Last night by a rather overwhelming margin voters in the 23rd State Senate District voted to elect Mike Morrell as their next State Senator. For the past few years Morrell has been serving in the State Assembly, where he established himself as one of the most articulate conservatives in the lower chamber.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Mike and his family for many, many years — going back to my involvement as State President of the California Republican Assembly too many years ago — and through our mutual involvement and support of the Clarement Institute. Mike is strong, principled leader. His political philosophy is well thought out,… Read More

“I think expanding Social Security benefits is incredibly important… the current Social Security benefits are not covering the cost of living for seniors.” – Shenna Bellows, Democrat, candidate for U.S. Senate, Maine, as quoted in Fiscal Times article “Liberal Dems’ New Goal: Boost Social Security Benefits,”

The debate over what role, if any, government should play in ensuring retirement security for all Americans, ought to be creating strange bedfellows.Liberal Democrats like Shenna Bellows want to expand Social Security. Many conservative Republicans want to reform public sector pensions by eliminating them in favor of individual 401K accounts. They ought to be working together.

There is only one equitable and affordable way to expand Social Security benefits, and that is by requiring all public sector employees, with no exceptions, to participate in Social Security from now on.

The reason for this is because Social Security, unlike typical public sector defined benefits, are progressive. This means… Read More

SACRAMENTO — It is very discouraging that something so clear-cut like the High-Speed Rail Authority’s misspending practices are embraced by state Democrats.

Assembly Bill 1501, by Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, California High Speed Rail Funding Accountability Act, was killed in the Assembly Transportation Committee Monday, with the majority of Democrats voting in opposition.… Read More

Well, it was just over a year ago, last March to be exact, that I plus Norm and Lydia Thompson attended our first CRP (California Republican Party) Convention in Sacramento . We three were brand new delegates from San Luis Obispo County and local Tea Party members. To say Convention was uneventful is an understatement. There was a lot of backslapping and social imbibing going on but not much political activity other than behind closed doors. Oddly enough, it seemed when Lydia or myself would raise questions at the end of meetings on stated platforms or CRP positions, folks would come up to us and want to know where we got our info or inform us that they too were Tea Party members throughout the state.

Well, fast forward to our inaugural Tea Party California Caucus (TPCC) meeting in Anaheim a short seven months later. This Convention was quite different. Energy abounded, free speech and opinions were flying the entire weekend and the social meeting atmosphere changed to one of a political event. CRP Chairman Jim Brulte welcomed us with open but slightly tentative arms. I don’t think he or the “establishment” (CRP Republicans) knew quite what to expect. Oh,… Read More

By Rick Manning

The First Amendment is a pesky thing to politicians. It allows, nay encourages, the exact kind of diverse political speech that those in power loathe. Born out of the legacy of the Revolutionary War pamphleteers and their radical thoughts of freedom, today these liberty lovers take the form of citizen journalists utilizing the Internet to push ideas, advocate, report and uncover stories that aren’t being told, afflicting the powerful and holding them accountable. This has been at the heart of press freedom, not the corporate media empires that are often little more than government propaganda machines.

Now, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), not content to just continue her long running attempt to put a dagger into the right to keep and bear arms, is leading the charge to create a federal government sanctioned journalist licensing system that threatens the First Amendment as well.

Her Orwellian titled “Free Flow of Information Act of 2013”, which is also known as the “media shield bill” has passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is… Read More

Thought I would “recommend” some reading to you today — a few columns you wouldn’t normally find on this site because we focus on CA politics…

REPUBLICANS AND BLACKS Thomas Sowell

Recently former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice added her voice to those who have long been urging the Republican Party to reach out to black voters. Not only is that long overdue, what is also long overdue is putting some time — and, above all, some serious… Read More

California’s High-Speed Rail Authority continues to forge ahead with the project to build the $68 billion train system, despite a court decision saying the HSRA cannot use Proposition 1A funds that were approved by the legislature.

To address this and many other controiversial decisions by the HSRA, Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, has introduced AB 1501 to protect California taxpayers from a risky financial obligation by the HSRA.

“By continuing to spend federal money, the HSRA is leaving taxpayers holding a bag full of matching state bond funds that a judge has said can’t be spent,” Patterson said in an interview. “We are essentially overdrawing our bank account by spending these federal funds. We simply don’t have the matching funds required by the… Read More

It’s no secret that many California state agencies lack accountability to voters, taxpayers and the Legislature. A few recent egregious examples are a clarion call for legislative oversight.

The Department of Consumer Affairs computer upgrade recently held up nursing licenses for more than three months – a process which used to take three days to complete.

California’s new Obamacare website, Covered California, has been riddled with paperwork and significant online problems since its rollout in October.

These computer… Read More