State Senate Republicans are filled with resolve. They have drawn a line in the sand that is reasonable, and modest. Given the significant increases in state revenue the past few years, there is no reason for California to adopt a 2007-08 budget that spends more than projected revenues. Today’s Commentary is guest-authored by FR friend and State Senator Bob Dutton…

Controlling Government Growth By Sen. Bob Dutton With the budget now 27 days late the mudslinging in the halls of the Capitol is in full… Read More

State Senate Republicans are filled with resolve. They have drawn a line in the sand that is reasonable, and modest. Given the significant increases in state revenue the past few years, there is no reason for California to adopt a 2007-08 budget that spends more than projected revenues. Today’s Commentary is guest-authored by FR friend and State Senator Bob Dutton…

Controlling Government Growth By Sen. Bob Dutton

With the budget now 27 days late the mudslinging in the halls of the Capitol is in full swing.

My Republican colleagues and I have stood firm under the leadership of Dick Ackerman convinced that we must do all we can to get our… Read More

Today Governor Schwarzenegger is going to meet with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon of the Republican of Korea (South Korea). Here’s a quick video for the Governor to watch before they sit down… … Read More

Sometimes watching the goings-on in Congress truly makes you think of that colloquial expression, "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

That is certainly the case when we look at the whole issue surrounding the egregious earmark of Charles Rangel, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee (pictured left). The earmark in question is to shell out $2 million dollars to go towards the creation of a center for public policy at the City College of New York. Now, there may be some debate in Congress about whether $2 million to go towards a building at a college is "egregious" or not. Certainly in the current paradigm that is Congress, where members routinely are sending home pork to their districts, this earmark unfortunately doesn’t really stick out. EXCEPT… Now, get this. It falls under the category of "you simply couldn’t… Read More

Sometimes watching the goings-on in Congress truly makes you think of that colloquial expression, "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

That is certainly the case when we look at the whole issue surrounding the egregious earmark of Charles Rangel, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee (pictured left). The earmark in question is to shell out $2 million dollars to go towards the creation of a center for public policy at the City College of New York. Now, there may be some debate in Congress about whether $2 million to go towards a building at a college is "egregious" or not. Certainly in the current paradigm that is Congress, where members routinely are sending home pork to their districts, this earmark unfortunately doesn’t really stick out. EXCEPT… Now, get this. It falls under the category of "you simply couldn’t… Read More

Some timely commentary from the Chairman of the State Senate Republican Caucus…

Time To Live Within Our Means Senator George Runner The Senate Republicans budget proposal has accomplished what some believed to be impossible: We have cut spending while leaving K-12 education and public safety alone. We went after people… Read More

Word from the Senate is that the session called for 9 a.m. this morning has been delayed, subject to the "Call of the Chair" — which means what?

It means that perhaps Senate President Don Perata is starting to realize that his immature budget antics aren’t moving the debate anywhere.

What is needed here is an acknowledgement that the Assembly-passed budget is DOA, and a reopening of the negotiations. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines should come back into town, and everyone should reopen budget negotiations, this time with the knowledge that there is a GOP line in the sand – no deficit spending.

Oh well, trying to suggest a logical course of action to Don Perata is a bit of a challenge — especially when he would rather be name calling than negotiating.… Read More

Porkbusters has ID’d 1776 individual earmarks in the latest Defense Appropriation bill.

We’ll give you three guesses as to which Californian has the most (38, making him third over all in Congress)…

What? You think you already know the answer?

Well, click here to verify your hunch.

Apparently Jerry Lewis (oh! I gave it away) is enough of an expert in these items to champion their funding requests — Center for Innovative Geospatial Technology, GeoSAR System Enhancements, Geospatial Intelligence Analysis Education, Joint Training Experimentation Program (JTEP), Homeland Defense Operational Planning System (HOPS), Lewis Center for Education Research, Norton AFB Infrastructure Improvements, MAGTGTC Range Transformation Initiative, Magneto Inductive Remote Activation Munition Systems MI-RAMS, Warrior Block 0 All-Weather, Hi-Fidelity Sensor Upgrades, MAGTFTC Range Transformation Initiative, Mobile Optical Sensor Suite (MOSS), Praetorian, Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology (CASIT), Cyber Threat Analytics, Integrated Information Technology… Read More