I am thinking that maturity was checked at the door when Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Senate Republican Leader Darrell Steinberg came into the office this week. I “get it” that they are very unhappy, as liberals, that state revenues are down to such an extreme that without tax increases it means that there will be a significant reduction in state services. To rabid lefties like Lockyer and Steinberg, this must be almost heretical given their almost religious adoration of the modern welfare state. The idea of any kind of stalling, let alone a reversing of course of progressive programs that redistribute wealth from some Californians to provide it to others must make them ill in the pits of their stomachs (the beneficiaries of this government-funded generosity are chosen, of course, by liberal politicians who love to spend OPM – other people’s money). I get that, and I sympathize. As a conservative ideologue, I get the same feeling when the size and scope of state government grows.

It is a fair and legitimate position for conservatives in the legislature, who were not elected as liberals, to not want to participate in increasing taxes in… Read More

I kid you not. In an interview today, the President Pro Tem of the California State Senate announced that he’s willing to target budget cuts to GOP districts. In other words, he’s willing to hold hostage the citizens in these districts because their fiscally-responsible representatives aren’t willing to finance the irresponsible spending of the majority party.

Since Democrats are more than willing to keep raising taxes until there is literally nothing left in California, their constituents will continue to receive services. Ironic how those who are willing to frivolously spend money are the ones holding the purse strings, taking money from the productive members of society. Steinberg seems to believe that by targeting the budget cuts, citizens in the GOP districts won’t be educated enough to understand why services were cut (used as a pawn to raise taxes on everyone), only that their services were cut and their ire will be directed towards their own representative.

Steinberg went on to say, “You don’t want to pay for government, well then, you get less of it.”… Read More

The California Republican Assembly is an institution in the State of California. Venerable and influential, the CRA in recent decades has been the “conscience of the Republican Party” — or as some would say, the “Republican wing of the Republican Party.” Conservative to its core, the organization of which I proudly served as State President from 1995 – 1997 is in the midst of internal strife, which came to a very public head at its recent state convention in Sacramento.

While I was not at the convention, I thought that FlashReport readers would enjoy hearing about how that event went — from two decidedly different perspectives. On one side, you have Tom Hudson, a CRA Vice Prsident who supported Celeste Greig’s successful bid for a full two-year term as CRA President. On the other side you have Maria England, longtime CRA activist who was part of the team behind the unsuccessful bid of Karen England (no relation) for CRA President.

While yours truly endorsed Celeste Greig early I, to be honest I am still in a “fact finding” mode before I lay out my analysis of what went right, and what went wrong… Read More

As President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, I want to encourage you to tell your representatives to vote No on Governor Brown’s payoff to the prison guards union that contributed $2 million dollars to his election campaign.

Brown has agreed to a contract that removes the limit on how many days of vacation and other days off guards can “bank “ and cash in, when they retire, at their highest pay rate. They are currently entitled to nearly 8 weeks off annually. This could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars! (California already pays $49,000 a year to jail a single prisoner – the national average is $28,000.) Lawmakers are preparing to rubber stamp this agreement. PLEASE ACT NOW!

Tell them to vote No on Brown’s giveaway of your tax dollars! No on sweetheart deals with his public employee union backers!

Click here to visit the HJTAwebsite and go to the “Red Alert” banner to contact your… Read More

I’m pretty sure we’re the only state where the Governor dog has a Twitter Account (with 2,000 followers, I might add).

There is now talk of a multi-county Joint Powers Authority and the creation of new taxes to support keeping the Kings in Sacramento. This is a very bad idea.

Ron Paul is running for President, again. I ended up voting for him in 2008 when it was a choice between him and John McCain-Feingold. Will I be forced to vote for him again with the late CA primary?

If revelations like these don’t cause House Republicans to dump the Appropriations Committee Chairman, and replace him with a conservative, what’s the point of having a majority?

Listen in as political consultant, Yolo County… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary Email… President Arnold Schwarzenegger?

No, not that president — the Austrian-born former governor of California isn’t eligible to become America’s commander-in-chief. But in a recent profile of the Governator in Newsweek, his former cabinet secretary put forward his name as a possible president of the European Union.

In the next few years, the EU will be looking for a much more high-profile president — somebody who can unify Europe,” Terry Tamminen told the magazine. “The French won’t want a German, and the Germans won’t want an Italian. How about a European-born person who went off to America and . . . could return to be the Washington or Jefferson of a new unified Europe?”

As governor, the Republican Mr. Schwarzenegger showed an independent streak that sometimes irked his allies and enemies alike. Whether Europe’s leaders would see that independent-mindedness as a virtue is unclear. The current president… Read More

The Sacramento Bee published a story on PERS investments in California http://www.sacbee.com/2011/04/24/3575862/investing-in-california-a-look.html#mi_rss=State%20Politics They focused on who PERS likes but I found it interesting that their portfolio appears to be California short. If you believe PERS numbers they claim $17 billion of California investments in a $200 billion fund. That is 8 1/2%. If California is 12% of the nation’s economy that number should be higher. In fact it should be ok for them to show some local pride and even invest more in California. The only other explanation is that PERS has invested large amounts in foreign corporations that do not do business in California at all. Either way it shows that conservatives may be onto something when they decry the current California business climate. PERS may just be prudent to not over invest in their home state because its not the best investment. That is sad.… Read More

In my last two years in the Senate, I used to take responsibility for everything the Republicans did wrong in California. It started when, in December, 2000, then President Pro Tem John Burton asked me to preside over the swearing in of the new Senate members that year. About a month later, the electricity crisis hit California in a big way, and Democrats in the Senate spent the whole time trying to blame Republicans for the collapse of the grid. Since they, at that time, controlled both houses of the Legislature and the Governor’s office, it was hard for me to figure out how we could have done anything to cause the problem. Then it hit me. I presided over the Senate for twenty minutes in December. Sure it was just the swearing in ceremony, but, if as the Democrats said, the electricity crisis was Republican’s fault, and I was the only Republican in any position (in that case, the presiding officer of the Senate for 20 minutes) to do anything, I must have done something then to screw up electricity in California. I apologized for my error, and assumed full responsibility for it from that point forward. It was a fun joke for a couple of years, and it… Read More