In a report released today, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office called on the California Legislature to reject the Governor’s proposed constitutional amendment that would restrict the state’s spending decisions on universities and prisons.

The LAO nixed the proposal because:

1. (it) would unwisely constrain the state’s ability to allocate funding where it is most needed each year;

2. is unnecessary, as the state already had the ability to shift funding among programs without this constitutional amendment.

Read the LAO report here.

I agree with the LAO for the reasons stated and because the Governor conveniently omitted the billions of dollars California taxpayers spend on community colleges (read my blog post from Jan. 6) in an effort to skew the argument.

Even though the Legislature should reject the Governor’s proposal, that doesn’t mean we should walk away from our responsibility to trim unnecessary… Read More

This in from longtime FR friend Andrew Pugno, who serves as General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com…

A Vigorous Defense for Traditional Marriage By Andy Pugno, General Counsel, ProtectMarriage.com

As lawyers for the plaintiffs challenging Prop 8 neared the conclusion of their arguments and prepared to “rest their case” today, the court next turned its attention to the defense case put on by the Prop 8 Legal Team.

As lawyers for the plaintiffs challenging Prop 8 neared the conclusion of their arguments and prepared to “rest their case” today, the court next turned its attention to the defense case put on by the Prop 8 Legal Team.

But that doesn’t mean our legal defense team, while waiting our turn to present the official… Read More

This in from longtime FR friend Andrew Pugno, who serves as General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com… A Vigorous Defense for Traditional Marriage By Andy Pugno, General Counsel, ProtectMarriage.com

As lawyers for the plaintiffs challenging Prop 8 neared the conclusion of their arguments and prepared to “rest their case” today, the court next turned its attention to the defense case put on by the Prop 8 Legal Team.

But that doesn’t mean our legal defense team, while waiting our turn to present the official defense, hasn’t been vigorously fighting to uphold Prop 8 during the plaintiffs’ case-in-chief. In fact, when the courtroom came to order this morning the time clock tells me that while plaintiffs have logged 28 hours in presenting their case, the defense team… Read More

FR readers will recall that recently there was some controversy over an idea floated by the California Air Resources Board to actually put into place regulations requiring that your car tire pressure be checked to make sure they are at a state-mandate pressure.

FR friend and San Diego U-T Editorial writer Chris Reed wrote about the regulation’s proposal,and withdrawal.

Conservative cartoonist Eric Eishammer drew this cartoon. We hope you enjoy it! Look for more great cartoons from Eric soon!… Read More

Later this morning the Fiorina for U.S. Senate campaign will announce the formation of 17 new coalition groups in support of her campaign. Those new groups, and their leaders, are listed below. Fiorina will announce that she has tapped Gayle Pacheco, Chuck McDougald and Evie Coss to lead her grassroots leadership team.

Pacheco is currently president and owner of Western Hardware Company, an industrial hardware manufacturer and distributor. In addition to serving on the Walnut Valley Unified School District Personnel Commission, Pacheco also sits on the State Rehabilitation Council and is vice chair of the Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. Pacheco was previously an elected member of the Mt. San Antonio College Board of Trustees and has served as an appointee to the California Workforce Investment Board. Pacheco’s husband, Bob, served in the California legislature. McDougald, a Vietnam War veteran, served… Read More

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It is clear the voters are engaged and angry. I say one thing they pine for is more humility from elected representatives. The atmosphere calls out for political leaders who are well grounded in reality. Independents who are coming back to the GOP are doing so because the Democrats are topping the collective baloney meter. America considers itself under assault by those who hold the reins of power and they are rallying to the idea that the whole enterprise of government is a cancerous lesion that hurts more than it helps.

I suggest Republicans engage the angry voters by modifying their rhetoric to be more humble and to acknowledge that America’s greatness is entirely owed to the freedom of its citizens. I cringe when I hear electeds of either party say that government needs to create jobs. Even the imperial, "we must create jobs" does not sit well. Why? Because the voters know that elected officials do not create any jobs except government jobs. When elected officials, all of whom have a job, engage in the claim they are the font and source of jobs it is off-putting to people who do not have a job. Face it: if the government could,… Read More

Demonstrating a level of responsibility lower than that of a teenage mother who leaves an infant on the steps of a church, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will soon be depositing unsupervised felons in neighborhoods near you.

As part of an unrelenting effort to reduce criminal sentences, eliminate parole supervision and shift its responsibilities to county law enforcement, Corrections will today commence granting early release credits (without any requirement that they be earned) and designate tens of thousands of inmates for release without parole supervision.

The unsupervised release of prisoners also absolves Corrections from any responsibility to provide parolees with training or medical care or even bus passes. From the myopic perspective of Corrections, ignoring parolees saves money. Yet ignoring offenders who have the greatest rehabilitation potential simply increases the likelihood they will fail.

Indeed, this very administration abandoned its prior policy of ignoring parole violations in 2005 when the Sacramento Bee published an in-depth article that documented a dramatic increase of new felonies among parolees whose… Read More