Today, I alongside Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) announced that we will actively oppose and challenge any attempt to earmark more federal dollars to Chairman Charlie Rangel’s ‘Monument to Me’.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that Chairman Rangel has secured a total of three earmarks for the City College of New York’s proposed Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service, totaling close to $3 million.

Last year I offered an amendment to strike the largest earmark worth $1.95 million for the Charles B. Rangel School Center for Public Service. 316 members voted to allow this earmark to stand. I am interested to see, in the current anti-earmark climate how many of my colleagues will continue to side with this egregious use of taxpayer dollars.

It also should be known that Chairman Rangel has been soliciting donations throughout the business community, touting his status as Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which has broad jurisdiction over tax policy, trade, Social Security and Medicare.… Read More

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aide of their country. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aide of their country. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aide of their country. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aide of their country. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aide of their country. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.… Read More

Today’s front page of the Wall Street Journal offers a perfect example of the idiom "fiddling while Rome burns." At the top of the page, there’s an article about the run on IndyMac bank in Burbank, accompanied by a picture of worried customers trying to withdraw their money. Let your eyes drift down the page and you’ll see another article about California—-a front page story about Senator Jack Scott’s proposed ban on foil balloons. So let’s recap: California is experiencing a horrible fire season, and our national and state financial system is in dire straits, but our lawmakers are busy stopping teenagers from singing the national anthem in the capitol rotunda and trying to ban metallic balloons. Oh, and as Jon wrote about today, our legislators still haven’t passed a state budget. What exactly are we paying these people to do for us?… Read More

There are a few very good political treasurers in CA. I work with Dana Reed and Lysa Ray and John Ramirez with various clients. But my treasurer is Betty Presley and she sends email updates every time a major deadline is approaching or with any big updates in campaign finance law.

I thought this one was interesting enough to post since so many good people get into trouble with the nuances of campaign finance restrictions. (Full document attached in .pdf format below).

Federal law limits contributions to party organizations to just over $100,000 per contributor. This is a terribly stupid law. It not only restricts political speech, but it also forces political dollars into the shadows of 527s and other independent efforts not tracked as well as direct political contributions.

Some other fun facts courtesy of Betty Presley:

I. $2,300 to a candidate committee per election. II. $5,000 per year to a non-candidate controlled Federal PAC. III. $10,000 per year in each state to all state, district, and local political… Read More

If you were to look up "dysfunctional legislature" in the dictionary, you’d a photograph of the California State Capitol. We’re now a couple of weeks into the fiscal year without a state budget, and outgoing Senate President Don Perata has apparently dismissed Senators from Sacramento, advising them to be "on call" to come back and vote on a budget on short notice. Last I checked, we are paying every single member of the State Senate, and also the State Assembly for that matter, a full-time wage. If there is no state budget, the last thing that I want to have happen is for all of the legislators to go back to their districts, and leave budget nogotiations to small group of legislative leaders, to primary take place in a back room. Frankly, every legislator has a responsibility to be in Sacramento, at the Capitol, and working together to try and solve this overspending crisis.

State government is huge, and complex, and the negotiations surrounding an income and spending plan should be broadly approached by our legislators. Democrat and Republican State Legislators should be rolling up their sleeves, taking portions… Read More

Floyd Brown has produced a new advertisement thatcontrasts on Barrack Hussein Obama’s recent lament that Americansdon’t know enough foreign languages. You can see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W7srmHLclw.… Read More

If you were to look up "dysfunctional legislature" in the dictionary, you’d a photograph of the California State Capitol. We’re now a couple of weeks into the fiscal year without a state budget, and outgoing Senate President Don Perata has apparently dismissed Senators from Sacramento, advising them to be "on call" to come back and vote on a budget on short notice. Last I checked, we are paying every single member of the State Senate, and also the State Assembly for that matter, a full-time wage. If there is no state budget, the last thing that I want to have happen is for all of the legislators to go back to their districts, and leave budget nogotiations to small group of legislative leaders, to primary take place in a back room. Frankly, every legislator has a responsibility to be in Sacramento, at the Capitol, and working together to try and solve this overspending crisis.

State government is huge, and complex, and the negotiations surrounding an income and spending plan should be broadly approached by our legislators. Democrat and Republican State Legislators should be rolling up their sleeves, taking portions… Read More

The Party’s sails were slack. Voters saw it as "callous, bigoted, and sleazy". In ‘blind tastings’ voters who liked the Party’s ideas withdrew approval when they heard which party supported them. In short, the brand was toxic. As politicians and the Party faithful started to lose seats their first strategy was to double down on the issues and message which had done so well, for so long. It didn’t work, and things got worse, much worse, for a long time…

So, with thanks to ten years of The Economist throughout this writing, the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom since Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was in trouble. Since the late 1990’s the Conservatives stumbled through the wilderness in British politics, snagging their coats on every briar along the way. They lost three straight general elections and there was some thought by otherwise reasonable people that the Conservative Party may have outlived itself.

Todaythe generic ballot is 45 Conservative 25 Labor.

Of course, one of thereasons for the re-animation of the Conservative Partyis that, usually, the party in power exhausts itself and… Read More