There are lots of jokes about politicians being less than honest. There are lots of jokes about politicians not being too bright. A councilman in Hawthorne has managed to combine them all in a real life drama. He lives in a house owned by a developer, and then votes to help the developer on a land issue. Duh! See the story here.… Read More

Report from the Battlefront What to expect from California College Republicans in the coming year

By Ryan Clumpner, Chairman, California College Republicans

A week and a half ago, the California College Republicans (CCR) convened to hold the first competitive leadership elections since 2004. Uncontested elections are a sign of organizational unity and CCR has flourished for the past few years. However, like any healthy organization, competition was inevitable and this year the process brought fresh vitality and a renewed interest in the direction of the organization. CCR emerged from the decisive election united and committed to an aggressive agenda for the coming year. [Their new Executive Board is pictured.]

College Republicans face some… Read More

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” — John Quincy Adams

Standing Alone: Following the crowd is not leading, and sometimes, leading can be quite a lonely experience. I did not seek this job in Congress just to have it, and to only take actions and votes that are "safe." I took it to be a force for moving America more towards the principles of personal freedom, less intrusive government, and to help preserve America’s role as the greatest source of liberty in the world.

This week, we in Congress voted on a bill called "10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act" (HR 362). This bill is not the tipping point upon which our freedoms rest. But, it is certainly not fiscally responsible. And if we don’t start to say "no" to new spending no matter how attractive it may seem, we will never control our deficit and further reduce tax rates.

The vote on this bill, though, ended up being 389-22, which means that the vast majority of both Democrats and Republicans… Read More

Report from the Battlefront What to expect from California College Republicans in the coming year

By Ryan Clumpner, Chairman, California College Republicans

A week and a half ago, the California College Republicans (CCR) convened to hold the first competitive leadership elections since 2004. Uncontested elections are a sign of organizational unity and CCR has flourished for the past few years. However, like any healthy organization, competition was inevitable and this year the process brought fresh vitality and a renewed interest in the direction of the organization. CCR emerged from the decisive election united and committed to an aggressive agenda for the coming year. [Their new Executive Board is pictured.]

College Republicans face some… Read More

Every time legislative Republicans provide the votes to use the state’s credit card — borrowing through the issuance of bonds — it’s a big win for Democrats, and very bad news for California taxpayers. For decades now, the state budget has continues to grow and grow to the point where it is now well over $100 BILLION annually. Translation: California taxpayers are paying way too much in all of the various types of taxes and fees that go to finance state government activities and programs. With strong majorities in both houses of the legislature for many decades (with a small blip for a moment in the mid-90’s where we had a Republican majority in the Assembly for one session), it has been voracious appetites of liberal Democrats that have let us to this unfortunate spot ("Best Supporting Actor" awards go to those GOPers who roll to provide the 2/3 votes needed to pass a budget). Republican Governors were not successful at stopping this growth in… Read More

Wisconsin Right to Life was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week, an important case that will decide the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold "electioneering comunications" restrictions on advocacy groups, at a minimum, as applied to Wisconsin Right to Life, an IRS Section 501(c)(4) pro-life advocacy organization. WRTL had published a communication critical of the two senators from Wisconsin for their pro-abortion votes in Congress, but because one of them wasrunning for re-election in the time period of the communication, the FEC argues the communication was an illegal electioneering communication, even though there was no mention of an election in the communication.

At issue in the case is whether a controversial provision in McCain-Feingold, that regulates ANY broadcast communications mentioning a Federal candidate’s names 30 days before before a primary and 60 days before a general election, whether or not the communication comes from a political committee and regardless of the lack of words of express advocacy, or the intention of the group to not intervene in an election.

Liberal election lawyers are… Read More

IMAGINE THIS SCENARIO You decide to invest your retirement savings and buy a home in Newport Beach, a couple of blocks from the beach. Your plan, someday, is to retire there. But for now, you can’t afford that, so you prepare your home to rent out for the upcoming summer. As a matter of fact, a heavy factor in deciding whether you could afford this home was the anticipated revenues from rental income in the lucrative summer rental market. You even timed the sale so that you’d own the property just in time. You go down to Newport Beach City Hall to file a permit to use the property as a rental and you told you are REJECTED.

Huh? Yes, rejected. You see, in their infinite wisdom, the Newport Beach City Council voted 6-0 to place a 45 day moratorium on the granting of any permits for short-term rental housing. That’s right, in the heart of America’s most Republican County, we have a City Council that is enacting policies that make the folks in Berkeley look conservative…… Read More

Yesterday the Democrats passed a bill out of the Assembly Human Services committee that would allow felons convicted of selling illegal drugs to get food stamps (AB 508, authored by Assemblyman Sandre Swanson).

A little background: Currently, federal law imposes a lifetime ban on food stamps and other welfare-related benefits for people with felony drug convictions. However, federal law allows states to opt out of this provision. In 1997, California declined to opt out when we passed our welfare reform package. According to the legislative analysis of AB 508, a 2005 report of the Sentencing Project reports that 11 states, plus the District of Columbia, have entirely opted out of the ban. An additional 14 states have partially opted out of the ban, either by limiting the ban to certain offenses (such as sale or trafficking) or establishing qualifying conditions which relate to participation in or completion of drug treatment programs. Governor Gray Davis vetoed several attempts to overturn the lifetime ban during his tenure. Three attempts were made to run bills that would have softened, but not have completely lifted, the ban. He vetoed… Read More