The conservative Americans for Tax Reform has released its recommendations for the budget deal propositions on the May 19 ballot, and I thought they were worth sharing with readers. For the record, I am voting a straight "No" down the line.

Propositon 1A: OPPOSED "This is the most important measure on the May 19 ballot and is the lynchpin of February’s budget agreement. Prop 1A is nothing more than a massive tax increase masked as a phony spending limit. The budget deal reached in February raised the state sales tax (already highest in nation), income tax (already highest in nation), and car tax for two years. If Prop 1A passes, CA residents will see those tax hikes continue for yet another two years, at an added cost to the Golden State economy of $16 billion, or $1,100 per household."

Proposition 1B: OPPOSED "This measure is an attempt to modify some of the terms of California Proposition 98 (1998) in order to free up money to address the… Read More

The hue and cry over bonuses paid to AIG executives is both predictable and understandable. This is what happens when a private business allows the government to get into its knickers. But also blame the federal government for this situation. AIG should have been forced into bankruptcy, not been the recipient of $185 billion in taxpayer bailouts.

Certainly AIG itself bears most of the blame for its current plight for taking on risky bets on mortgage-backed securities. They bet and lost, and should have gone bankrupt because of their failed business decisions. But it was geniuses in the federal government, including Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, who are responsible for the anger that taxpayers feel over AIG. They decided that AIG was too big to fail, so they showered them with billions of our tax dollars.

Later when the firestorm of public protest erupted, Frank and Dodd tried to run for cover. When the bailout legislation was being crafted, Senator Dodd, acting on behalf of the Obama White House, specifically inserted language allowing AIG to pay the millions in bonuses that are now the subject of public… Read More

Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto will be broadcasting live from the Sacramento Tax Day Tea Party on April 15th. Co-sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Americans for Prosperity, among other groups, the event will draw huge crowds to the capitol. At a recent taxpayer tea party “revolt” hosted by KFI radio show hosts John and Ken, over 15,000 people showed up. Similar such protests will be held all over the nation on April 15th as a way for taxpayers to express their outrage at the government’s freewheeling spending.

With national media coverage, the Sacramento tea party is our chance to show the rest of the country that we will not tolerate the excessive taxes burdening each of us. For more details, visit this site.… Read More

Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of representing the Flash Report in a bloggers conference call with Republican congressional leadership. Hosting the call were California Congressmen Kevin McCarthy and John Campbell (a fellow FR blogger), who were joined by Congressmen Patrick McHenry and Paul Ryan. The purpose of the biweekly teleconference is to engage the new media and ensure they are well informed of what’s taking place on Capitol Hill. New media have obviously become the major source of information for conservatives who are locked out of the MSM and it’s crucial for Republicans to provide them access.

In this particular call the topic was the President’s budget that will be voted on this week. Instead of simply criticizing the behemoth spending spree, Republicans are proposing their own budget which promises to cut spending and spur economic recovery. Obviously Congressman Campbell can explain the details of the budget much better than I, but I will say that based upon the information shared during the teleconference, this is an “all hands on deck” moment for freedom-loving Americans. Each congressman warned that if this budget passes, America as we… Read More

Anthony Adams is not thereal problem. Democrat dominance of the Legislature is the real problem. If GOPers want to recall somebody, try going after a Democrat in a conservative district. If John and Ken at KFI want to do something meaningful, recall Democratic Assemblyman Tom Torlakson.

I am no RINO squish. I was National Chairman of Young Americans for Freedom when that meant something. I am a Board member of the American Conservative Union, I started the process of Young America’s Foundation buying the Reagan Ranch. I was a senior executive in the Reagan Administration. And though there is at least one Republican member of the Assembly that I believe to be a political fraud and whom I detest, I am not out to recall anybody, because that is political stupidity for conservatives, who are a miserable minority as it is in the Legislature. There are other processes, such as primary challenges, available in the political market that can take care of such issues.

But ginning up an extraordinaryrecall of Republican Adams and wasting limited GOP resources and energy is simply wrong. And those non-radio… Read More

Today, thousands of gas station owners around California will hit a hard deadline passed by the California Air Resources Board to "upgrade" their pumps to make an extremely minor reduction in fumes released. Yes, this is yet another manifestation of that happens when the liberals in the legislature, teaming up with Governor "Green" — set board direction to regulatory boards to reduce carbon emissions. Editorial Boards across the state have and continue to praise and support the idea of using government regulation to reduce man-made greenhouse gas emissions — this despite the opinion of a great many leading scientists that global warming is not caused by people.

I wrote about this extensively here, and we also have carried a column from Assemblyman Jeff Miller on this subject… Read More

We are pleased to offer this guest commentary from political consultant Dave Gilliard. Gilliard is President of Gilliard, Blanning, Wysocki and Associates. Where is Our Candidate for Attorney General? By Dave Gilliard, President of Gilliard Blanning Wysocki and Associates, Inc.

Republicans who have been busy trying to recruit candidates for statewide office in 2010 may be missing the greatest opportunity for a GOP pick-up in a crucially important seat – the office of… Read More

We are pleased to offer this guest commentary from political consultant Dave Gilliard. Gilliard is President of Gilliard, Blanning, Wysocki and Associates.

Where is Our Candidate for Attorney General? By Dave Gilliard, President of Gilliard Blanning Wysocki and Associates, Inc.

Republicans who have been busy trying to recruit candidates for statewide office in 2010 may be missing the greatest opportunity for a GOP pick-up in a crucially important seat – the office of Attorney General. Three of the… Read More