Having been rolled by the Governor for the past five years (a little less rolled in 2007 than in years past) the GOP minority in the State SenateandAssembly must now, finally, draw a line in the sand on State spending, which has exploded under this Governor and with a few Republican votes every year.

At risk here are losing the arguments on two key principles, the premise that we have a spending problem rather than a revenue problem, the historical fact that tax increases do not now, nor ever have, increased tax revenues.

There is also the issue that nobody in elected office, nor any candidate wants to touch – education spending. Somebody explain to me why a 100% run up in education spending over 10 years with less than 15% change in enrollment can’t be reduced in a fiscal crisis? Are there no intellectuals out there to make the argument.

This is a seminal time for the GOP. A depressed nationwide base looks at a feckless Congress, a lame duck President and a Governor who has place our State at great risk while flying the GOP flag. Its not a good situation, and taking a stand on the issue of taxes would be a great help.… Read More

Deep down everyone involved in politics knows that “campaign reform” has been a failure. More and More money comes in, but all these laws make it harder to find who is really giving to whom. At the state level, you can go to the Secretary of State Website and check out donors at the state level to the real big campaigns.

Local campaigns are a completely different story. It is hard to know about campaign donations without going to City Hall. Hard except in Pasadena , where The Foothill Cities Blog that covers the Foothill Cities in LA County. (Hence the clever name) has taken on campaign finance at the local level. In Pasadena the most prominent of the cities it covers … Read More

With his strong wins in Texas and Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont, Senator McCain has earned the delegates to be our Republican standard bearer for President. Right now he is receiving the endorsement of President Bush, a true showing of Republican unity that will be critical this November. President Bush is in a jovial mood, talking about how they’ve campaigned against each other and with each other over the years and that he will be back in Crawford with his feet up, while John is inside [the Oval Office] making the tough decisions. He expressed great confidence in McCain’s ability to lead, and had a bit of fun with the press in the process.

My hats off to Senator McCain for hanging with it and picking himself up off the deck in the primary process and getting the job done. Although I was with another candidate until soon after the Super Tuesday primary results, Senator McCain has and will act with honoras Commander In Chief, a very important distinction between he and whoever is his November Democrat opponent will be…critical for the future direction of our country and it’s affairs such as:

-Seeing through and honoring the… Read More

You have to love the mindset of liberal Democrats like Don Perata, the outgoing State Senate President Pro-Tem. For years and years, they (Democrats) have overseen a huge expansion of the size and scope of state government spending, without regard for the inevitable result — that eventually the proverbial chickens would come home to roost and we would be left where we are right now — with current state spending vastly exceeding anticipated tax revenues. This situation that we are in, which is mostly the doing of Perata and his liberal Democrat colleagues (since it takes a 2/3 vote to pass a budget, Republicans to share some "partial credit" for our situation), is a horrible one. But it should be crystal clear that there is only one responsible course of action to an overspending problem, and that is to cut spending back to levels that the state can afford. Of course, being liberals, Perata and company can’t understand why we should simply saddle Californian’s with higher taxes so that we can "increase state revenue" to match our overspending. It must be so easy to be a liberal. After… Read More

FlashReport Exclusive…

Ending months of speculation that he may enter the fray himself, Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R-77) will announce — at a press conference to begin in about 30 minutes — his endorsement of Duncan D. Hunter (left) for the open 52nd Congressional District seat. Hunter will also name Anderson as campaign chairman.

Anderson confirmed the news with me this morning as he was leaving Sacramento to attend the 11 a.m. press conferencein La Mesa. The announcement is a significant coup for Hunter, as Anderson has long been considered by many a potential leading contender for the seat. The 77th Assembly District overlaps much of the 52nd congressional area, including nearly all of the major communities. Hunter, a Marine Corps captain, recently returned from a stint in Afghanistan, and since then has been campaigning for the seat being vacated by his father, 14-term Congressman Duncan Hunter. "Captain Hunter is the true… Read More

You have to love the mindset of liberal Democrats like Don Perata, the outgoing State Senate President Pro-Tem. For years and years, they (Democrats) have overseen a huge expansion of the size and scope of state government spending, without regard for the inevitable result — that eventually the proverbial chickens would come home to roost and we would be left where we are right now — with current state spending vastly exceeding anticipated tax revenues. This situation that we are in, which is mostly the doing of Perata and his liberal Democrat colleagues (since it takes a 2/3 vote to pass a budget, Republicans to share some "partial credit" for our situation), is a horrible one. But it should be crystal clear that there is only one responsible course of action to an overspending problem, and that is to cut spending back to levels that the state can afford. Of course, being liberals, Perata and company can’t understand why we should simply saddle Californian’s with higher taxes so that we can "increase state revenue" to match our overspending. It must be so easy to be a liberal. After… Read More

From that nation’s capital, the big news that didn’t come out of Ohio or Texas.

California-related items top the news today. Former California spin-meistress Karen Hanretty joins the National Republic Congressional Committee as Communications Director, from the Politico.

The McClintock news runs prominently in the Hill, Roll Call and Politico. (NOTE: for some reason, Roll Call requires a subscription. Its two competitor newspapers do not.)

Senate leaders work to move President Bush’s judicial nominees in the remaining months of session.

A humorous look inside Gov. Schwarzenegger’s financial disclosure forms and (for sure!), a… Read More

“When it rains, it pours,” as they say. Today it is “raining” Republican candidates for the State Board of Equalization.

Earlier today I blogged on how Tom McClintock’s decision to run for Congress would immediately set up a GOP donnybrook for Bill Leonard’s BOE seat (which is up in 2010).

See my post below for the field so far – Alby, Runner (George), Nakanishi…

Well, add another name to the list. Apparently for a few months, term limited State Senator Roy Ashburn has been running for this seat, with a brief break when it looked like McClintock was running for BOE (Ashburn would have backed him).

Ashburn is busy making fundraising calls, with an Ashburn for BOE event this Monday. Very busy making calls.

I learned about Asbhurn’s activities when the Senator called me a few minutes ago. He also told me, “The Board of Equalization is California’s tax board. This key position gives taxpayers a voice and an advocate in the process.”

So, now add Ashburn to the mix. Oh, I should add that I heard from the Nakanishi campaign that he has been… Read More