San Bernardino County Supervisor (and former FR Blogger) Brad Mitzelfelt seems to be well on track to being re-elected.

Just one little comparison to show how the race is going.

Brad hasbeen all over ABC tv, appearing on World News Tonight and on Good Morning America touting his efforts to keep sex offenders from stalking children behind the wheel of an ice cream truck. Pretty nice opportunity – being able to appear on network tv, talking about a popularissue just before anelection.

By contrast, Brad’s opponent – a woman who decided to base her campaign on the surefire-winning issue of campaign finance reform – hasn’t been able to keep from repeatedly tripping over herself. From failing to and lying about filing her Campaign Finance documents, to now questions arising of whether she hid assets on her Statement of Economic Interest forms, Rita Vogler has been her own biggest obstacle to competitiveness.

But as we sit here two and a half weeks from Election Day – Brad is looking awfully good.… Read More

Just off the transom from uber-consultant Tim Clark on behalf of the Robert Rao campaign in AD 15 (this is what we call an “oops memo”) —

In a statement released earlier today, the Rao for Assembly campaign announced that the Contra Costa Chapter of the California Republican Assembly had endorsed Robert Rao for Assembly in the 15th district. Although Rao won the “straw vote” taken, CRA bylaws do not permit a local CRA chapter to formally endorse except at the district endorsement meeting held earlier in the year.

“We appreciate the wonderful work of the California Republican Assembly and would love to have their formal endorsement,” said Rao Spokesman Mike Caporusso, “but no candidate was endorsed at the Spring meeting, and that’s the official vote, so we respect that.”… Read More

TO: Members and Friends, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association FROM: Jon Coupal, President SUBJ: California State Budget Yesterday, the Governor released his "May Revision" of his earlier budget proposal. The "May Revise," as it is called, takes into account more recent financial considerations of which our political leaders were unaware back in January. HJTA has several concerns about the Governor’s May Revise. First and foremost, it reflects another failure by projecting a level of spending in excess of revenue. The fact is, the taxpayers of California have done their job — and then some. You have provided political leadership with billions of dollars more than just a few years ago. In fact, general fund spending has about doubled in just ten years, from $50 billion to $100 billion. It may be a worn-out expression, but it is fundamentally true: California does not… Read More

I read a lot of political discourse that is pretty tedious and boring. I never want this blog to sink to that level. I understand that there is always a risk of that when I bring up such scintillating topics as international tax policy and mortgage origination regulations. Stop yawning!

Anyway, so here is the very first Campbell Quiz. These are a few questions about current events in Congress and politics. And no, I will not make you wait until next week to find the answers. They are all at the end of each question. Good luck, have fun…….oh yeah and maybe you’ll learn something you didn’t know too!

1) Two weeks ago, Congress passed a "technical corrections bill" that contained hundreds of new transportation earmarks including $90 million to study a "maglev" (magnetic levitation) train. This train would run a route that is currently served by dozens of daily airline flights and at a fare of about $118. If it takes $90 million to study it, imagine what it would take to subsidize it. This train would run between:

a) New York and Washington b) Anaheim and Las… Read More

Offsetting the glee from the loony-left, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines issued this strong statement in response to the Supreme Court decision to, in essence, prepare the way for legal same-sex marriage in California…

Minutes ago the California State Supreme Court released its decision on the gay marriage question (they were looking at the constitutionality of voter-passed Proposition 22, which placed into statute that marriage shall be between a man and a woman).

On a 4-3 decision, the Supremes OVERTURNED Proposition 22, striking the language from California law.

You can read their decision here.

You can be sure that the liberal Democrats who control the legislature will have a homesexual marriage bill on the Governor’s desk as quick they possibly can, which he apparently will sign.

The Governor released this one-sentence response to the court’s ruling: “I respect the Court’s decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling. Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling.”

Note that the Governor refrains from any subjective statements such as "I am disappointed by this… Read More

Apparently freshman Democrat Jerry McNerney is unconcerned about being named one of Roll Call Newspaper’s most vunerable incumbents. Just in from our friends at The Club for Growth…

Jerry McNerney Adds Another Tax Increase to His Record

Washington – As if Jerry McNerney’s tax-and-spend record is not sufficiently hostile to taxpayers, today, the California representative voted for the absurdly named “Patriot Tax” in the war supplemental. The amendment is an unambiguous income tax increase, imposing a 0.5% surcharge on gross income on earnings over $500,000 a year or $1 million for a couple.

Without a doubt, this tax increase will prove harmful to the economy, stifling innovation, productivity, and job growth. To make matters worse, the tax will be especially harmful on small businesses whose owners often file their business income on their individual tax returns. In fact, the Tax Foundation reports that almost 83% of all income tax returns with over $1 million in income are business owners. A tax that is supposedly on the rich will in fact hurt everyone.

“Jerry McNerney’s disregard for taxpayers is… Read More

It may come as a shock, but actor (and liberal agitator) Sean Penn and FR’s own Mike Spence share a political belief: government should butt out of cigarette smokers’ freedom. Apparently Penn decided to openly defy new French laws that ban all smoking in public enclosed spaces by lighting up during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival. (I wonder how the French will respond to this latest revolution?) … Read More