Over on our favorite hard-left blog, the California Progress Report, they featured an interview with Democrat State Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez.

If readers of the FlashReport didn’t already have enough reason to vote down the ballot measures on the May 19th ballot, look at what Flores sees coming down the pike…

CPR: "What happens on May 20?"

FLORES: "May 20 is really clear to me, it’s an all-cuts budget, period. There’s not one more Republican in that house that is going to vote for a tax increase. We lose twenty billion dollars plus in taxes. May 20 is an all-cuts budget, period. I expect it to be a quick budget because we’re not going to have to convince a Republican to vote for this one because there will not be a tax increase in it. It will be the most painful quick budget in California history.

I… Read More

This just in from conservative icon Tom McClintock:

Prop 1A: Extend the Tax Increases. NO. This is the fig leaf that hides certain deficiencies suffered by the legislators who caved into pressure for the biggest tax increase in California’s history. This measure EXTENDS the tax increases for up to two ADDITIONAL years in exchange for a spending limit that doesn’t limit spending. The "spending limit" is laughable – it requires placing "unanticipated revenues" into a special fund that is then to be spent for a variety of additional purposes including education, debt service and health care. And since all funds are interchangeable, this merely allows funds spent for one purpose to be shifted for another. The bottom line: If you were against the tax increase, you’re against Prop. 1A.

Prop… Read More

**FR EXCLUSIVE** This just in from Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association…

Right on cue, our Hollywood Governor is trotting out the firefighters and threatening Californians with burning homes unless he gets his way. Voters can absolutely be assured that, next week, he and the California Teachers Association will be threatening public education and school closures.

But these threats – reflecting little more than simple extortion – should not be taken seriously. First, the Governor’s own Director of Finance recently testified that the… Read More

Today at a meeting of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors meeting we considered eliminating benefits for undocumented residents of Yolo County. We are one of maybe ten counties in the state that provide these benefits.

At our next meeting I would expect that at least three votes will be cast in favor of eliminating these services. Many of you are probably cheering about this.

In the end I will likely (my mind is always open until the final votes are cast) be one of the votes to make this policy change because it is in the best interests of the county. Here is the rub. I actually believe that with the law requiring emergency rooms to serve everyone that walks in the door the taxpayers of Yolo County will end up paying more under this new policy.

As a County Supervisor I am watching out for the best interest of the Yolo County taxpayer in isolation. However, when you consider that the person that comes in for an indigent care visit with a cut that can be quickly treated today but instead will wait to come in on Saturday when it is infected and in need of emergency care — this is not a good thing for the people that will end up paying the… Read More

After six years of Mike Spence’s outstanding leadership, the California Republican Assembly has a new president.

This weekend the CRA met in Bakersfield to select their leadership, including a new president: Ken Mettler from Bakersfield. The new CRA national committeeman and committeewoman are Sergio Picchio (a CRA past president) and Karen England. Six vice president were elected: Ben Lopez, Scott Voigts, Celeste Greg, Cliff Wagner, Karl Heft and me (thank you to the CRA delegates for your votes!).

Congratulations to the Kern County Republican Assembly for putting together a fantastic convention. The entire weekend was packed with informative, engaging speakers. Coming on the heels of the extremely successful tea party rallies (most CRA delegates had participated in them), CRA members were excited about voters taking action against an elitist government bureaucracy—something the CRA has battled since its inception.

All of the GOP gubernatorial hopefuls visited the convention. Friday evening Steve Poizner spoke at the dinner, delivering his stump speech about California’s obtrusive government… Read More

Chrysler: Given my 25 years in the car dealership business, of which most of you are aware, I can’t let this week go by without commenting on last week’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Chrysler Corporation. What the Obama Administration is doing with the American car industry saddens me. No, it actually angers me. In fact, I am fired up big time. It has become abundantly clear that the only objective of the Obama task force is to put control of GM and Chrysler in the hands of the UAW union and wipe out anyone who had invested any capital in either of these companies. What’s more, he is using taxpayer money to subsidize the union’s takeover of these companies. Here are some of my observations on what it going on:

Under the Obama plan; the government, UAW, and government-controlled banks will own 95% of GM. They will own 80% of Chrysler. The existing stockholders get 1% of GM and 0% of Chrysler. The bondholders (who are not government controlled banks) get 4% of GM and 0% of Chrysler. The remaining 20% of Chrysler will be owned by Fiat (more on that later).

So, in the Chrysler plan, the… Read More

I voted for one budget in my time in the Legislature. It was the first Schwarzenegger budget (’04-’05), the one constructed by Donna Arduin (who is, by the way, a true fiscal conservative), back when Schwarzenegger was still the Terminator, and not the Capitulator. I thought long and hard before I voted for that budget, studied its implications, its assumptions, and came to the conclusion that the Governor deserved my support. It started out, in the January budget as a $1.1 billion spending cut. It ended up, after negotiations with the spending addicts in the Democrat Legislature, and the advocates of the status quo in the Governor’s administration, as a $100 million spending increase. As I recall, it was a $78.3 billion general fund budget.

The next year (’05-’06), the finance director was Tom Campbell, and the final budget proposal was $92 billion, the largest spending increase in the history of the state (larger than the largest Gray Davis increase). A serious dilemma was facing Legislative Republicans. The Governor had worked hard to put his initiatives on the ballot, which included a real spending limit, removing mandatory… Read More

I voted for one budget in my time in the Legislature. It was the first Schwarzenegger budget (’04-’05), the one constructed by Donna Arduin (who is, by the way, a true fiscal conservative), back when Schwarzenegger was still the Terminator, and not the Capitulator. I thought long and hard before I voted for that budget, studied its implications, its assumptions, and came to the conclusion that the Governor deserved my support. It started out, in the January budget as a $1.1 billion spending cut. It ended up, after negotiations with the spending addicts in the Democrat Legislature, and the advocates of the status quo in the Governor’s administration, as a $100 million spending increase. As I recall, it was a $78.3 billion general fund budget.

The next year (’05-’06), the finance director was Tom Campbell, and the final budget proposal was $92 billion, the largest spending increase in the history of the state (larger than the largest Gray Davis increase). A serious dilemma was facing Legislative Republicans. The Governor had worked hard to put his initiatives on the ballot, which included a real spending limit, removing mandatory… Read More