For the past 5 years, Citizens Against Govenment Waste and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association have collaborated and produced The California Piglet Book, a delightful compilation of egregious examples of government waste. Don’t read it at bedtime unless you can fall asleep burning mad.

Iwas proudly startled to seethat a post I wrote in the FlashReport made it into the book this year.

I guess that makes me a proud poster of piglet prodigality.

‘ Barry Nestande, chief of staff for Assemblyman John Benoit (R-Bermuda Dunes) and a regular contributor on the conservative FlashReport blog, wrote on January 29, 2007 about a re-striping project on the 91 Freeway near the Riverside/Orange County line. Various time delays and other red-tape bureaucracy issues have served to push the cost to $1.5 million. The project is scheduled to take a year and is complicated by the fact that another government entity, the South Coast Air Quality Management Agency, is requiring an air quality impact study, despite the fact that cars already travel on the road. The failure to repaint a freeway stripe in a year is one of many reasons why California does… Read More

Our friends at the Consumer Alliance for a Strong Economy have launched a radio advertising campaign against the ill-advised health care scheme being advanced by the Governor and Legislative Democrats. You can click on the ads below to hear them. CASE, you’ll recall, made a splash when they introduced the Dancing Duck television spot in January.… Read More

Aninitiative to end the practice of governments accepting and spending non–reported dollars for political activity was launched at a press conference in Sacramento today. Proponentsare Jon Coupal of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., Jim Nielsen, Chairman of the California Alliance to Protect Prvivate Property Rights and former state senator, and Lew Uhler of National Tax Limitation Committee.

Under the present scheme, the League of California Cities and other entities can utilize so called "non-public funds" to weigh in politically on issues like, say, defeating efforts of protecting your property rights from abusive eminent domain takings. $7 million has been raised without accountability to fight Prop 90 previously and now towards the true eminent domain reform initiativecirculating thru Farm Bureau, Howard Jarvis and the CA Alliance to Protect Private Property. [They also have their own clever initiative that they are pushing and funding to make it look like they are reforming EmDo but has such weak and narrow… Read More

What if you had a reoccuring nightmare, that while you were sleeping, thousands of dead bodies were rising out of their graves to come and take…your home! Sound scary? Well it is actually happenning to the owners of homes in posh Sarataga, a suburb of San Jose. In what may prove to be a "poster-child" case for eminent domain reform on next June’s ballot, the Saratoga Cemetary District has officially left their options "open" to pursue the use of eminent domain as they seek to force the owner of a home to sell their house, which abuts the Madrona Cemetary. The "urgent need" — apparently the Saratoga Cemetary District wants to expand the roadway around the graveyard. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Nikki Teeter answered a knock on her door to find a real estate agent there, representing the District, telling her that they want to buy her home. Apparently, despite protests that the Teeters have no interest in selling their home of 29 years, the realtor kept trying to set up meetings. Apparently this Cemetary District is… Read More

Steve Baric’scampaign for CRP Secretary sent out a Campaign Update earlier today.

I have to admit, I knew Steve’s campaign was going well, but even as a friend of his, I’d lost track of just how well.

Really at this point it’d be easier to list who HASN’T yet signed up to support Steve, than who to lay out the lengthy list of who HAS.

Left, Right, Center.

North, Central, South.

Constitutional Officers, Legislators, County Party Leaders, Grassroots Leaders, CRP Board Members.

In other words, just about everyone.

Steve’s campaign isdoing a great jobcircling the wagons andmyhunch is that they’ll continue to do soall the way to February.

For what it’s worth, Steve’s Update is below. Dear Fellow California Republican,

My campaign to be the next Secretary of the California Republican Party continues to garner support throughout the state. In the past month, I have received the support of… Read More

Our State Budget is languishing in the I.C.U. and who do the Democrats call in to save the day? Dr. Tax and Dr. Spend, of course. Demonstrating what can only be described as a complete lack of mental health, today, Democrats passed a $14 billion massive government-run health care plan out of the Assembly Health Committee. Only hours before they passed their plan, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, Liz Hill, released her annual revenue projection and forecast for our state’s finances. The LAO projects an $8 billion budget deficit in 2008-2009. That means California Government will attempt to spend $8 billion more than we have!

You’d think that being $8 billion in the hole would wake up my colleagues on the Left: Now is not the time for more spending! But the Democrats on the Assembly Health Committee ignored the LAO’s warning and voted to… Read More

Tim Morgan Receives "No Endorsement" from CRA From the Shawn Steel for RNC National Committeeman campaign:

(Sacramento) – On Sunday, the California Republican Assembly refused to endorse incumbent Tim Morgan in his quest for re-election as National Committeeman. This is a serious embarrassment to his re-election prospects.

With his opponent Shawn Steel already locking up overwhelming majorities amongst Assembly Republicans, Senate Republicans and Central Committee Chairs, the CRA Endorsement quest was a last ditch effort for Morgan to infuse some momentum into his campaign.

"The California Republican Assembly has long been a supporter of Morgan, who has been a long time incumbent," said Steel spokesman Mike Richman. "This weekend, Morgan spent time lobbying delegates and former supporters, but it was obviously too little too late. His failure at CRA continues his horrid re-election campaign effort."

Earlier in the year, Morgan suffered a humiliating defeat when the Young Republican Federation of California endorsed Shawn Steel over Tim Morgan. On the heels of that defeat, Morgan felt the need… Read More

One of California’s most capable political consultants, Wayne Johnson (a principal in JohnsonClark — click on their ad!) has spent years giving of his time as a leader in the National Association of Political Consultants, and he just recently finished up a two-year stint as that group’s President (he now serves in the role of Immediate Past President and Chairman of the AAPC)..

Right now, Johnson and his business partner, Tim Clark, are in Bali, Indonesia for the 40th Annual World Conference of the International Association of Political Consultants (IAPC).

I heard from Wayne, who had just, along with a colleague and fellow California political consultant Ben Goddard (partner on Goddard Clauseen – okay, click on their ad, too!) participated in a private meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to discuss Indonesia’s remarkable… Read More