[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The Courage Campaign's hilarious tv ad attacking Republican supporters for keeping open the yacht tax loophole apparently has gotten under the skin of one Assembly Republican, Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo.
 
Blakeslee is complaining to the Sacramento Bee that he actually voted to close the loophole. Which he did before flip-flopping and voting against it when the Senate-approved bill arrived in the Senate.
 
Here's what the Courage Campaign's Rick Jacobs has to say about that:

"Mr. Blakeslee needs to decide whether he wants to be in 'solidarity' with the people of California or a small band of right-wing Republicans protecting the super-rich from paying sales taxes on yachts," said Rick Jacobs, founder and Chair of the Courage Campaign. "Until Mr. Blakeslee sides with the people, we will continue to brand him and his extremist Republican friends as the 'Yacht Party'."

"By voting for it before he voted against it, Mr. Blakeslee is standing in lockstep with the status quo on the votes that matter, blocking the Assembly from achieving a 2/3rds majority to close this appalling yacht tax loophole," said Jacobs. "Mr. Blakeslee, please vote your conscience, not your club membership."

by Be_Devine [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

As previously reported, Carole Migden was recently hit with the largest fine in the history of California's Fair Political Practices Commission ("FPPC").  She was found guilty of 89 separate violations of California law and fined $350,000.

The record FPPC fine, however, is only the tip of the iceberg for Senator Migden.  She still has several unresolved violations of California law, which the FPPC chairman calls "serious and deceitful."  Rather than letting the FPPC proceeding run its course, Senator Migden chose instead to join forces with radical right wing Republicans by filing a lawsuit in Federal Court to declare California's campaign finance laws unconstitutional.  Senator Migden is happy to undo years of valuable campaign finance reform just for a shot at saving herself from her clear violations of the law.

This is the long and sordid tale of Senator Migden's numerous violations of California law.  It is a tale not only about her recent lawsuit (Migden v. The Fair Political Practices Commission), but also a tale about Carole Migden's serious and deceitful assault on the notion of fair political practices in general (Carole Migden versus fair political practices).  It will take a while to unravel the mess that Carole Migden has created.  So grab a beverage, get a comfy chair, and hold on for the ride . . . 

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

What's the sleeper issue in next year's June blockbuster election? If you ask me, it's an initiative in the works by right-wing Republicans to steal a chunk of California's electoral votes.
 
As this excellent piece in The New Yorker tells it, the initiative would split California's 55 winner-take-all electoral college votes. It would award electoral college votes to the winner of each Congressional district. The extra two would go to the overall winner in the state.
 
Since Bush carried 22 districts in 2004, that means Republicans would have gotten the equivalent of a Pennsylvania or Illinois in the form of California's electoral votes.
 
The initiative's sponsor is an outfit called "Californians for Equal Representation." But as the article points out, the force behind it is Thomas Hiltachk, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's top election lawyer hack. Hiltachk has masterminded a variety of anti-union initiatives in the past, fought campaign finance laws, and helped with the recall that propelled Schwarzenegger to office.
 
The argument for the initiative likely will be based on "fairness" and an attack on the unpopular electoral college. After all, if the Republican candidate wins 22 districts, shouldn't they get 22 votes? And heck, isn't the electoral college an institution that needs to go?
 
Not so fast.

There's more...