Last September, the Board of Directors of the California Republican Party took the extraordinary step of passing a resolution urging Governor Schwarzenegger to stand with Republican legislators against tax increases. We did this in response to the Governor’s flagrant violation of the "no taxes" pledge on which he ran for office – twice.

Unfortunately, Governor Schwarzenegger did not, as the State GOP had hoped, stop being an advocate for higher taxes on Californians. On the contrary, not too long ago, the Governor had the audacity to propose over $4 billion in tax increase and new taxes.

In response to this, on Friday the CRP Board of Directors passed a much more direct resolution concerning the Governor’s obsession with increasing the tax burden of all Californians. The resolution passed on a vote of 14-2.

In America, political parties are defined by their candidates and officeholders. Governor Schwarzenegger, with his proposals to increase taxes, is doing great harm to the Republican brand… Read More

Last September, the Board of Directors of the California Republican Party took the extraordinary step of passing a resolution urging Governor Schwarzenegger to stand with Republican legislators against tax increases. We did this in response to the Governor’s flagrant violation of the "no taxes" pledge on which he ran for office – twice.

Unfortunately, Governor Schwarzenegger did not, as the State GOP had hoped, stop being an advocate for higher taxes on Californians. On the contrary, not too long ago, the Governor had the audacity to propose over $4 billion in tax increase and new taxes.

In response to this, on Friday the CRP Board of Directors passed a much more direct resolution concerning the Governor’s obsession with increasing the tax burden of all Californians. The resolution passed on a vote of 14-2.

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

The Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Times loves to insult Republicans. In fact, I would be surprised if there IS a Republican on their Editorial Board. In a piece in today’s Times, where they walk through all of the dysfunction of the budget process, they try to make the case that Democrats won’t make cuts because of their labor union bosses (true?) and Republicans won’t hike taxes because of … bloggers. LOL.

Here is the specific excerpt from their piece:

I have spend a lot of time with Republican legislators, and I… Read More

The Leadership of the California Republican Party has sent a strong message to House Republicans — stop facilitating the growth of the federal government! The Board of Directors of the California Republican Party, which met yesterday in San Diego, passed the resolution below after a lengthy debate. Authored by yours truly (as the Vice Chairman, South, of the State GOP), this resolution expressed the California Republican Party’s concern with House Republicans re-electing the same leader, John Boehner of Ohio, who has presided over our losses and shown little ability to lead House Republicans into a cohesive group that sticks together on the issues, big and small. The resolution also questions the pending re-election of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell as the leader of Senate Republicans — McConnell having famously won a narrow re-election this month on a campaign promoting earmarking.

The ability of the fifty state political parties (and their subdivisions) to do our job — registering voters and getting out the vote — has been severely damaged because the American people no longer see the Republican Party as standing for lower taxes,… Read More

The Leadership of the California Republican Party has sent a strong message to House Republicans — stop facilitating the growth of the federal government! The Board of Directors of the California Republican Party, which met yesterday in San Diego, passed the resolution below after a lengthy debate. Authored by yours truly (as the Vice Chairman, South, of the State GOP), this resolution expressed the California Republican Party’s concern with House Republicans re-electing the same leader, John Boehner of Ohio, who has presided over our losses and shown little ability to lead House Republicans into a cohesive group that sticks together on the issues, big and small. The resolution also questions the pending re-election of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell as the leader of Senate Republicans — McConnell having famously won a narrow re-election this month on a campaign promoting earmarking.

The ability of the fifty state political parties (and their subdivisions) to do our job — registering voters and getting out the vote — has been severely damaged because the American people no longer see the Republican Party as standing for lower taxes,… Read More

The State Republican Party Board of Directors has passed a resolution calling for Governor Schwarzenegger to rescind his call for any tax increase to meet current budget obligations. This is a long overdue, and crucial step for the State’s Republicans.

A little history lesson is in order here. The first two years of Arnold’s term, star-struck Republican Legislators and party members gave the Governor a free pass on about everything. In 2006, after a sharp turn to the far left, the governor ran a re-election campaign that completely ignored his downticket running mates. During the 2006 and 2007 legislative sessions he alienated Republican legislators and put no effort into forming the type of relationships he now needs to navigate the State’s budget crisis.

Arnold wasn’t done, though. He ran the State Party into the red in 2006 by millions, and then reneged on helping the Party repay its debt and reload for the 2008 cycle. All of these circumstances have created the current situation: an unpopular Governor, politically isolated, with nowhere to turn. Instead, he runs around mindlessly… Read More

Speaker Bass wrote a column in the Sacramento Bee today calling for a "stimulus package" for California. Her solution? Give the state more federal welfare. Since the state’s financial problems have been caused by overspending, poor fiscal management of the tax dollars entrusted to them, and a complete lack of self control, you would expect the President and Congress to say no to this outlandish demand. However, since neither the President nor Congress have said no to the completely self indulgent behavior of the private sector, the Speaker’s request might actually be considered.

The Speaker claims that the state has "cut" spending by $15 billion. Only in budget la-la land doublespeak can one claim that a $2 billion increase in spending is a $15 billion cut. The fact is this problem was caused by overspending and will only be solved by real spending reductions. Not reductions to the baseline, not reductions on projected spending increases, not "we want to spend $120 billion, but we only have enough revenue to justify $105 billion so we have to cut $15 billion in… Read More

In my conversations with Republican Leaders in the State Legislature, there has always been one caveat to the line in the sand drawn against raising taxes, at least temporarily. They have consistently told me that they would at least entertain the thought if Democrats would put on the table placing a real spending limit measure on the ballot that, if passed, would place a modest and real hard limit on the annual allowable growth rate of state government.

In other words, Republicans have little interest in punishing taxpayers for overspending, and at the very minimum, the system that allows the overspending needs to be fixed.

Today there is an article in the Los Angeles Times that talks about a potential deal in the works (though the reporter notes that the deal may be falling apart as the specifics leak out) involving a substantial hike in the state car tax in return for placing a spending cap measure on the ballot.

**There is more… Read More