According to the Governor’s calendar, tomorrow at 3:30pm the Governor will hold a meeting of the "Big 5" — himself and the four legislative leaders — to discuss budget options going forward.

That’s probably a good idea (although one of the items on their agenda should be discontinuing the back-room, exclusive format of the Big 5 to actually negotiate major policy items — that has proven to be a dismal failure — and expensive for taxpayers).

But it raises an interesting question. At the meeting will be the Governor, Senate President Darrell Steinberg, Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and…?????

Who will represent the 29 member Assembly Republican Caucus in that Big 5 meeting?

From where we sit, this is a no-brainer — it definitely should and must be Assembly Republican Leader-Elect Sam Blakeslee. He clearly has been designated as the go-to person to deal with the aftermath of the terrible… Read More

Longtime FR friend and Reason Foundation Vice President Adrian Moore sent this over… Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is warning that the state’s budget deficit will reach $21.3 billion and the state will face a “cash crisis” if voters don’t approve the budget measures on next week’s ballot. So the massive $42 billion deficit hasn’t been a crisis all along?

The governor’s promotion of these ballot measures is just the latest example of his failure to live up to his promises. Wasn’t he going to blow up the boxes of government? And cut up the state’s credit cards?

The ballot measures are simply tax increases and accounting… Read More

This morning I had the opportunity debate State Senator Abel Maldonado on Proposition 1F on KSRO radio in the Bay Area. Play the audio clip (7 minutes) below. Who won? I think I did — but want don’t you decide?

Last week, Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association took on Jeannine English of the AARP on KSRO over Proposition 1A. Check that out on KSRO’s website here. … Read More

A longtime FR reader brought to our attention that according to Politico.com, "sources say that" Governor Schwarzenegger is going to travel to Washington, D.C., tomorrow to be on hand as President Obama sticks it to American families during a recession by mandating new, expensive fuel standards on auto-makers. In fact, to the extent that the taxpayers are "invested" via bailout in U.S. automakers, we are getting smacked by these regulations twice!

I don’t know who will be more ashamed tomorrow, U.S. automaker executives who rightfully have been fighting these regulations but now have to attend this White House event as their companies are on the public tit, or Arnold Schwarzenegger who, as our reader put it, appears to be, "slithering out of town with his tail between his legs," as voters seem on a certain path to reject his ill-advised package of special election ballot measures (which include a massive tax increase).

I wonder if the Governor will have time to vote on his way to his private jet? I haven’t known him to vote by absentee ballot,… Read More

The front page of the Flash Report today features a great article by my friend Allan Bartlett who attended a rally emceed by KFI’s John and Ken, the hosts of a very popular afternoon show on that station. This dynamic duo has done a great job exposing the 1A-1F scam and publicizing the tea party movement. Growing up in Orange County, every weekday from 9am-noon I listened to Rush Limbaugh on KFI. So now that I’ve moved to Sacramento, I still tune into KFI via their Internet broadcast and occasionally stay tuned long enough to catch John and Ken’s show. Imagine my surprise when the KFI on Demand streaming audio popped up with an ad for YES on 1A-1F!

I know that John and Ken have repeatedly called out the governor for selling out taxpayers, so perhaps the governor’s “California Dream Team” thought purchasing some ads on KFI would be a fun way to tweak his radio critics. Sometimes the path money travels in politics can be rather humorous. The CRP,… Read More

I remember a meeting the Governor had with Assembly Republicans right after the 2005 special election debacle. Remember that one? The Governor raised millions of dollars for some mediocre initiatives (and one good one, elimination of agency fee), spent that money on mediocre ads prepared by mediocre consultants, who gave him bad advice (specifically they told him not to put anything on illegal immigration on the ballot because it would be too controversial, even though illegal immigration was the one issue that would draw out the voters the Governor wanted to the polls), and he lost, everything.

After that election, he said he had learned his lesson, and he completely capitulated to the Democrats. He hired Susan Kennedy, one of the chief aides to the failed Governor Gray Davis (and one of the chief architects of his failures), began rolling over for Democrats, and began capitulating to the Democrats on every major issue. He was no longer the terminator, he wasn’t even a Compromisinator, he was the Capitulator. His capitulation to Legislative Democrats created the current fiscal crisis in the state, just as the capitulation of Gray Davis to the Legislative… Read More

With the special election taking place tomorrow, I wanted to pen my last pre-election commentary on the issue of Proposition 1A. On this website we have featured a score of guest commentaries on the issue of 1A, most of them highly critical of the measure, but a few supportive of it.

I wanted to share with you my observations on 1A, in some detail, and make it very clear why I am voting against it at my polling place tomorrow, and why I strongly encourage you to do the same. IF 1A PASSES, CALIFORNIANS ARE HIT WITH $20 BILLION IN TAXES THAT THEY OTHERWISE WOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY

There are basically two consequences of the passage of 1A. One is that a weak spending limit is adopted, which we discuss in detail below. The other huge consequence is California taxpayers will be hit with over $16 billion in higher sales taxes, higher income taxes, higher car taxes, and a reduction in the tax credit for dependents which would cost families $200 per child. According to the Howard Jarvis… Read More

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reform initiatives went down to defeat in the Fall 2005 special election, he reacted by embarking on a statewide "apology tour" in which he told voters he was sorry for trying to reform government along conservative lines, and promised never to do it again — a promise, it must be said, he has kept. in spades.

My question: when his latest "reform" initiatives go down to defeat tomorrow, will the Governor embark on a second "Apology Tour" and tell voters he is sorry for three-and-a-half years of boosting government spending, fattening the state payroll and imposing job-killing regulations on the state economy? And then promise never to do it again?

Don’t hold your breath. That would be hard and entail angering special interests, and Arnold don’t play that anymore.… Read More