Politics and Elections
Back to homepageCalifornia GOP Never Learns
John Seiler: California desperately needs a competitive second party to challenge the mega-majority Democrats. Too bad the main alternative is the Republicans. The GOP’s inbred attitude was shown yesterday when state Senate Republicans — the handful of them — elected
Read MoreCalifornia Faces Decisive 2012
BY JOHN SEILER JAN. 4, 2012 It’s fun to gloat about our great weather when calling freezing relatives Back East on New Year’s Day. And some good things are keeping the sun shining this year. Silicon Valley’s global technology dominance
Read MoreArt Pedroza Starts Great New Blog
John Seiler: Our old friend Art Pedroza has started a great new blog, OCPoliticsBlog.com. I’ve known Art for something like 15-20 years. Back when I was at the Orange County Register in the 1990s, he wrote great letters to the
Read MoreVoting Out the Electoral College
Creating over-reaching solutions for non-existent problems is what California legislators are good at. A textbook example of this is a bill awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature which would change the state’s Electoral College process. AB 459 passed in the Legislature in
Read MoreThieving Signature Gatherers
A new political radio ad running in Sacramento this week is claiming that paid signature gatherers are often identity thieves, convicted felons and forgers. Usually when an ad campaign starts on radio, there is an active political campaign behind it.
Read MoreSeries Exposed Redistricting Sham
JULY 29, 2011 By JOHN SEILER Yesterday the California Citizens Redistricting Commission released its final maps, which already are generating lawsuits to overturn them. In recent weeks, CalWatchDog.com ran an exclusive series of articles, by John Hrabe, exposing the process.
Read MoreCommish Gives Dems 2/3 Majority
John Seiler: A year and a half ago I was the first person to predict that, in 2012 or 2014, redistricting would bring Democrats two-thirds majorities in both houses of the California Legislature. My March 10, 2010 article, “Census Pushing
Read MoreJeanne Raya Failed to Reveal Donations
JULY 25, 2011 By JOHN HRABE A second member of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, Jeanne Raya, failed to disclose financial contributions made within the past 18 months to a state political campaign committee, according to documents reviewed by CalWatchDog.com. Ten days ago,
Read MoreWhy would Sacto tap a failed leader?
Commentary JULY 22, 2011 By STEVEN GREENHUT The Sacramento Bee reported today that John Shirey, executive director of the California Redevelopment Association, is the top candidate to be Sacramento’s next city manager. This choice only confirms the small-town mentality of
Read MoreChart Shows Aguirre Conflicts of Interest
JULY 22, 2011 By JOHN HRABE The following chart demonstrates the conflicts of interest for Dr. Gabino T. Aguirre, a commissioner for the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. The conflicts are detailed in my articles for CalWatchDog.com: Part 1: Gabino Aguirre’s Secret
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