Over the next couple of days we’ll have worked out the kinks in the reformatted FR blog. Normally this post would come from Bill Leonard himself, but in this instance I am posting up from my account. Enjoy! – Flash

THE BUDGET OFFENSIVE GET OFFENSIVE The Honorable Bill Leonard Well, charm did not work. Governor Brown has been romancing Republicans for 3 months now with his do it my way and ignore the consequences message and lo and behold it has not worked. Now its no more Mr. Nice Guy. This week Brown has resorted to name calling and veiled threats. He has moved beyond the slogan of let the voters decide to the honest admission that he needs tax increases and he needs them now.

The truth is that from last Fall onwards tax increases have been the basis for his budget plan. The details of putting them on the ballot and getting the voters to approve them all were casually assumed by Jerry Brown despite obstacles that should be daunting. I love the new twist. The Governor has re-interpreted his political promise of voter approval to suggest that… Read More

As predicted here in a prior post, a Superior Court judge in Sacramento has agreed early this morning that the last minute antics of Celeste Greig and Tom Hudson to limit participation at this weekend’s California Republican Assembly convention to manipulate election outcomes is illegal. The judge issued a temporary restraining order, punishable by contempt of court (county jail) that requires the CRA credentials committee to seat all delegates as submitted, meaning Greig will likely not win re-election this weekend. It appears that the judge may also not have been impressed by George Park saying the word “bullshit” in the judge’s private chambers during oral argument on the TRO. Greig, Park and Hudson are ordered back to court on April 28 as the judge is now monitoring what they will do at the convention, and if all the delegates are not seated, they risk being found in contempt of court. Here is the Judge’s ruling:

Subject: VOIGTS – Court Order

IT IS ORDERED that defendant California Republican Assembly (CRA) appear on April 28, 2011, which is 15 days from April 13, 2011, when the TRO issues, [See CCP… Read More

Ok, so I am in Sacramento today and someone just handed me a Blackberry with a message from Tom Hudson on it “declaring victory” in the court order today from a Sacramento superior court judge ordering ALL delegates to be seated at this weekend’s CRA convention. Short story: Hudson lost, and I bank my four years at USC, three years at Pepperdine Law, and eight years in the Reagan Administration on that. Hudson LOST, and all delegates as submitted must be seated at the CRA convention this weekend, otherwise the credentials committee members are in contempt of court (meaning county jail). Follow up monitoring hearing set before Judge on 4/28. Tom Hudson, stop the lies!!!… Read More

The Democrats’ carefully crafted façade continues to be unraveled by their hypocrisy. From their inconsistent messaging on the federal budget negotiations, to their AstroTurf political demonstrations, it has become increasingly clear that their words and their actions don’t mesh.

Take for example the recent brouhaha in the Desert where more than 1,000 paid demonstrators protested a private meeting of the Koch brothers. As I said when this dust-up occurred, this is another example of Democrat hypocrisy. Let’s be clear, these weren’t volunteers out to support a cause they believe in. They were part of an Astrotruf effort, similar to those we are accustomed to seeing the union representatives who get paid to demonstrate outside the State Capitol organize during budget season.

It was a protest supposedly about the evils of the influence of money in politics, paid for by millionaire-funded political organizations like Common Cause and Greenpeace. That’s right. It was one set of millionaire-backed groups protesting millionaires who make political donations. We might as well just put a picture of Common Cause in the dictionary under the word:… Read More

Over on the venerable Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert blog, they have posted up an easy to read spreadsheet of all of the claims paid by the State of California as a result of accidents with state-leased vehicles assigned to legislators. In many instances the claims indicate that a spouse or child of the legislator was behind the wheel. Nice.

The link is here. Check it out.

It’s just as well Governor Brown has decided to just ask the legislature to increase taxes, without waiting for a vote of the people. Because I can only imagine the cynicism of the electorate as they absorb the fact that California is the only state in the country where legislators get state-leased vehicles (let along two — yes, unless the legislator drives to work from nearby, there is a second state-leased vehicle parked under the Capitol for the use of each legislator).… Read More

Today Governor Mitt Romney announced his official exploratory committee for President. In doing so he released the video below…

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I happened to run across this article today about Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (R), Palm Desert, and her "on the fence" position regarding Republican Congressman Paul Ryan’s 10 year budget plan. If her position is indicative of the GOP House Caucus, we’re in big trouble already.

First of all, I cannot imagine anyone being undecided about the Ryan budget on the grounds that it goes too far. It actually doesn’t go anywhere close to where we need to go in terms of deficit and debt reduction. Ryan compares his plan’s 10 year benchmark with Barack Obama’s, and claims some great victory for only increasing spending $4 trillion instead of the $10 trillion proposed by Obama. This is conservative?

For a Republican member to actually believe the Ryan budget goes too far is evidence of a fundamental lack of understanding of basic economics and mathamatics, as well as international finance, and perhaps even politics.

First of all, we’ve raised the… Read More

Everyone, regardless of their political persuasion, will agree on one immutable fact: California state government is in a world of hurt. The state’s recession has walloped what once were sky-high tax revenues, and now the state has a massive budget shortfall. This tragic situation shaped much of the Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and has completely dominated the first 100 days of Jerry Brown’s third term as Governor.

It is somewhat amazing that in the context of this crisis, that next week a group of California legislators are headed abroad to of all places – Ireland. The Los Angeles Times has reported that one of the purposes of this legislative international journey is, according to the Times, “ to study how to turn sewage and wind into energy.”

Seriously.

Democrat Assemblyman Steve Bradford (who along with his Democrat colleague Fiona Ma are the only two legislators named as… Read More