Everyone knows that our nation’s tax laws are a mess, and the specific rules in the tax code that apply to political activities are no exception. While they are very complicated, they aren’t to blame for secret money in the funding of ballot measures. John Myers’ article “Ballot measure money not political under IRS loophole” confuses two separate and distinct legal issues, and credits the wrong one for the supposed problem.

The 501(c)(4) status under the federal tax code is not a loophole and has very little to do with campaign (candidate or ballot measure related) disclosure laws in California. The fact that ballot measure advocacy isn’t defined as “political intervention” in the tax code (it’s actually part of the definition of “lobbying”) doesn’t mean that state campaign finance rules don’t apply to such activity when engaged in by 501(c)(4)s. Just the opposite is true.

Since ballot measures are creatures of state law, state campaign finance laws, not the federal tax code, define the parameters for disclosable ballot… Read More

During the most recent year for which there is publicly available data, the fiscal-year-ended 6-30-2012, the California State Teachers Retirement System contributed a $1.1 billion paymenttowards paying off an unfunded liability of $71.0 billion. This fact, and much more, came out in a California Public Policy Center study released last week “Are Annual Contributions Into CalSTRS Adequate?”

Now let’s suppose you have borrowed $71,000, and you are paying a 7.5% interest rate on this borrowed money. Do you think you would ever have this debt paid off, if you only paid $1,100 per year? How would that work? Isn’t 7.5% interest on $71,000 equal to $5,300? Wouldn’t a mere $1,100 payment put you further in the hole by $4,200? Wouldn’t you owe $75,200 by the end of the year, more than the $71,000 debt you started with?

Multiply by a billion and you’ve got CalSTRS.

And this same disastrous, wishful thinking is playing out in nearly every “professionally managed” public sector pension fund in California. Every year, the combined unfunded liability… Read More

Riddle me this: Why do government projects never seem to be completed efficiently, on budget and on time?

Currently, national attention is focused on the failure of the ObamaCare website. Not since the launch of the Titanic has so much gone so wrong. After three and a half years and a $1 billion investment, most of those visiting the site found it non-functional – reports are that on the first day, only six individuals were able to sign up on a website intended to serve millions. However, this is only the latest IT project to be bungled by government officials.

A September $62 million systems “upgrade” by the California Employment Development Department triggered a backlog of 100,000 jobless claims and thousands of unemployed were still waiting for their benefits more than a month later.

An isolated occurrence? Hardly. In February, state officials jettisoned a flawed overhaul of the state’s payroll system that was $250 million over budget and four years behind schedule.

Earlier this year, the Sacramento Business Journal reviewed some of California’s biggest technological boondoggles and concluded that canceled projects, cost overruns and… Read More

UPDATE (November 13, 2013):At its November 12, 2013 meeting, the board of trustees for Rancho Santiago Community College District voted unanimously to continue a practice adopted in August 2013 not to discuss its Measure Q Project Labor Agreement negotiations in closed session until the college chancellor gets legal clarification from California Attorney General Kamala Harris. An opinion from the Attorney General is not likely to be produced for several months.

Speaking in support of having the discussions in open session was Dave Everett, Government Affairs Director for the Southern California Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, and Craig Alexander of the Pacific Justice Institute. On behalf of trustee Phil Yarbrough, Alexander wrote aNovember 5, 2013 memo to the boardexplaining why discussing Project Labor Agreement negotiations in closed session was not legal.

The head of the Los Angeles/Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council was at the meeting… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: We are pleased to offer this original column submitted to the FlashReport by Greg Rath, a candidate for Congress in California’s 45th District – Flash]

Of all things that can be said about President Obama, you have to give him credit. After punting the cover-up of the Benghazi attacks, humiliating our international credibility with illusionary ‘red lines’ over Syria, tolerating an IRS that behaved as a partisan attack dog, and plunging America’s international credibility to new lows, it takes supreme skill and effort to top those disastrous precedents. But never underestimate the Obama administration’s bumbling incompetence.

Unfortunately, the recent Obamacare website rollout has only added another notch to President Obama’s disastrous domestic record. Out of the millions of Americans who are forced to purchase health insurance on the so-called exchanges, only a tiny fraction managed to successfully apply. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have been dropped from their corporate insurance plans, and millions of self-insured have… Read More

Here are some random thoughts on the passing California political scene…

— As a leading proponent of legislative term limits, I usually tell people that incumbents pretty much get to serve as long as they want if they are in a “safe” seat for their party. It would appear that I will have to add a caveat to that — which is that some of these politicians get too old, their own erratic or odd behavior ends up foreshadowing their leaving office before the end of their natural life. The text book example of this was in 2012 when Democrat Bay Area Congressman Pete Stark, seeking re-election at the age of 80, was clearly, clearly showing signs of going batshit crazy. He behavior was so off that he presented an opening for then 31 year old Eric Swalwell, who pushed Stark into a Prop. 14 era Dem vs. Dem runoff, to take him out. Stark had served in Congress for 40 years.… Read More

This past Tuesday night offered promising news for California Republicans. In local elections held across the state, GROW Elect, the GOP organization dedicated primarily to electing Latino Republicans to public office, scored impressive victories. With 100% of precincts counted, GROW Elect helped fifteen Republican candidates win seats in this November 2013 election cycle.

These results build on the momentum that GROW Elect has achieved in a short period of time. The winners of Tuesday’s elections join over thirty elected officials that GROW Elect has already successfully supported during the past two years. This brings to almost fifty the number of Latino Republicans that GROW Elect has helped to gain public office in California.

These Latino public officials strengthen the Republican Party at the grassroots level and help us build a diverse bench of potential candidates for higher office… Read More

The virtual silence is almost deafening out of California’s politician-class.

Given the startling and serious nature of the allegations against Ron Calderon — you would think that there would be a lot of legislators stepping up to decry what he has done. Or if they prefer more caution — then they could at least critique the allegations.

But I am aware of only one legislator, Democrat Cristina Garcia, who has called for Calderon to step down. And Senate President Darrell Steinberg has at least booted Calderon off of the California Film Commission and has called for him to be stripped of his committees.

Come on, people. Show some leadership. The cynical public will probably just assume that the only thing that distinguishes Calderon from the rest of you is that he got caught.… Read More