This just came in from longtime FR friend Bruce Bialosky… Give Them More Money? by Bruce Bialosky It is difficult to determine whether to give more money to our friends in Sacramento. This dilemma was no more apparent than during my just-completed road trip. I flew to Kansas to drive my son back from college for the summer.

We drove Interstate 40 through five states. We started with Oklahoma – the state… Read More

This column was submitted by FR reader Eric Wickland. Wickland is a recently retired urban planner and building official. He is a former director of the California Association of Professional Employees, CAPE, AFL-CIO. Wickland serves on the Executive Committee of the California Republican Party, and is a member of the Lincoln Clubs of Los Angeles County.

The Case For Taxation With Representation by Eric Wickland Tomorrow morning, after California voters’ rejection of budget balancing propositions 1A-1F, Governor… Read More

10:20am UPDATE: The Governor’s office has clarified that the first item I mentioned is on his agenda — getting a waiver for the stimulus bucks. But the other stuff is not… (At least today, eh?)

As part of his "Get As Far Away From California When My Ballot Props Flame Out Tour, " Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today will meet with California’s entire Congressional Delegation – Republicans and Democrats. I found this out when talking to Congressman and FR blogger John Campbell last night.

Undoubtedly he will be talking about a waiver to allow California to get stimulus dollars despite the SEIU’s so-far successful lobbying to get the Obama Administration to condition those funds on undoing cuts to pay for unionized home-care workers that took place last February. That’s a good idea.

He’ll undoubtedly have some bad ideas on his agenda too — like asking Uncle Sam to guarantee California’s bonds (dumb) and asking for more federal bailouts for California government (dumber) — and maybe he will… Read More

Courtesy of the Republican National Committee.… Read More

Today is special election day, and I realized that I reached out to the five members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors to ask them their positions on the ballot propositions, but then didn’t tell you, our readers!

This is pretty simple: Pat Bates, John Campbell Janet Nguyen, John Moorlach and Chris Norby all unanimously oppose all of the Propositions. They will be voting (or have voted) no on 1A-1F!

They join Orange County’s two top law enforcement officials, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, in opposing the whole slate of ill-conceived measures.… 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