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

Next year, conservative icon Tom McClintock will reach the limit of his allowable service in the State Senate under the term limits approved by California voters in 1990. McClintock’s 19th State Senate District, which is centered in Ventura County, stretches from Santa Barbara down to Los Angeles County (and even includes the Channel Islands), is favorable to a Republican candidate. As just about every FR reader knows, former Assemblyman Tony Strickland (pictured to the left), fresh off of the statewide campaign trail in 2006 where he failed in his bid to become California’s next Controller, is now running an aggressive campaign to succeed McClintock. The Assembly District that Tony represented for six years is fully within the Senate seat, and is currently (and conveniently) occupied by his wife, Audra, who is in the middle of her second two-year term… Read More

Next year, conservative icon Tom McClintock will reach the limit of his allowable service in the State Senate under the term limits approved by California voters in 1990. McClintock’s 19th State Senate District, which is centered in Ventura County, stretches from Santa Barbara down to Los Angeles County (and even includes the Channel Islands), is favorable to a Republican candidate. As just about every FR reader knows, former Assemblyman Tony Strickland (pictured to the left), fresh off of the statewide campaign trail in 2006 where he failed in his bid to become California’s next Controller, is now running an aggressive campaign to succeed McClintock. The Assembly District that Tony represented for six years is fully within the Senate seat, and is currently (and conveniently) occupied by his wife, Audra, who is in the middle of her second two-year term… Read More

As readers who saw Jon’s commentary yesterday know, Disney is circulating a ballot-box zoning initiative designed to prevent SunCal Companies from developing a condominium project within the Anaheim Resort District [full disclosure: I’m a member of the consulting team for SunCal’s project].

Disney has hired petition circulators to gather the 20,000 signatures necessary to place their initiative on the February 2008 ballot. During the last two weeks they’ve been posted at several shopping centers in Anaheim. On several occasion I drove around Anaheim visiting these shopping centers and getting pitched by these signature gatherers.

Interestingly, I never say Disney circulators at any of the several supermarkets, like Gigante, Northgate Markets or Jax Markets, that cater to Anaheim’s working-class Latinos. That can be explained, in part, by the sales pitch invariably used by the circulators to entice Anaheim residents to sign the petitions:… 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

Last night, the Newport Beach City Council definately decided to place politics over principle in a decision to declare a 45 moratorium on the permitting if transient housing in the city. Aime

The Council voted unanimously (with Don Webb absent) to impose this rediculous restriction on property owners in their own city.

Courtesy of the City of Newport Beach website, you can contact these folks below.