Next Wednesday will be a busy one for the State Senate Rules Committee as they hold hearings, and votes, on a slew of pieces of proposed legislation. State Senator Jeff Denham will occupy a good portion of the committee’s time as he has introduced a great many of those bills himself. But this morning I wanted to highlight three of them – two great ideas, and one not-so-great idea.

First – the great ones – SCR 68 and SCR 69 are described thusly by the Senate Republican Caucus:

My long-time friend and current client Floyd Brown is featured in a story today in the New York Times on his efforts to raise funds, produce commercials, and get the public focused on Barrack Hussein Obama’s awful record and policy positions. Floyd is no stranger to California. He served in Santa Barbara as Executive Director of the Reagan Ranch for four years a few years back, where I had the opportunity to work with him again when I was on the Board of Young America’s Foundation. Floyd also serves with me on the American Conservative Union Board, and with me and your publisher Jon Fleischmanas a Director of the annual "Western Conservative Political ActionConference," which will be held again October 10/11, 2008 in Newport Beach. (Information: www.westerncpac.com.)

Behind the scenes, Floyd has been meeting with Orange County conservative leaders over the last couple of months and assisting Assemblyman Chuck DeVore with the establishment of "Citizens for a Safe and Prosperous America," an issue advocacy committee, whose intent is to… Read More

On Tuesday, Governor Schwarzenegger delivered an address at the annual, massive 2008 BIO International Convention. The event is so large that it is attended by scientists and researchers from over 70 countries. You can watch the Governor’s remarks on video, courtesy of his website, here (Warning: if you watch the video, it opens with the Governor trying to make a joke after the defeat of the Lakers in the NBA finals. It falls so flat that it reinforces a stereotype — that scientists don’t watch or follow professional sports).

Since we are heading into the high-stakes season of state budget negotiations, it’s always interesting to listen to what the Governor says to look for his personal budget priorities. While enduring a few (too many) mentions of "global warming blah… Read More

The Sacramento City Council has relented to the legal prowess of Jon Coupal and Tim Biddle of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and decided that rather than just implement on their own votea new utility tax on mobile phones and new communication technologies, they will comply with the law and put the measure on the November ballot. Which is exactly what they did earier this week.

And that is where the "blue-smoke-and-mirrors" begins. Taxpayer Alert!!! The new proposed utililty tax in Sacramento isn’t a tax increase at all, according to the city! It actually lowers the utility tax on telephones from 7.5 percent to 7 percent. Yeah, on regular landline phones. Butthe new law will now add new technologies, such as text messaging and internet telephone services, to the taxable universe, resulting in $12 million more in tax revenue for the city. The city calls it the "Utility User Tax Reduction and Fairness Measure for Communications Services." LOL!

HJTA’s Biddle told the Sacramento Bee that while the city is "packaging it as a… Read More

On Tuesday, Governor Schwarzenegger delivered an address at the annual, massive 2008 BIO International Convention. The event is so large that it is attended by scientists and researchers from over 70 countries. You can watch the Governor’s remarks on video, courtesy of his website, here (Warning: if you watch the video, it opens with the Governor trying to make a joke after the defeat of the Lakers in the NBA finals. It falls so flat that it reinforces a stereotype — that scientists don’t watch or follow professional sports).

Since we are heading into the high-stakes season of state budget negotiations, it’s always interesting to listen to what the Governor says to look for his personal budget priorities. While enduring a few (too many) mentions of "global warming blah blah"… Read More

This just in from Tom Sawyer, the Governor’s Public Safety Liaison:

As the Governor’s Public Safety Liaison, I have the privilege of working with our local, state and federal law enforcement community to ensure that public safety remains our government’s top priority. With 36 years of experience in law enforcement, as a sheriff, California Highway Patrol officer and on the Board of Parole Hearings, I have devoted my career to ensuring that Californian’s are kept safe. Today, I was proud to see the Governor take a bold step in protecting California’s children from the dangers of internet child pornography. Today, Governor Schwarzenegger joined with the Attorney General and… Read More

Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, a Democrat, has apparently been flirting with the idea of becoming a Republican… No doubt helped along by a stinging attack on her from the Chairman of the Kern County Democrat Party. The odds are long that she would leave her party, but all eyes are pointed to her press conference (underway now) to see what she is going to say in response to accusations that she is overtly assisting Republican nominee Danny Gilmore in his efforts to succeed her in the Assembly. Worth a mention that Parra will be joined at her press conference by my colleague on the State GOP Board of Directors, CRP Central Valley Vice Chairman Laura Gadke…

As Matt Drudge would say… Developing…… Read More

Check THIS out, which just came over from Assemblywoman Parra. In all of my years of political involvement, I have NEVER seen a joint statement released by a Democrat Assemblymember, and two former Assembly Republican Leaders… Amazing… (both the instance, and the circumstances…)

From reading the statement below, it seems like Democrat angst should be focused on State Senator Dean Florez, for his work in opposing Nicole Parra. At the end of the day, who can blame Parra for wanted to get a little "pay back" for that kind of treatment. Of course, it is a bit poetic that the opportunity to "return the favor" comes in the form of working against the Senator’s mom (yes, as in mother), who is the Democrat torch bearer in the race to succeed Parra…

Read it and disbelieve…

Assemblywoman Nicole Parra Assemblyman George Plescia Congressman Kevin McCarthy… Read More