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SACRAMENTO -- A legislative push to permit California's public universities to once again consider race and ethnicity in admissions appears to be on life support after an intense backlash from Asian-American parents who fear it will make it harder for their children to get into good schools. :snip: A planned referendum sailed through the state Senate in January without fanfare on a party-line vote, but three Asian-American Democrats who initially backed the measure are now calling for it to be "tabled" before the state Assembly has a chance to vote on it -- a highly unusual move. And it seems...

A group of California politicians and business representatives are going to Texas April 14 and 15 to talk with some business owners who have moved their companies from California to Texas. ...a cement company, Texas Industries, applied for operating permits in both Texas and California at the same time. Texas approved the permit in 18 months and California took seven years... to open a Carls Jr. restaurant in California takes an average two years and in Texas it’s 45 days.

Historians may look back on the political events as 2010 and view it as one of the more significant years in American history. From our perspective in California, while the events have been tumultuous, 2010 might as well be a good novel, something we can read about but probably not experience. The state continued to march ever leftward, in spite of hopeful signs through spring and summer that the dominance of liberals might be coming to an end, or at least moderated. However, it was not to be. Here then, a non-globally warmed San Francisco East Bay look at the...

On Nov. 1, the government of the state of California began withholding from workers' paychecks 10 percent more than what it had been withholding. The Los Angeles Times described this move -- prompted by California's fiscal calamity -- as "a forced, interest-free loan" from taxpayers to the government. The Times explained to its California readers that "You'll be repaid any extra withholding in April. Those who would receive a refund anyway will receive a larger one, and those who owe taxes will owe less." The ostensible purpose of withholding is to better ensure that taxpayers actually pay the taxes they...

In July, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a "Commission on the 21st Century Economy," it was hoped the group of experts could provide a way to finally resolve California's budget woes. When the commission issued its report at the end of September, however, the recommendations fell to the floor with a resounding thud. Defenders of California's status quo in the state legislature in effect said "no way." Today, California is a by-the-numbers state tragedy. Unemployment is higher than 12.2 percent as of September. Business costs are almost 23 percent higher than other states on average. Migration out of the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)-California will no longer be home to a "liberal, activist" attorney general if voters choose state Sen. Tom Harman as the state's next chief legal officer, the Republican told Legal Newsline. Harman is the only Republican vying to replace Attorney General Jerry Brown, the state's high-profile politician, in 2010. A crowded field of Democrats is in the running, but Harman said they are largely in the mold of Brown, who is widely expected to run for governor rather than seek reelection as attorney general.

CAMPAIGN 2006: Attorney General Republicans file lawsuit seeking to disqualify Brown as candidate Filing says he's not active member of bar -- mayor's spokesman calls action 'dirty trick' 10-20) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- A lawsuit filed Thursday by two GOP party activists claims Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's failure to maintain an active membership in the state bar for two of the past five years disqualifies him from holding the office of attorney general. State law says candidates for attorney general must have been admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court for "at least five years immediately preceding" election. Brown's...

Fearing a voter backlash this fall, Democratic lawmakers Thursday derailed legislation to allow illegal immigrants to obtain California driver's licenses. For the eighth consecutive year, legislation pushed by state Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, that has provoked deep emotions on both sides of the immigration debate has apparently failed. Unlike last year, when the legislation was vetoed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- who had vowed to do so again -- Democrats in the Assembly pre-emptively shelved Senate Bill 1160. This time, the measure died without a vote in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. "My intention and expectations are to move...

ANGELES (Reuters) - Karl Rove, U.S. President George W. Bush's senior political advisor, on Tuesday took the administration's message on immigration reform to Latino leaders, saying the country was approaching a "critical moment" in the debate. >br> Speaking at the annual convention of leading Latino civic group the National Council of La Raza, Rove said Bush would work with Republicans and Democrats in coming weeks to push through reform legislation that has bitterly divided Congress, the Republican Party and the nation. "We face a critical moment in our immigration debate, a moment when our nation will make an important decision...

White House adviser Karl Rove is scheduled to speak tomorrow at the annual conference of the federally funded, left-wing, open-borders-advocacy group, the National Council of La Raza. If he does not want his speech to look like an act of appeasement, he should confront La Raza on its opposition to commonsense policies designed to secure both U.S. borders and U.S. pocketbooks. La Raza, which means “The Race” in Spanish, has denounced as “horrendous” and “appalling” the House immigration bill passed in December, which was sponsored by Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.) and supported by the overwhelming majority of House Republicans....

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is moving to shore up an area of vulnerability in his re-election campaign against his trailing Democratic opponent, Phil Angelides. On Tuesday at an event in L.A., he will announce the formation of Hispanic Families for Arnold. When he was elected in the 2003 recall election, Schwarzenegger garnered 34 percent of the Latino vote, a good total given that the replacement Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, is Mexican-American. But in some recent polls matched up against Angelides, Schwarzenegger is running under 20 percent. Forty to fifty community leaders and their families will join Schwarzenegger at the...

If you're looking for a blood-letting, money-spending, down-and-dirty campaign fight, you might want to look somewhere other than Assembly District 34. Sure, this sprawling district - running from Porterville to Needles - is one of the few districts in the Central Valley with a competitive primary election. But the challenger, Republican Jon Zellhoefer, has no expectation of ousting incumbent Bill Maze, R-Visalia. "I think he's doing a very good job," Zellhoefer says of his opponent. It's hardly the kind of zinger that's going to grab headlines. So why run? "I really expected that (Maze) was not going to run," Zellhoefer...

Survey also finds Feinstein with double the support of her Republican challenger. Most Californians haven't heard about the universal preschool initiative on the June ballot, but more than half of likely voters say they're inclined to support it, according to a Field Poll released Monday. The survey of 507 likely voters found just 35 percent had heard of Proposition 82, the measure that would tax upper-income Californians to provide preschool for all the state's 4-year-olds. Once told of the measure's provisions, 55 percent of likely voters said they supported it, while 34 percent opposed it and 11 percent were undecided....

The growing power of Latino voters, the state's stark east-west social divide and the skyrocketing number of absentee voters have changed California's political landscape, a new Field Institute study shows. Voters already are seeing the results of those changes. The barrage of political mail has started arriving earlier, and partisan TV spots are interrupting programs long before election day. Latino voters are seeing an explosion of Spanish-language political advertising, while candidates are using very different messages to attract votes in Oakland than they are in Riverside. Although these trends have been visible in recent voting, their long-term effects have for...

LA TIMES set to report that the Redistricting Initiative Backed by the Gov will be disqualified from appearing on the ballot because of discrepancies between what people signed for petitions and what was submitted to Sec of State . . . Leaving Redistricting in the hands of a "Compromise" with the Dems . . . http://politicalvanguard.com/

Senate Democrats unveiled their own plan Tuesday to overhaul California's system of drawing political boundaries, legislation that would compete with an all-or-nothing initiative on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. Both proposals target the state's once-a-decade redistricting by the Legislature, which has produced so few competitive districts that none of 153 California congressional or legislative seats at stake last year changed party hands. A key difference, however, is that the new Senate proposal would begin redistricting in 2011 - after the next federal census - while the ballot initiative calls for lines to be redrawn immediately. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is...

THIS IS how California politics work these days. In lean times, Sacramento balances its budgets with smoke and mirrors and desperate deals that trade savings today for bonuses tomorrow. In flush times, when tax revenue pours into state and local coffers in buckets, punch-drunk lawmakers give away the store. Public-employee unions greedily take advantage of the spend-happy mood. Later, when the spigot stops gushing, state and local pols realize they gave away too much, but the new bennies are set in stone. What has been given with little thought cannot be taken back without great deliberation. So, as President Bush...

MONDAY MORNING MEMORANDUM By Assemblyman Ray Haynes January 26, 2004 Mr. Really-Liberal-California Politician It's Super Bowl time, when all the new commercials come out. Have you seen those Real Men of Genius/Real American Hero series of commercials, celebrating Mr. Way-Too-Much-Cologne Wearer or Mr. Giant-Taco-Salad Inventor? Well, they missed one. So, to help out those Madison-Avenue types who missed this obvious set of geniuses, I offer up a salute to those California legislators we can affectionately refer to as Mr. Really-Liberal-California Politician. Hey-Mr. Really-Liberal-California Politician. We know that you are real men of genius. You, who took a thriving California economy...

In California recall politics, no one thinks a thing of going back a quarter of a century to an old Oui Magazine interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger to draw conclusions about his character today. And labeling Pete Wilson, Proposition 187 and anyone of 5 million Californians who voted for it nearly a decade ago racist is all part of the hardball political process. So if it is acceptable to go back nine years to attack Wilson and twenty five years to sling mud at Schwarzenegger, then it must be okay to use an old San Francisco Chronicle interview with Democratic Party...

California Republican Liberty Caucus endorses Sen. Tom McClintock for Governor The California Republican Liberty Caucus has announced its support of Senator Tom McClintock in the upcoming recall of the disastrous Gray Davis. The State Board of the California RLC has issued the following statement: “Tom McClintock’s broad experience, proven team-building talents and positions on key issues make him the best choice for California. He is a committed and effective advocate of small government and individual liberty. In a field that exceeds 100 candidates, Tom stands out as the one with the best chances of rescuing California from the deep hole...