There is no doubt the Busby will receive a score in the "F: range from the National Taxpayers Union. Brian Bilbray was in the "D" range. If you are picking your school academic decathlon team maybe the "D’ student may be better than the one the flunks. But if you have a chance to take an A or even a B+ student or someone with that potential, why wouldn’t you?

Some in the Washington establishment probably wouldn’t because it means dumping a friend or a BYOC. Maybe they know the "D" student better than the high achiever. Maybe he gives everyone candy.

Who cares? This is about winning. Bilbray is a pro- big government Republican that has cast bad votes on taxes, guns , life etc…

The excuse is he had to vote that way to keep his old seat. While pointing out that didn’t seem to work out well, we know from this spin that Bilbray will sacrifice principle to stay in power.

We have enough of those types in our party already. We also have enough "D" students that have betrayed their mandate.

Time for a challenge to set things right. Lets get better players on our team.… Read More

Today at 3:00 p.m., Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be convening a meeting of many of the leaders in California’s ongoing battle against higher taxes. The Governor, along with senior staff members Mike Genest, the State Director of Finance, as well as Deputy Chiefs of Staff Richard Costigan and Dan Dunmoyer will meet with Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assocation, Larry McCarthy, President of the California Taxpayers Association, Lew Uhler, founder and President of the National Tax Limitation Committee, Kris Hunt, Executive Director of the Contra Costa County Taxpayers Association, and others.

My understanding is that the agenda for this meeting is very straightforward – a discussion about how to hold the line in California against tax increases.

Of course, the biggest opportunity for Democrats to try to jam the Governor a legislative Republicans with tax and spending increases will be the upcoming budget negotiations. It is certainly our hope that the May… Read More

The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll in California shows Schwarzenegger leading State Treasurer Phil Angelides (D) by double digits, 49% to 36%. The candidates had been neck-and-neck in their previous polls.

The Governor leads State Comptroller Steve Westly (D) 48% to 40%. Schwarzenegger and Westly were essentially even in their previous surveys.

You can see the survey here.… Read More

OK, so who won already?… Anticipating a rather slow Easter Sunday on the FR blog, some of you may be reading this Monday. Either way, I don’t want to keep folks on pins and needles any longer about the winner of the first ever FlashReport "Pick ’em and Win" CD 50 election contest.

You may recall, part one was to select the top four CD 50 Republicans in their order of finish. They were, of course, Bilbray, Roach, Kaloogian and Morrow, like it or not. Four folks nailed the order:

John Dadian, Steve Friar, Mike Johnson and Marc Schaefer. Good going, gentleman.

Tie Break One…pick the percentage for the leading Republican. Yeah, there are like 500 ballots to count, but we’re pretty safe in saying Bilbray’s total is not gonna change more than a fraction. Yet, that makes things a bit problematic if it does change, as you can see by the picks of our remaining top three contestants, against Bilbray’s percentage:

Bilbray… Read More

No commentary today – off to enjoy my Sunday.

On the main page today, don’t miss George Will’s column. Also, there are some great pieces including a lengthy look by Peter Nicholas of the LA Times at how donors from the New Majority GOP funding group are financing U.S. Chamber of Commerce ads that profile the positive job being done by the Governor.

Did you catch this week’s great commentaries? Check them here in the Commentary Library.

Have a great day, and remember to keep sending your suggestions and tips!

Jon

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

This blog has reported several times on the ongoing struggle for control of the City of San Diego between reformers and laborites. Momentum has clearly been on the side of reform over the last year. Victories for the reform movement include (1) the resignation of Mayor Dick Murphy and the election of reform Mayor Jerry Sanders, which gave reformers the powers of the new ‘strong mayor’ form of government; (2) the election of reformer Kevin Faulconer (disclosure, client) in the liberal leaning 2nd Council District which gave reformers at least 4 solid votes of 8 on the council, with a couple swings and a couple laborites; (3) and the recent vote by the council – under heavy pressure by reform leaders that included businessman Steve Francis and the Performance Institute’s Carl DeMaio – to place two reform measures (outsourcing and pension reform) on the November ballot.

A couple days ago, as reported by the San Diego Union Tribune, 2nd District City Councilman Kevin Faulconer’s opponent in the June primary, former Democrat Party Chairman Kevin Kaeder, formally dropped out of the race, citing health reasons. Since the 2nd is a rather… Read More

TAX FREEDOM DAY Did you pay your taxes by today? If not, you may be looking at stiff penalties. But Americans are already penalized by a tax burdon that is way too large. The size and scope of government at every level is too high. This year, Tax Freedom Day is April 26, 2006 — so you actually have another week and half before we reach this symbolic point of the year. What is the symbolism of this day? The Tax Foundation computes all of the money that you pay in taxes (income tax, sales tax, etc.) and they figure out what percentage of your annual income it takes to pay your burdon. The dates moves around as you can see by the graph. That said, our Republican President and Republicans in the United States Senate and House of Representatives can ask themselves today, and on April 26th why, with GOP ‘control’ of the federal government, Tax Freedom day isn’t sometime in late February or early… Read More

TAX FREEDOM DAY Did you pay your taxes by today? If not, you may be looking at stiff penalties. But Americans are already penalized by a tax burdon that is way too large. The size and scope of government at every level is too high. This year, Tax Freedom Day is April 26, 2006 — so you actually have another week and half before we reach this symbolic point of the year. What is the symbolism of this day? The Tax Foundation computes all of the money that you pay in taxes (income tax, sales tax, etc.) and they figure out what percentage of your annual income it takes to pay your burdon. The dates moves around as you can see by the graph. That said, our Republican President and Republicans in the United States Senate and House of Representatives can ask themselves today, and on April 26th why, with GOP ‘control’ of the federal government, Tax Freedom day isn’t sometime in late February or early… Read More