If you are driving distance from downtown San Francisco or the South Coast Metro area of Orange County on April 14th or April 15 (respectively), then you have a unique opportunity to share in the grand opening of what promises to be one of the greatest movies ever — Atlas Shrugged, Part I. The event in Orange Our friends at the Pacific Research Institute are holding events in conjunction with the opening of this giant of a movie. The reason you want to attend one of these events if you can is that PRI is holding receptions where you will be able to talk about the film with other like-minded folks!

If you haven’t read the novel Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, I would commend you to immediately order a copy of it online. I actually listened to the unabridged version of it back in my college days as an up and coming leader in California Young Americans for Freedom (thanks again to Ken Royal for loaning it to me – all forty cassette tapes!). There is certainly no… Read More

A core of conservative communities was cut up by redistricting plan in 2001. A district that is much more conservative than Bonnie Lowenthal or Betsy Butler exists in the area around Torrance south of Marina Del Rey. This district does not split any cities except for the City of Los Angeles which will be split many ways as a result of size.

A district like this would elect a Republican under the right circumstances.

I hope that the beach communities are out there registering voters. Bumping this seat up to 38% GOP would make all the difference in the world.

See map here.… Read More

Lake Forest City Councilman Scott Voights, who is a Vice-President of the venerable California Republican Assembly, just shared with me the release of a legal opinion from the Sutton Law Firm, a prominent and very high-quality Republican-oriented election law firm based in San Francisco, that analyzes an emergency "policy resolution" promoted by incumbent CRA President Celeste Greig and former Placer GOP chief Tom Hudson, that would perpetuate them in CRA offices in the face of overwhelming local unit and delegate opposition at the up-coming CRA convention to be held in mid-April. The independent legal analysis concludes that the Greig/Hudson resolution is hyper illegal. The whole situation is quite pathetic for Greig, Hudson and the CRA. It is an invitation for lawsuits. A copy of the legal analysis Scott released is attached.… Read More

Yesterday we saw the most recent and highest profile “cessation of negotiations” between Governor Brown, legislative Democrats, and the GOP “Rogue 5” as we call them. There is plenty of analysis available on the web for those who want to dig into the specific policy issues that were being horse traded in return for jamming taxpayers with yet another election held for the purpose of reaching into their pockets. Suffice it to say that my position, which is the position shared by a whole group of taxpayer protection groups in a letter published on the FlashReport today, and the position of 30 Senate and Assembly Republicans – there is NO public policy trade off that makes it okay to then vote to place taxes onto a special election ballot.

It is my sincerest hope that this latest “break” in negotiations is not just more posturing, as some budget kabuki dances take longer than others, but that it really means that the idea of Republicans putting up at least two votes in each chamber to put taxes on the ballot is extinguished.

As I have written before, if the very large tax increases passed as part of… Read More

The following letter from major taxpayer advocacy organizations was distributed yesterday in the State Capitol to the offices of Republican legislators… (The link below opens a .pdf of the formatted letter complete with logos of the various organizations and signatures of their representatives.)

March 29, 2011 Dear Republican Legislators: Re: Expiration of the 2009 Tax Increases; Restoring California The undersigned taxpayer leaders are writing to reiterate our position that the 2009 tax increases hurt California; why they should be allowed to… Read More

As has been anticipated the last couple of days, Governor Brown has declared the three-year long drought in California officially over. With the state’s reservoirs quite full, and the snow pack in the Sierras at 165% of normal, ending the drought declaration is probably a good idea.

Hopefully the readily available supply of water will translate to some reductions in water rationing and perhaps the lowering of costs for end users (one can but hope).

But there is certainly one very bright, positive political aspect to California’s drought being over — it means that it will be harder than ever for the massive $11++ billion water bond package, due to appear on a 2012 ballot near you, to go down in defeat.

The "Water Porkulus" bond package, as I called it when it was being crafted by the legislature a couple of years ago, is literally 3 or 4 times bigger than what is actually needed to responsibly address our state’s water infrastructure issues (it depends on whom you speak, as to exactly how "too big" it is). The process of watching sausage get made is supposedly very gross and… Read More

Jerry Brown richly deserved his "Governor Moonbeam" moniker in his first incarnation as Governor (in the 1970’s). He emphasized his Zen ways, talked about the "era of limits" (before Reagan blew the top off of those limits in the 1980’s), and, with his unusual style, and odd public pronouncements, left the impression that he had more than his fair share of that "wacky tabacky" the use of which seemed to be on the rise in those days.

Before Jerry Brown was Governor, California had the best school system in the country. California had a freeway system that was envied throughout the world. 80% of Californians could afford a median price home. Gasoline was 22 cents a gallon, and water was prevalent, and cheap. Farmers didn’t worry about Delta smelts or fairy shrimp. We weren’t a welfare magnet, and bruceros crossed the border to work legally in the fields, and then went home. The state budget was $8.6 billion general fund. Things weren’t idyllic, but they weren’t bad.

After he left office, the state’s general fund spending had nearly tripled.… Read More

According to the Tax Foundation, California’s Tax Freedom Day won’t come until April 16 this year, a full two days later than last year and four days later than the average state.

Tax Freedom Day, calculated annually by the Tax Foundation, is the day Americans have earned enough money to pay their… Read More