• California Death Penalty,  Gavin Newsom,  Terri Lynn Winchell

    No Justice for Terri Lynn Winchell

    Terri Lynn Winchell

    Terri Lynn Winchell

    NO Justice.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom is putting a moratorium on the death penalty in California, sparing the lives of more than 700 death-row inmates.

    Newsom plans to sign an executive order Wednesday morning granting reprieves to all 737 Californians awaiting executions – a quarter of the country’s death row inmates.

    His action comes three years after California voters rejected an initiative to end the death penalty, instead passing a measure to speed up executions.

    Newsom says the death penalty system has discriminated against mentally ill defendants and people of color. It has not made the state safer and has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars, according to prepared remarks Newsom plans to deliver Wednesday morning when he signs the order.

    This is a direct affront to the voters of California. Michael Morales should have been executed decades ago.

    Still NO JUSTICE for Terri Lynn.

  • California,  California Economy,  Gavin Newsom

    Shocker: California Businesses Voting With their Feet and Leaving the State

    The $5 Million a Year San Francisco Tax Break

    Twitter notwithstanding, California for many years has not been business friendly and now the businesses are giving up and simply either leaving or expanding in other states.

    Buffeted by high taxes, strict regulations and uncertain state budgets, a growing number of California companies are seeking friendlier business environments outside of the Golden State.

    And governors around the country, smelling blood in the water, have stepped up their courtship of California companies. Officials in states like Florida, Texas, Arizona and Utah are telling California firms how business-friendly they are in comparison.

    Companies are “disinvesting” in California at a rate five times greater than just two years ago, said Joseph Vranich, a business relocation expert based in Irvine. This includes leaving altogether, establishing divisions elsewhere or opting not to set up shop in California.

    “There is a feeling that the state is not stable,” Vranich said. “Sacramento can’t get its act together…and that includes the governor, legislators and regulatory agencies that are running wild.”

    The state has been ranked by Chief Executive magazine as the worst place to do business for seven years.

    “California, once a business friendly state, continues to conduct a war on its own economy,” the magazine wrote.

    That is about to change, at least if Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has anything to say about it. Newsom is developing a plan to address the state’s economic Achilles heels, and build on its strengths. It will be unveiled at the end of July.

    “California has got to get its act together when it comes to economic development and job creation,” he said.

    While not all companies investing elsewhere are doing so for economic reasons, some are shopping around for lower costs, lighter regulations, stable leadership and government assistance and incentives.

    The most popular places to go? Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Virginia and North Carolina, said Vranich. All rank in the Top 13 places to do business, according to Chief Executive.

    California has great weather and ample natural resources, but the far left Democratic nature of its politics is stifling to business.Unemployment is high and entitlement costs associated with this and rampant illegal immigration are a definite drag to business development.

    I do not foresee the California business climate improving anytime soon. No matter what former Democratic Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom says or creates with Nanny State commissions, businesses are voting wit their feet and leaving.

    California’s economy will stagnate much like Michigan’s with little or no growth and for the forseeable future.

  • Bud Selig,  California,  Dianne Feinstein,  Flap's California Morning Collection,  Frank McCourt,  Gavin Newsom,  Los Angeles Dodgers,  Los Angeles Marathon

    Flap’s California Morning Collection: June 21, 2011

    A morning collection of links and comments about my home, California.

    The buzz in the Capitol today is that long time Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein is not polling well in the latest California Field Poll. In fact, her numbers are the lowest for her since 1992. If any pundit really thinks DiFi is vulnerable, I will refer them to Carly Fiorina who was the last Republican challenger to a California Democratic U.S. Senator who was deemed vulnerable = recently re-elected Barbara Boxer.

    DiFi is not going anywhere except back to the Senate, barring any health problems. But, I wonder who the GOP will run in 2012 as the sacrificial lamb?

    The poll graphic:

    In Los Angeles, everyone is talking about the L.A. Dodgers and the owner Frank McCourt. The Commissioner of Major League Baseball who took over control of the team some time ago from McCourt disapproved a new Fox Sports television contract which may precipitate a sale of the team, lawsuits, and/or a bankruptcy filing. Likely, there will be all of the above, but most folks in L.A. want McCourt and his wife to be gone and the Dodgers to concentrate on baseball.

    Oh yeah and McCourt owns the Los Angeles Marathon too. I might just have to run in Pasadena next Spring.

    OK – on to the links:

    Steinberg raises legal questions over pay issue

    Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, made it clear that there are legal implications — lawsuit, anyone? — with the decision on legislative pay that state Controller John Chiang is expected to make Tuesday.

    Steinberg suggested that any decision by the Controller would be legally questionable.

    The question that got Steinberg reverting back to the lawyer that he is: Will you be able to hold out and negotiate all summer if your members are not being paid.

    The unspoken suggestion: that legislators would cave on demands of $2 billion to $6 billion more in cuts to schools, universities and public safety to ensure they get their salary and daily expenses.

    “It is a bad precedent for anybody in the executive branch to question the quality of a budget passed by the Legislature,” he told reporters after a quick Senate session Monday. “Because to do so is to shift the balance of power … in a way that is dangerous.

    “Think about if there was a governor, a treasurer or controller from the other party and they were unhappy with the quality of the budget the Legislature passed, they would have the ability — if Proposition 25 is interpreted in a way some suggest — to say it’s not good enough, we withhold your pay until you make all of the decisions and and all of the cuts that we believe are appropriate.”

    The follow-up question: Could withholding legislators’ pay “tip the balance” to legislators accepting the governor’s cuts?

    “If it is an attempt to tip the balance, then it is a conflict of interest like California has never seen,” Steinberg said.

    Salary matters are best decided by the Citizens Compensation Commission, Steinberg said, and legislators should not be forced to determine their vote based on whether or not they would be paid.

    Why McCourt must go, from one baseball blogger

    Many kudos on baseball websites today for blogger Larry Behrendt’s detailing of the case against Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, from the interlocking companies that mean the Dodgers now pay rent for their own stadium and parking lots, to the ticket revenue that gets drained elsewhere, to the huge debt and lavish personal spending. Behrendt posted before commissioner Bud Selig stepped in today to nix the deal with Fox. But that’s exactly what Behrendt felt Selig must do…..

    Over the next two weeks, Bud Selig will face the defining moment of his career as Commissioner of Major League Baseball….

    There is no doubt: Commissioner Selig should reject the Dodgers-Fox contract, seize control of the Dodgers, and sell the team to a responsible owner who will (with the grateful help of millions of my fellow left coasters) restore the team to its former greatness. Selig must act to prevent Frank McCourt from continuing to plunder the team. Selig must act before the team is saddled with even greater debt, while the team’s reputation can still be salvaged and the team is still marketable to a worthy owner….

    How much have the McCourts managed to extract from the Dodgers? Well, if we ignore the debt the Dodgers took on so that the McCourts could buy the Dodgers but include the McCourt salaries, the McCourts have withdrawn from the Dodgers anywhere from $109 million (Frank McCourt’s estimate) to $141 million (Jamie McCourt’s estimate). The truth is, the real amount the McCourts plundered from the Dodgers may be more than $141 million – at the moment, all we have to go on is what each McCourt has been willing to admit to.
    I(In case you were wondering, during their ownership of the Dodgers the McCourts have paid not one penny in income tax.)

    Is Lynn Woolsey retiring? Is Gavin Newsom interested in that seat?

    We’re getting the distinct feeling that something is up. Just got an “advisory” that Rep. Lynn Woolsey will hold a press conference at her home Monday in Petaluma “joined by Rep. Barbara Lee and friends and family.”

    Hmmm. Remember, back in December Woolsey’s peeps told us she was “thinking of” retiring and they’d let us know by June. Tick…tock…tick…

    All that Woolsey spokesperson Bart Acocella will say is: “I can tell you that she will make an announcement on the 27th about her future plans.”

    Even with the state’s new redistricting plan likely to create a very-different looking 6th District, there’s already a line forming to snag the super-safe Democratic seat-for-life, starting with termed out Assemblyman Jared Huffman and activist and author Norman Solomon, Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams, state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, and Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane.

    Here’s another name to toss in the mix: What about Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom?

    Yes, we know the duties of Lt. Gov. are…uh…pressing. Especially when he has to walk the Governor’s dog. But eyebrows raised when Newsom just moved to…wait for it…Marin County to live with his in-laws after they had their second child.

    Enjoy your morning!

  • California,  Gavin Newsom,  Jerry Brown

    Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom Prepping to Run for California Governor?

    In this Jan. 11, 2011 photo, Edwin Lee, right, shake hands with Gavin Newsom, left, as Lee was named as San Francisco mayor at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted for Lee as mayor to replace Newsom, who became Calif. Lieutenant Governor

    Apparently so.

    Less than three months on the job, and already Gavin Newsom is prepping to run for governor again.

    A city insider who asked not to be named tells us the new lieutenant governor approached him at a charity fundraiser the other day with a request for help to start raising money for a renewed gubernatorial bid.

    Newsom’s inability to compete with the much-better-financed Jerry Brown was one of the reasons he withdrew from last year’s Democratic race and ran instead for lieutenant governor.

    Newsom has opened a re-election campaign committee for 2014 – but there’s nothing to stop him from transferring any money he might raise to an exploratory gubernatorial run.

    No one from Camp Newsom wanted to comment for the record, but we’re told the lieutenant governor will support Brown for as long as he intends to be governor.

    No shocker here.

    I mean, California Governor Jerry Brown is OLD and on overage time, so to speak, and a POL has to be ready – and ready quick. You never know when a special election will pop up and Jerry Brown will be one term anyway.

  • Bill Clinton,  Gavin Newsom,  Jerry Brown,  Meg Whitman,  Steve Poizner

    Bill Clinton to Endorse San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for California Governor – Republicans Cheer

    San Francisco Mayor Gavin “Whether You Like it or Not” Newsom

    Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner must be dancing this morning.

    Former President Bill Clinton is backing San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for California governor over state Attorney Gen. Jerry Brown, potentially upending next year’s Democratic race to succeed Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    Clinton’s decision to appear on Oct. 5 alongside one of his wife’s top backers in her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination comes at a critical time for the San Franciso mayor: Although Newsom has built a substantial Facebook and Twitter following among younger voters, Brown, a former two-term governor, has raised more than twice as much money as he has.

    Clinton’s trip to California next month is expected to include an event in predominantly Latino East Los Angeles as well as a high-dollar fundraiser.

    While the endorsement of a former president is big news in any state, the former chairman of the California Democratic Party thinks it could be especially significant in California, a state where Clinton has had a strong following ever since he beat Brown in the state’s 1992 presidential primary.

    These are delusions of grandeur on the part of Newsom and the California Far Left. Jerry Brown has the support of mainstream labor and will pillage Newsom with television ads next Spring before the June 2010 Democrat Primary election.

    California voters are disgruntled in any event(tired of decades of Democrat control of the Legislature) and the REAL race for California Governor is between the two Republicans, Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner. Californians will not vote for an old man retread pol or a young morally challenged San Francisco Mayor.

    Flap looks forward to the divisive Democrat primary though.


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  • California Governor 2010,  Gavin Newsom

    San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom Announces for California Governor Race in 2010



    Gavin Newsom made it official today.

    San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is no longer flirting with a run for governor of California — he’s officially in.

    The 41-year old mayor announced his bid through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, a sign the mayor intends to make his next-generation appeal a centerpiece of the 2010 campaign.

    “I’m a candidate for governor of California because I know we can do better,” Newsom says looking straight into the camera in his YouTube announcement video.

    The two-term mayor will tour Facebook’s headquarters later this afternoon. Newsom has already being “followed” on Twitter by nearly 275,000 people as he has been criss-crossing the state for townhall-style meetings in the last few months. His campaign hopes his new media announcement will directly reach a half-million people by the day’s end.

    Look for Newsom to have a difficult Democratic Party primary campaign against California Attorney General Jerry Brown (also a former California Governor) and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

    This campaign will be costly and brutal.


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  • Jerry Brown,  Meg Whitman,  Steve Poizner

    Poll Watch: Meg Whitman in Tie With Jerry Brown for California Governor in 2010 – Leading All Others

    Meg-Whitman

    Economic recovery press conference: Eric Cantor, Mitt Romney and Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO and McCain campaign adviser answer questions submit by the American People via YouTube, January 15, 2009

    The latest poll from Rasmussen is extremely favorable for former eBay CEO Meg Whitman in the race for California Governor in 2010.

    The race may be nearly two years away, but early match-ups for the 2010 gubernatorial election in California show that it’s likely to be a close one.

    With the state’s current Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, ineligible for reelection, the most prominent name mentioned on the GOP side is former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, and for now she beats two of the three leading early contenders for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

    The Poll:

    • Meg Whitman – 38% Vs. Jerry Brown (California Attorney General and former Governor – 40%
    • Meg Whitman – 37% Vs. Gavin Newsom (San Francisco Mayor) – 34%
    • Meg Whitman – 41% Vs. Antonio Villaraigosa (Los Angeles Mayor) – 34%

    Favorability:

    Forty-three percent (43%) of California voters view Whitman favorably, including 10% Very Favorable, while 22% view her unfavorably. Just five percent (5%) have a Very Unfavorable opinion of Whitman. A third of voters (34%) don’t know enough about her to form an opinion.

    Brown is the most well-known name to California voters and is viewed favorably by 46%, including 24% who say that view is Very Favorable. Thirty-eight percent (38%) have an unfavorable opinion of Brown, with 26% Very Unfavorable. Just 16%, however, are not sure what they think of the 70-year-old Brown who has been a fixture in California politics for nearly 40 years.

    Newson is viewed favorably by 36%, unfavorably by 41%, and 23% are not sure what they think of him. Thirteen percent (13%) have a Very Favorable opinion of Newsom and 25% a Very Unfavorable view. Villaraigosa’s ratings are 38% favorable, with 13% Very Favorable, and 42% unfavorable, including 27% Very Unfavorable. Twenty percent (20%) are not sure what they think of Villaraigosa.

    Flap had mentioned that since Steve Poizner, California’s only statewide elected office holder, was running for Governor that perhaps Whitman should should run for the United States Senate instead. But, with these excellent poll numbers, it is fiull speed ahead with the governor’s race.

    But, what will a contested GOP primary election do to her unfavorability ratings?

    Stay tuned….

    Watch Meg Whitman on video at the press conference referenced above.


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  • Gavin Newsom

    San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson’s State of the City Address – Whether You Like it or Not

    Gavin-Newsom-like-it-or-not

    San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is running for California Governor. The race is in 2010 but Newsom is already gearing up for the campaign.

    Today, the good Mayor, a champion of gay marriage in California, releases his State of the City addressall 7 1/2 hours of it.

    San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has been crafting his State of the City speech for months and will debut it today – all 7 1/2 hours of it – on his very own YouTube channel.

    The format allows the tech-savvy mayor – who has more than 10,000 Facebook friends and whose official Web site has received 27.6 million hits this year – to reach a wider audience and speak directly to anyone who’s interested without the filter of the media or grumbling from critics.

    “We have a lot we want to share, but it gets filtered,” Newsom told The Chronicle. “To do an address that’s unfiltered, what better way to do it than on YouTube?”

    It also allows the wonky, long-winded Newsom to leave no detail on the cutting-room floor. The mayor’s staff will release the speech in 10 chapters this week, and each one is about 45 minutes long. Health, education and the environment are the subjects on tap for today.

    There you go: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom – “Whether You Like it or Not.”

    And, believe Flap, should Newsom make it out of the Democrat primary election (he won’t) the video below would be played over and over again.


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  • Gavin Newsom,  Gay Marriage

    San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom – The Biggest Loser in California’s Gay Marriage Fight?

    gavin-newsom-prop-8

    San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom became the “poster boy” for the Yes on 8 Campaign to restore traditional marriage in California

    Flap asked the question prior to Tuesday’s California election: Will San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom Deserve The Blame When California Proposition 8 Passes?

    The answer is apparently yes – both in San Francisco and statewide (Newsom will run for California Governor in 2010).

    Election night was not kind to Gavin Newsom, who may end up one of the biggest losers after suffering a potentially crushing loss with Proposition 8 and at best breaking even in the local contests he had a stake in.

    Political analysts have long argued that Newsom has short coattails in local politics – a theory in play with the Board of Supervisors races, in which at least three of the seven seats up for grabs seem likely to go to candidates he did not endorse.

    With the local ballot measures, voters for the most part sided with Newsom’s choices, but two propositions that were of particular interest to the mayor – one supporting his special court to prosecute quality-of-life crimes and the other changing the makeup of the San Francisco Transportation Authority – failed spectacularly.

    And, pandering to the homosexual lobby has not helped Newsom with other key California Democrat constituencies, African-American and Latino voters.

    “The Latino and black voters really turned out in this election. They helped get Proposition 8 voted in, and that portends badly for Gavin Newsom if he’s intending to run for governor,” Boushey said. “He’s going to have to appeal to those voters. They’re socially moderate, and they don’t recognize Gavin Newsom as being socially moderate.”

    Paradoxically, the mayor is seen as too liberal for much of the state and too conservative compared to the city’s legislators.

    Look to California Attorney General, Jerry Brown, to demagogue the legal challenge to Proposition 8 and pick-up key homosexual lobby support for HIS run for California Governor. Gavin Newsom rolled the dice in 2004 by setting up the California gay marriage flap and will go down to defeat with its proponents.

    Here is the video featuring Gavin Newsom – “whether you like it or not:”


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  • Gavin Newsom,  Gay Marriage

    Will San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom Deserve The Blame When California Proposition 8 Passes?

    gavin-newsom-prop-8
    San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has become the “poster boy” for the Yes on 8 Campaign to restore traditional marriage in California

    Does Gavin Newsom deserve the blame from the homosexual community when California Proposition 8 passes next Tuesday? This is being asked in a gay publication.

    San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has been a tireless crusader for gay rights. It was he who, way back in 2000, began issuing marriage licenses in San Francisco.

    Though those marriages were later annulled by the state, California’s Supreme Court this year ruled that gay folk should, in fact, have the right to marry, a decision that spurred the right to launch Proposition 8, which would reverse the Court’s ruling. Again, Newsom’s been campaigning against that measure and just this week shored up support against conservative “extremists.”

    Obviously the right doesn’t like Newsom very much and have been using him as the poster child for gay-friendly politicians. This means, of course, that should Proposition 8 pass, Newsom’s ubiquitous image may take some of the blame.

    Gavin Newsom’s statement in the video below was really the start of the Yes on 8 campaign.

    And, Newsom’s statement “whether you like it or not” may very well become the mantra for traditional marriage ballot fights across the United States.

    Mayor Newsom has been conspicuous by his absense in the No on Proposition 8 campaign since the May news conference. Yesterday, Newsome did travel to the Google Campus to speak on No on 8’s behalf but otherwise he has been on the down-lo.

    Flap has it upon good authority, however, that there will be new Yes on 8 television ads ridiculing the San Francisco Mayor.

    So, blame?

    You betcha, depending upon what happens next Tuesday.


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