Those Ancient Indians Sure Knew Where To Bury Their Dead

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/16/09

A story in this morning's OC Register reports the City of Huntington Beach is considering annnexing 6.2 acres on the upper Bolsa Chica mesa, currently under the county's jurisdiction. The land would be zoned low-density residential and permit to building of a couple of dozen houses. But wait! "Activists" contend this land is an ancient Indian burial ground! It really is amazing how ancient Indians in the area had an uncanny knack... read more »

OC Blog News Roundup - November 16, 2009

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/16/09

Today's top stories from behind the Orange Curtain: Race To Replace Disgraced Assemblyman Comes To A Head (OCR) Five candidates appear on Tuesday's ballot for the 72nd Assembly District, but just two are responsible for the biting attacks that have filled voters' mailboxes for the past few weeks. Editorial: Lawsuits Take Toll On Cities (OCR) California's largest cities and counties are facing tremendous budgetary issues, yet one cost that... read more »

OC Blog News Roundup - November 10, 2009

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/10/09

Today's top stories from behind the Orange Curtain: Calvert, Campbell Targeted By Dems For Health Vote (OCR) Please don't make me laugh. Hundreds Protest Fairgrounds Sale (OCR, LAT and DP) Hundreds of residents who are worried about the sale of the fairgrounds showed up this morning at Costa Mesa City Hall armed with questions. Irvine Unified Leaders Bracing For Cuts (OCR) A grim state fiscal outlook has the Irvine Unified School District... read more »

AD72 Special Election Watch: "Alliance for California's Tomorrow" Efforts Not So Weighted To Ackerman

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/09/09

The conventional wisdom in this short-but-seemingly-unending AD72 special election campaign is that the "Alliance for California's Tomorrow" IE committee's effort almost completely consisted of pro-Linda Ackerman mail -- while the Ackerman campaign has done most of the negative mail against Norby. The irony being that's a reversal of traditional IE committee/candidate committee roles. As is often the case with conventional... read more »

AD72 Special Election Watch: Ackerman Outdistances Norby In Fulllerton Fundraising

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/09/09

While perusing the October 4 through 31 campaign disclosure reports from the Linda Ackerman and Chris Norby campaigns, I was struck that Ackerman had far more Fullerton-based donors than Norby. I think that's noteworthy given that Linda Ackerman has been attacked during the campaign as a carpetbagger. And that is a perfectly legitimate avenue of attack in this campaign: indeed, Dick and Linda Ackerman have "moved" back into... read more »

OC Blog News Roundup - November 9, 2009

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/09/09

Today's top stories from behind the Orange Curtain: Greed Forces Local Governments To Blow $504 Million On Lawsuits, Group Says (OCR) So saith to a report released by California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. Bus Cuts May Not Be As Deep As Expected (OCR) Orange County transportation officials are scheduled to vote Monday on a plan that would cut deep into bus service – but not nearly as deep as transit officials and bus riders once... read more »

CD47 Watch: Loretta Sanchez, Authoritarian

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/08/09

Generally speaking, three votes isn't the margin by which a massive transformation of the economy and society should be imposed by the central government. But that's exactly what the House Democrats did tonight when they voted 220-215 to pass a bill they ill-comprehend, that would impose an authoritarian, $1.5 trillion plan to reorganize American's health care under the auspices of the oh-so-efficient federal government. Rep. Loretta Sanchez... read more »

SD34: Knocking Down Rumores

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/07/09

Over at the Press Release Juice blog, proprietor Admin Pedroza galloped fancifully down the conspiracy trail, speculating that Democratic Anaheim Councilwoman Lorri Galloway is behind the 34th Senate District candidacy of Republican Sue Perez. Challenging OC's tax-hiking state Senator is simply impermissible to Correa's Renfield. Dan Chmielewski over at TheLiberalOC.com helpfully dialed a few digits and asked Lorri Galloway directly if she had... read more »

Ft. Hood: President Jump-To-Conclusions Wants Us To "Withhold Judgment"

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/07/09

President Barack Obama is asking Americans to "withhold judgment" until after the "facts" are known why Major Nidal Hasan, a devout Muslim who believed Muslims shouldn't be in the Army because they might have to kill other Muslims, gunned down 13 innocent fellow soldiers at Ft. Hood while shouting "Allahu Akbar!" This is the same president who, while knowing virtually no facts about why Cambridge police... read more »

AD72 Special Election Watch: Looking Grim For Ackerman

By Matthew Cunningham | 11/05/09

The latest campaign disclosures in the AD72 special election came out today, covering the period October 4 through October 3. During that time, Linda Ackerman raised $166,070, for a total-to-date of $199,467 (interestingly, there are quite a few Fullerton addresses among the list of contributors, more than on Norby's).  She has spent $196,568 thus far, and at the end of October had a cash-on-hand balance of $35,756. Sup. Chris Norby... read more »