The race is on to find a new representative for the 37th District in Riverside. Former state senator John Benoit relinquished his position in late 2009 in order to swap leadership roles, and become a member of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors instead. The Republican Benoit left a Southern California vacuum, which a number of candidates have actively been jockeying for. One of the candidates is Russ Bogh, a former representative of the 65th District of the California Assembly, and a longtime businessman.

With prospects for bipartisanship looking increasingly thin in the present political era, a surprising exception has arrived on the scene, bearing the best of fiscal reforms culled from both parties – and perhaps most significantly, the bill features a radical departure from previous action on the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

To better assess many of California's problems and some possible solutions, the following is from an interview I conducted this week with former New Mexico Governor, Gary Johnson.

When he ran for Governor of New Mexico as a Republican in the early 1990s, Gary Johnson was a long-shot, political outsider- a self-made, small business owner who wanted to apply business-like pragmatism to solve the state's problems.

Voyeurs and strippers and scandal, oh my! This past week’s scoop de jure was that Republican National Committee staffers had paid for party officials at a club in which most strict conservatives would not be caught dead.

This past Tuesday, President Obama signed legislation that is expected to increase access to college for millions of Americans.  The student loan overhaul was included as part of the health insurance reform package passed last week by the House and the Senate.

With the recent criticism Steve Poizner took in making illegal immigration a risky focal point of his gubernatorial drive, likely to go unnoticed are his fiscal stances regarding the state’s current problems.  Poizner is actually in lockstep with Governor Schwarzenegger in opposing the new federal healthcare mandate.

Parents of Chelsea King are backing Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher's (R-75th District) proposal for a new bill that will impose stricter mandates on convicted sex offenders. They are also calling for greater oversight and accountability of the state's parole system which many believe is failing to crack down on violators. 

Forty-eight states face or have faced multi-billion dollar budget shortfalls and many are mirroring California, targeting state parks for savings. 

Supporters of the closures say parks are less essential than paying teachers, providing health care to the poor and continuing to offer other governmental services. Opponents argue that park closures don’t save much money, harm the economies of neighboring communities, and deprive residents of low-cost recreation. 

The open primary battle continues to generate a tremendous amount of political controversy.  Over at The Moderate Voice, Nancy Hanks recently criticized the two major parties, as well as Libertarians and Greens, for opposing the upcoming Top Two Open Primary ballot initiative. 

The ever controversial nonpartisan, “Top Two” open primary initiative slated to appear on the June ballot has, at a bare minimum, been making its way through most procedural obstacles with relative smoothness. Having been subjected to a rather backhanded Court challenge by opponents, those in support of the ballot measure have nonetheless won a seat at the table.