The Wall Street Journal’s Political Diary e-mail is subscribed to by political and policy leaders all around the country – and the world. The lead item in the e-mail today is on Governor Schwarzenegger and his healthcare proposal:

Schwarzenegger’s Bolivarian Revolution

The reaction of leaders of California’s political parties neatly sums up the ideological direction of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new plan to provide health insurance to all Californians by mandating that employers provide it or pay a fee of 4% of their payroll into a government pool.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunes was thrilled that a GOP governor had moved so far in his direction: "This is a plan Assembly Democrats could… Read More

Today it was announced by the Americans for Tax Reform that Assemblywoman Mimi Walters has been tapped to succeed retired Assemblyman (and now FR State Capitol Correspondent) Ray Haynes as the head of the Taxpayer Protection Caucus in the California State Assembly. What does this mean? The Americans for Tax Reform are the champions of the No New Taxes Pledge for federal and state legislators. The pledge is simple: I, ____________, pledge to the taxpayers of the _____ district of the State of _________ and to all the people of this state, that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.

The Taxpayer Protection Caucus is made up of the 27 Assemblymembers who have signed this pledge (the other 53 who have not can… Read More

There is a report today in the Sacramento Bee that Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has dished out some pretty hefty raises for the New Year for key members of his staff.

I noted deep in the story that one of these raises went to his Deputy Chief of Staff and spokesman Steve Maviglio. I wanted to congratulate Steve on his raise, and come to its defense. Clearly, as a fiscal conservative, I believe it is important to be prudent with taxpayer funds. At the same time, however, I also understand that if you are going to hire and retain capable, qualified staff members — you have to be willing to pay them a competitive wage. I seldom agree with Steve’s politics. As a matter of fact, I am not sure that I ever have or ever will. But I respect Steve’s talent, ability, moxie and work ethic. While I can’t say that I agree with Steve’s dedication to raising taxes, increasing regulations and generally trying to increase the size and scope of state government, I will say that he is very… Read More

I commend the Governor for suggesting a solution to a tough problem. I just don’t think any economic theory supports the outcomes he desires. And I definitely don’t believe his is a "centrist" approach. A centrist approach would be devoid of tax increases, employer mandates and mandated spending by providers, and be full of market based incentives to lower the cost of private health plans.

My firm handles over $40 million in health and health related business, so I follow health insurance and health care trends as closely as possible. Diagnosing the reasons for 6.5 million uninsured workers isn’t that tough. Employer paid health plans are expensive. Treating doctors and facilities are grossly underpaid by government funders such as Medicare, Medicaid and MediCal. Those unreimbursed costs are mostly transferred to the private health plans when they contract for services with the health care providers. Thus, the "hidden tax" on us is primarily caused by the government because the cost of health plans is inflated, and out of reach to many employers, due to government rationing of health care dollars.… Read More

California’s new Secretary of State, liberal Democrat Debra Bowen, has appointed Lowell Finley the Assitant Secretary of State for Voting Systems and Technology. Finley has wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars by teaming up with conspiracy paranoid groups like Black Box (a.k.a. "Cynthia McKinney’s race loss was rigged" whackos) voting to sue those who have purchased touch screen voting machines which help county governments and the state complywith the federal Help America Vote Act.

Not only do these machines allow state and local governments to comply with HAVA but they allow voters who are disabled the opportunity to cast their votes privately and independently– something that was previously impossible.

This move by Bowen (pictured to the right) could signal that she plans to decertify electronic voting machines certified by her predecessor, Bruce… Read More

Founded in 2002, the Consumer Alliance for a Strong Economy is a grassroots organization that is made up of over 9000 members that include entrepreneurs, small business owners, farmers and consumers.

CASE is starting to run commercials alerting consumers to the dangers of the Governor’s newly proposal government incursion into healthcare. Here is what their spokesman, Chris Wysocki, has to say. Below, you can run the add, and then — make a call! “We applaud the Governor for his desire to address the need for healthcare reform, but the true problem of his proposal is a billion dollar tax increase on small businesses that provide the majority of jobs in the state,” Wysocki continued, “The state can utilize many of the components of the governor’s plan to encourage more people to purchase healthcare – including… Read More

Today Governor Schwarzenegger will introduce what has been described as a major proposal to deal with the challenge of millions of Californians not having health insurance.

That said, Governor Schwarzenegger made it clear that he does not think the solution to this challenge is to require that businesses pay more. Specifically, the Governor said, "I want everyone to have healthcare, but we have to make sure that the businesses in California stay competitive compared to Arizona, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico. As you know, the Governors come into our state and are hustling business into their states because it’s cheaper to do business. We want to make sure it’s cheap and keep it under control and stimulate the economy and get everyone to work."

This is a direct quote from an interview that the Governor had with former Presidential Chief-of-Staff Leon Panetta in an interview for Panetta’s lecture series on October 18th of 2004. At the time, Californians were being asked to vote on Proposition 72, a… Read More

I’m blogging live from the San Jose Technology Museum. I am sitting next to former California Republican Party Chairman Mike Schroeder and his wife, Susan, in the third row – where we have a great view for the proceedings. Nearby is Jim Richarsdson, Poizner’s new Chief of Staff, Larry Greenfield who is Director of the California Republican Jewish Coalition.

The crowd looks to be several hunded here for Poizner’s big day. At work are Tim Clark who heads up Poizner’s transition team (he and Wayne Johnson were lead consultants for the campaign), and Robert Molner, Mike Richman and Jennifer Kerns, other key aides to Pozner. Helping out at the event is also Catherine Brinkman, President of the California Young Republicans. They are all smiling – broadly – as they should be on this big day for Team Poizner.

Being here in Santa Clara County, on hand is the leadership of the local GOP, including Chairman Keen Butcher and Treasurer Steve Moore. Also on hand is Linda Boyd, Chairman of the Los Angeles County GOP Linda Boyd with her husband, former CRP Treasurer Doug Boyd. Intersestingly, Butcher and Boyd are locked in a… Read More