Union bossTyrone Freeman has stolen a lot of money from low wage union members. According to the the Los Angeles Times (link) in a Pulitzer-worth piece, reporter Paul Pringle will not be invited to the next SEIU Christmas Party. This SEIU local, 6424 United Long-Term Care Workers, is controlled by its organizer Freeman. It has some 190,000 workers paying each month into his local. Local 6424 sees itself as the "poor helping the poor" union. Like many such unexamined unions, this one became Freeman’s personal bank. … Read More

Union bossTyrone Freeman has stolen a lot of money from low wage union members. According to the the Los Angeles Times (link) in a Pulitzer-worth piece, reporter Paul Pringle will not be invited to the next SEIU Christmas Party. This SEIU local, 6424 United Long-Term Care Workers, is controlled by its organizer Freeman. It has some 190,000 workers paying each month into his local. Local 6424 sees itself as the "poor helping the poor" union. Like many such unexamined unions, this one became Freeman’s personal bank. … Read More

I got off of the phone a little while ago. The termed-out Assemblymember assured me that she is “No! No! No!” in any tax increases, “temporary” or not.… Read More

In our quest to get termed-out legislators on the record against any tax increases, whether so-called temporary or not, we got this statement from Senator Dick Ackerman:

“Temporary or not, I do not support the use of taxes to balance the state’s budget. This includes an exchange of higher taxes today for a promise of lower taxes and fiscal responsibility in the future. This latest proposal misleads California taxpayers and does not deserve support.”

Oh, and I got a shout-out from Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, who agrees completely.… Read More

It’s being reported that pressure is being applied to termed-out Republican legislators, trying to garner support to get them to either support an increase in taxes, or to vote to place a proposal that includes a tax increase on the November ballot.

We have blogged here before about how proud we are of our Republican legislators and their uniform opposition to increased taxes. Every termed-out Republican has actually signed a pledge from Americans for Tax Reform to oppose efforts to raise taxes.

That said, we are looking for statements from termed out Republicans re-iterating their pledge to oppose ANY efforts to raise taxes on Californians, period.

If you are terming out, and would like to send us a statement for FR readers, just e-mail it to me here, and we’ll get it up on the FR blog. Or if you don’t want to put out a statement, but do want to let FR readers know you aren’t budging, you can let us know that, too.

We will also start the process of reaching out to these folks directly, and we’ll report back on the progress.

As I said, I have no reason whatsover to… Read More

It’s being reported that pressure is being applied to termed-out Republican legislators, trying to garner support to get them to either support an increase in taxes, or to vote to place a proposal that includes a tax increase on the November ballot.

We have blogged here before about how proud we are of our Republican legislators and their uniform opposition to increased taxes. Every termed-out Republican has actually signed a pledge from Americans for Tax Reform to oppose efforts to raise taxes.

That said, we are looking for statements from termed out Republicans re-iterating their pledge to oppose ANY efforts to raise taxes on Californians, period.

If you are terming out, and would like to send us a statement for FR readers, just e-mail it to me here, and we’ll get it up on the FR blog. Or if you don’t want to put out a statement, but do want to let FR readers know you aren’t budging, you can let us know that, too.

We will also start the process of reaching out to these folks directly, and we’ll report back on the progress.

As I said, I have no reason whatsover to… Read More

My family just returned from an amazing two week trip to Italy, where we traveled to Rome, Venice and Florence. It was an amazing trip, the memories of which I will cherish forever.

I wanted to extend my sincere appreciation to the awesome team that we have here at the FlashReport. While I was away, the site continued to provide our daily news roundup, insiteful columns, and great commentaries and blogs from our contributors (I did manage a few blog posts from abroad myself!).

Thanks again to the team!… Read More

For many reasons, a race to the political middle has blurred the once-clear philosophical lines dividing the two major political parties. Today, the Wall Street Journal (subscription and / or registration required) does an exceptional job of erasing the muddled middle and aligning politicians with philosophy. The paper ran columns by Attorney General Brown and Newt Gingrich each outlining what could be done with $10 billion.

Brown showcases myriad government regulations and controls as well as grant programs that can come, he says, to achieve energy efficiency and other goals.

Gingrich, on the other hand, outlines seven separate goals to be set and a corresponding billion dollar (in some cases multi-billion dollar) prize(s) to incentivise private sector progress toward worthwhile goals.

California’s present fiscal reality shows the limits of excessive spending and pursuit of problems arguably addressed elsewhere. While the federal government is… Read More