Albert Einstein defines “insanity” as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well, it’s the same old thing with California government – spending beyond our means and raising taxes – and it’s not working.

California’s taxes are some of the highest in the nation. We have the highest sales taxes. We have the highest gas taxes. Our personal income taxes are the third-highest in the nation. What’s worse, the Governor now wants to increase your taxes by more than $50 billion.

The problem is we already extended these tax increases two years ago. I said then raising taxes would not work to fix our economy and it hasn’t – things are worse now than they were then. The fact is, we’re not in this budget mess because we’re taxed too little; it’s because we’re taxed too much.

Every year, California government continues to overspend and then reaches into the pockets of hardworking taxpayers when it runs out of cash. To get us out of this budget crisis, we need to come up with meaningful reforms and ensure we do not raise taxes on over-burdened… Read More

At this weekend’s California Republican Party Convention, there will be some lively debate over the issue of how the party reacts to the passage of Proposition 14, the so-called “open primary” measure promoted by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abel Maldonado, the express purpose of which was to moderate the party. Let’s be very, very clear on this point, because it is pivotal to the discussion, and should be the cornerstone issue by which CRP delegates think about how to proceed.

Schwarzenegger, Maldonado, and the “big business” community headed by the California Chamber of Commerce, as proponents of Prop 14, could not have been more clear. First and foremost, they actually put in the Official Voters Guide (signed by the CalChamber President) the following description in the arguments FOR Prop 14: “Supporters of Proposition 14 believe: The Top Two primary system will put more moderate politicians in office."

Here are… 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

The American Conservative Union’s annual ratings of Congress give California Congressmen Darrell Issa, Duncan Hunter II and Ed Royce perfect scores of 100 on the “conservative” side, and also laud Ken Calvert, Dana Rohrabacher, Gary Miller, Brian Bilbray, and John Campbell, among others, for their scores of above 80% conservative on all votes in the Congress in 2010. Both Loretta and Linda Sanchez scored “zero” on the conservative scale. More information is at www.conservative.org.… Read More

March 15, 2011 … Read More

News items not only tell a story but they are often symbols of larger issues. Considering the following from recent new stories:

CalTrans that incompetent beast of a bureaucracy is closing down the only unpaved highway in California. Remember back when the California Department of Highways actually built highways? No consideration was given to paving the road which has served as not only access to remote mountains but has a major evacuation route for San Bernardino Mountain residents. Not only is small beautiful in modern California but apparently primitive is better. The Japanese people do not loot. Shocking to Americans, people in Japan are not taking criminal advantage of their neighbors property. While here in California looting the public treasury is a prime recreational sport. In one week CalPERS has heard how their executives steered investment money to friends for kickbacks, San Bernardino County Sheriff deputies falsified time cards to gain pay raises for classes they did not take, and San Bernardino County welfare workers steered welfare money to themselves and friends. Shameful behavior all around … Read More

So apparently tomorrow the State Assembly is going to put the Governor’s proposed budget up for a vote tomorrow.

After the passage of Proposition 25 last November, which allows for the adoption of a budget on a majority vote, this should be a non-event. While not one Republican will go up on Brown’s budget, not one Republican vote is needed… EXCEPT…

Oh yes, Brown’s budget has not been revised to accept the political reality, which is that there are no Republican votes to place the largest tax increase in the history of any state on the ballot this June. And Brown has not responded by putting forward the additional cuts necessary to present a real, balanced budget to the legislature.

So what we have tomorrow is a game of political theater. Which makes you wonder what the liberal Democrats will do with their votes. These committed leftists don’t support any cuts in California’s generous social safety-net spending. So will they put up votes for tomorrow’s cuts, knowing that they are just part… Read More

Senate Republican Leader Bob Dutton responded to Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg’s representation that the budget being voted on Wednesday "responsibly and honestly promises to put California’s fiscal crisis behind us once and for all."

"The simple truth is, the budget the Senate Democrats are putting up for a vote on Wednesday is not a balanced plan," said Dutton. "It is just another short-sighted tax-and-spend scheme that relies on a $50 billion bailout from California taxpayers. It does nothing to fix the state’s budget crisis or put Californians back to work. The Democrats say, "Let the people vote," but what the Democrats really want is for the people to pay for government as usual."

The Democrats’ budget proposal is not half cuts/half taxes:

$50 billion in total tax increases over 5 years $26 billion in extra spending over 3 years $14 billion in tax hikes this year $7 billion in … Read More