There are very few absolutes in politics, but let’s be clear about this November’s election – a vote for any of the proposed bonds, Propositions 1B – 1E and Prop 84, is a vote for the same type of fiscal recklessness that led to the recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003.

Think about it. Since 2003, tax revenues have exploded in California – up $20 billion annually. The Governor’s Workers’ Compensation reforms are an underappreciated reason for this increase and the economic activity associated with this increase. Unfortunately, the Legislature, Democrats and some Republicans, and the Governor, have spent the entire increased baseline in revenues and then some, and the State is still running structural deficits between $4 – $6 billion annually.

Almost none of this increased spending has been allocated to increased infrastructure spending, and instead gone to education and other issues, such as health care. So our roads, schools, levees and other long deferred infrastructure have not been funded – despite the obvious needs in each area.

So now, despite the massive and unprecedented increase in State tax revenues, and despite the… Read More

Proposition 90, the Protect Our Homes initiative, has earned the endorsement of the Redding Record-Searchlight, one of the largest newspapers north of the Sac Bee. The opening thought in their endorsement editorial said,

"Should a city be able to seize property through eminent domain simply because a rich developer has a nifty idea for the land? Most freedom loving Americans would answer no…. Despite all the deceptive ‘sky is falling’ rhetoric about taxpayer traps and not being able to build any infrastructure in California, Prop 90 still soldiers on strongly in polling and in the hearts and minds of regular folks. Of course, the goal of Prop 90 is tolimit eminent domain takings as a last resort to appropriate uses, such as infrastructure projects that the public truly benefits from, not eliminate it entirely.

Of course that isn’t what you hear from the land grabbers or the folks in local governments that are… Read More

There are very few absolutes in politics, but let’s be clear about this November’s election – a vote for any of the proposed bonds, Propositions 1B – 1E and Prop 84, is a vote for the same type of fiscal recklessness that led to the recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003.

Think about it. Since 2003, tax revenues have exploded in California – up $20 billion annually. The Governor’s Workers’ Compensation reforms are an underappreciated reason for this increase and the economic activity associated with this increase. Unfortunately, the Legislature, Democrats and some Republicans, and the Governor, have spent the entire increased baseline in revenues and then some, and the State is still running structural deficits between $4 – $6 billion annually.

Almost none of this increased spending has been allocated to increased infrastructure spending, and instead gone to education and other issues, such as health care. So our roads, schools, levees and other long deferred infrastructure have not been funded – despite the obvious needs in each area.

**There is more… Read More

Read what Dick Morris Reports has to say…..

’06 ELEX: BACK TO TOSS-UP By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

October 24, 2006 — The latest polls show something very strange and quite encouraging is happening: The Republican base seems to be coming back home. This trend, only vaguely and dimly emerging from a variety of polls, suggests that a trend may be afoot that would deny the Democrats control of the House and the Senate.

With two weeks to go, anything can happen, but it is beginning to look possible that the Democratic surge in the midterm elections may fall short of control in either House.

Here’s the evidence:

* Pollsters Scott Rasmussen and John Zogby both show Republican Bob Corker gaining on Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. in Tennessee, a must-win Senate seat for the Democrats. Zogby has Corker ahead by seven, while Rasmussen still shows a Ford edge of two points.

* Zogby reports a "turnaround" in New Jersey’s Senate race with the GOP candidate Tom Kean… Read More

It is now what, 13 days until the election, and yet getting Arnold to take a position on Prop 90 is still like trying to nail jello to a wall.

Yesterday, he was asked point blank about whether he supports the Kelo-reform initiative.

His answer? Well, he hasn’t taken a position yet either way, but will "very soon because I’m looking at all the aspects. As you know, it’s a very complicated issue, and so I’m looking at all the different angles so that I come out very clear."

Glad you cleared that one up for us.… Read More

We’re down to less than two weeks left in the campaign.

We know how all but 3 down-ticket races are going to end up.

How LG, Controller, and Sec State turn out is still to be determined. Lots of decisions still are to be made and lots of money is still to be spent.

Each campaign still has some significant cash that will make a difference in the outcome. But legitimately, these three races are looking like they will be more shaped by independent expenditure efforts than by their respective campaigns.

And that isn’t a knock on the campaigns. The slates have been bought. The research has been done. It’s just that with the cash left for the last 13 days, these IE’s have far more to spend than any down ticket candidate.

On the Dem side, the Unions have pulled their money out of Angelides’ sinking ship. How much will they really end up spending on down ticket races? And where will they focus their efforts? These will be big questions in the coming 13 days.

First to see some major action on the Dem side is John Chiang, who yesterday received a $262,000 tv buy from the unions.

On the Republican side, some businesses are putting… Read More

There is some rhetoric flying around about what the Governor was and was not supporting by way of public employee pension reform last year. The Governor was supporting a change in pensions that would have shifted public sector employees from what is called a “defined benefit” program to what is called a “defined contribution” program. This change, which would have applied to only new hires (all existing public employees would be ‘grandfathered’ under the current rules), would have simply moved the methodology behind public sector retirement benifits to those used in the private sector.

In a defined benefits system, if an employee works for a set number of years, there is a specific formula of exactly how much the employer (in this case, the government) would pay a retiree, based on factors like their last salary, etc.

In a defined contributions system, the employer makes a specified contribution each pay period, or month, or year, into a retirement account for that employee (often times employees can augment this amount). Then this fund (like a 401k) grows over time resulting in an eventual retirement “nest… Read More

Tom McClintock and John Garamendi went head-to-head for the second time in a one-hour debate before the San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board on Monday. The debate was filmed at KPIX-TV. (Watch it here.)

Executive Life, the Enron-type scandal that has haunted John Garamendi for more than 15 years, triggered a lively discussion between McClintock and Garamendi in the final 10 minutes of the debate. It’s really worth watching… Emmy award-winning political reporter Hank Plante asked the last question of the candidates, and it was about the Executive Life commercials that have been running statewide featuring Sue and Vice Watson.

[See Hank Plante’s video story on the debate… Read More