All right, it is now time to talk about the so-called yacht tax that thankfully was defeated last week. Newspapers and Democrat bloggers have spent lots of time, ink, and electrons beating up on Assembly Republicans for helping the "rich" in that vote, but they ignore basic economics. To them, a tax raises revenue, no matter what, and not raising a tax "deprives poor children of the health care" these lefties thought would come from this increased revenue.

Let’s ignore the fact that most government programs deliver money to bureaucrats, lobbyists, and those who get paid hundreds of thousands dollars from government, and that the alleged recipients of government largesse are mostly an excuse for politicians to take money from you and me, and give it to their political friends, whether those friends are government unions or government rent seekers.

The fact is that rule number one in any decision about taxes is that RAISING TAXES IS ALWAYS WRONG, no matter when, no matter how, no matter who pays them, no matter what the alleged program that is supposed to benefit from the tax.Since it is always wrong, anyone who decides to… Read More

I’ve gotton to know Steve Francis a bit. A successful businessman, we served together for a time on the Board of Directors of the California Republican Party. Francis was unsuccessful in 2004 in a bid for Mayor of San Diego, losing to Jerry Sanders.

Well, Francis is back. He has retooled his image for this next go-around, smoothing the edges a bit. We’ll keep an eye on this race, as San Diego is a huge city, and what happens there matters not only in that city, but in the region and the state.

Francis in this commerical below emphasis that he is taking no campaign contributions whatsoever. He is funding his entire campaign from his own (deep) pockets.

He’s now up on television with his first buy. You can see the spot below. He has purchased $200,000 in advertising for the next two weeks, and his campaign says that he will stay on the air through election day in June.

I guess by way of pushing his "independent" credentials (a label that must poll well with San Diego City voters), Fracis’ campaign volunteered that his ads are produced by the same company that works with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg!… Read More

From today’s Roll Call Newspaper… Conservative Hero McClintock Testing the Waters in Two California Districts By David M. Drucker Roll Call Staff Although it now appears likely that California state Sen. Tom McClintock (R) will run for Congress in the Golden State¹s 4th district, he has yet to completely rule out a primary challenge of Rep. Elton Gallegly (R) in the 24th district, according to a Republican insider familiar with McClintock¹s plans. … Read More

It’s the fall of 2006, and the midst of a very intense General Election here in California. With a host of down-ticket races providing some modest distraction, the attention of those driving the California Republican Party Victory ’06 program are focused relentlessly on the big prize, re-electing Arnold Schwarzenegger to a full four-year term as Governor of California. At the height of the effort, a decision was made by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, his campaign manager Steve Schmidt, and then State-GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim that is still having reverberations today.

You see, while the Governor’s re-election campaign was going well, and his numbers were looking solid, the Victory Program was rapidly running out of money heading into the final month — a month of critical importance to be up with television advertising. Then came the big decision (the Governor always thinks BIG) — to literally "bet the bank" and have the State GOP take out a THREE MILLION DOLLAR LOAN from a friendly contributor’s company, thus providing the necessary injection of cash into the CRP coffers to run a full campaign to the end. Chairman… Read More

In no particular order, the interesting news and gossip of the day. Apologies for being "Post-heavy" today but my Roll Call and Politico haven’t arrived yet:

Dana Milbank in The Washignton Post’s page two political column writes about the connection my two year old made a few weeks back between Bob the Builder and Sen. Obama

Elsewhere in The Post, Steve Mufson reports on the (gasp) supply-demand relationship between oil supplies and gas prices (double gasp!). This on the heels of a report a few days back noting the (unintended or otherwise) consequences of expanding corn- and palm oil tree-based ethanol production and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Dead… Read More

It’s the fall of 2006, and the midst of a very intense General Election here in California. With a host of down-ticket races providing some modest distraction, the attention of those driving the California Republican Party Victory ’06 program are focused relentlessly on the big prize, re-electing Arnold Schwarzenegger to a full four-year term as Governor of California. At the height of the effort, a decision was made by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, his campaign manager Steve Schmidt, and then State-GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim that is still having reverberations today.

You see, while the Governor’s re-election campaign was going well, and his numbers were looking solid, the Victory Program was rapidly running out of money heading into the final month — a month of critical importance to be up with television advertising. Then came the big decision (the Governor always thinks BIG) — to literally "bet the bank" and have the State GOP take out a THREE MILLION DOLLAR LOAN from a friendly contributor’s company, thus providing the necessary injection of cash into the CRP coffers to run a full campaign to the end. Chairman… Read More

Over the weekend, this FlashReport commentary evoked quite a bit of controversy and response. After an in-depth analysis of the RNC’s fundraising numbers, the FlashReport revealed that the RNC has been performing a "cashectomy" on California Republicans. In 2006, the RNC gave California just $204,101 out of the $37.5 million spent by the RNC in state party support. California ’s share was less than ½ of 1% of the RNC’s total state support, while Golden State donors gave over $12.9 million to the RNC.

Apparently there are some that dispute my research, saying that California received over $6.25 million in 2006. In order to make this true, one would have to look not at the RNC, but to the National Republican Congressional Committee, a separate organization.

Before we delve into the nitty-gritty, let me first offer this disclaimer. McCain-Feingold’s draconian campaign finance restrictions make it much harder for political parties to coordinate expenditures. It would be illegal for the RNC to transfer funds and… Read More

Today the Governor announced some cost savings measures that include an immediate hiring freeze for state government. Estimated savings, according to the Governor, could reach $100 million. Good for the Governor — every little bit helps.

That having been said, to put the magnitute of our $15 billion (and growing) shortfall into perspective, we’d have to have this hiring freeze in place until 2158 to deal with the shortfall, not factoring in inflation, which would add decades onto that year.

The Governor has called on the legislature to make more cuts. The billion in cuts earlier in the week were a good start, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg…… Read More