It looks like signing off on the horendous hike in the state wage mandate on California employers (called by the left a "minimum wage increase") bought the Governor about seven and a half months of good will from the unions. Now the honeymoon is over.… Read More

In response to my commentary this morning, Duf Sundheim asked if I would publish a response from him, which appears below. Duf takes issue with the fact that I did not contact him directly to verify the accuracy of the information — a fair point…

Roy Burns, immediate past President of ALADS [ Assn of LA Deputy Sheriffs], one of the largest police unions anywhere, forced a runoff against liberal Georgia Mercer. The election was an effort by 4 Republicans to challenge 4 pro-Teacher union incumbents, from the long term control by teacher unions over the largest Community College District in America.

Roy Burns was the only one to force a runoff. The other Republican candidates didn’t have a crowded field and the union slate won easily.

Roy Burns came to our attention, when he represented ALADS trying to forge closer ties to Republicans. One of the great contradictions, is how can police officers—generally conservative—thrown huge chunks of moneyto liberal democrats. The answer is easy. Liberals will grant any government employee unlimited benefits. Still, the problem for Republicans, how can we help divide the Government Union Unbreakable wall?

So, we have the "Shawn Steel exception." Divide and conquer. It worked for Caesar. Government Unions are bad for the republic unless they are a police union. If a person is a first responder and a sworn officer, then… Read More

New Worst Bill: This Congress is rapidly stacking up contenders for the “Worst Passed Bill of the Year Award.” Up until now, it was probably H.R. 4, a bill that would eliminate the one market-based part of Medicare that is actually working to reduce costs and replace it with a bureaucrat-managed non-market system. But, that terrible policy was eclipsed last week by the passage of what many of us call the "Worker Intimidation Act of 2007." This bill (H.R. 800) would replace secret ballots in union elections with a system where no election is actually held. Instead, union organizers could coerce workers to sign "cards" using public pressure and intimidation tactics. These cards are not secret and could certify a union at a workplace without any election at all. It’s outrageous!

Why would the union bosses push so hard to eliminate free and fair secret ballot elections? Union membership outside of government has been declining for decades. They have been losing elections in many industries all over the country. I would argue that unions have not updated their purpose or mission in sixty years and therefore they are failing to… Read More

“To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed…"

"Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past." Too fun to pass up, a pro-Obama video posted on YouTube combines the classic "Nineteen Eighty Four" Apple ad with Big Sister.

See it here on Talking Points Memo. [Publisher’s note: We just added the You Tube video at the bottom of Barry’s post – Flash]

Note: I just got an e-slap from Jon who says the FR bloggers are supposed to at least try to tie our posts to CA politics in some regard. OK, I think if Hillary gets elected, it will impact… Read More

Last night, the Bay Area Chapter of CWLA (California Women’s Leadership Association) hosted Assembly Leader Mike Villines at their annual meeting in the posh Banker’s Club of San Francisco. As the sun set over the Bay, audience members were treated to a panoramic view of the most gorgeous city in the world (no bias on my part), and the Leader’s speech entitled “Straight Talk from the Capitol.” Last year, Assemblyman Villines authored the workplace flexibility bill, which would give non-union workers the same right to a four day, ten hour day work week that union members can currently negotiate. Several CWLA members, including yours truly, testified in committee alongside Cal Chamber, but not surprisingly, the Democratic legislators whose bread and butter comes from unions did not allow the bill onto the floor.

This was the Leader’s first Bay Area appearance, and from start to finish, he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. Just before he came onstage, the annual officer election took place for… Read More

Inanother suspense filledvote, SB 113-Calderon, passes off our floor tonight on a straight party line vote, 46-29, Dems aye, Reeps no. This of course was the bill that moves up the Presidential primary in California to February, 2008…and becomes the vehicle for the term limit extension initiative to be "in time" for those who would be termed out in 2008. The cost to California counties and, ultimately taxpayers, could range as high as $88 million according to county representatives I spoke with. All for a shot at term limit extensions that have virtually no chance with fed-up voters. This without the promised redistricting reform as even a measure of balance. The Governor has indicated early on he would sign this if there was a bi-partisan effort at redistricting reform. There has not been a good faith effort at that by the majority Dems.The bill will soon be on his desk,he has 30 days to sign or veto it. Ihope heuses his leverage to extract true reforms in redistricting now that, if he chooses to sign it, we willget stuck with this multi-million dollar bill.… Read More

I would imagine that Generals fighting wars have to occasionally ‘step back’ from the individual battles they are fighting, to check on the overall progress of the total campaign against the enemy. Of course, for fiscal conservatives, the ‘enemy’ is growth in size and scope of spending of government at every level — or put another way, the goal of the war is to preserve, and in fact ‘win back’ freedom and liberty for the people. When California voters stepped up in 2003 to ceremoniously recall now-disgraced Governor Gray Davis, that effort was led by a strong coalition of people that felt that Davis and his administration were failing the people — the taxpayers. An important part of that effort were fiscal conservatives, such as myself, who were concerned that our State Budget had climbed to a record $78 billion. We were outraged that the annual growth of state spending was at an alarming 7%, and that Californian’s were saddled with a state deficit that was $6.6 billion dollars. As Tom McClintock points out in our "Golden Pen" column today, debt-service costs when Gray Davis was Governor… Read More