It’s time for our weekly tour around the great State of California, highlighting what’s new in Sacramento and what’s happening around the state that affects you, your family and your business.

Our weekly trip around the State of California begins with a farewell to one of Michigan’s – and the nation’s – sons, the 38th President of the United States, Gerald Ford. President Ford passed away Tuesday at his adopted home in Rancho Mirage, California. Though frequently overlooked as the unelected president sandwiched between the disastrous presidencies of Nixon and Carter, President Ford should always be remembered for a strong, quiet dignity and a sense of honor and patriotism infrequently seen in our elected leaders. Though ridiculed and attacked during his term for pardoning President Nixon, it was the right decision and time has proven that to be true.

Our thoughts are with you, President Ford, and our prayers are with your wife, Betty. Thank you for your service to our country.

Governor Schwarzenegger broke his leg recently in a freak skiing accident. He is being attacked in the press because while it was known he was out of state, it was not common knowledge that he was vacationing with his family in Idaho.

Similarly, President George Bush has taken media heat for not disclosing that First Lady Laura Bush had skin cancer removed from her leg last month.

How much is too much? Are we really at a point where we believe that our elected officials – and by extension their families – are not allowed any privacy?

The Governor should be able to vacation wherever he and his family want, and we do not have an inherent right to know his personal travel itinerary. Certainly, the President’s wife should not be required to disclose all – if any – of her personal medical treatments.

We wonder why we can’t get good men and women to run for public office, and then we subject our elected officials to this sort of intrusion. Perhaps it’s time to once again focus our attention on issues of public policy and allow our elected officials – and their families – to have a private life.

For those who wonder why third parties struggle in this country and here in California, it’s all about the money. Former Controller Steve Westly spent $43 million dollars on his failed gubernatorial campaign and didn’t even win the Democratic primary. Univision Chairman A. Jerrold Perenchio has single-handedly donated $4.8 million dollars to Governor Schwarzenegger’s campaigns. Now, name a single Green Party candidate. The Green Party, fairly well-known in environmentally sensitive California, raised and spent a total of $46 THOUSAND dollars on all of their candidates.

Have a very Happy New Year and a great 2007. That’s it for this week and remember, California is the Alpha State: the greatest state in the world’s greatest country.