My latest op-ed as seen in the Mountain Democrat and Fox & Hounds Daily

They’re at it again.

Lawmakers in California, in a desperate attempt to generate revenues are again seeking to force out-of-state retailers to collect taxes for online purchases made by California shoppers. If they are successful in passing this legislation, not only will they fail to raise even one more nickel in tax revenue, they will cost the state thousands of… Read More

Escondido deputy Mayor Marie Waldron, a perennial favorite of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association – PAC, was just named "Woman of the Year" by Assemblyman Martin Garrick in an announcement from his legislative offices. Waldron is considered a top contender to succeed Garrick, who will be term-limited in the 2012 election in a reconfigured district; Waldron’s receiving such top honors from the incumbent in this northern San Diego county district is surely a big boost to her prospects.… Read More

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has just sent out this alert to their (considerable) e-mail blast list…

This Is a Taxpayer Action Alert

 Make yourself heard – please call these wavering lawmakers now!

 The Republican Senators listed below have been negotiating with Jerry Brown to put his $60 billion tax on the ballot.

This would be a disaster for taxpayers because Brown’s government employee union allies are prepared to spend tens of millions of dollars on a campaign to fool voters into approving the largest tax increase in state history. 

It is critical that these lawmakers hear from taxpayers before a deal is struck.

Take… Read More

This just in from Chris Cillizza of the Afternoon Fix :

"Republican strategist Mike Murphy is joining the public affairs firm Revolution Agency. Murphy’s former clients include John McCain, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Murphy told the Fix he had several offers to work on presidential campaigns in 2012 but had decided to stay out of the mix, citing "quality of life and time demands of Hollywood work and punditry. Revolution also recently signed on Bob Honold, a rising star in the Republican operative world."

It has been estimated that Murphy recovered over $10,000,000 cash managing Whitman’s campaign.

… Read More

In the current budget debate, HJTA has taken a principled stand against placing massive tax increases on the June ballot. The only circumstance, in our view, that would justify this proposal is if the California Legislature also agreed to put tax reductions on the ballot as well. Several legislators (all Republicans) agreed with our view as well as supporting other major reforms.

Other Republican legislators, while supporting substantive reforms, did not necessarily include tax reductions as part of an overall budget fix. Although we disagree, it is now apparent that these Republican legislators were nonetheless holding out for major structural reforms of a positive nature. Even this more moderate stance, however, has been rebuffed by the Governor and the Democrats in the Legislature. In frustration, it now appears that they have broken off talks with the Governor.

Although we continue to believe that any reform package should include tax reductions as an option, we acknowledge the efforts of the five legislators who yesterday signed… Read More

At some point we have to say, “stop the madness, stop the presses, just plain stop.” As many predicted, California has spent itself into oblivion. As a result, the Capitol is now besieged by onslaughts of the spend more-tax more crowd. The halls of the Capitol are swarming with specialist interest groups, lobbyists and citizens, all who are equally passionate about securing their share of a shrinking budget pie. But, there are few who come to the State Capitol to stand in the gap for those who cannot be at the Capitol from daylight until dusk – the taxpayers, the ones who pay the bills. Who comes calling to represent their interests? The Legislature keeps telling the taxpayers that we just need a little bit more of their money – money the citizens need to pay their mortgages, buy food, pay for utilities, and save for retirement. Two years ago, the Legislature approved what was termed a temporary tax increase to fill the state’s gaping budget hole and, in May of 2009, the voters were asked whether they were willing to extend these “temporary” taxes an additional two years. The… Read More

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.

… Read More