What could possibly be more egregious than a government entity using taxpayer dollars to lobby to increase taxes on those taxpayers? It happens. FR friend Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, tells the story in today’s commentary:

Our Tax Dollars Turned Against Us by Jon Coupal, President, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association When the Legislature is in session, the Capitol is awash with millions of dollars worth of lobbying talent. You have never seen so many suits per square yard in your life. In Sacramento, nothing of importance happens without the involvement of lobbyists. These denizens of the… Read More

It’s too badthat the initiative to change the apportionment of California electoral college votes in the Presidential election unfortunately has not been able to get off the ground. The leaders of the effort, including mega-consultant Marty Wilson and respected California political attorney Tom Hiltachk, deserve serious kudos for attempting to advance this forward thinking effort that would have made California of huge strategic importance in future presidential elections, and also assure representation of the diversity of California,by changing the method of apportionment of electoral votes from "winner-take-all" to one that would be largely by Congressional district results. The result would be a Republican candidate could be assured of receiving electoral college votes from our state.

The initiative was unable to garner the financial support it deserved, and, in addition, one of the donors had some apparent organizational difficulties. Regardless, it was a good try and an issue deserving of more consideration in future by donors, operatives, and voters alike.… Read More

"I have been against the fence, I thought it’s a bad idea even when it was just a matter of discussion," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "These are communities where you have a border going through them, they are not communities where you have a fence splitting them."

I beg to disagree, Nancy. Having lived on or near the border for years I would hardly consider San Diego and Tijuana a single community.… Read More

Imagine a place where bank robbery is not a crime. Where people can walk up to teller windows and take money to spend on any outrageous, egregious thing that they want, and no one stops them. That’s the problem that we have with egregious pork barrel spending on Capitol Hill. To make matters worse, the only people that can make this form of robbery a crime, are the same people who are robbing the bank! Well, then imagine that the public, who are the depositors at the bank, are becoming more and more outraged that their savings are being withdrawn "at gunpoint" to be spent on billions of pork-barrel projects. So, these robbers, who happen to be the Board of Directors of the bank, have to do something to try to mollify the concerns of their depositors. So what do they do? You would think that they would simply STOP robbing the people’s bank, and put an end to this terrible self-defeating practice? No. Instead, they have engaged in a sidebar discussion that is not about whether we ban… Read More

Imagine a place where bank robbery is not a crime. Where people can walk up to teller windows and take money to spend on any outrageous, egregious thing that they want, and no one stops them. That’s the problem that we have with egregious pork barrel spending on Capitol Hill. To make matters worse, the only people that can make this form of robbery a crime, are the same people who are robbing the bank! Well, then imagine that the public, who are the depositors at the bank, are becoming more and more outraged that their savings are being withdrawn "at gunpoint" to be spent on billions of pork-barrel projects. So, these robbers, who happen to be the Board of Directors of the bank, have to do something to try to mollify the concerns of their depositors. So what do they do? You would think that they would simply STOP robbing the people’s bank, and put an end to this terrible self-defeating practice? No. Instead, they have engaged in a sidebar discussion that is not about whether we ban… Read More

A lot of folks know that I live a few blocks from the border between my own 18th AD and the 15th, and I’m frequently asked/pestered about why I’m not blogging on the race…so I’m coming clean.

I’m bored out of my mind.

I see all the press releases for the candidates, and they all basically fall into three categories: * I’m having a fundraiser * Here’s my latest bank statement * Here’s a list of my friends who say nice things about me

That’s the typical stuff that interests the lobbyists and Sacramento folks, but the community can’t even work up a full-fledged yawn over this.

Candidates, you are following a very tough act. Assemblyman Houston gained strong support each election cycle, despite his GOP registration numbers falling off the map. Yes, he had fundraisers, demonstrated a healthy bank account, and had a long list of endorsements. But to the community, his outreach was about community issues.

Folks, you’re running in a district that could go to either party. If you want to be the break out candidate, start sending out press releases that talk about what voters care about. Keep raising money, and all… Read More

A few weeks ago, I wrote about AJR 29 a joint resolution that asked for passage of a federal "hate" crimes bill that usurped local control and made specially created classes of victims. Only two GOP lawmakers voted no. (Anderson, Hollingsworth). See previous post here. The link has a letter to President Bush signed by all GOP Assembly members except Horton that renounces support for the bill. Mimi Walters collected the signatures. Way to go to correct a mistake. See letter here.… Read More

Xavier Alvarez, a member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District has been charged with…publicly saying he was a Medal of Honor Winner when he wasn’t even in the military. Oops. See Xavier, most Medal of Honor winners don’t get it while alive.See story here. Not to compare the two, but it should be a crime to run for office as a "conservative" and then vote for big bloated budgets and earmarks. But, that would cause another prison crises.

By the way Alvarez is a Democrat.… Read More