Over my objections, the BoE voted 3-2 to sponsor a bill that would make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for non-wealthy taxpayers to sue the government. The back story to this is the BoE recently lost a case in Superior Court. The judge awarded attorney’s fees to the plaintiffs because the Board’s position was so unreasonable the judge ruled the case involved the enforcement of an important right affecting the public interest. The judge ruled the BoE must pay the plaintiff 1.5 times a reasonable fee, which he found in this case is more than $600,000. Before it got to this point I repeatedly argued we needed to settle the case, but the Board’s Democratic majority would only listen to the flawed legal advice we were getting from our legal department.

On Tuesday, the same lawyers who previously insisted we fight this case brought before the Board a bill idea to eliminate the current system for recovering costs and replace it with an exclusive standard that raises the bar so high for fee recovery that it will preclude non-wealthy taxpayers from bringing actions against the Board. Attorneys will not be willing to take a case for a regular taxpayer… Read More

Here are a few simple questions for you.

Do you love California politics? Do you obsess over following the daily goings-on of California politics? Do you love the FlashReport? Do you think state government is too big and spends too much? Do you wake up early?

If you answered yes fives times in a row to the questions above, then we may have a place for you in helping out with putting together the FlashReport!

If I have have piqued your interest, drop me an e-mail.

Jon Fleischman Publisher, FlashReport… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

Terminating the California Income Tax

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Well, the Democrats are acting predictably, I am sorry to say. This morning in my commentary (a couple of post below this one), I said that the Democrats would unveil tax increases as part of their plan. This morning just after 11am, the Sacramento Bee posted this story: Assembly Democrats Push Oil, Tobacco Taxes.

I urged Democrats to just come out with their nefarious plans — and they did! Once again, they have demonstrated that they are completely tone dead from the message sent by voters last month with the overwhelming rejection of Proposition 1A and its tax increases.

The attempt by Democrats to hike taxes are not surprising in the slightest. After all, we are talking about Democrat caucuses that are split between complete union hacks, whose fealty to the public employee union bosses leave them unable to vote for cuts that would negatively impact the core mission of the unions (to increase the wages and benefits for union members, as well as increase the size of the union) — and liberal ideologues to whom making any cuts in social welfare programs, let alone cuts of this… Read More

Line of the Week… All due respect to the City of Escondido, but I simply can’t pass this one up. At an event for Senator Dennis Hollingsworth in La Mesa on Thursday night, a few folks were talking about Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announced appearance in Escondido the following day for a "budget presentation." The buzz was that the event, tobe held at the city’s large California Center for the Arts, would include a "special" announcement. Given Arnold’s stated budget solution to sell off the Del Mar Fairgrounds, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and several other properties of note, one quick-thinker couldn’t resist a conjecture:

"Maybe the Governor’s going to announce he’s selling Escondido to the Chinese to make a few bucks."

Oh, to be fair, at least to Escondido, here’s what Arnold did discuss on Friday.… Read More

There’s a massive government program that has been sold to the American people with the help of a whole lot of shoveling by the Obama Administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress.

I’m talking about the “stimulus” program, which was supposed to get “shovel-ready” projects built right away, giving an immediate shot in the arm to the economy.

It’s no wonder, of course, as many a president elected during (and therefore almost invariably because of) economic downturns has, during his first 100 days, spent immediate political capital on stimulus. Our current situation has been no exception as job losses and personal net worth are declining at a pace not seen since the late 1970s. The national economy continues to lose jobs at a breathtaking speed, with about 1.5 million jobs lost just in the time since President Obama entered office.

The President’s Keynesian proposal to jumpstart the economy is ambitious in one dimension – size. The $700-billion-plus “stimulus package”, called the American Investment and Recovery Act, was sold as a “shovel-ready” plan intended to employ many of those out of work in… Read More

I’ve had more than a few contacts over the passage of AB 606 that would allow the creation of a CaliforniaBlueberry Commission. I’ve been asked why can’t all the stuff they are proposed to do be done by a private association, like the current California Blueberry Association (and sponsor of the bill)?

First, I love blueberries from California. I have strayed occasionally and eaten them from other states. Maine’s are particularly good and the do have a commission as does Oregon and Michigan other tempters of my palate.

Blueberries are great morning, noon or night. There are blueberryjams, blueberry pies, blueberry pancakes, blueberry waffles, blueberry syrups, blueberry salsas,blueberry cobblers, blueberry donuts,blueberrysalad dressings, blueberry muffins,blueberry shakes, blueberry… Read More

Quote of the Week: “I don’t know anything about cars” – Edward Whitacre, new Chairman of General Motors. Saturn: As most readers of this missive know, before losing my mind and entering politics, I was in the car dealership business for 25 years. As many of you probably don’t know, I was the first Saturn retailer (Saturn was avoiding the term "dealer") chosen by the company back in 1987. I was on the "Franchise Operations Team" that helped develop and grow the retail system that has demonstrated its success in providing high levels of customer service. I opened one of the first 25 stores in 1989 and eventually owned and operated 5 Saturn Facilities in Orange County by 1997. I sold my business to a subsidiary of General Motors in 1998 when GM (in one of their many recent mistakes) decided that they could run dealerships better than individual dealers could, and my business was their first acquisition (That experiment failed a few years later and they sold the stores back into the market). As you can imagine, I have more than a little experience with the … Read More