Everyone, regardless of their political persuasion, will agree on one immutable fact: California state government is in a world of hurt. The state’s recession has walloped what once were sky-high tax revenues, and now the state has a massive budget shortfall. This tragic situation shaped much of the Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and has completely dominated the first 100 days of Jerry Brown’s third term as Governor.

It is somewhat amazing that in the context of this crisis, that next week a group of California legislators are headed abroad to of all places – Ireland. The Los Angeles Times has reported that one of the purposes of this legislative international journey is, according to the Times, “ to study how to turn sewage and wind into energy.”

Seriously.

Democrat Assemblyman Steve Bradford (who along with his Democrat colleague Fiona Ma are the only two legislators named as… Read More

I happened to run across this article today about Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (R), Palm Desert, and her "on the fence" position regarding Republican Congressman Paul Ryan’s 10 year budget plan. If her position is indicative of the GOP House Caucus, we’re in big trouble already.

First of all, I cannot imagine anyone being undecided about the Ryan budget on the grounds that it goes too far. It actually doesn’t go anywhere close to where we need to go in terms of deficit and debt reduction. Ryan compares his plan’s 10 year benchmark with Barack Obama’s, and claims some great victory for only increasing spending $4 trillion instead of the $10 trillion proposed by Obama. This is conservative?

For a Republican member to actually believe the Ryan budget goes too far is evidence of a fundamental lack of understanding of basic economics and mathamatics, as well as international finance, and perhaps even politics.

First of all, we’ve raised the… Read More

So on Saturday I ventured up to Redding for the first public input hearing of the California Redistricting Commission.

The Redding Searchlight reported 80 people attended the meeting. That is probably right if you include staff and the commission. By my count 26 took the time to address the commission.

You can read the Redding Searchlight article here. It was far easier to find the article about the motorcycle accident I saw on the freeway than the commission hearing at Shasta College.

Here is the issue. Clearly a group was there that was organized requesting that the commission draw a Senate, Assembly, and Congressional district described in the article. The attempt would be to lump the more liberal coastal areas in with the conservative inland areas.

For most of the commission members it seemed pretty clear that this was their first time in the area and it may be their last. So the one of the few things that they will think of when they consider drawing districts in the north state is the configuration mentioned in the article.… Read More

HJTA, Tea Party Patriots, Republicans, and AFP Crash the Party in Riverside

Governor Jerry Brown’s dog and pony show to Riverside County got muzzled yesterday, after protesters took to the streets to oppose the Governor’s massive tax increases.

As Jerry met with educators and a select group of hand-picked community leaders, a gaggle of protesters lined the curb outside to demand that he start telling the truth about the budget crisis. Grassroots activists from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the Tea Party Patriots, and the California Republican Party all joined together to put a leash on the idea that any hardworking Californians are in the mood for a tax increase.

No doubt Jerry continued his same song and dance about how schools will be impacted unless legislators or voters agree to the largest state tax increase in state and U.S. history. But we wouldn’t know – the event was not open to the public, and not even open to the press – in fact, only one pool camera was allowed.

Good thing we had folks on the ground to bring you – the people… Read More

A few random thoughts on the California political scene… (The hashtag version…)

Governor Brown’s so-called “pension reform” plan does virtually nothing to make public employee pensions affordable, and does not address the massive unfunded liability to state and local governments. #WHATSTHE POINT This week State Senator Doug LaMalfa introduced legislation on a state income tax form a box for a Californian to donate funds to their state government. Are Democrats willing to let those who want to do so to voluntarily "chip in" to solve the budget shortfall? #GIVEITATRY Local Redevelopment Agencies need to be abolished. Many conservative Assemblymembers held off providing the final needed vote because of the politics of staying unified against a June special election. Well, the June ballot is off the table… #NOTHINGSTOPPINGYOUNOW A recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle thought it newsworthy that after the election the State GOP Finance Chairman stepped down. The inconvenient truth is that after every election the State GOP Finance Chairman steps down. … Read More

Longtime FR friends Conan Nolan of KNBC television in Los Angeles and State Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) spent just over ten minutes chatting about the state budget situation on the KNBC LA Public Affairs Program “NewsConference with Warren Olney."

It’s worth a few minutes of your time to watch. And a shout-out to Conan, for managing to work the FlashReport into the interview!

The interview…

… Read More

Longtime FlashReport contributor Matt Rexroad is a pretty accomplished guy. If you ask him, he’ll tell you he is most humbled by his experiences as a husband and a father — and serving our nation’s military. But beyond that he serves in elected office as a Yolo County Supervisor, and is one of California’s most accomplished political consultants. He might choose to blah blah blah about the University of Southern California — but FR readers know that doesn’t impress me (it’s a negative, actually). Oh yeah, Matt’s an attorney, and he has dived head-first into redistricting issues — both at the partisan level (BOE, Congress, State Senate, State Assembly) and also in many localities.

We’ve benefited from Matt’s delving into what new lines might bring as he has posted up some theoretical seats for us that have caused people to really understand how some legislative districts might drastically change.

Earlier Matt sent over a Matt to me… Read More

Longtime FlashReport contributor Matt Rexroad is a pretty accomplished guy. If you ask him, he’ll tell you he is most humbled by his experiences as a husband and a father — and serving our nation’s military. But beyond that he serves in elected office as a Yolo County Supervisor, and is one of California’s most accomplished political consultants. He might choose to blah blah blah about the University of Southern California — but FR readers know that doesn’t impress me (it’s a negative, actually). Oh yeah, Matt’s an attorney, and he has dived head-first into redistricting issues — both at the partisan level (BOE, Congress, State Senate, State Assembly) and also in many localities.

We’ve benefited from Matt’s delving into what new lines might bring as he has posted up some theoretical seats for us that have caused people to really understand how some legislative districts might drastically change.

Earlier Matt sent over a Matt to me… Read More