After my article yesterday, which laid out what I believe are the basic principles that would lead to a Republican revival in California, I thought I should flesh out how those principles translate into every day political and policy making decisions. Of course, policy making is the stuff of legislation. Politics is explaining the policy making process to voters in a way that persuades the voters, over time, to entrust Republicans with power. The two have to work together. If those in policy making positions are constantly playing politics, that is, constantly trying to appeal to voters to entrust them with power, the voters will grow cynical, thinking they are being used. If a policy maker, however, only focuses on policy making, no one ever knows enough about what he or she is doing to be able to make an informed decision about whether to entrust that policy maker with power. Politics without principled policy making is a bankrupt power grab. Policy making without politics is an exercise in futility.

So, that being said, how can Republicans change the course of California? I want to do a series of articles breaking down how I believe the principled advocacy of… Read More

A long eighteen months ago the highly regarded and well-read The Fix political blog on the Washington Post website posted up a list of what they felt were the best state-level political blogs. Here at the FlashReport we were very pleased to make the list. We heard back from them that a really high volume of our readers contacted them, which no doubt helped!

Well, they are doing it again! The Fix is once again compiling an updated list of the best state-level political blogs, left-center-right, and once-again we’re asking for your help.

If you are willing to take just a moment of… Read More

As an elected official and taxpayer advocate, I cannot remain silent while state tax officials punish California taxpayers who in good faith followed our laws.

That’s why I’m urging the Franchise Tax Board to reverse a controversial staff decision seeking millions in retroactive taxes from California entrepreneurs and small businesses.

In my letter to the three members of the Franchise Tax Board, I call FTB’s December 2012 staff action “unwarranted and unfair to taxpayers.”

I explain that the Second District Court of Appeal’s decision in Cutler v. Franchise Tax Board does not require FTB to take this action. I warn that it “sends entirely the wrong message to investors, entrepreneurs and job creators doing business in our state.”

A growing bi-partisan chorus of California legislators, newspapers and… Read More

I want to add my voice to that of Pat Lincoln in the Flash Report. The message Pat gives to Republicans is worth repeating over and over again. In late 1997, I read the book Socialism by Ludwig Von Mises, which was written in 1932. In the final chapter, Mises says, and I paraphrase, that one cannot expect an association of businesses, or an association that relies upon businesses as its main source of support (read the “California Chamber of Commerce” and the “California Manufacturing and Technology Association”) to take a principled stand against socialism. Mises said the reason for that is that business makes money by overcoming obstacles, whether those obstacles are driven by market forces, or political forces, in the short run, not by fighting long term political battles. The long term political battles are to be fought by those who are engaged in politics (read Republicans in the Legislature). That battle cannot be won by a marriage with business interests. It must be won by the principled advocacy of the principles of liberty, at each turn, and no matter the short term political cost. I will relate this story to reinforce… Read More

Have you noticed the press releases from legislators at the state Capitol are all gender-neutral? Lawmakers and staff refer to each other as “Assembly members,” and not “Assemblywoman” or “Assemblyman.”

And even more ridiculously, the don’t refer to a Committee head as a “Chairwoman” or “Chairman;” they call each other “Chair.”

Washington state is taking this gender-neutral form of speaking to a new level. “In Washington state, dairymen, freshmen and even penmanship could soon be things of the past,” Fox News reported.

Attempts to fix language are misguided to the point of absurdity. Remember “huperson,” “woperson,” “personslaughter” and “personhole” covers?

Former Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin became the butt of jokes for her attempt to rename manhole covers, “personhole” covers.

New lingo

Washington state officials have spent the last six years changing language in the law books of the state, as the AP photo above shows. But gender-neutral language is ungrammatical, and not allowed in AP Style.

“So while the state has already welcomed ‘firefighters,’… Read More

This is our fourth installment of our “Idiot Of The Week” commentary. We’re still shifting around a bit, finding the best day to run this piece.

The FlashReport Idiot Of The Week Award is bestowed upon that pubic official (or high profile person engaged in politics or public policy) who does something completely idiotic. With a state as large as Californian, which seems to have a higher-than-average amount of folks who either don’t think about what they do — or even worse, they think about what they do and still act like idiots — we suffer from no shortage of potential award winners. As in previous columns, we start first with the runners-up in no particular order, and then onto the big prize.

Runner-Up #5 – Los Angeles City Councilwoman and Mayoral candidate Jan Perry – At a recent mayoral debate, Perry stepped out of the left-wing penalty box and told attendees that she would support pension reform for city employees — supporting 401k style retirement plans for new hires (GOP… Read More

Here’s the fact that EVERYONE (including me) initially underappreciated concerning Phil Mickelson and CA state income taxes. Starting in 2013,golfer Phil Mickelson’s NET state income tax rate has jumped an astonishing 83.6%! And yes, this huge increase hits most Californian making more than $2 million income.

Here’s why. Until 2013, state income taxes were deductible for federal income tax purposes. Starting in 2013, for the really rich, this deductibility largely goes away (as does deducting property taxes and many other deductions). For people with over $2 million of income, they lose 80% of such deductions.

With Proposition 30 passed in November, CA has raised its income tax on the wealthy by 29%. The combined tax increase is breathtaking. Do the math, and you find that in 2011 the net CA income tax for Mickelson was 6.7%. In 2013 his net CA income tax is 12.3% — an increase of 83.6%.

Some would respond that Mickelson has been subject to AMT (the Alternative Minimum Tax) and thus could not deduct his state income tax in years past. But almost surely he has NOT been subject to… Read More

Today’s shocking report that the U.S. economy actually shrank during the 4th quarter of 2012 shows just how fragile America’s economy “recovery” continues to be.

Some economists were quick to attribute the economy’s poor performance to “one time factors,” such as government spending cuts and slower inventory growth. But hold on – with a skyrocketing national debt, further government spending cuts should not be considered a “one time” event. Nor should slower inventory growth, which of course happens from time to time.

What’s really going on here?

The recovery from the 2008-2009 recession has been the most anemic of any in recent decades. In other words, we’re limping out of the hospital still badly wounded, not putting on our running shoes.

An economy with Reagan-era economic growth rates of 8% would be able to absorb such “one time factors” (which as we just discussed are not really one-time) without having the economy actually shrink. By contrast, the Obama “recovery” is so weak that the 2.6% which government spending cuts and slower inventory growth took away from GDP growth was enough to knock us back into… Read More