We received this commentary from Assemblywoman Audra Strickland…

There seems to be this notion promoted in the media that Republicans are not all on the same team. And, that support for our Republican colleagues in the Senate and their efforts to balance the state budget is a repudiation of the Governor and the Assembly Republicans that voted for the budget. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is because of Governor Schwarzenegger and his commitment against raising taxes that Democrat proposals for new taxes are not a serious part of budget negotiations. During the Davis administration, Democrat politicians seemed to compete to see who could propose the largest and most creative new tax levy. Today we are at the cusp of fiscal responsibility and a state government that lives within its means largely because we have a Republican Governor committed against raising taxes. Assembly Republican Leader Mike… Read More

Earlier this afternoon, the fifteen members of the Senate Republican Caucus went down to Governor Schwarzenegger’s office to discuss the state budget. (Only in the State Capitol would fifteen people go downstairs instead of one man coming upstairs. Then again, he is the Governator. Besides, maybe they smoked cigars, and he does have the only smoking tent in the immediate vicinity…). Apparently the name of the game is still, "Do ANYTHING to get Senate Republicans to vote for the already-passed budget out of the Assembly — we don’t want to crack-open budget negotiations again!" So, we can assume that Governor’s "pitch" to Senate Republicans was made with a big blue pencil in his hand, making the case for how the Governor would trim the state budget over the ears a bit in order to satisfy concerns of GOP Senators. Unfortunately, one has to acknowledge that the blue-pencil (line item veto) approach has its limitations. Yes, the Governor could… Read More

The members of the California legislature pull down a full-time salary, though many months of the year are spent in district "work periods" far from the State Capitol. But you really have to wonder in the absence of a state budget, now well past the Constitution deadline, why all our legislators are not in Sacramento working hard at finding a solution to the budget impasse? Perhaps no member of the State Legislature has demonstrated the arrogance of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. While Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines stands by attentively in Fresno to return to Sacramento (on his favorite three hour drive), the Speaker of the California Assembly is off vacationing in Europe… What? You didn’t know that? Yeah, not much has been written about it all of the newspaper stories covering the budget impasse. Trying to figure out where Nunez is vacationing on the other side of the pond is a bit like trying to play Where’s… Read More

State Senate Republicans are proposing, as a major cost-savings measure to try to bring the California budget out from a deficit situation, reforming the CALWORKS program. Here is what Republican State Senator Jeff Denham has to say about CALWORKS…

Lost in all the rhetoric and false accusations about the Governor’s proposal to reform CALWORKS (the state’s welfare system) are the facts. While the liberal Democrat leadership of the Senate and Assembly try to portray this proposal conforming to federal law as somehow throwing single mothers and kids out into the streets, nothing could be farther from the truth. Let’s look at the facts about the proposal to… Read More

The notorious Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) is now charged with violating federal laws and misleading the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) since December, 2004. In a complaint filed on July 19, 2007 by a coalition of taxi companies LAFLA is accused of aggressively lobbying for and organizing into a union a small number of drivers with taxpayer money in direct violation of the LSC Act.

By using taxpayer money for these efforts, the LSC must either demand an end to these illegal activities or withdraw funding for LAFLA, who derives 55% of their funding from LSC grants. The complaint spells out multiple violations including grassroots lobbying, community organizing, advocacy training and staging demonstrations.

Betty Hung, directing attorney with LAFLA, has been the leader in organizing taxi drivers by forming Los Angeles Taxi Worker’s Alliance (LATWA) in addition to lobbying the Los Angeles City Council and various City Commissions.

“Whether LAFLA used taxpayer money or… Read More

The members of the California legislature pull down a full-time salary, though many months of the year are spent in district "work periods" far from the State Capitol. But you really have to wonder in the absence of a state budget, now well past the Constitution deadline, why all our legislators are not in Sacramento working hard at finding a solution to the budget impasse? Perhaps no member of the State Legislature has demonstrated the arrogance of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. While Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines stands by attentively in Fresno to return to Sacramento (on his favorite three hour drive), the Speaker of the California Assembly is off vacationing in Europe… What? You didn’t know that? Yeah, not much has been written about it all of the newspaper stories covering the budget impasse. Trying to figure out where Nunez is vacationing on the other side of the pond is a bit like trying to play Where’s… Read More

It has been my firm belief since the announcement from his Imperial Majesty Senate President Don Perata that he was so opposed to the tax-relief package negotiated by Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines that he would not even bring it up for a vote in the Senate (let alone work to get it passed out of that uber-liberal body) that the budget passed out of the Assembly was DOA in the Senate. That Assembly Budget while still bloated and largely a product of the status quo that Democrats have created after many decades of majority control in the legislature, GOP negotiators made some important strides in that document.

Still, as Assembly Republican Caucus Chairman Bob Huff points out in an exclusive column today, that tax relief package was a "lynch pin" to the budget garnering enough votes to even get out of the Assembly at all. Huff says, "Without the tax cuts, the Senators will not be dealing with the budget package approved by 9 Republican Assemblymembers."

Huff, of course, was the highest ranking Assembly Republican to vote against the budget in the… Read More

It has been my firm belief since the announcement from his Imperial Majesty Senate President Don Perata that he was so opposed to the tax-relief package negotiated by Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines that he would not even bring it up for a vote in the Senate (let alone work to get it passed out of that uber-liberal body) that the budget passed out of the Assembly was DOA in the Senate. That Assembly Budget while still bloated and largely a product of the status quo that Democrats have created after many decades of majority control in the legislature, GOP negotiators made some important strides in that document.

Still, as Assembly Republican Caucus Chairman Bob Huff points out in an exclusive column today, that tax relief package was a "lynch pin" to the budget garnering enough votes to even get out of the Assembly at all. Huff says, "Without the tax cuts, the Senators will not be dealing with the budget package approved by 9 Republican Assemblymembers."

Huff, of course, was the highest ranking Assembly Republican to vote against the budget in the… Read More