It doesn’t take an economics professor to understand Los Angeles’ (LA) monstrous budget deficit.The math is simple: LA is spending more money than it’s taking in.It does get more difficult, however, when it comes to getting the city to curb spending, consolidate, and focus on bringing in revenue.But, a framework provided by LA’s Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA) may give us hope.

The LA Daily News reported (March 20th) that “The Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA) released a two-part report [that] detail[s] 50 solutions to help balance the City of Los Angeles’ budget.The report provides solutions for revenue generation as well as a comprehensive set of suggestions to address the current fiscal deficit without raising taxes.” VICA’s report begins with the following: “The city of Los Angeles faces a budget deficit of more than $150 million for the remainder of the fiscal year… Read More

Yesterday was a roller coaster ride of emotions as I spent the entire day at the capitol testifying in committee hearings. This part of the legislative year could be dubbed “the killing season” with all the great Republican bills dying premature deaths. Although it’s frustrating and infuriating to witness the lack of common sense or real empathy in the majority party, we can muster the fortitude to carry on by some of the encouragements I witnessed yesterday.

Senator Alan Lowenthal’s SB 1322, the bill that will allow communists to teach in public schools, passed the Senate Education Committee with flying (red) colors. The bill passed despite the moving testimony of my friend Alex Pop, a Romanian immigrant who was imprisoned for simply speaking out against the communist government in his country. Yesterday Alex celebrated his nineteenth year of escaping to America and freedom. Alex’s two sons will attend the Naval Academy and West Point and his daughter is Miss Northern California. Alex is the perfect example of the American Dream—he went from a communist prison for speaking against the government to actually addressing the… Read More

What’s that smell?

It’s the stink Don Perata’s ethically challenged ways all over the attempt to recall Senator Jeff Denham. We’ve all heard that fable of King Midas who could turn things to gold with a mere touch. Well, here in real life, we have Don Perata, who can turn anything into a smelly quagmire of questionable ethics with his mere involvement.

It seems like forever that Perata has been under the cloud of an FBI probe, which is probably more like an ongoing feeding frenzy as he keeps acting like some dictator with a Nietsche complex (the rules of mere mortals don’t apply to The Don).

In an article in today’s Merced Sun-Star Stephen Jones, the Merced County Registrar of Voters, has said that he will be filing an official complaint after the addresses given many petition gatherers working to qualify the recall were not residents of Merced County. An excerpt from the story…… Read More

What’s that smell?

It’s the stink Don Perata’s ethically challenged ways all over the attempt to recall Senator Jeff Denham. We’ve all heard that fable of King Midas who could turn things to gold with a mere touch. Well, here in real life, we have Don Perata, who can turn anything into a smelly quagmire of questionable ethics with his mere involvement.

It seems like forever that Perata has been under the cloud of an FBI probe, which is probably more like an ongoing feeding frenzy as he keeps acting like some dictator with a Nietsche complex (the rules of mere mortals don’t apply to The Don).

**There is more – click the link**

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From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:

The Color Purple

Are the Clintons feeling a little desperate? Bill flew into a tirade at last weekend’s California Democratic Party convention. He was there to schmooze local superdelegates on Hillary’s behalf when he encountered activist and Clinton-supporting superdelegate Rachel Binah, who had been a Bill Richardson supporter until the New Mexico governor dropped out of the race.

According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Ms. Binah took the opportunity to criticize Clinton ally James Carville for describing Mr. Richardson as a "Judas" for his subsequent endorsement of Barack… Read More

Hard to believe that this FlashReport video we took of Mitt Romney on the campaign trail, telling a joke to supporters, has been viewed over 17,000 times! … Read More

I’m running out the door — but this just came in over the transom. Given the the Club for Growth is one of the premier organizations in Washington that is battling for fiscal reform and curbing the voracious appetite, present in both political parties, for pork barrel spending, I wanted to pass this along ASAP…

Also, BELOW the Club for Growth release, I have excerpted the opening paragraphs of some hard-hitting commentary from Frank Schubert (of Schubert-Flint Public Affairs), a resident of CD-4 who hits Tom McClintock pretty hard and makes the case for why he believes Doug Ose, and Tom McClintock should be his Congressman…

Memo Date: April 2, 2008 To: Assemblyman John Benoit From: Jon Fleischman RE: Understanding Liberals I saw that yesterday, on a party-line vote, Assembly Democrats rejected your Assembly Bill 2389 which, put simply, would require that welfare recipients in California must submit to random drug tests, and if they they fail, be enrolled in mandatory treatment, or lose their right to welfare. You are to be commended for bringing forward such a common-sense measure, but I think that we all knew, unfortunately, that it was destined for defeat. It is not a coincidence that Democrats opposed this bill, while your Republican colleagues supported it. You see it goes to one of the basic core differences between the… Read More