I just got a press release from the “Think Long Committee” announcing that they are putting off until 2012 plans to place a measure on the statewide ballot to “broaden” the tax base in California to include taxes on services.

While I think that there is actually some opportunity to bring people together behind the idea of broadening the tax base so that such a big chunk of the state’s tax income doesn’t come from a pretty darned small group of the most wealthy Californians (thus substituting predictability for volatility in the state’s budgeting process) — this committee’s contribution to the process was a proposed ballot measure that purported to be about tax “reform” — but was in a large measure about tax increases. Their draft proposal was not “revenue neutral” — a key component to bring any right-thinkers to the discussion about broadening the tax base — instead the Think Long Committee went with a rather-short sighted proposal to play a shell game that, when over, would have meant a $10 BILLION tax increase. Good Lord.

The think long committee is made up of… Read More

I have known Ed Royce going back to the late-80’s. Back then, he was a California State Senator and I was a brand-new activist with Young Americans for Freedom, a great conservative youth organization of which Royce himself if an alumnus. Of course now Royce is a long-serving Member of Congress (he was first elected in 1992) and is really doing a great job. Despite having served in the House of Representatives for nearly two decades, Royce continues to possess the enthusiasm, energy and passion that he had the day he first walked under the Capitol Dome. So many Members of Congress become “institutionalized” and become distant from the cause — but not Royce. Royce combines his unflagging energy with fierce determination to make a difference. Not only is he well regarded as a legislator, especially noted for his expertise in the areas of finance and foreign policy, but equally importantly is that he is totally engaged on the political side. For years Royce has been a leader within the National Republican Congressional Committee, and continues to be a key leader on party issues at the state and county levels. To be honest, I couldn’t be… Read More

We have confirmed that shortly Congressman Gary Miller, who had been drawn into a seat withe Congressman Ed Royce, will announce that he is instead running in the 31st Congressional District, where Jerry Lewis lives, but Congressman Lewis has announced his retirement. When he announces (shortly), Miller will share that he has already been endorsed by Speaker John Boehner and NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions.… Read More

The other shoe has dropped — big-spending GOP Congressman Jerry Lewis has formally announced his retirement! (No, we didn’t get a release). Here is a story by ace DC reporter Ben Goad with the Riverside Press Enterprise. A few days ago the FlashReport put out an alert notifying readers that Lewis had been calling long-time supporters letting them know he was going to retire. The next day the Congressman’s press secretary denied it, saying that no decisions had been made by the Congressman. Yet, here we are, with the Congressman making his announcement at the end of the week, which is what he told to the supporters with whom we spoke under strict confidentiality.

We’ll be writing a lot more about why Lewis’ retirement is good for the Republican Party, and good for America. The bottom line is that Lewis spent the vast majority of his time in Congress lording over federal spending,… Read More

If you’re a political or issue activist, you’ve likely been to these “outreach” and “consensus” meetings, where proponents rig the procedure (and often pack the audience) to get the results they desire while ignoring, stifling, or ridiculing dissent.

Though there are many variations, this procedure is best known as the Delphi Technique. It’s a con job used mostly (though by no means exclusively) by the Left so that they can later claim to the gullible and/or allied press that everyone agrees with their suppositions and conclusions.

Here’s a worthwhile video demonstrating how this strategy works in an actual meeting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-zpA1althjo… Read More

It looks like a battle of revenue forecasts is shaping up between Governor Jerry Brown and Mac Taylor, the state’s Legislative Analyst.

Divide number one between the Governor and LAO is over the estimated tax revenues that would come into the state if Brown’s proposal to increase the state’s income and sales taxes makes the ballot and is passed by voters in November. Brown says that these tax increases would result in $6.9 billion in additional revenues. The LAO however projects revenues from those potential higher taxes at $4.8 billion — over $2 billion less than Brown (and that is just for the first year). (Read the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert story on this $2.1 billion divide here.)

The second divide between Brown and Taylor appeared today, when Taylor issued projections for capital gains for Californians at $62 billion — Governor Brown says that capital gains will be $96 billion. That is a large $34 billion difference of opinion, which translates to $3 billion less in tax… Read More

Mary England, the president and CEO of the La Mesa Chamber of Commerce and longtime member of the Lemon Grove City Council, confirmed today for the FlashReportthat she is running for the open 79th State Assembly District seat. England is the first Republican to enter the race.

“As a city councilmember and a small business owner, I have grown increasingly frustrated with the fiscal mismanagement and political game-playing in our state capitol,” England said. “The politicians in Sacramento continue to increase the tax and regulatory burdens on California businesses, seemingly unconcerned about the harm it does to our state’s employment rate.”

Recently reconfigured during the redistricting process, AD 79 includes the cities/communities of La Mesa, Lemon Grove, and some of Spring Valley, as well as portions of the cities of San Diego and Chula Vista, including Bonita and Otay. Party registration in the district is about… Read More

When the final Assembly District lines produced by the controversial California Redistricting Commission were finished, the two Republican Assemblymembers who represent the northernmost portion of the state — Jim Nielsen and Dan Logue — were drawn into the same seat. However, before this became a dicey political situation, one of them, Assemblyman Logue, announced that he would run for a newly created adjacent district (safe Republican) where he also had a family home where he could establish his residency. Conflict averted, right? Wrong. Conflict postponed, until now.

Late last night the FlashReport broke the story that longtime North State Congressman Wally Herger would be retiring at the end of this term, and that he was endorsing State Senator Doug LaMalfa to succeed him. Should LaMalfa win election to Congress, it will cause a special election for his Senate Seat in early 2013. This becomes significant because the newly created 3rd Assembly District, the seat into which Nielsen and Logue were both originally drawn, is perfectly situation within LaMalfa’s district. The adjacent district in which Logue said he would run overlaps… Read More