Today we are pleased to offer this exclusive Guest Commentary from Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello. Assemblyman Niello is the Vice Chairman of the Assembly’s Budget Committee, and is the lead Republican in the Assembly on Budget issues… Democrat Budget Increases Taxes and Spending! By Assemblyman Roger Niello Democrats showed their true colors this week by passing a budget out of the conference committee that contains nearly $10 billion in tax increases and increases state spending by billions of dollars… Read More

FlashReport readers who haven’t joined the "social netoworking generation" should sign up at Facebook. When you do, join the FlashReport/California Politics group! And, as a bonus, I am willing to be your "friend" — so reach out.

Jon… Read More

I’ve dropped in on the Freedom Fest conference at Bally’s in Las Vegas. Looks to be about 500 members of the VRWC (vast right wing conspiracy), gathered in a large, dark room. Steve Forbes is on a panel of other libertarians (this is primarily a free minds, free market crowd). You can tell because some other guy on the panel is railing aOf course, the first thought that crossed my mind is that I would prefer a banana daqueri poolside… But since I am here, at what is billed as “The World’s Largest Gathering of Free Minds…”

It’s a positive sign that besides Forbes, I haven’t run into anyone I know. Perhaps that means there are more of us than I thought…

Actually, I came over to catch up with my friend Steve Moore, editorial writer and editorial board member of the Wall Street Journal. There he is…. That’s it for now…… Read More

At least one California liberalseems pretty sensitive to my use of Barrack Hussein Obama’s full given name in my posts. Dan Chmielewski, the guru of The Liberal OC Blog, recently said, "someone needs to tell Jim Lacy that “Hussein” means “handsome one” or “beautful one”; I’m only suprised that he didn’t call Senator Obama “Barrack Hussein Osama.”

Excuse me, but a birth certificate is a legal document, this is still a free country governed by a Constitution that ensures my right to Free Speech, I am a lawyer, and if the guy’s name is Barrack Hussein Obama, then I can say it, without incident, no matter what implication the liberals fear is drawn from it, "handsome" or otherwise.

But I do think it is a little fun to speculate about how the press corps will be handling Obama’s name should he be elected President. For example, there is afairly long history of the pressusing initials to refer to a president, the first, middle, and last initial, in communications, especially headlines. For example, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was "FDR," John F. Kennedy was… Read More

For you night owls, the long awaited tax increase proposals are out this evening, courtesy of the Budget Conference Committee that my good colleague Assemblyman Antonin Adams posted about earlier…including rolling back [about 70%] the dependant child tax credit, a sure winner amongst families, nowwith less disposable income. Many arestaying home this summer because of skyrocketing fuel prices as well as higher costs of foodand everything else…couple that with this tax plan…yeah, lots of happy families in California this year.

Of course, we can remind that the State has already enjoyed a windfall of doubling the sales tax per gallon of fuel[worth over $1 Billion in new taxes] in the short time that gas itself has doubled, but I guess that new inflow doesn’t count because it wasn’t directly taken by legislative action.

Also in the plan, pushing up the rates of income tax on the highest income earners, also known as "the rich", "the winners of lifes lottery",… Read More

TheFederal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that an Arizona law thatbans out-of-state residents as petition circulators is unconstitutional. The logic of the decision, according to "Ballot Access News," would apply to circulation of any types of petitions. The court also ruled unconstitutional in the same case (brought by Ralph Nader) a separate Arizona law establishing a deadline for independent presidential candidate’s filings to be on the state ballot. But the big constitutional victory was on petition circulation.

Readers will know I have posted in the past and criticized restrictions government places on who may circulate a petition. The Federal constitutional right to petition government does not evaporate just because someone crosses a state-line, and whether or not a petition circulator gets paid does not sully or diminish that important right.

A tactic of liberals in California to dillute the people’s power of initiative guaranteed by the State Constitution, and thereby build up the power of our gerrymandered permanent Democratic-dominated state legislature, is to impose every… Read More

FR friend Jennifer Kerns has been tapped as Communications Director for the high profile Protect Marriage Act campaign. Here is an excerpt from their release… Congrats Jennifer…

California Marriage Protection Act Hires Top Communications Director

“The proponents of Yes on Proposition 8, the California Marriage Protection Act, and ProtectMarriage.com announced today the hiring of public relations professional Jennifer Kerns as Communications Director for the statewide ballot initiative.

Kerns, the owner of K Street Communications, recently served as Senior Press Secretary for California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. She also served as Communications Director for his election campaign, helping Poizner successfully win the endorsements of all 37 major newspapers in California in his landslide election over sitting Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante.

She previously served as an Assistant Secretary of State and Spokeswoman in the office of Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, where she represented the State on Elections issues, crisis communications, voting system integrity, Special Elections, the 2005… Read More

Obesity is a major problem in America. Here in California, it is an especially big problem in state government. Government spending keeps going up and up, and government income keeps going up and up. Right now we find ourselves in a state government money crunch because while the state’s income continues to climb, the voratious appetite of legislative Democrats to spend (aided by Governors of both parties) seems to have no limits.

Well, it is time for state government to go on a diet. It is time to get on the treadmill and shed billions of dollars in unsustainable spending. Government will have to do less, to provide less.

From an ideological perspective, this kind of reasoning is foreign to the liberals in the majority, who today called for shameful growth in state taxes to the tune of over $9 billion. From a pragmatic side, eventually spending is going to have to be prioritized. There is no magic wand for our overspending problem, we’re simply going to have to make cuts.

Raising taxes to match overspending is not only immoral, it is also impractical as we need our economy to thrive – and nothing will help promote a… Read More