’s economic condition and competitiveness as well as a few specific steps to implement it.    Read more »

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Today’s Latin Lesson Happens A Lot in the Capitol

Contradicto in Adjecto

“A Contradiction in Terms”    Read more »

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Guess Who Helped Launch Jerry Brown’s Statewide Political Career?

California’s Republican Secretary of State, Frank M. Jordan, died in office on March 29, 1970. He had held the office since 1943.

His father, Frank C. Jordan, was Secretary of State from 1910 to January 18, 1940. He also died in office but not before setting the record for longest continuous service of any Secretary of State in the nation.    Read more »

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One of the World’s Truly Original Thinkers on the National Debt

“It would be easier to pay off the national debt overnight than to neutralize the long-range effects of our national stupidity.”

Frank Zappa    Read more »

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In Light of Washington’s Debate Over Debt: The Advice of Polonius to His Son Laertes from the Musical Version of Hamlet as Performed by the Castaways of “Gilligan’s Island.”    Read more »

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Penalties For Animal Neglect Increased Under New law

Under a bill signed July 26 by Gov. Jerry Brown, the misdemeanor penalty for animal neglect is increased to the misdemeanor penalty for animal cruelty.

California’s critters and consumers should be grateful for this, according to Sen. Ted Lieu, the Torrance Democrat who carried the bill.

“Animal abuse is generally divided into two main categories: Animal cruelty and animal neglect,” Lieu said in a statement when his measure, SB 917, passed the Senate in May.    Read more »

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An Elderly Nun’s Suggestion for Gov. Brown’s Next Phase of Realignment

Dear Gov. Brown:

Seniors should be put in jail and criminals confined to nursing homes.

This simple policy change would accomplish the following:

For Seniors:

They would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.

They would receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheelchairs and the like.

They would receive money instead of having to pay it out.    Read more »

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Gov. Brown Nominates Goodwin Liu to California Supreme Court

From the Governor’s Press Office:

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. nominated Goodwin Liu, Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley Law School, to the state Supreme Court today (July 26).

Liu, 40, previously was nominated by President Obama to serve on the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which is based in San Francisco but Liu withdrew his nomination two months ago after a Republican filibuster prevented senators from voting on his confirmation.    Read more »

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