Today Governor Schwarzenegger was "channeling" Republican Assemblyman Bill Emmerson who has for quite some time now been beating the drum of stopping all other legislative work and focusing exclusively on the budget shortfall (Emmerson had a column on this topic just last weekend published in the Riverside Press Enterprise). Needless to say, until now, Emmerson’s been on a lonely quest — as his legislative colleagues have not been in a hurry to push thousands of pieces through the process while state government is literally going broke. Well, if Emmerson could have hand-picked one politician in the Capitol to agree with him, it would have been Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’m sure Assemblyman Emmerson was smiling as he watched this clip from the Governor’s press conference just a couple of hours ago. We’re smiling — because we agree with Emmerson and Schwarzenegger — it’s time to stop all non-budget related matters, and focus exclusively on a comprehensive solution to the massive shortfall of over $26… Read More

There are a lot of measures that are used in computing the viability and health of a political campaign. Given the enormous costs associated with campaigning in a state as large as California, one of the most critical metrics is a candidates ability to raise money. Yesterday marked the end of a six-month reporting period — candidates for office, in a few weeks, will have to file official statements noting what they have raised and spent from January 1 through June 30.

Meg Whitman’s campaign for Governor today announced that they have raised a staggering $6.5 million dollars in just five months — a huge financial outpouring of support for her candidacy. This does not include the more than $4 million of her own personal funds that she has given to her campaign, bringing her fundraising total for the period to above $10 million.

It will be some time before official reports will be available for review and analysis — to get more insights into who Whitman’s donors are, and… Read More

Today Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association appropriately demanded an apology from Assembly Speaker Karen Bass after she called Californians who oppose tax increases, in a word, "terrorists.

Speaker Bass used that word several times during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. She said that Republican members of the legislature, "operate under a terrorist threat" and that they are "terrorized" against voting for [taxes]."

Bass mentioned the recall effort being mounted against Assemblyman Anthony Adams by concerned citizens, and went on to say, "I don’t know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist." Coupal (pictured) condemned these statements as outrageous — saying, "For the State of California’s Speaker of the Assembly to call the people of California ‘terrorists’ is despicable. For… Read More

"We have that duty to make sure that no one starves," state Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) said as she pleaded with GOP senators for their votes.

And thusly, the stupidity and ignorance continues……….

I don’t know anyone starving in California. If there are needs, they are being met by family, social service agencies or some form of government. If Jenny Oropeza really believes that this budget is about people starving, she is just dumb.

Even with no money, Democrats don’t get it – because they have no purpose in life other than to spend. Without money to spend, they might as well go home.

Much is made of "outreach" programs to meet politlical objectives. Republicans have their various outreach programs, which don’t work. The entire Democrat outreach program is spending money. That is all they have to offer. And now that then can’t do it anymore, the are an angry mob prone to say stupid things.

Thanks for the entertainment……….… Read More

The big question looming out there for vendors and people who receive money from the state, and for the record way too many people do, is who will accept IOU’s?

Banks haven’t made up there minds. They may be waiting to see what the interest rate will be. Golden State Credit Union will take the warrants; they after all cater to government employees.

I have co-authored AB 1506 that would allow the recipients of IOUs from the state to use the warrants as payment for state services.

Today, I attended a press conference organized by Assembly Bill 1506 Author Assemblyman Joel Anderson.

If IOU’s are going to be issued by the state, the state should take them as payments. The DMV should take them, California State universities should take them, the Board of Equalization should take them etc…

If California wants banks to take them, shouldn’t California government do the same?

Think of the all the interest California will save and besides they are safe bet, right?… Read More

You would think that the last thing the California Legislature would want to do is add yet one more burdensome layer of taxes on small businesses – especially at a time when we ought to pass measures to stimulate the economy. But that’s not the mindset of the Democrat leaders in the Legislature.

Instead, the cornerstone of their current Budget Proposal is a 3 percent withholding tax on Independent Contractors.

This illogical proposal would slow economic recovery and growth in California, and has the potential to put more people out of work. As it is, the state is already approaching a 12% unemployment rate.

Furthermore, this measure could actually force small business owners to shut their doors, or at the very least stretch other small businesses to the limit, as they will be compelled to provide an up-front loan to the state even if they have no tax liability.

When are the Democrats going to learn that small business is the fuel that drives California’s economy?

… Read More

Today is the last day of the 2008-2009 fiscal year, and it is the final opportunity for the State Legislature to place on the Governor’s desk a comprehensive fix to next fiscal year’s way-out-out-whack budget before we are actually IN that fiscal year. By "comprehensive fix" — I mean a package of cuts and reforms that ensures that state government will be able to make it all of the way to June 30, 2010 without having yet another "fiscal crisis" where we are back at the cliff, again.

Governor Schwarzenegger has been 100% on message since the May 19th Special Election — we need a complete fix for the budget situation — one that does so taking into account that the voters overwhelmingly rejected tax increases to do so.

Legislative Democrats, unbelievably Sunday (in the Assembly) and yesterday (in the Senate) rammed through billions of dollars in illegal majority-vote tax increases for what appears to be the sole purpose of sticking the legislative "middle finger" up at California voters — especially since the Governor has and continues to make it clear that any legislation that hits his desk with… Read More

The IHSS program has seen disproportionate growth over the past several years, and IHSS costs have grown nearly twice as fast as inflation and population growth.

With this remarkable growth has come a growing element of fraud, estimated to be as high as 25% of all funds expended. The Governor is seeking simple reforms to help rein in growing fraud in this worthy program. They are:

These are simple steps that ought to be easy to support to ensure scarce funds go farther.

The chart below shows the incredible growth in the IHSS program. Yet another example of a program with rapid growth, runaway fraud, deserving of additional scrutiny to ensure more funds are available to the truly needy. For 2009-10, the chart reflects what expenditures would be without the Governor’s proposed reductions. … Read More