We are pleased to present this guest commentary from Jon Coupal, the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association… Governor’s Position on Pay Cuts is Legally Sound By Jon Coupal

California’s budget stalemate reflects a political war which has many fronts, a myriad of combatants and an endless series of battles. The battle du jour involves the Governor’s executive order laying off thousands of temporary state workers and reducing the pay — to federal minimum wage level — of even more full time state workers.… Read More

As much as my friends in the GOP may wish that they can stop time, or even reverse time by 30 years, the likelihood of this occurring is slight. In my personal day to day interaction with time I’ve found it to be a one way street. Further, I’ve found that, as much as I would not like this to be the case in many instances, human culture, which includes our own society, changes and evolve as we move along in time.

I make this observation as a preface to a statement which will draw some degree of anger but which I’ve wanted to write for some time: Ronald Reagan and the politics of the 1980’s are not the answers to the doldrums in which we Republicans now find ourselves. Political parties, like society, either evolve, innovate, and change according to the needs of voters, or they stagnate, look backwards, wither and die.

There is an argument to be made that the Republican Party has collapsed for two essential reasons:

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As much as many of my friends in the GOP may wish that they can stop time, or even reverse time by 30 years, the likelihood of this occurring is slight. In my personal day to day interaction with time I’ve found it to be a one way street. Further, I’ve found that, as much as I would not like this to be the case in many instances, human culture, which includes our own society, changes and evolves as we move along in time.

I make this observation as a preface to a statement which will draw some degree of anger but which I’ve wanted to write for some time: Ronald Reagan and the politics of the 1980’s are not the answers to the doldrums in which we Republicans now find ourselves. Political parties, like society, either evolve, innovate, and change according to the needs of voters, or they stagnate, look backwards, wither and die.

There is an argument to be made that the Republican Party has collapsed for two essential reasons:

First, when given the opportunity on a national level to implement the good government reforms that brought us to power, we failed to do so in a spectacular manner. Voters might think or have thought the GOP insensitive, or… Read More

Great news for California homeschoolers! The 2nd Appellate District Court ruled this morning that homeschooling is a legitimate form of education in the Golden State. Home School Legal Defense Association just sent out the following press release:

Homeschoolers Win Landmark Case

In a 3-0 decision the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District reversed its earlier ruling which would have required homeschoolers to be certified teachers in order to homeschool in California.

"This is a great victory for homeschool freedom," said Michael Farris, one of the team of attorneys who argued the case before the court and Chairman of HSLDA. "I have never seen such an impressive array of people and organizations coming to the defense of homeschooling. The team effort was remarkable," he added.

Mr. L of In re Rachel L was represented by Gary Kreep of the U.S. Justice Foundation and the Alliance Defense Fund. The court agreed to re-hear In re Rachel L in March after… Read More

There is some controversy over the Governor’s pledge to veto all bills sent to him before a budget is passed, because one of the bills on the way to him is one that he supports, that re-jiggers to his liking and gives favorable ballot placement to the multi-billion dollar hi-speed rail boondoggle (you know, where ALL Californians pay for trains that will be used by only a small fraction of the state’s residents) set to appear on this November’s ballot.

So far the Governor has continued to maintain that he will veto ALL bills, which would include this one.

But I wouldn’t bet on it, as the Governor has infamously boasted of the benefits of flip flopping. The deadline for the bill to be signed in time to matter is this Monday…… Read More

The Governor’s recent threat to veto every bill until a budget is adopted gave me an idea.

Now I am going to say this, and somewhere some bozo in the press is going to take this out of context, and claim that it is some secret legislative Republican plan. Of course, if I were in a Republican caucus still, I would have already said it. The truth is, for those of you in the press who read this, this is a joke. It is a good idea, but it is a joke.

This is an even numbered year, which means the legislative session ends on August 31 at midnight. After August 31, it takes a vote of three quarters of the Legislature to pass any bill that is not a tax measure or appropriation. On August 31 at midnight, every bill that has not passed dies, unless the Republicans agree to allow it to be heard.

Since Democrats never let any good Republican bill pass, the Governor’s threat gives the Republicans a legislative strategy, in addition to their budget strategy. More important, since this Governor has no aversion to really bad, intrusive government measures, Republicans can’t even count on the Governor to stop bad legislation. So how they stop… Read More

The Assembly started session at 9:00 this morning, and it was obvious from the start that Republicans are not going to let the Democrats get away any longer with putting off a budget vote. As soon as Speaker Pro Tempore Sally Lieber announced, as part of the regular order of business, that there were no messages from the Governor, Assemblyman Todd Spitzer jumped up to clarify. He inquired how the governor could announce, as he did yesterday, he would veto all bills that reach his desk before the budget is passed and yet there were no “formal” messages from his office. Lieber offered some parliamentary excuse. Moments later Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee moved the orders of the day to ensure the Democrats wouldn’t skip over file item #67—a budget vote. He was assured that the legislature would move in order of the file.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore then rose to question why bills were being passed when the governor will veto them. Running the floor at the moment, Assemblywoman Lori Saldana stated the obvious when she responded, “The governor’s statement yesterday has no impact on this house.” Assemblyman Spitzer then succeeded in getting Democrats to go on record… Read More

The RNC announced the officers of the GOP Convention in Minneapolis. Among them three Californians – U.S. Congressman Kevin McCarthy serves as one of the Co-Chairmen of the Platform Committee, U.S. Congressman David Dreier will serve as Parliamentarian, and California’s Republican National Committeeman, Tim Morgan (who will be replaced by Shawn Steel at the close of the convention), who serves as RNC Treasurer, will serve as Convention Treasurer.

(h/t to the CRP)… Read More