I am scratching my head a bit this morning, as I caught up with the news that two GOP Assemblymen from the Central Valley, Tom Berryhill and Danny Gilmore, have endorsed Proposition 1A. Other than the three infamous Republican Assemblymembers (Adams, Niello and Villines) who voted to tie $16 billion in taxes to the passage of 1A, Berryhill and Gilmore are the only two GOP Assemblymembers to endorse 1A.

The reason why I am scratching my head is to try and understand why they would endorse this measure. We know that it's passage triggers $16 billion in income, sales and car taxes, as well as cuts in the tax credits for families wity children. We know that the “revenue smoothing” language in 1A is so vague that our state's leading experts on spending restraints oppose 1A and specifically have criticized the so-called spending cap — the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the National Tax Limitation Committee, the Pacific Research Institite, the People's Advocate, the Claremont Institute — to name some.

This to say nothing about the “great ruse” – the considerable efforts by the proponents of 1A to… Read More

Earlier this week the San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a stunning ruling affirming the individual right to bear arms. My latest Townhall.com column takes a look at the ruling and how out of step state lawmakers are with the growing case law affirming our Second Amendment rights. … Read More

I figure if I want to climb higher than “55” on the CapWeekly's Top 100 list, I need to beat CW's Anthony York to publishing hot rumors. And this little tidbit is just that, a little bit of “water coolor” banter that makes for fun reading.

So John Garamendi, who is in some obscure statewide office — oh yeah, Lt. Governor — is now a declared candidate for Congress in the East Bay/Delta area, where Democrat Ellen Tauscher has vacated her seat upon being appointed into the Obama Administration.

If not the favorite, Garamendi is no doubt a very strong candidate to take that seat, and head off to Congress (ugh) — with all due deference to the two Democrat state legislators who are also running.

So… This leads to the next question — if later this year, the Lt. Governor steps down to head to Capitol Hill, then who would Governor Schwarzenegger appoint to fill out the unexpired balance of Garamendi's term?

First and foremost, with this Governor, I would hardly put any money down on him necessarily appointing a Republican to this post. Actually, no matter who is appointed, that… Read More

SurveyUSA just released a poll that indicates Propositions 1A-1F are in serious jeopardy. According to the poll, 42% of those surveyed will vote against 1A; 50% of Los Angeles voters are opposed to the measure. Opposition to 1B has increased by 12% in the last six weeks. According to SurveyUSA, “1C is defeated today by almost 2:1.”

Since their last survey, Proposition 1D has seen a 20% percent swing against—although “any outcome is possible.” Opposition is also up against 1E. 1F still seems to be up in the air, with support/opposition/undecided split three ways. Looks like Governor Schwarzenegger and his friends in the legislature have some serious campaigning to do in the next few weeks…… Read More

Just a few minutes ago, I conducted an interview with a real patriot and longtime public servant, former United States Attorney General Ed Meese. For FR readers that don’t know the impressive background of General Meese, he was a close friend, advisor and appointee of Ronald Reagan, both as Governor of California and as President of the United States.

From his resume at the Heritage Foundation…

He holds the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, responsible for keeping the president’s legacy of conservative principles alive in… Read More

While the Legislature dithers on real cuts and Congress blows through cash like it was carbon credits, local leaders are taking action to reduce budgets without putting a tax-boot on the throats of struggling businesses and taxpayers.

Sacramento County Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan, after ceremoniously crumpling and hurling yet another incomplete staff budget memo into the trash, assembled a citizen’s panel to review and make recommendations on budget cuts, efficiency and vital programs.

And unlike the photo-op commissions created by the state, this group – Kitchen Conversations Citizen Budget Committee – will meet for only a few weeks, make specific recommendations, then go back to living regular lives.

Unlike California’s Citizen Performance Review, which came up with a pretty good series of recommendations to save California taxpayers money but then was mostly shelved – a waste of time, money and paper; MacGlashan has a reputation of being tenacious in protecting taxpayers.

While budgets were still flush several years ago, MacGlashan took an unpopular stand to cut a $2.5 million program giving free healthcare to… Read More

I just finished watching the first television commercial released by the campaign to pass all of the measures on the May Special Election ballot. You can see the piece below. When you watch the commercial, you will notice that something is missing. The actor on the screen, playing the dad who is going to play catch with his kid, and vote for the ballot propositions, is the poster child for the ignorant voter that the ballot campaign is trying to fool. He tells us that he needs to go out, "to help hold the line on higher taxes," by voting for these measures…

Whoops. Someone forgot to tell the Leave It To Beaver dad in this commercial that his vote for the Propositions doesn’t hold the line on taxes — on the contrary, if he votes for the package, he will be triggering a $16 billion dollar increase in taxes, including higher sales taxes on the next ball and mitt he wants to buy for his son. The parent portrayed in this add will also be voting to take away a $200 tax credit for the child in the spot, money that perhaps he would be using to buy his son a uniform for his little league… Read More

One of my big frustrations in the State Assembly is that the connection is not made between overzealous regulators and draconian rules and that Californiahas an over 11% unemployment rate.

Today, Gregg Industries, which operates a foundry and machine shop in El Monte, announced it is closing early. Can you say AQMD?

After the downturn Gregg Industries announced they would close the foundry part of the operation. In 2008 Gregg Industries had an agreement with the AQMD on controlling pollution. It required independent verification of its efforts. After the closure announcement they actually gave incentives to the last employees to comply with the agreement.

AQMD’s response was to send inspector after inspector for the last month it was open.

Gregg’s staff outlined abuses that included a threat from an AQMD employee that at least one security guard interpreted as a threat to use force to enter and inspectors entering he facility without protective measures and without proper escort. I still haven’t got a response to my inquiry about the harassment.

The result is Gregg is closing… Read More