Sometimes otherwise lazy MSM reporters will pull the mandatory, periodic Form 700 conflict of interest disclosures of state legislators right after they are filed, as part of their journalistic routines, and do a story comparing relative finances or gifts received of our Assembly and State Senate representatives. I didn’t see much news coverage of these filings after the most recent round of disclosures, so I figured there probably just wasn’t much to report. But I decided to take a look at all the filings anyway, just for legislators in my home county of Orange, and compare them, and here is what I found according to the reports. Please keep in mind the reports are general and use wide ranges, so they are not entirely accurate, and they don’t have to be, as the idea is not be exactly precise, but to disclose potential conflicts. Here we go: of The O.C.’s four state senators, MIMI WALTERS looks like the financial leader in stocks and business ownership, but Lou Correa appears to own a lot of real estate. Walters discloses ownership of between $660,000 to $6.6 million in stocks, appears to own all or a good piece of an apartment building in… Read More

I am not really a huge fan of some of the decisions of the top leadership of the California Republican Party in the last couple years, I am more a lukewarm fan, and I am quite wary of it’s future. I have made my views known appropriately, discreetly, and also publicly. Past decisions I didn’t like include hiring illegal aliens to manage the finances of the party, generalized support for recalls of Republican incumbent legislators who were at least 80% for us; sideline support, if any, of our own candidate for Lt. Governor, whom vote analysis demonstrated was a 80% plus GOP legislator; and the lack of a meaningful plan to urgently build support for the GOP with Latino voters. I also think we enter the next election cycle without top leadership that can inspire the support we need from the business community to be relevant. All that said, I strongly support the Nehring Plan to give GOP central committee members some clout in the party candidate nominating process, and diminish a little the influence of incumbent officeholders. Proposition 14, which I opposed, has taken away the right of Republican grass roots primary voters to name their party’s nominee in… Read More

“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Author Unknown

Risk and Uncertainty: A lot of new uncertainties have been added in the last few weeks. Will the Japanese reactor meltdown, and what effect will that have on nuclear energy supplies? Will the Japanese economy slump further, and how will that impact U.S. growth and jobs? Who is going to control Libya, or Egypt, or Bahrain or Saudi Arabia in the future? Will the answer to that question affect the world’s oil supplies or prices? And, how will that affect our economic growth? Will the governments of those countries be friendly to the West or will Islamic fundamentalists rule and sponsor more attacks and terrorism?

It can be scary to turn on the news these days. These threats and risks are real. And, they are largely out of our control.

But, there are other risks out there. Will our debt swamp the country and send us into a government-led collapse? In order to avoid collapse, will the Fed print more… Read More

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As delegates arrive today for the California Republican Party’s Convention in Sacramento, it will be the hope of those gathered that there will be no special election for the purposes of asking the voters to (once again) reject tax increases. A look back will reveal that the last seven times that California voters have had a chance to do so, they have rejected higher taxes.

That having been said, there is still an unfortunate possibly that some deal gets struck and we end up with a special election for June of this year. That said, in addition to anything that would be placed on the special election ballot as part of an ill-advised deal, there are two ballot measures that have already been qualified and will appear on the state’s next ballot. One is a tobacco tax measure. The other is a measure championed by the AFL-CIO to weaken California’s term-limits law.

This weekend the CRP has an opportunity to take positions on ballot measures, and so I have teamed up with Lew Uhler, President of the National Tax Limitation Committee, to introduce the following resolution to the CRP’s Initiatives Committee for consideration,… Read More

When I attend the CRP conventions, I am here (and I am here, at the Hyatt Hotel looking out from my room at the dome of the State Capitol) as a very active participant in the process. While I am not running for party office (after two terms as the elected Vice Chairman, South, of the party, I am prevented due to term-limits from running again, and am not seeking higher party office), I am very involved in a lot of the goings-on here.

CRP Conventions are a prime networking opportunity for Republican leaders from all over our large state to get together and network — and is also the time when we consider important decisions about the future of the California GOP.

This weekend is the party’s biennial organizational convention, which means that we will be electing all of our party officers.

Running uncontested for the office of Chairman is Tom Del Beccaro who hails from Contra Costa County. Currently the CRP’s Vice Chairman, Tom has been actively engaged in the leadership of the CRP for many years now. He has his own website on politics, worth a visit, called Political… Read More

Currently the Senate is contemplating the SB 69 Omnibus budget package. It relies on the oft mentioned tax increases that Gov. Brown has packaged. "Letting the people vote" is the mantra that forgets that they have voted in Nov 2010 and even on these exact same taxes in the package back in the May ’09 special election to not extend them for then 2 years, now 5 more. Because of Prop 25 the bill itself will pass today with a simple majority, not 2/3 as needed before. The taxes to ‘pay for it’ will not be brought up until later.

Earlier some of the cuts included a prison release package as part of the budget savings[AB 109] which passed off theis floor. "Low level offenders" would now be the worry of local jailors. Many that had been subject to parole accountability, would no serve time in local jails with NO probation upon release. Some offenses include: felony ID theft, cruel or inhumane child abuse resulting in traumatic condition, knowingly selling firearms to criminal street gang members, sale of controlled substance to minor, and many more types of offenders.

Much… Read More

Miami Dade County in Florida is big — even by California standards — home to over 2.5 million people. Yesterday the voters in this populous county in the most southeastern corner of the United States recalled their Mayor (in Florida, they elect a countywide Mayor who is the top County executive). Just two years after winning in a landslide election, Republican Carlos Alvarez was given an unceremonious "heave ho" by the voters. And what was his offense? Alvarez supported tax increases while presiding over increase benefits for public employee union members. The unemployment rate in Miami Dade County is 12% — much like many California counties.

This episode should be instructive to politicians around the entire country. We are in a terrible recession. It means that everyone has to make do with less. It means… Read More