"Battle Tested" and "Conservative" Fiorina take on Senator Boxer on the issue of national security as the former HP Chairman starts to shift her campaign into a general election posture…

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To the average voter, it sounds so innocent.

Levy on tax on lobbyists to finance a “pilot project” that would pay the campaign expenses of candidates in the next two elections for Secretary of State.

But like many ballot initiatives that promise one thing and deliver something quite different, Prop 15 is not what its backers say it is.

Prop 15 doesn’t stop with two elections. It would repeal the ban on tax-supported campaigns statewide. With a simple majority vote, legislators could finance their own campaigns with taxpayer dollars. The same is true for city councils and boards of supervisors.

And it doesn’t stop with the lobbyist tax. Prop 15 invites legislators to use the General Fund or “other sources” to pay for campaign expenses. Those “other sources” include new taxes and fees – not to pay the salaries of police officers and teachers, but to pay for negative ads and junk mail.

Four years ago, 74 percent of voters said NO to Prop 89, a plan to tax businesses to finance political campaigns. In 2000, two-thirds of voters rejected another public campaign financing scheme, Proposition… Read More

Meg Whitman has launched a new anti-Poizner ad — very similar to one previously launched, with some new video shots of her opponent…

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In case you need some sort of poignant reminder of exactly how whacked out Capitol Democrats are — and how they literally are continuing to over-regulate California, and expand the "Nanny State" — we need only publish for you a list released by the State Senate Republican Caucus highlighting what are just some of the terrible pieces of legislation coming up for a vote in the Senate (it’s just as bad in the Assembly!)… Republicans are opposed to all of these… And before you comment or ask, YES, these are FOR REAL. We did NOT make these up.

TAXES SCA 6 (Simitian) – Lowers threshold to raise local taxes–Undermines taxpayer protection. Amends the Constitution to permit school districts, community college… Read More

There is nothing more insidious than when government uses taxpayer dollars to advocate for tax increases. When you see it happen, it makes your stomach turn — and it happens all too often. With a h/t to FR friend Scott Schmidt, we bring you the latest egregious example of the taxpayers who finance the deficit-challenged Los Angeles Unified School District being plied with persuasive "informational" commercials about Measure E — a massive property tax increase measure coming up for a vote that, if passed, would increase property taxes in that district to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars ($370 million, to be more precise, says LAUSD). We note that at the same time that LAUSD is asking taxpayers to pony up more cash, there are no attendant reforms or accountability measures being put forward by LAUSD politicians. Go figure.

There are two "information" tv ads out… Read More

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I have been out of the office all day, and so this isn’t news to some — but I want to congratulate my good friend and FlashReport contributor Dan Schnur on his appointment by Governor Schwarzenegger to serve as Chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission. Schnur will fill out the term of former State Senator Ross Johnson, who retired for health reasons.

I would write something lengthy and flowery, but since Torey Van Oot and Anthony York have done a swell job at the Sacramento Bee and LA Times political blogs, respectively.

Congratulations, Dan!

Oh yeah, no pressure – but Dan, this is your chance to show that all of that work you did for John McCain’s Presidential bid back in 2000 was because… Read More

WHITMAN FOR GOVERNOR “Republican Leaders”, “Republican Voter Alert”, “Meet the Real Poizner” (TODAY’S WINNER), “Comparison” and “Liberal Poizner Behind the Wheel” (note: friends and clients have already gotten most of these some time ago so I figure there was some sort of postal screw up that led these to all come at once today. My various ‘mail reporters’ report having gotten one piece from Whitman today), YES ON 16 “Right to Vote” and “Politicians”, COOPER FOR SACRAMENTO SHERIFF “Toughest Beat”, and I got something from the CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENT VOTER NETWORK “Primary Election” that could not have been more confusing (TODAY’S LOSER).… Read More