Earlier this week, former U.S. Representative Chris Chocola, President of the Club for Growth, made a visit to California. I caught up to Chocola at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel where he appeared at an event for GenNext, an organization to which I belong. Before the event, I was able to arrange for some time to interview Chocola about the Club and what they are up to.

For those who are not familiar with the Club for Growth, they are an organization that is laser-focused on issues of economic liberty and free markets. Rather than get into more detail, I invite you to relax, and enjoy this interview that takes about ten minutes to watch…

… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary Email…

Jerry Brown’s Reckless Labor Deal

Before leaving office last year, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California negotiated new contracts and pension reforms with six state unions. The prison guards were the only major union to hold out, figuring that they could get a better deal once Democrat Jerry Brown assumed the governorship. They were right.

The new contract that Mr. Brown and the guards have negotiated uncaps the number of vacation days that officers can cash in upon retirement, which is 80 for most state unions. Since officers get eight weeks of time off each year, many prison guards have racked up hundreds of unused vacation days. Officers receive so many days off, the Brown administration says, that they “can’t avoid exceeding the vacation cap.” That, in short, is Mr. Brown’s justification… Read More

Look! In the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a blimp funded by elitist and hypocritical liberals protesting conservative philanthropists Charles and David Koch.

At least that was the scene a few months ago in Palm Desert when liberal groups like Common Cause protested outside a private meeting held by the Koch brothers. In true liberal style, AstroTurf demonstrators were bused in from all over the state to protest. To show how serious they were, they even brought out a blimp—the big guns.

So what egregious crime against liberalism had the Koch brothers committed? Simple. They had the audacity to exercise their First Amendment right to participate in the political process.

Liberal groups like Common Cause love to wrap themselves in a cloak of constitutional protections to attack the constitutionally protected rights of those who with whom they don’t agree. But their hypocrisy goes beyond their unequal application of constitutional rights.

Common Cause and other liberal groups associated with the event are funded by the likes of George Soros and other wealthy benefactors. Yet Common Cause’s entire beef with the… Read More

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