It has been easy for me to ignore the liberal bloggers, newspaper columnists, even “reporters” but now Republican commentators have repeated the myth that the current budget situation is a once in a decade leverage opportunity. The truth is that every urgency bill which requires a ⅔ vote is a leverage opportunity. Every partisan bill is a leverage opportunity for Republicans and in the past every budget bill has been a leverage opportunity. There is no once in a decade opportunity.

And to be clear every urgency bill which by definition takes effect immediately also negates the voters’ right to referend that bill. A referendum election is called quickly before a law takes effect. An urgency law takes effect then the opponents have the burden of keeping up the fight until the next regularly scheduled statewide election. There is a loss of democratic rights on every urgency bill. So every leverage opportunity is accompanied by a loss of voter rights.

So what is leverage? In its crudest sense (this is politics after all) it is vote trading. Hypothetically speaking I will vote… Read More

The numbers from the 2010 Census were released today. Some highlights for California include total population of 37.4 million, up from about 34 million as of the 2001 census.

The 40 Senate Districts should average 931,349 in reapportionment of maps later this year. Assembly will be half that at 465,674 as there are 80 districts, while Congressional will be about 702,905 in those 53 districts.

With the amazing growth in some districts such as over 300,000 oversize in oneStateSenate district, and huge contractions in the Bay area, it will be fascinating to watch as the new maps are formed.

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As the deadline approaches for the legislature to place Governor Brown’s proposed tax increase onto a June special election ballot, things are heating up in the Capitol.

Americans for Tax Reform has launched an automated call campaign into a number of districts of Republican legislators.

I am not privy to every legislator that they picked out. But I can tell you for sure that one of them is Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian – because when I asked ATR for a sample audio file of a robocall to put up on the FlashReport, he was the featured officeholder.

It is extremely critical that if you are a FlashReport readers who does not want a special election vote in June that features what would be the largest tax increase in state history, including five year extensions of sales, income and car taxes, to call your legislators (of either party) and encourage them to vote against placing such a measure on the ballot.

Hear Grover Norquist’s call below.

(Also, ATR has sent a letter to Governor Brown.)… Read More

While debating the current state budget and Governor Brown’s $14 billion tax proposal it became clear that when the Democrats aren’t able to defend their desire for higher taxes or their unwillingness to adopt meaningful budget reforms, they just dust off the old playbook and blame it all on Pete Wilson.

The Democrats can’t order lunch without mentioning Prop 187.

Transcript from Univision’s Voz y Voto program which aired on Saturday, March 5, 2011. Univision, Reporter – Santiago Lucero: Are we in agreement with the reforms Senator? Because it is a good point, yes we need reforms in California. Is this the time to achieve these reforms? Sen. Kevin de Leon: At the same time we are… Read More

Yesterday in the news section of the Sacramento Bee, ace Capitol reporter Kevin Yamamura penned an article, The Reality Behind Recent Budget Rhetoric, in which Yamamura, among other things, provides this analysis on Governor Brown’s statement that an "all cuts" budget would cause a 4-5 week cut in the school year… Specifically, the article says…

Brown: "If you’re going to have $25 billion in cuts, and you’re going to cut four or five weeks of school, then I think people are very shocked if you didn’t ask their permission." Analysis: Cutting the school year by five or six weeks is highly unlikely. … Read More

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This election cycle, the FlashReport is going to be partnering with various public opinion research firms to try and provide polling information in areas of interest. Since we’re always covering polls that other people do, how about some of our own?

Because FlashReport’s Publisher, yours truly, hails from Orange County, I thought we would start by looking at a big issue coming up in this neck of the woods — the race to succeed Orange County Third District Supervisor and longtime FR friend Bill Campbell. For this survey, we partnered with Wayne Johson and Val Smith, of SmithJohnson Research.

Ever since the rather high profile parting of the ways between Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and former Assemblyman (and former Supervisor) Todd Spitzer (read: since T-Rack fired Spitzer who had been working as a Deputy District Attorney after leaving the legislature), rumors have abounded that Spitzer might run for… Read More

I like Alan Zaremberg, the President of the California Chamber of Commerce. He is a thoughtful man in a very difficult position. He knows he should be for small government and free enterprise, but he oversees the Chamber of Commerce in California, home of the Democratic National Socialist Party. One wrong step, and the next thing he knows, union thugs are calling CalPERS and CalPERS then threatens his board members with disinvestment. Think of this, you are on the board of a Fortune 500 company, and the largest institutional investor on the planet (CalPERS) calls you and says if you don’t control that guy at the California Chamber, CalPERS will pull its investment in your company. You have nightmares about the drop in your stock price, so you call Zaremberg and tell him to get with the program. Zaremberg toes the line.

Zaremberg did it again this week. Vote for the tax increase bill, and we’ll support you, says Zaremberg. He doesn’t make it partisan. He says it’s a tough vote for Democrats and Republicans, and we’ll support them all, he says. But the implication is–We’ll… Read More