This morning at 11am, I will be at a press conference being headed up by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, where a group of us are filing a lawsuit today against the illegal action of the state legislature in allowing billions of dollars in potential new tax increases to be passed out of the State Senate and the State Assembly without the 2/3rds vote required under the State Constitution. Joining HJTA and the FlashReport in filing this suit are over 40 State Legislators (Republicans all, of course), the National Federation of Independent Business, Americans for Prosperity, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, and KFI radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou.
As followers of Golden State politics know, in response to the reasonable and strong position of legislative Republicans that after increasing state spending by over 40% in just four years, our state’s fiscal crisis should not be resolved by punishing Californians and damaging the economy with new tax increases. Legislative Democrats cooked up a scheme to pass billions of dollars in new taxes without any GOP votes trying to use some legal maneuvering to have all of the taxes categorized as “fees” and thus supposedly avoiding the 2/3rds vote requirement. Totally outrageous.
While Governor Schwarzenegger, shortly after the vote, announced he would reject the package, he rather conspicuously did not say he was rejecting the proposal because of the illegal tax hike scheme. In fact, since making his announcement, he has continued to negotiate with the Democrats. Republican legislative leaders have rightly said that it is impossible for them to sit at the negotiating table as long as the illegal tax-hikes are a part of the equation.
If you are an FR reader in the Sacramento area, I encourage you to come on over to the announcement. It will be taking place on the steps of the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, which is in the roundabout just west of the State Capitol)
In separate political news, retired eBay Chairman Meg Whitman, with whom I conducted this interview in November, is ratcheting up her preparations for an anticipated late January/early February announcement that she is seeking the Republican nomination for Governor in 2010. It was reported by the Sacramento Bee today, and is in a number of MSM stories today that just before the end of the year, Whitman resigned from three corporate boards on which she served – eBay, Procter & Gamble, and DreamWorks Animation SKG.
Also, yesterday Whitman, along with chief political advisor Jeff Randle, made visits to Republican legislative offices in the State Capitol, where Whitman was asking for support for her run. I am not sure that there are too many legislators who have not already endorsed Whitman’s most significant primary opponent, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Poizner, who announced his own campaign for California Governor last year, has an impressive list of early endorsers including most Republican legislators.
Whitman’s lengthy transition from merely considering being a candidate to now being a candidate who just has yet to formally announce has been a lengthy one – we first reported on her potential Gubernatorial candidacy last summer.
So far, Whitman has been very quiet about where she stands on a lot of major issues facing California – preferring to punt taking public positions until she is an announced candidate for Governor. Most recently her campaign (or whatever you call it before you announce) declined a request that she comment on the move by Democrats to raise taxes without a 2/3rds vote of the legislature. Poizner not only weighed in strongly criticizing the action, but as you can see above, Poizner will be at the press conference today. I don’t know if Whitman is still in Sacramento today, but if she is, I would strongly encourage her to come over and join in the battle against this scheme.
I’ll be writing a lot more about the Gubernatorial primary, but I will say that while Whitman brings to the table a pretty impressive success story with eBay, and a very large personal fortune that is available for her to fund a campaign, there is going to be a lot of scrutiny on her, and where she stands on a myriad of major issues. Whitman all of last year barnstorming the country and state, first for her friend Mitt Romney, and then for GOP Presidential nominee Senator John McCain. But much is still a mystery about this relatively new Republican…
I can tell you this — the Republican Party nationally is hurting because we have lost our credibility as truly being the party of limited government and of freedom and liberty. Here in California, Governor Schwarzenegger with his jihad against the state’s business climate (in the name of the global climate) and his advocacy of massive tax increases is only adding to the party’s challenge. Our state legislators are doing a marvelous job of doing the right thing, but it will take a lot more than that to change public opinion about the GOP. So far, Poizner has been clear that he opposes any tax increases, while lower-profile candidate former Rep. Tom Campbell has called for billions in new taxes. Where will Whitman come down in this important debate over the future of our state, and the Republican Party? So far her silence has been notable.
Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?
Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.