Veto

State Sen. Tom Harman (R-Costa Mesa) this week blamed partisanship on Gov. Jerry Brown's choice to veto one of his bills that could let private companies operate cash-strapped state parks. The state budget crisis has forced the state to temporarily close many of the parks to the public. "California should use every tool in the tool box to keep these parks open and profitable," Harman wrote in his weekly report to supporters. "There should be no excuse for closure when there are other, untapped options available.

Newport Beach Rep. John Campbell on Wednesday backed up President Bush's threatened veto of Democrats' spending bills, and he had 146 Republican colleagues behind him. Campbell delivered a letter to Bush with the signatures of 147 GOP House members, who pledged to sustain any vetoes of eight spending bills that exceed the president's budget requests. Bush proposed a $933 billion budget for 2007-08, Campbell said, and Democrats added another $21 billion in requests. All 19 of California's Republican representatives signed the veto letter, as did the House GOP leadership.

Deirdre Newman City officials' efforts to quash a bill that would have severely diminished local control over secondary residential units paid off Thursday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it. The bill, proposed by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) was designed to create more affordable-housing opportunities by making second units on homeowners' properties allowable in more single-family residential areas. But it would have superceded cities' regulatory powers on such units.

Newport-Mesa’s representatives in Washington said President Bush’s State of the Union address this week lacked vision and reflected poorly on his grasp of the nation’s challenges. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a former speechwriter for the Reagan Administration, said he felt underwhelmed by Bush’s remarks. “He gets a big fat D — barely a D — in his first part. For his second part, I’d give him a B, because he did talk about the progress that’s been made in his foreign policy,” he said.

I am deeply concerned about the growing tendency of people going to court and suing over the seemingly most insignificant things. Just last week, there were reports in the press about a man who sued his dry cleaner for $54 million because a pair of his pants was not cleaned to his satisfaction. The lawsuit was based on a sign at the cleaners that stated "Satisfaction Guaranteed." Those who misuse our legal system for their own financial gain undermine the proper administration of justice and saddle society with a higher cost of living.

Mark your calendar. Feb. 3, 2003, is the date the Costa Mesa City Council resurrected cronyism, redefined political patronage and wrote it into the city code. They decided to cast aside any pretense of objectivity in the appointments to the two major city commissions -- parks and recreation and planning -- and voted themselves, as individuals, the ability to handpick one member of each commission. These surrogates will be joined at the hip, so to speak, of their benefactor for life.

Yaron Brook, the executive director of the Irvine-based Ayn Rand Institute, recently said the government should not fund science research because it leads to messy political battles such as the one over embryonic stem-cell research. He went on to criticize President George Bush's veto of stem-cell research. "But so long as it is involved, it must scrupulously respect the separation of church and state. Its funding decisions must be made on rationally demonstrable, not faith-based, grounds.

State Sen. Tom Harman (R-Costa Mesa) this week blamed partisanship on Gov. Jerry Brown's choice to veto one of his bills that could let private companies operate cash-strapped state parks. The state budget crisis has forced the state to temporarily close many of the parks to the public. "California should use every tool in the tool box to keep these parks open and profitable," Harman wrote in his weekly report to supporters. "There should be no excuse for closure when there are other, untapped options available.

In late August, state Sen. Tom Harman (R-Costa Mesa) missed a vote on a bill that would stiffen penalties against people who defraud senior citizens and tighten banking regulations. Harman's absence had no bearing on the outcome, as Senate Democrats easily approved Senate Bill 586 in a 25-13 vote, with Republicans almost unanimous in their opposition. But it was what Harman did next - sending Gov. Jerry Brown a letter Sept. 8 urging him to veto the bill - that left the bill's biggest proponent puzzled.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Newport Beach) is calling for UC Irvine to ban the school’s Muslim Student Union after the Feb. 8 incident in which 11 students were arrested after allegedly shouting down Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech. DeVore sent a letter to UCI Chancellor Michael Drake this week asking him to consider banning the group from campus. “This action came at what I see as the end of a long train of abuses with the MSU constantly disrupting campus life,” DeVore said Wednesday.

Newport-Mesa’s representatives in Washington said President Bush’s State of the Union address this week lacked vision and reflected poorly on his grasp of the nation’s challenges. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a former speechwriter for the Reagan Administration, said he felt underwhelmed by Bush’s remarks. “He gets a big fat D — barely a D — in his first part. For his second part, I’d give him a B, because he did talk about the progress that’s been made in his foreign policy,” he said.

I am deeply concerned about the growing tendency of people going to court and suing over the seemingly most insignificant things. Just last week, there were reports in the press about a man who sued his dry cleaner for $54 million because a pair of his pants was not cleaned to his satisfaction. The lawsuit was based on a sign at the cleaners that stated "Satisfaction Guaranteed." Those who misuse our legal system for their own financial gain undermine the proper administration of justice and saddle society with a higher cost of living.

Newport Beach Rep. John Campbell on Wednesday backed up President Bush's threatened veto of Democrats' spending bills, and he had 146 Republican colleagues behind him. Campbell delivered a letter to Bush with the signatures of 147 GOP House members, who pledged to sustain any vetoes of eight spending bills that exceed the president's budget requests. Bush proposed a $933 billion budget for 2007-08, Campbell said, and Democrats added another $21 billion in requests. All 19 of California's Republican representatives signed the veto letter, as did the House GOP leadership.

Newport Beach can officially block county attempts to expand John Wayne Airport, after Orange County supervisors and the City Council signed off on a unique city-county agreement Tuesday. Known as the sphere issues agreement, the pact lets the city stop the county from acquiring land to add a second commercial runway or to expand the existing one at the airport. It also says the city and county will cooperate on studies of services in Upper Newport Bay and the harbor. For its part, the city agrees to conform to airport-area land-use rules and promises not to try to annex any land that's now part of the airport.

Newport Beach officially can block county attempts to expand John Wayne Airport, after Orange County supervisors signed off on an unusual city-county agreement today. Known as the “sphere issues” agreement, the pact lets the city stop the county from acquiring land to add a second commercial runway or expand the existing one at the airport. It also says the city and county will cooperate on studies of services in the Upper and Lower Newport Bay. Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to approve the agreement, with Supervisors Chris Norby and Lou Correa dissenting.