I usually don’t respond to what others have said here on the Flash Report, because usually no response is required, but as I was doing my morning reading (for me it is morning, since I am on the other side of the world right now, and yes, the Flash Report is the first thing I read when I wake up here). I saw Jennifer Nelson’s comments, and I thought, I really understand the frustration.

In 1991, Pete Wilson raised taxes, and pushed legislators to do the same, basically saying what Ms. Nelson said–Democrats exploded spending in the 1980’s, and when George Deukmejian resisted, the Dems went out and passed Prop 98, which has literally destroyed any semblance of spending control since then. Republicans were blamed for the tax increase.

Between 1998, in the midst of a then record increase in spending (from $43 billion general fund in the 1996-97 budget to $57 billion gf in the 1998-99 budget), Republicans pushed for and received a $4 billion car tax cut. Spending in the next two budget cycles (1999-2000 and 2000-01) increased $22 billion, from $57 billion gf to $79 billion gf. Guess who and what got blamed for the deficits of $11 billion… Read More

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

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

(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

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

I was looking through some of the clippings for the week this morning and read several Republicans talking about Democrats moving us towards socialism. What is happening might indeed might be considered some degree of movement towards socialism, but the language itself is old hat and has no real meaning to anyone who can’t remember the communist threat – just about everyone under the age of 35, a group that the GOP is having real problems with generally. To some degree I don’t think it really has much emotional value to most people older than that. I thought the same thing when I heard our Presidential ticket saying the same thing or something similar. Communism is in the ash heap of history, and with no threat to the western world from that source it just falls flat, whatever the reality.… Read More