For those of us who think it would be terrible public policy for the voters of California to raise taxes this November, Sacramento Democrats continue to be the “gift that keeps on giving” in terms of actions that will cause the already skeptical electorate to have more reasons not to want to send any more of their tax dollars to Sacramento.

A very quick recap — just in the last week and a half we had:

The approval of billions of dollars of indebtedness on an incredibly unpopular high speed rail boondoggle. The discovery that the better part of a thousand legislative staff members have been getting raises while state employees are taking furloughs. The revelation that despite the audit functions of the Democrat Controller and the Democrat Legislature, the Parks Agency within Democrat Jerry Browns Administration had squirreled away north of $50 million dollars, that were totally off the grid.

Now to add to all of that, news headlines are now spotlighting a legislative effort, spearheaded by senior Democrat Senator… Read More

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association announced today that we launched a new blitz of radio ads to educate voters about the nearly $100-billion bullet train project.In the new spot, you can hear me alerting taxpayers, “Sacramento politicians have turned their backs on Education and Public Safety and voted to waste billions on the largest boondoggle in American history.”

The spot goes on to highlight the scare tactics politicians are using to force tax increases on the working people of California. While Sacramento special interest groups are pushing for more taxes, frivolous spending, and political cronyism, lawmakers are ignoring desperately needed reforms in education, pensions and government spending.

HJTA asks listeners to stand with thousands of fellow Californians by going to HJTA.org and signing a petition to the Governor and Legislature demanding reforms, not higher … Read More

Redistricting Agencies in California are dead. For some time there will continue to be some stories about the death-throes, since unwinding these agencies is a complex process.

That having been said, I just wanted to remind FlashReport readers that the end of the redevelopment era in California is a good thing, and we should all be very happy about it.

You see in a great many cases, Redevelopment Agencies had been primary violators of the private property rights of Americans. Using the government’s power of eminent domain, private property would be seized by many of these agencies not for widening a road, or laying down a railroad track, but because politicians preferred some other use for the land than that being carried out by the existing owner.

Redevelopment Agencies were also a magnet for crony capitalism. And by that I mean that local politicians would get into the practice of using redevelopment funds to benefit specific businesses and companies, who would then, in turn, help out the politicians. And when I say “helping out” — that came in various forms ranging from the “taking” of someone’s property… Read More

The influential Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association’s PAC has endorsed the candidate of Phil Paule in the 67th Assembly District in Riverside County, and Sherry Hodges in the 76th Assembly District in San Diego County.

I spoke with HJTA President Jon Coupal who told me, “”We believe that now is a critical time to send strong taxpayer advocates to Sacramento, who will provide leadership in the legislature against raising taxes — we feel that in the 67th Assembly District that person is Phil Paule and in the 76th Assembly District it is Sherry Hodges. HJTA PAC is pleased to endorse them both.”

For a Republican candidate, the HTJA endorsement is the “gold standard” in terms of credibility with the voters. From survey’s that I have read, to Republican voters the HJTA name tests higher than the actual Republican Party. But it also does very well with Democrat voters, especially seniors.

These endorsements are politically interesting because in both of these Assembly Districts, which are “safe Republican” seats, no Democrats filed, and so the runoff races are between two Republicans. In the 67th… Read More

The 2nd District Court of Appeal has agreed with attorneys representing the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association that a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 13 lacks merit.

Since his retirement, former UCLA Chancellor Charles Young has been busy filing lawsuits to try to overturn a critical taxpayer protection contained in Prop. 13: the two-thirds vote required of the Legislature to impose new taxes on Californians.

Young initially filed his case directly in the California Supreme Court, arguing that time was of the essence because California needed more revenue to balance its budget, but Prop. 13 stood as a barrier to new taxes. The Supreme Court rejected this ploy and instructed Young to refile in the Superior Court like everyone else, which he quickly did.

Although Young strategically named as defendants only officers of the Legislature who have no incentive to defend Prop. 13, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association intervened on behalf of California’s taxpayers, and argued to the court that the issue of Prop. 13’s constitutionality was settled law, for in a 1978 court case, Amador Valley Joint Union High School District… Read More

San Diego Politics & Media Mashup

I feel like a kid walking around campus for the first time as I write this blog post, which I hope is the first of many for FlashReport.

Jon Fleischman called me about a week ago and asked me to join the team, and here I am. Some of my posts from San Diego Rostra have run here in the past, but this is my first post for FlashReport.

Eight months ago I launched a weekly blog called “Politics & Media Mashup” at Rostra, which has helped me market my communications consulting business, By George Strategies, and some of my clients. Rostra also introduced me to some great people who don’t take themselves too seriously, so I’ve had a lot of… Read More

RIDER COMMENT: I think we Americans all are suffering from “unemployment fatigue.” We are sick and tired of discussing, pondering and complaining about this ongoing problem.

But this reality is still a huge depressant on our economy – both economically and psychologically. Logically unemployment should still be the #1 issue in the November election – which is why Obama is busy throwing mud in every direction but his own.

Here’s a readableWALL ST JOURNALop-ed on this problem. But first I’ve listed my 10 factoids and observations — mostly from the article:

1. Fewer Americans are working today than in 2000, despite the fact that our labor force has grown by 11.4 million.

2. The U.S. economy is NOT rebounding as in times past — an ominous parallel with the 12%+ permanent European unemployment condition.

3. Fifty percent of the jobs created since the recession hit have been part-time, with no benefits and a wage that’s inadequate to enter the middle class.

4. Counting discouraged workers no longer seeking employment and part-timers who want… Read More

Like so many others involved in California politics, I was stunned to learn of the passing of David Howard, the political director for the California Association of Realtors. Apparently just a few weeks before his passing, David learned that he had Lung Cancer. He was 64 years old.

David was a great person, and someone who was totally passionate about politics. I first met David many, many years ago at a California Chamber of Commerce retreat, and we got to talking about the political landscape for that particular year’s upcoming elections. In no time at all, we found ourselves “in the weeds” as it were, really getting into the nitty… Read More