It is my hope that Republican legislators will apply the same degree of sophistication to their approach on voting on a Big 5-agreed-upon "deal" that those of us on the outside will use to analyze the proposal and the votes on all of its component parts.

First and foremost, since not all FlashReport readers are intimately aware of how these budget votes tend to take place — it is not one bill, but series of bills all tied together that make the budget "package" deal. So what happens is that one bill may lay out modifications to state spending, another bill might contain tax increases, and other bills may contain other miscellaneous parts of the package.

Knowing that a deal is carved up this way is important in analyzing who supports the package — because, and this is critical, for ANY PART of the package to be enacted, it ALL must be enacted. This is the manner in which the Democrats can ensure their any votes they put up for spending CUTS don’t go into effect unless Republicans put up the necessary votes for TAX INCREASES — or visa versa I suppose.

I lay all of this out because it is being reported in the San… Read More

A mere64 pages this morning… It has been said there is more sheer information in one Sunday edition of the New York Times than the average person learned during their entire lifetime in the Middle Ages. By comparison, the ongoing death spiral of the San Diego Union-Tribune makes you wonder why they need modern printing presses at all, if the amount of content could have been produced pre-Gutenberg. Today’s Sunday UT is all of 64 pages, not counting the huge ad sections and marketing inserts.

Randy Dotinga at voiceofsandiego.org provides some further excellent analysis in The Paper’s Been Cut in Half. Worth the read.

When is free speech not free speech?… On a college campus, of course. Or, perhaps, in a federal courtroom. Maybe both:

A federal judge ruled yesterday that a nondiscrimination policy at San Diego State and Long Beach State universities required for formal campus recognition does not… Read More

First went my sister and her family. Then followed my mother. Then my grandmother. Even one of the cities I represent is looking at possibly going there.

Where? Arizona.

As I mentioned in my last blog, although San Bernardino County’s High Desert has a lot to offer in the way of incentives – from affordable land and labor to business-friendly local governments – the limits of our local discretion are illustrated by the economic struggles of the City of Needles, which I represent.

A small town located across the Colorado River from Arizona and Nevada, Needles was until recently studying the feasibility of seceding to one of the other two states because of California’s higher costs for gasoline, workers’ compensation insurance, auto insurance, corporate, sales and personal income taxes, and myriad overzealous laws and regulations, just to name a few.

“More power to ’em,” I wrote, “although I’ll continue to do the best possible job for them as long as… Read More

The Editorial Page of the Los Angeles Times yesterday mentioned only three people by name: President Obama, Governor Schwarzenegger, and… this website’s publisher, Jon Fleischman.

They wrote about Jon’s efforts to censure Republican legislators who end up voting for a budget deal that includes a tax increase. And believe it or not, they’re not the biggest fans of the idea.

But I think Jon will be okay. I don’t think he’ll shed too many tears because of the Times’ objections.

In fact, I’m guessing Jon views getting trashed by the Times as a high honor.

So for that Jon, congrats.… Read More

Recently in the FlashReport my friend Jon Fleischman wrote to urge the Constitutional elected officers to bend to the will of the Governor on the issue of employee furloughs. I disagree. Actually, I oppose furloughs on both constitutional and pragmatic grounds. First, the Constitution. If it means anything (and these days, that seems open to question) the Constitution of California set up a divided executive branch. Unlike the Federal government, California has 11 officials elected independently of the governor. The drafters in both 1850 and 1879 had concerns about an all-powerful executive and wanted to add checks and balances beyond the three separate branches of government.

The Board of Equalization, where I serve, and the other Constitutional officers, do not answer to the Governor. He cannot order us to give a taxpayer a break, nor can he order us to audit a taxpayer who has crossed him. In other states and in the Federal government, I believe that both have happened. (Think of Nixon’s infamous Saturday Night Massacre as an example of an executive wielding inappropriate power of the employees of another agency.) It is a… Read More

Since the old saw goes – "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" – I’m flattered that it appears my weekly Waste Watch posts are going to be continued on FR.

As you all know, the top-notch staff in the Republican Senate Caucusactually write the Waste Watch – as they always did for me. They do a great job of highlighting the never ending waste of government.

I always felt is was important to constantly demonstrate government’s inability to spend taxpayer’s dollars efficiently even while my Democrat colleagues continued their call for higher and higher taxes. Apparently my successor, Senator John Benoit does too – he’s started posting his version today. You can find it below.

John, I’m flattered you want to keep this great tradtion alive. Thanks.… Read More

I am pleased to offer this guest commentary from Senator Abel Maldonado, who represents California’s 15th District along the Central Coast…

John Chiang: A Controller Out of Control By State Senator Abel Maldonado

If your tax refund check is delayed, blame State Controller John Chiang’s irresponsible spending. While you’re trying to find a way to do more with less, the state controller is continuing to do less with more.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

I am pleased to offer this guest commentary from Senator Abel Maldonado, who represents California’s 15th District along the Central Coast…

John Chiang: A Controller Out of Control By State Senator Abel Maldonado

If your tax refund check is delayed, blame State Controller John Chiang’s irresponsible spending. While you’re trying to find a way to do more with less, the state controller is continuing to do less with more.

On January 6, the governor vetoed the Democrats’ illegal budget. Phrases like… Read More