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In The News
The Republican Liberty Caucus of California is dedicated to bringing our message to the public and keeping activists informed. We will work to make the text of our press releases and relevant news articles available to the public from our website. Keep checking back here for the most current information.
GOP leadership fight sweeps to Senate
December 1st, 2006
A closed-door retreat in Newport Beach for Senate Republicans has turned into a leadership battle, with state Sen. Jim Battin challenging Minority Leader Dick Ackerman for the top job - again.

The challenge mounted by the "Battinistas" against Ackerman, R-Irvine, is fueled by several factors.

One is the view of Senate conservatives, led by Sens. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks and Jeff Denham of Salinas, is that Ackerman has not been sufficiently aggressive in representing their views to the governor in budget negotiations. The view is similar to that held in the Assembly against former GOP Leader George Plescia, R-San Diego, who was ousted earlier this month.
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Protected land increases in state
December 1st, 2006
The number of land trusts in California increased by 50% in the last five years, reflecting dramatic growth in private conservation efforts across the country.

In a report released Thursday, the Land Trust Alliance found that nationally, land protected by private, nonprofit trusts and conservation groups grew by 54%, or 13 million acres, between 2000 and 2005.

"We think the amount of acreage will continue to increase every year," said James Wyerman, the alliance's communications director. "Every year we've done this, we see not just some growth, but exponential growth."
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Poll finds support for posting public schools’ data on the Web
December 1st, 2006
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who says parents should be able to scrutinize schools on the Internet like they are "shopping for a car," received a political boost Thursday with a new poll showing widespread support for opening the financial books at public schools.

With the Legislature beginning its new session Monday, the survey, sponsored by the nonprofit group Children Now, was designed to give Schwarzenegger and lawmakers ammunition next year as they attempt to put more information about the state's 9,500 public schools on the Web.
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O’Connell searches for the true cost of education
December 1st, 2006
Education funding in California is distributed in a messy, complicated manner, with districts given different amounts of money to teach their students. On average, the state spends $7,746 on each student, according to data from the 2003-04 school year compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics. Texas spent $7,271 on each student during the same year. New York lavished $12,535 on each of its pupils, according to the center.

California voters support spending more money on public schools, but only if there is greater accountability over how that funding is dispensed,according to a new statewide poll released Thursday by Children Now, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Oakland.
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Why should taxpayers be on hook?
December 1st, 2006
Should taxpayers be on the hook when someone on the government payroll pulls a shenanigan that violates common sense and public policy?

That's the fundamental question raised by otherwise dissimilar events in California's two largest cities, Los Angeles and San Diego.
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U.S. prison numbers up 35% in 10 years
December 1st, 2006
About 7 million adults — accounting for 3% of the U.S. population — were incarcerated, on probation or on parole at the end of 2005, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Of that total, 2.2 million individuals were in federal and state prisons or local jails, 4.1 million were on probation and more than 784,000 were on parole.

Drug crimes — up 64.8% from 1996 to 2003 — accounted for the largest increase in the number of inmates in the federal system.
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Wal-Mart denied lot a second time
November 30th, 2006
It was deja vu in Hercules this week as the City Council, for the second time this year, unanimously invoked eminent domain to acquire a central Hercules lot owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Just as when the city invoked eminent domain the first time in May, residents applauded the council Tuesday and Wal-Mart's attorneys predicted the action would not stand up in court.

"Eminent domain is not supposed to be used as a popularity contest," Edward Burg, an attorney for the world's largest retailer, told the council.
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Prop. 209 works
November 29th, 2006
Here's why Proposition 209 should not be repealed: State-sponsored racial discrimination or recruitment techniques hurt the very people they claim to help – by stigmatizing recipients and watering down standards. And while the goal of Americans achieving a colorblind society sometimes seems out of reach – especially on nights when Michael Richards is doing stand-up comedy – it's an important objective to keep striving for. Besides, if the original goal of racial preferences was to give a leg up to the economically disadvantaged, well, that objective will only become muddier as more African-Americans and Latinos move out of poverty and into the middle class.
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Schools can’t blame failures on lack of cash
November 29th, 2006
The California Teachers Association spent the past couple of years blasting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for shortchanging public schools, but now a San Francisco Chronicle article details the degree to which the state's public schools are flush with cash. Don't expect any apologies to the governor, or any effort to return the excess cash to taxpayers. In the world of public schools, teachers unions and Sacramento legislators, the only thing wrong with the state's schools is – can we say it in unison – they don't have enough money to do their job.

"California schools are in line for a $6 billion windfall over the next five years, and interest groups are already lining up to get their share, promoting ideas like improving high schools, paying teachers more, and helping urban districts with severely declining enrollment," the Chronicle reported.
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Counties’ attack on medical marijuana snuffed
November 29th, 2006
Superior Court Judge William Nevitt in San Diego has issued a preliminary ruling denying a lawsuit by San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties seeking to overturn Proposition 215, California's medical marijuana law approved by voters in 1996. The counties had sought to have the law voided because it conflicts with federal law, which does not recognize medical uses for marijuana and prohibits any use or possession of marijuana.

Judge Nevitt ruled that since Prop. 215 does not require residents or officials to do something specifically banned by federal law, it shouldn't be overturned.
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San Diego council bans supercenter-size stores
November 29th, 2006
In a move that pits the city squarely against the nation's largest retailer, San Diego yesterday joined a growing list of cities nationwide to place restrictions on large retail developments.

The City Council voted 5-3 to ban stores with more than 90,000 square feet that use 10 percent of their space to sell groceries and other merchandise not subject to sales tax.
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Irvine eminent domain rule passes
November 29th, 2006
City officials are on the way to making it more difficult to seize private property.

The ordinance approved by the council Tuesday night would prohibit the city and redevelopment agency from acquiring private property to give to a private party without the landowner's consent.
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California’s biggest, nastiest slumlord
November 26th, 2006
What would you do if you lived next door to an irresponsible property owner who allowed his vacant lot to fill up with dangerous debris, or allowed hobos and drug dealers to hang out there, or who wantonly violated city and state health and safety codes?

What if you rented a house or apartment from that same landlord, and he refused to do anything to fix the leaky roof, the spreading black mold, the rodent infestation and other downright dangerous conditions?

You would call on the government to impose fines and sanctions on that miscreant, right? But what if the government was that slumlord? What if the government told you that it didn't need to follow its own rules and laws and that it could not be prosecuted for anything under "sovereign immunity" – the principle that individuals cannot sue the government.
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Moving Assembly to the far right in a centrist world
November 26th, 2006
A funny thing happened when Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger won another term as California governor by setting out a centrist course in this blue state. Assembly Republicans reacted by pushing hard right. If the governor is tilting blue, they're going code red.

No wonder the Democrats have controlled the California Legislature for a generation. Compromise is a dirty word to Assembly Republicans and they'd just as soon wait until the state moves to them. There's no way they are moving to the center.
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As Power Shifts in New Congress, Pork May Linger
November 26th, 2006
Senators Ted Stevens of Alaska and Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii are the best of friends in the Senate, so close they call each other brother. Both are decorated veterans of World War II. They have worked together for nearly four decades as senators from the two youngest and farthest-flung states. And they share an almost unrivaled appetite for what some call political pork.

Mr. Stevens, an 83-year-old Republican, and Mr. Inouye, an 82-year-old Democrat, routinely deliver to their states more money per capita in earmarks — the pet projects lawmakers insert into major spending bills — than any other state gets. This year, Alaska received $1.05 billion in earmarks, or $1,677.27 per resident, while Hawaii got $903.9 million, or $746.05 per resident, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan group that tracks such figures.
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