Funds in the possession of the government at every level must be treated with the utmost care. After all, these are not moneys freely given into the custody of federal, state and local officials. On the contrary, government coffers are filled, by and large, by money coercively taken from people in the form of many different taxes. For fiscally responsible policy makers, this burden weighs heavily, as they ask themselves, before every vote taken to spend or commit these dollars, "Is this spending necessary?" or, "Is it right to spend money we have taken by force on this particular spending project?" A principled conservative policy-maker would look at every spending proposal, and ask, "Could this money be better spent by an individual?" After that, they might ask, "Is this spending something that should be taking place not at my level of government but perhaps a level of government that is closer to the people?" But perhaps the trickiest part for policy makers is to avoid the temptation to throw principled fiscal policy out the window as opportunities come along to supplant… Read More

Funds in the possession of the government at every level must be treated with the utmost care. After all, these are not moneys freely given into the custody of federal, state and local officials. On the contrary, government coffers are filled, by and large, by money coercively taken from people in the form of many different taxes. For fiscally responsible policy makers, this burden weighs heavily, as they ask themselves, before every vote taken to spend or commit these dollars, "Is this spending necessary?" or, "Is it right to spend money we have taken by force on this particular spending project?" A principled conservative policy-maker would look at every spending proposal, and ask, "Could this money be better spent by an individual?" After that, they might ask, "Is this spending something that should be taking place not at my level of government but perhaps a level of government that is closer to the people?" But perhaps the trickiest part for policy makers is to avoid the temptation to throw principled fiscal policy out the window as opportunities come along to supplant… Read More

The Orange County Chairman of the American Independent Party, Mark J. Seidenberg, was tapped for $15,000 in personal cash by Jim Gilchrist, to allow Gilchrist to post the bond that Judge Randell Wilkinson of the Orange County Superior Court required of him before he would make final the "partial" preliminary judgment order issued last week in theon-going"Minuteman" case over control of the organization.

Gilchrist’s request for a writ of possession to regain control of Minuteman Project, Inc. assets was denied by the Judge, as was his request to enjoin Defendants Marvin L. Stewart of Long Beach, andBarbara Coe, and Deborah Courteney of Orange County, from claiming they are members of the Board of Directors of Minuteman. But Gilchrist won a partialinjunction against the Defendants to enjoin them from using his signature for fundraising or spending Minuteman funds, at leastuntil a April 25 hearing, where appointment of a court receiver to manage the organization will be at issue. Gilchrist opposes receivership, and the Defendants favor it.

Seidenberg claims he had just gotten off a flight back home from Dublin, Ireland,… Read More

I had a fascinating phone call from a constituent of mine. The gentleman was calling to object to my vote concerning the Assisted Suicide bill which passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee this week (I voted no). The gentleman also objected to my comments wherein I stated that I had a right to assert my morality into the political question. Those comments were offered in rebuttal to comments made by the Author of the bill who suggested that we, the committee members, shouldn’t be interjecting our different moralities into the question of whether physicians should be allowed to prescribe life-ending drugs. To my constituent’s way of thinking, the author was right. I, on the other hand, completely disagree.

There has long been debate about whether a representative in a republican form of government should vote the way a majority of his constituents want, or whether that representative should vote his conscience. Most of the time there is no real problem because a representative is often elected precisely because they share the conscience and morality of the ones who elected him. However, in those instances when there is a divide, how should… Read More

Yesterday I penned a column on the wealthy ‘enviro-actor-activist’ community in Malibu that is rallying behind opposition to a proposed LNG facility off of the Los Angeles Coast. One particular enviro-actor-activist had his personal assistant and a friend apparently working some sort of booth at some event dedicated to their lefty-cause… and you have GOT to check out this tongue-in-cheek video taken my whomever it was that caught up to them… I suspect that Pierce Brosnan has asked her not to talk to cameras any more! I actually am embarrassed for her.

Of course, while the video is funny, the hypocracy of the Hollywood Elite is not. They can… Read More

Not to be a one-trick pony, but Assemblyman Joel Anderson’s Iran Divestment bill, AB 221, is garnering some pretty significant coverage….and with the Assembly Retirement Committee’s 4-1 vote in favor this week, it’s serious.

With many unions in support, and SEIU even dropping its opposition, the CTA remains entrenched, apparently comfortable with a perceived position of being in support of our retirement benefits funding terrorist states. An excerpt from this morning’s SDUT:

…two teachers unions, the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers, said investment decisions should be made by the pension fund boards. Yeah, well, ok, if the retirement boards were doing the right thing, perhaps thelegislature wouldn’t have to intervene. Even the Teamsters understand"doing the right thing" in supporting the bill:

“For our unions this is a no-brainer,” said Barry Broad, representing… Read More

Art Torres was apparently scheduled to appear as a guest at a fundraiser for the State GOP, where the entertainment is a roast of former Chairman Duf Sundheim. Torres has backed out, saying he was unaware it was a fundraising event. Bob Salladay has the scoop over at the L.A. Times Political Muscle blog. Maybe Garry South can step in?… Read More

I simply could not believe it when I opened the paper this morning and read the following quote from "Republican" San Diego Councilman Jim Madaffer:

"At end of the day I know why we have these problems," Councilman Jim Madaffer said, "it’s because the city of San Diego has an underfunding problem."

I know Jim Madaffer pretty well. I know his heart is in the right place. The problem is, I question where his head is. I believe that he still does not recognize that the City of San Diego has one of the nation’s most irresponsible records on the spending of taxpayer dollars. That they have blown hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on outrageous pensions and chronic waste, fraud, and mismanagement. That taxpayers should not and will not stand for pouring more of their money into thispit until the spending is brought under control, and accountability measure are put into place.

The problem, Councilman Madaffer, is not that the taxpayers arehaven’t thrown City Hall even more money. City Hall’s budget has increased dramatically over the past several years. The problem is that you and… Read More