Famed politico and senior level Whitman for Governor consultant Mike Murphy fired a shot across the bow of the S.S. Poizner, in response to the accusations leveled by Poizner this morning (see the blog post below this one). Murphy’s statement: "After reading the ridiculous charges made by Steve Poizner during today’s strange press conference, all I can say is that I’m starting to worry about Commissioner’s mental condition. It is true that I have been trying to find a way to avoid a costly and unnecessary Republican primary. I believe it is important that Republicans across California unite around Meg Whitman to defeat Jerry Brown in the fall. It is also true that I am not the only one with this view. Many Republican leaders are more and more concerned that the Poizner campaign, now 28+ points behind in the… Read More

[As you read this, please note that the Hillary Clinton Campaign has acknowledged to Chief Justice George’s attorney that he appears on their campaign reports in error. So my story was based on inaccurate information on the FEC website, and my accusation was, as it turns out, unfounded. See more here – Flash]

Just a few minutes ago, I got off of the phone with Beth Jay, the Principal Attorney for Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George. She called me in response to my commentary this morning taking the Chief Justice to task for what appear to be many contributions to the Hillary Clinton for President campaign back in 2008.

While telling me that she can understand why I could have reached the conclusion that Justice George had made those contributions (hmmm, because the FEC website identified… Read More

A good friend of the FlashReport, an attorney who does a lot of reporting compliance work, offered the following observation on this flap over the Chief Justice being the victim of a "drive by reporting…"

I could see how an incorrect occupation/employer would end up listed on a campaign report. Our firm prepares dozens of these reports per filing period, and for a committee as large as Hillary’s, the recordkeeping is astronomical. In an attempt to comply with reporting requirements, we often resort to google when we can’t reach a donor to obtain their address (in CA has to be a street address), occupation and employer. If we find a match that appears accurate, we go with it. Especially at the CA level, there is no “best efforts” rule like there is at the federal level – in CA, if you don’t obtain the street address, occupation and employer, the contribution has to be returned. At the federal level, the committee need only show that it made its “best efforts” to obtain the information, and can keep the contribution in the absence of the information being collected – so… Read More

As far as the “jobs, jobs, jobs” mantra, we can spend with borrowed money, which is not popular with voters, or we can look at what is right in front of our noses. To stop the hemorrhaging of jobs, the obvious thing for government to do is lower the cost of labor by cutting back on payroll taxes paid by employers and workers.

I plugged in data for an imaginary California worker making $45,000 a year who is single with no deductions and here is how it breaks out:

Gross pay (per month): $3,750 Federal income tax: $543 FICA (social security): $232.50 Medicare: $54.38

So already out of a gross pay of $3,750, this hypothetical Californian has over $829 taken out by the federal government before he gets a dime. But we need to add California’s payroll taxes.

California has four State payroll taxes which are administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD). They are Unemployment Insurance and Employment Training Tax, which are employer contributions, and State Disability Insurance (SDI) and Personal Income Tax… Read More

(For the purposes of this posting, I am now the Flashreport Middle East Correspondent)

Just before last Christmas my local Rabbi, Isaac Jeret, invited California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring and me to visit Israel, as guest of the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces. Only 4 days on the ground going to places few can visit, we jumped at the chance.

I’ve never been to Israel. Until 9-11, I was agnostic between the struggles of Arab countries and the state of Israel. Never a friend of too-generous “foreign” aid, I had a laissez faire attitude. After the brutal realization, that for over a hundred years brewed a massive resurgence of extremist Islam that threatens western civilization, I reconsidered and now believe Israel is a vital link in our war against Islamic Terror.

We visited the HQ of the Southern Frontier along the Gaza front. We met with the general in charge at the Re’im Base. We witnesses instruction to IDF soldiers how they are taught to minimize civilian injuries. IDF soldiers risk or suffer casualties, by… Read More

The Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District’s governing board this past Monday decided to send a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature requesting the suspension and/or repeal of AB32, the "Global Warming Solutions Act." This action was prompted by imminently conflicting federal and state regulations and the simple bad economic timing of implementing such a law now or in the near future. (Continued below.) AB32 calls for California to cut its "greenhouse gas" emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 – a reduction of 30 percent – followed by an 80-percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050.

The Mojave Desert AQMD, as an agency charged with and committed to improving air quality, raised some eyebrows as a result of the announcement of its soon-to-be-issued request, including those of KFI’s John and Ken, who interviewed me as a member of the district board on Thursday. (You can listen to the interview by clicking here.)

During the… Read More

Warning: the following blog will contain the word “green.”

If the terms “climate change” and “cap and trade” make you cringe…relax, this isn’t about either. It’s about a new policy called CALGREEN that was recently adopted by the Building Standard’s Commission, and it will make the world a better place for your children…yes, it’s really *that* important.

Looking on the calendar, I see it’s less than a year before registered Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finishes his tenure in office. Normally, a Republican Governor going into his last term with a Democrat-controlled legislature, would have as one area where he can appoint Republicans to positions of lasting influence, is the filling of vacancies Judgeships around California. These appointments, unlike many, do not require confirmation votes.

So it pains me to no end, as an officer of the California Republican Party, and as a common sense conservative who would like to see Republicans appointed as judges, to see Schwarzenegger routinely passing over qualified GOPers for the bench.

Yesterday would be a classic example. The Governor’s office typically announces new Judicial picks by issuing press releases — county by county. Yesterday they started to roll out – five in total. As they came out, I would look… First one, from Republican Madara County — nope, didn’t appoint a… Read More