Over on the California Democrat Report website this morning, Steve Maviglio (Deputy Chief of Staff to Speaker Fabian “Loius Vuitton” Nunez blogs with seeming glee that FR friend, Joel Fox of the California Small Business Action Committee is working on a new blog site that he touts as “competition” to this website. Truth be known, Joel’s a great guy and we’ve been encouraging him. Last I checked, people travel to many places on the internet to follow politics. We welcome any more right-of-center blog activity on California politics! Fox’s group is “non-partisan” – but I would look for a steady stream of criticisms against Sacramento liberals who seem to want to regulate small business — out of business!… Read More

Ok, someone help me out here. For years, we have been watching Indian tribes all over California build, in some cases, massive gambling casinos on their tribal lands. Making the case for reservations being sovereign land, building casinos on them has become truly big business for some Indian tribes — especially for those whose ancestors were prescient enough to settle lands long ago that today are well-located for attracting gamblers.

Yesterday I read in the Fresno Bee and in the Los Angeles Times that the North Fork Tribe in Madera County in the heart of the Central Valley had reached an agreement for a gambling compact with Governor Schwarzenegger. That, in and of itself, isn’t that newsworthy — there are a lot of tribes, and a lot of compacts.

What caught my eye was that this North Fork Tribe gambling casino would be the state’s first to… Read More

On behalf of Democrats, Assemblyman Ted Liu (remember, "raise revenue" is no-so-subtle code for "raise taxes"):

On behalf of Republicans, Senate and Assembly GOPers held a press conference to celebrate today, Tax Freedom Day — see the video below. Assembly Republican Caucus Chairman Bob Huff and Senate Republican Caucus Chairman George Runner kick off the event. Jon Coupal with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Assemblywoman Mimi Walters, Assemblyman John Benoit, and Assemblyman Republican Leader Mike Villines also speak…… Read More

Not satisfied with controlling how citizens light our homes or care for our animals, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine now wants to increase the taxes—excuse me, “fees”—on our cars. Amended yesterday, AB 837 will increase registration fees on all cars 10,000 pounds or less and based on the carbon dioxide emissions of the car. Based on the car’s weight, the fees will increase from $5 to $25. Based on the carbon dioxide emissions, the rate will increase $10 to $25.

This bill will have a particular impact on families. After all, it’s the gas-guzzling, CO2- emitting SUVs and minivans used to cart kids around town that will be targeted by this tax increase.

Once again government will be taking more valuable dollars from families to then be spent by the irresponsible, spendthrift politicians in Sacramento. Families are already being pinched by the skyrocketing gas prices. Instead of raising the taxes on our cars, legislators should decrease (or abolish) gas taxes to help out families and stimulate our state’s economy.

And how about the safety of… Read More

To put it mildly, the last year has been very kind to San Bernardino County Supervisor (and former FR blogger) Brad Mitzelfelt.

He went from appointed from a cast of dozens to gaining the endorsement of almost every single official in his district including many former opponents. In addition, he put together a formidable team of consultants and local politicos, only partially drawn from his former boss, current Assessor Bill Postmus. On the policy front, he’s garnered for his infrastructure-deprived district a laundry list of roads and key projects, including expansion of the Inland Port at the former George Air Force Base, bringing jobs to the region, all while not using the feel good pork barrel so-often used by those in government positions.

Oh, and did I mention he raised over $800,000 for his June election?

Alas, Brad’s cruise to a full term was thwarted by local developer and Hesperia Councilwoman Rita Vogler, who as many of the self funders before her, decried the influence of money in politics and announced her late bid against Brad on the nearly lone basis that he’s had to raise money to campaign for his seat.

But then an… Read More

If terms limits has any downside, it is that the current crop of legislators (at least in the Assembly) have little experience in dealing with budget crises. Every member of the Assembly today got elected after the budget debacle of 2001-02, and the recovery that followed. That morass, where the budget deficit grew to $48 billion (when you include the actual deficit between revenue and spending in the 2001-02 budget and the projected spending deficit in 02-03) in a $79 billion general fund budget, was solved without a tax increase. Today, legislators talk as if a $20 billion deficit on a $110 billion budget can only be solved with a tax increase (to use their cute expression the balanced approach with a ‘mix" of cuts and tax increases). The public relations effort has begun to convince the Governor of this fact and then have the Governor persuade enough legislators to get the tax increase.

That is an old strategy that worked in Pete Wilson’s first term. It failed miserably. The tax increase deepened a pending recession, causing the deficit to deepen. What is more the proposed "cuts" never occurred. Spending went up, taxes went… Read More

Robocalls: You may have signed up for the "Do Not Call list" as I have so you don’t get those annoying random sales calls at home. I was the lead co-sponsor of the California Do Not Call legislation when I was in the State Assembly (a copy of that bill signed by Governor Gray Davis is hanging on the wall in my office in DC). But now, here come those really annoying political "robocalls." These are recorded, automatically dialed calls to your house advocating one political position or candidate or another. They come at odd hours. They have the caller ID blocked so you don’t know who’s calling. They often say terrible things about a candidate without identifying who it is that is saying the terrible thing. I used them years ago when the technology was in its infancy. But now they have become so cheap that lots of abusers have entered the field.

So, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and I have introduced the Robocall Privacy Act to put some restrictions on this practice. This bill would impose significant sanctions on groups or individuals who: make political robocalls between the hours of 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.; make more… Read More

Former Congressman Ernest Istook gives a great primer on five ways to lower gas prices. And he doesn’t even include the obvious — which is to lower existing state and federal taxes on gasoline… Enjoy… … Read More