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

The wave of taxpayer groups and fiscally conservative leaders urging a sweeping NO on all five bond measures continues to grow. Lew Uhler’s influential National Tax Limitation Committee PAC has posted its ballot recommendations, and they oppose all nine spending measures, including recommending a NO on 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 84 — the five big bad bonds packages.… Read More

The California Voter Foundation has been around since 1994 and is most well known for its online voter guide. It’s founder, Kim Alexander, and I go way back — to before we were both bit by the political bug.

Anyways, Kim and several of her friends can be seen singing the "The Proposition Song" – a musical tribute to the wacky 13-issue long ballot. Hear the song and see it being sung by going here.

I was trying to figure out how to hijack the You Tube video so that I could have the song display the FR’s recommended ballot picks as each was referenced during the song. No such luck.

Besides, I am fairly certain the the Jon Fleischman ballot and the Kim Alexander ballot are NOT the same… OK, very sure. Check out the song – it’s great!… 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.

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

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

Check out Campaign for Children and Families’ ballot recommendations:

CCF’s Recommendations on the 13 Propositions Vote YES on 1A, 83, 85 and 90

1A YES Makes it harder for the State to raid transportation funds for other “programs” 1B NO Instead of $38.9 BILLION in new debt, build roads with existing state funds 1C NO Instead $6.1 BILLION in new debt, ease state restrictions on new housing 1D NO $20.3 BILLION in new debt won’t improve academics or discipline in schools 1E NO This wasteful $8 BILLION expense won’t fix many levees or reform levee politics 83 YES Toughens laws on sex offenders, but 83’s actual impact is questionable 84 NO Costing taxpayers $10.5 BILLION, 84 is a slush fund for environmental activists 85 YES Protects minor daughters from secret abortions by requiring parent notification 86 NO $2.1 BILLION annual cigarette tax is money grab by the medical establishment 87 NO Taxing oil will raise gas prices, the wrong… Read More

You have to figure that things aren’t going so well for Republicans nationally if the 4th Congressional District in California is in play at all. This District, East of Sacramento, was specifically drawn to elect and keep electing a Republican for an entire decade. FR readers will recall that after the last census, the legislature passed an awful ‘incumbent protection plan’ redistricting measure that locked the GOP into about 20 safe GOP seats as compared to 33 safe Democrat seats. Anyways, despite all of the hoopla and national attention being given by the press to the battle in CD 4 between incumbent conservative Republican John Doolittle, and his opponent, a Democrat named Charlie Brown, the FlashReport still feels that Doolittle will retain the seat. The real loss for Republicans will be the ‘opportunity cost’ of having to spend a lot of funds in this ‘safe’ Republican seat — funds which could be better spent elsewhere. I’m penning this post… Read More