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

Born in 1911, in a small town in Illinois, let’s join and remember our 40th President and what he stood for and meant to our country. I was in college at the time he ran for President in 1980, a very difficulttime with Iran and hostages, the Cold Warandthe Soviets,and runaway inflation and interest rates. I remembered the posters up around campus [they actually weren’t torn down back then, especially around the Ag Dept.] of Governor Reagan in the cowboy hat and the optimism in that smile and in his words.

Indeed, he gave us optimism that we could beat the ‘malaise’ we were suffering from. Even the USA Olympic hockey team beat the USSR in the Miracle on ice. That optimism even spilled over into Charlie Daniels hit song at the time "In America"

"…speaking for you and me, and some people from Tennessee, we got a thing or two to tell you all…" "…were gonna put her feet back on the path of… Read More

PLEASE TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION! Please contact your members of the State Legislature and tell them you oppose a budget agreement that includes tax increases of any kind. Click this link to contact them.

WHEN:

Now! A budget with tax increases could be taken up as early as next week, and our taxpayer allies in the Legislature are taking severe abuse from the tax and spend lobby. They need your help and support to stand firm.

WHY:

California has the highest income tax, sales tax and gas tax in the United States, and the highest corporation tax in the Western United States.… Read More

In the latest breaking news surrounding the bizarre politics of San Bernardino County, Assessor Bill Postmus has resigned. Postmus has recently been arrested on narcotics possession charges. I don't have enough finger power to type the whole drama from my Blackberry. I will say that this is a sad end of a political career of someone I have known for a long time — but clearly never really knew.… Read More

As someone who has been questioned from time to time by "less diverse" conservatives and GOPers about my musical tastes — such as "How can you possibly listen to liberals like Dylan, The Clash, John Lennon, The Ramones, etc, etc?" — well, I just have to share the following.

And, let’s not forget the founding fathers were punks as well.

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dtennapel/2009/01/31/republican-is-the-new-punk/

As a small group of great philosophers once said, "Hey ho, let’s go!"… Read More

There is no larger region, geographically, within the California Republican Party than its Northern Region. It takes in vast amounts of the "north state" and includes 19 counties! The current Northern Vice Chairman of the CRP, Jerry Maltby, with whom I have served for almost two years, is term-limited out of his position (you can serve two 2-year terms).

There is a spirited contest to replace Jerry, between Placer County GOP Chairman Tom Hudson, and Lori Ann Cline, a former county chairman herself.

I can tell FR readers that I worked on recruiting Tom Hudson to run for this seat for well over a year, and when he finally jumped into the race, I was the first person to endorse his candidacy. Tom and I have known each other for two decades now, and worked side by side towards countless Republican victories in that time. In fact, going all of the way back to 1990, I played a leadership role in his election as Chairman of the California College Republicans, and Tom reciprocated helping me to be… Read More

Yesterday, my friend Patrick Dorinson penned a column for Fox and Hounds Daily, Inherit the Wind, where he questioned the wisdom and tactics of my decision to introduce a resolution for the upcoming California Republican Party convention that would officially censure any Republican legislator that voted to increase taxes. This resolution is accompanied by another one that praises Republican legislators for holding the line against higher taxes. It is my sincere hope that the first resolution gets tabled as being inapplicable, and that the party faithful will be able to unanimously pass the latter – a well deserved thank you to Republican legislators that have, despite a very high degree of pressure on them from the special interest groups that dominate the State Capitol, and the battering by the political left who occupy their high chairs on many of the editorial boards of major California newspapers.

In Patrick’s piece, he makes this statement: “Political parties exist to win elections. Period. That is… Read More

Senator Sam Aanestad has just released a shocking article about a state government program that is funding surgical abortion training for nurses and midwives. The main problem with this little program is that state law and the medical board prohibit nurses and midwives from performing surgical abortions. There are some stunning revelations in Senator Aanestad’s article: government waiver of legislature-approved laws simply to get more people performing abortions and the racist targeting of poor minority groups.

Regardless of where one stands on the abortion issue, we should all expect the medical profession to abide by the highest standards of conduct, for the safety of their patients. Targeting poor minority groups (by exploiting their financial plight) for this type of experimentation is unconscionable.

The program, the Healthcare Workforce Pilot Program #171, is coming up for renewal in March 2009. The Director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, David Carlisle, should stop this program immediately, for the… Read More