It may seem counter intuitive for me to be asking this question of Legislative Republicans, as opposed to the liberal Democrats that make up the majority of state legislators – but here it is – are you ready to make serious and deep cuts in state government spending?

I ask this question because as we can all see from the very serious funding shortfall that exists with the adopted budget, upwards of over $20 billion, there is a severe problem, and I think that it is fair to anticipate that California voters are going to reject not only new taxes, but also the various schemes on the ballot to throw more revenues at this problem. The message from the public will be clear – reduce state spending to available revenue.

I direct this commentary to Republicans because it is widely anticipated that the Governor will present a May Revision of the existing budget that includes some very tough spending cuts that will have a huge, material impact on the role and function of California government.

Republicans need to be ready to move beyond the talk, and embrace the cuts, and stand with the Governor when he is doing the right thing.

No one is saying… Read More

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

The Banana Republic of California

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Publisher’s Note: Both of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor next year are in the process of putting together their campaign structure to carry them through to the primary, and each campaign would tell you, through the general election. Today we are putting the spotlight on Jillian Hasner, who was recently hired as campaign operations manager by Meg Whitman’s campaign. FR readers should understand that a campaign manager is typically not a campaign “strategist” or a consultant (which is not to say that a CM wouldn’t have a seat at the campaign strategy table). This position is usually the senior staff spot on a campaign, and typically it falls to this person to ensure that all of the aspects of a campaign are being executed upon and are moving forward. Needless to say, this role with a Gubernatorial level campaign is quite complex and time consuming, and requires a top notch operative… Flash… Read More

Publisher’s Note: Both of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor next year are in the process of putting together their campaign structure to carry them through to the primary, and each campaign would tell you, through the general election. Today we are putting the spotlight on Jillian Hasner, who was recently hired as campaign operations manager by Meg Whitman’s campaign.

FR readers should understand that a campaign manager is typically not a campaign “strategist” or a consultant (which is not to say that a CM wouldn’t have a seat at the campaign strategy table). This position is usually the senior staff spot on a campaign, and typically it falls to this person to ensure that all of the aspects of a campaign are being executed upon and are moving forward. Needless to say, this role with a Gubernatorial level campaign is quite complex and time consuming, and requires a top notch operative… Flash

While the Whitman for Governor campaign has brought a Florida politico out to California, former Florida Statehouse Speaker Marco Rubio has brought a California politico to Florida, snatched from the Poizner campaign. Former Poizner political director Brian Seitchik has left the Golden State for the Sunshine State. Rubio and his new hire, Seitchik, will have a big hurdle to clear the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Mel Martinez — this morning Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced that he is running for that seat as well. Rubio will be the conservative, and Crist the moderate, in that GOP match up.… Read More

Publisher’s Note: Both of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor next year are in the process of putting together their campaign structure to carry them through to the primary, and each campaign would tell you, through the general election. Recently, both campaigns have brought on new campaign managers, and today and tomorrow we’ll be spotlighting each of them, starting today with Poizner’s new hire, Jim Bognet. FR readers should understand that a campaign manager is typically not a campaign “strategist” or a consultant (which is not to say that a CM wouldn’t have a seat at the campaign strategy table). This position is usually the senior staff spot on a campaign, and typically it falls to this person to ensure that all of the aspects of a campaign are being executed upon and are moving forward. Needless to say, this role with a Gubernatorial level campaign is quite complex and time consuming, and… Read More

Publisher’s Note: Both of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor next year are in the process of putting together their campaign structure to carry them through to the primary, and each campaign would tell you, through the general election. Recently, both campaigns have brought on new campaign managers, and today and tomorrow we’ll be spotlighting each of them, starting today with Poizner’s new hire, Jim Bognet.

FR readers should understand that a campaign manager is typically not a campaign “strategist” or a consultant (which is not to say that a CM wouldn’t have a seat at the campaign strategy table). This position is usually the senior staff spot on a campaign, and typically it falls to this person to ensure that all of the aspects of a campaign are being executed upon and are moving forward. Needless to say, this role with a Gubernatorial level campaign is quite complex and time consuming, and requires a top notch operative… Flash… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger this morning announced that instead of waiting until after the results of the May 19th Special Election to issue his required proposed May Revisions to the State Budget, that instead he will go ahead and issue his proposals later this week — in fact, he will offer two different proposals, one in the unlikely event that the May ballot propositions pass, and one for the more likely outcome that those ballot propositions will fail.

The Governor, never one to admit defeat until the body is cold, is apparently not done with the last minute efforts to try and bully the public into voting for his ballot propositions by painting for them some sort of draconian picture of where the state will be if they have to trim an additional $6 billion of costs because of the failures of 1C, 1D, and 1E.

Have you ever heard of the Washington Monument theory? As the story goes, every time someone says that the National… Read More