This morning a press conference was held, conducted by a group of taxpayer advocacy organizations and pro-taxpayer state legislators. They included Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Tom Hudson, the executive director of the California Taxpayer Protection Committee, Ted Costa, president of The People’s Advocate, Chris Hunt, executive director of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, and Assemblymembers Ted Gaines, Curt Hagman and Roger Niello.

The commentary below was penned by Assemblyman Gaines, who is pictured speaking at the conference at the State Capitol… (Also in this particular photo, from left to right are Jon Coupal, Curt Hagman, Roger Niello, and Tom Hudson)

I have added up the reported unpaid taxes by various Obama Cabinet nominees and note that without penalties and interest they amount to over $210,000. With penalties and interest, I think Obama’s cabinet owes or owed the Treasury about $300,000. We haven’t figured in what Bill Richardson owes in addition, as his own pay-to-play scandal works itself out in New Mexico.

What were these people, these Ivy League guys in Obama’s cabinet, thinking?

I recall in 1989 when Senate Democrats stopped cold Bush Senior’s Republican-nominee Senator John Tower from being Secretary of Defense, just because they could. Their biggest argument was that he liked to take a drink every few days of what Tower himself termed "beverage alcohol." Not a very apt description, but still, it was not that big a deal. He just liked to drink. (He also liked normal female companionship.) So does everybody else in Washington. And Republican Tower paid his taxes.

Bush Senior nominee Clarence Thomas was almost defeated from his nomination to the Supreme Court because of an alleged statement he made to… Read More

(If this post seems familiar, we’ve used the "Disneyland" analogy below before, as this isn’t the first time that the liberals in the media have "lept" onto a briefly worded survey to assert informed public opinion.)

As FR contributor and public opinion pollster Adam Probolsky likes to say, a poll is only as good as what you ask, and to whom you ask it. So I was quite amused to see so much enthusiasm erupt from the liberal media and left-wing Democrats when the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released their latest survey response — where PPIC declares that the public supports (hold onto your chair) HIGHER TAXES.

If you go to Page 27 of the full report of the PPIC survey, you can see the actual questions asked to those surveyed. What is most instructive if you read it is… Read More

(If this post seems familiar, we’ve used the "Disneyland" analogy below before, as this isn’t the first time that the liberals in the media have "lept" onto a briefly worded survey to assert informed public opinion.) As FR contributor and public opinion pollster Adam Probolsky likes to say, a poll is only as good as what you ask, and to whom you ask it. So I was quite amused to see so much enthusiasm erupt from the liberal media and left-wing Democrats when the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released their latest survey response — where PPIC declares that the public supports (hold onto your chair) HIGHER TAXES.

If you go to Page 27 of the full report of the PPIC… Read More

Per the San Diego Reader, 14 of San Diego County’s 18 cities are attempting to manage upside down budgets, with nine having shortfalls in the millions.

Since that Jan. 21 story, the Chula Vista City Council has voted 4-1 to conduct a May mail ballot for a one percent sales tax increase. John McCann was the lone nay vote. The special election will cost the region’s second largest city $250,000.

Chula Vista joinsthreeother citieswith recent local sales taxes measures, El Cajon, La Mesa and National City, all of them passing.

Don’t expect any of this to change soon. Underlying the fiscal problems is a dysfunctional system in which cities must rely mostly on sales tax revenue while the bulk of the locally-generated property taxes flow into state coffers. Anytime the economy turns sour and sales taxes are down as a result, municipalities suffer, while Californiagovernment continues to have its own blind-to-reality problems, often resulting in further State actions to transfer local monies to cover its fiscal ineptitude.

Theother… Read More

For those Democrat members of the state legislature who just don’t "get it" when it comes to the conviction of all Republican legislators to oppose raising taxes in California, think about it this way. Let’s create a hypothetical situation where the legislature was in a position to actually reverse Roe v. Wade. How many Democrat votes would be there to make that change? I suspect the answer is zero. And on our side we would say, "Come on, you have so many members, can’t just a few go up on this? We’ll make it a temporary measure, only lasting a few years…"

As a Democrat, you might say that you could never vote to reverse Roe v. Wade. I can hear it now, "That is a core issue for Democrats."

Well, guess what. Stopping new taxes is a core belief for Republicans — it is defining of who we are…… Read More

$200 billion for State bailouts – supported by GOP Governors. $42 billion in California State deficits – undera "GOP" Governor. State GOP Assembly members signaling willingness to increase taxes. Is it any wonder the GOP is at post Watergate lows? Contrary to some our critics, both inside and outside the Party, we have not been "too conservative". In fact, we have not been conservative at all – which is why we are in the shape we are in.

I have been heartened by the US House GOP and their unanimous opposition to the bailout. News analysis of this development has been incorrect. This has not been a partisan drill – but a vote for survival. The truth of the matter is that any GOP elected official voting for a bailout will be subject to a primary challenge in 2010 – and any GOP Assembly or Senate member will be subject to the same. Its time for the base to enforce the last issue we have left – taxes and spending.

Its also time for the State Republican Party to get off of the sidelines and quit dreaming about any progress unless we are active participants in a public campaign to praise our… Read More

Politicians will look for any port in a storm. A recent Riverside Press Enterprise column talked about a conversation between the Governor and Assembly Anthony Adams where the Governor reportedly laughed and said that Adams now knows how Schwarzenegger feels when he is on John and Ken, relating to Adams conversation with the talk show hosts about his "openness" to voting for a tax increase.

Adams, of course, is looking for allies wherever he can find them, and, of course, the Governor is a good ally. The problem Adams faces is the same one the Governor faces. The Governor has already publicly indicated his desire to break the promises he made to get elected Governor. Adams needs support because he also wants to break his promises, and he knows that, if he does, he is in trouble, the same trouble as a Paul Horcher or a Doris Allen or a Brian Setencich. These notorious oathbreakers sought power under false pretenses by cutting unholy deals with the Democrats, and lost that power at the hands of Republican voters. Adams, who is a nice guy, could have the same thing happen to him. So he seeks any port in the storm, this time, the port he is seeking is… Read More