This is a "must watch" video to see a Congressman who is completely out of touch with the major drought effecting his district. Liberal Democrat Jim Costa campaigned as a so-called "Blue Dog" (moderate) Democrat, but he votes virtually ALL OF THE TIME with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco.

Someone should perhaps remind the Congressman that unemployment in the San Joaquin Valley is nearly 20 percent and as high as 40 percent in some cities and that according to a recent University of California at Davis study, based on the water reductions outlined in the Delta outlined in the Delta smelt Biological Opinion, revenue losses in the San Joaquin Valley of California for 2009 will be $2.2 billion and job losses at… 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

The California Supreme Court made the right choice today when it sided with voters and victims by upholding Jessica’s Law 2,000-feet living restriction for sex offenders who were paroled after the date the law was passed

I am pleased with the ruling. The court has upheld the will of the voters and the rights of victims who, let’s not forget, have suffered from the hands of society’s worst criminals.

The court’s ruling is consistent with the intent behind Jessica’s Law, which is to provide better safety for children by preventing paroled sex offenders from living near schools.

According to the Declaration of Independence, our leaders have the right to rule only with ‘the consent of the governed’ and the California Supreme Court proved that today. It’s a good day for Californians and for Democracy.… Read More

Today Meg Whitman’s campaign announced that their latest radio commercials feature a commentary from former California Governor Pete Wilson.

You can hear the ad by clicking on the YouTube spot below (conveniently provided by the Whitman campaign)…

The Whitman campaign says this is their eighth radio spot…

… Read More

I just got off of the phone listening in on a press conference called by gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner. I was going to try and write up the issues he raised in the event, when I got a press release from Poizner’s campaign. I don’t do this often, but for the sake of getting information out quickly, I will reprint the release below… Interestingly, Poizner files a complaint with, among others, Attorney General Jerry Brown, the likely Democrat nominee for Governor.

Whitman campaign’s threats and intimidation cross the line; FBI, U.S. Attorney, and AG Brown are notified of the Whitman campaign’s attempts to cancel the election. Republican candidate for governor Steve Poizner today revealed intimidation tactics from Meg Whitman in which her top political advisor threatened to spend… 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] Back in 1977, when I was ten years old, you were "cool" if you were listening to an awesome new song by The Eagles — Hotel California. You were "un-cool" if you were "jive dancing" to Andy Gibb. Star Wars debuted that year, and Elvis Presley moved on to Graceland in the sky. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown was Governor of California, and that was the year that he… Read More

I just got off of the phone listening in on a press conference called by gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner. I was going to try and write up the issues he raised in the event, when I got a press release from Poizner’s campaign. I don’t do this often, but for the sake of getting information out quickly, I will reprint the release below… Interestingly, Poizner files a complaint with, among others, Attorney General Jerry Brown, the likely Democrat nominee for Governor.

Whitman campaign’s threats and intimidation cross the line; FBI, U.S. Attorney, and AG Brown are notified of the Whitman campaign’s attempts to cancel the election. Republican candidate for governor Steve Poizner today revealed intimidation tactics from Meg Whitman in which her top political advisor threatened to spend… Read More