UPDATED: March 13, 2015 to include a photo of the $8 million piece of art from a Sacramento city staff report – a public record.

While this may appear to be a local news story from the wayward Sacramento City Council, it is an example of callous, tone-deaf local government, and symptomatic of state government.

As the Sacramento City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday evening to approve a public contract with a New York artist for an $8 million piece of art, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson called it “a good investment for our community.”

High-end art is one of the most manipulated markets in the world. But that didn’t stop the Sacramento Mayor: “This guy is world renowned, he is one of the most amazing artists ever,” Mayor Johnson said of artist Jeff Koons, explaining that this art purchase will really put Sacramento on the map as “a world-class city.”

In one of the most ludicrous statements I’ve ever heard from an elected official, this is what politics has become. The deal was done before the deal was done,… Read More

Today Hillary Clinton held a press conference at the United Nations, to address the issue of her having used only a personal email address and server for sending and receiving emails during her tenure as Secretary of State. It seems she only created more questions… I had an opportunity to chime in about the matter on KCAL9 news in Los Angeles, chatting with political reporter Dave Bryan.

… Read More

Free education… financial aid… student loans… low-cost auto insurance… free health care… free legal aid… California is the Golden State once again, but not for legal residents and citizens. California’s more than three million illegal aliens are enjoying many benefits the state’s legal residents and taxpayers do not. And it comes at a very heavy financial burden — legal residents are not just paying for their own health care, rent, transportation, food and education, they are paying for illegal aliens’ as well.

According to the Federation for Immigration Reform, the annual expenditure of California state and local tax dollars on services for the illegal alien population is $25.3 billion. That total amounts to a yearly burden of about $2,370 for a household headed by a U.S. citizen.

California lawmakers are harming taxpayers and millions of impoverished, economically depressed, legal California residents — and especially minority communities of black and Hispanic citizens.This is what’s known as “willful… Read More

I’ve been hearing for weeks that Tesla has halted construction of its giant batter factory in Nevada, and send construction workers home. I even had colleagues in Nevada check on this for me.

But nobody has been talking. Until now.

On Friday, I saw a Tweet posted by a Clark County Nevada Commissioner who said, “Tesla Said to Cut About 30% of China Workers ; Sales department to cut half of its employees.” Another said, “How about that Tesla deal. Dramatically cut the size of the proposed building. Hired about 60 union iron workers and fired them the next day.”

And finally, after weeks of rumors, the… Read More

Last November’s election saw some of the most craven political tactics ever seen in California.

Fearful that they would lose the two thirds supermajority in both houses, many anti-taxpayer candidates – usually Democrats – attempted to portray themselves as friendly to taxpayers and in favor of Proposition 13 when, in fact, the exact opposite was true.

Perhaps the worst example of this was the race between Proposition 13 ally Janet Nguyen and Jose Solorio for a Senate seat in Orange County. Democrats were so fearful of losing this seat that Governor Brown unleashed radio advertising claiming that Solorio was the candidate who would protect Proposition 13.

Thanks in large part to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee, voters were informed that Nguyen was by far the superior candidate over the proven tax-and-spend Solorio. Thankfully, she won the election handily receiving more than 58% of the vote.

Well, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, here we go again.

Next week, on March 17th, voters in the East Bay area of Northern California will decide who will fill a state senate seat. Or, more likely, they will pick two… Read More

Progressives dismiss Texas as a land of minimum wage workers — that their job growth is at the expense of a “living wage.” Of course, they ignore the dramatically lower cost of living in Texas, where a comparable home costs less than half what it does in California.

But let’s put the COL differential aside, and consider the difference between working in “Deliverance” Dallas and vibrant Los Angeles. What’s the average wage in each city?

Turns out, the average weekly wage in Dallas is HIGHER than Los Angeles, BEFORE the COL is factored in.

All Private Sector Workers:

Dallas $1,131 Los Angeles $ 992

Much of this difference reflects the dismal nature of LA and California, which have been abandoned by manufacturing firms. More interesting, perhaps, is how the two cities stack up on “professional and business services.”

All Professional and Business Services Employees:

Dallas $1,293 Los Angeles $1,244

From an employer standpoint, Texas employees are still a… Read More

More than a few years have passed since Clinton scandals littered the daily headlines. Whitewater, Juanita Broddrick, Gennifer Flowers, Vince Foster, impeachment, Marc Rich, the pardons, the White House Travel Office, Commercegate – by the time Bill Clinton left office in January 2001, many Americans were ready to leave the (long list of) sordid affairs behind them.

Hillary Clinton succeeded in distancing herself from most of the ethical cloud that surrounded her husband’s presidency. And for a while, it looked like she would be judged on her own record as her White House bid gets under way.

That is, right until this email scandal reminded everyone that when it comes to “the… Read More

The latest poll from USC Dornsife and the Los Angeles Times would have you believe California voters give Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature their highest approval ratings in year — despite “soaring taxes, high unemployment, costly illegal immigration, escalating crime rates, substandard roads, record power and gas prices, underwater home values, and dismal schools.”

This is what happens when smart people like to be right and defend bad ideas.

Amedia conference call withUSC Dornsife discussed the poll results.

The… Read More