Events are starting up for Bill Boyarsky's major political history from University of California Press, Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics. Unruh, of course, was the prototypical Speaker of the state Assembly, the longtime state treasurer, and a pol who famously got things done. Tonight the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC is throwing a book signing and panel discussion with a pretty decent lineup: current Treasurer Bill Lockyer, former Speaker Robert M. Hertzberg, State Librarian Emeritus Kevin Starr and Constance Rice of The Advancement Project. The reception kicks off at 6:30 pm in the Davidson Conference Center, the panel at 7.

Busy man: Boyarsky, meanwhile, has a new post up at his LA Observed blog discussing Mayor Villaraigosa's difficult position over the LAPD's plan to map Muslim neighborhoods. In a piece at Robert Scheer's Truthdig, we also learn that Bill won't be voting for anyone named Rudy for president:

The limitations of the old-fashioned mainstream media prevent it from portraying the true horror of what a Giuliani administration would mean to the United States and the rest of the world.

Boyarsky, the former city editor, columnist, national political writer and City Hall bureau chief at the L.A. Times, is also the author of Ronald Reagan, His Life and Rise to the Presidency, Los Angeles: City of Dreams, Backroom Politics: How Your Local Politicians Work, Why Your Government Doesn't, and What You Can Do About It (with Nancy Boyarsky), and The Rise of Ronald Reagan.

Recently: Boyarsky on Larry Mantle (audio)