As I write this, neither the Senate nor the House have adjourned for the year as various issues are still unresolved. But, hopefully within a few days, the 111th Congress will mercifully come to an end. As I’m sure you know, the tax bill, which I vigorously opposed, passed last week. 35 other Republicans and 112 Democrats joined me in voting “No”. This in spite of immense pressure on Democrats from the President (who was personally making many calls) and on Republicans from our leadership. Your taxes will not go up next year and that part of the bill is good. But, on January 1, 2012, the Alternative Minimum Tax will go up again and your temporary reduction in Social Security tax will end. Then, on January 1, 2013, all the tax rates on everybody will go back up to 2000 levels, including the death tax. So, we will have to have this same fight and same debate again starting in less than 12 months. In the meantime, the federal government is now on track to borrow or print $3.8 TRILLION in the next 24 months, including the "QE2" money printing that the Fed is doing. Let me repeat that. The government will borrow or spend $3.8 trillion in just 24 months… Read More

I have to say, I don’t think the Hispanic fascination with Democrat candidates is anything but liberalism on their part. As I wrote in my Fresno Bee column last week, I think itsa myth that Hispanics are "culturally conservative".

Now, a former Schwarzenegger advisor Rob Stutzman is quoted in a George Skeleton column in todays LA Times that "Republicans need to understand that they live in suburbs with second-generation Mexican American neighbors whose parents came here and worked in agriculture and the service industries and are very proud of their families’ success" as a key for the GOP to get Hispanic votes.

Huh?

I think there are plenty of Republicans and conservatives, like me, that appreciate all hard working people, regardless of country of origin and skin color. Making a case that this is somehow a gateway to getting Hispanic votes is not only simplistic, but ignores the fact that 2nd and… Read More

For most Californians, the arrival of December means gift shopping, family get-togethers, and good cheer. But it also reignites the ridiculous feud over the word that is the main reason for the holiday season – the word "Christmas." Last month, I sent out an e-mail invitation to my constituents in the 60th Assembly district to join me for a "Christmas" open house at the district office. I ended my invitation with a saying you may have heard before: "May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace, the joy of Christmas give you hope, the warmth of Christmas grant you love." Isn’t this the true meaning of the season?

The grinches in our community reacted as if I sent them a letter that used a four-letter word which no one should dare speak in government. My office received phone calls stating that using the word "Christmas" is a violation of the separation of church and state and that it was insulting to non-Christians. I decided to ask my constituents in an email survey whether they approved or disapproved my use of the word "Christmas." An overwhelming number emphatically… Read More

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Every ten years after the census is taken, America’s political fault lines shift during the process of redistricting. Whole political districts can be swallowed by massive population shifts or in other cases political districts emerge unscathed.

Although we don’t have complete census data we can tell where the state is growing and have some rough numbers. It is clear where the political fault lines will shift the most.

In California, voters rewrote the rules for how state legislative and congressional districts will be drawn in order to remove politics from the process. Instead of politicians drawing district boundaries, an independent citizen commission will determine the new district lines.

California’s new process of redistricting will likely result in some districts being entirely redrawing with new boundaries. For… Read More

The California Fair Political Practices Commission issued its required upward adjustment of the California state election contribution limits this week. A detailed chart of the new limits is attached. As a result of low inflation, candidates for State Assembly and State Senate after 1/1/11 can still receive $3,900 per person in contributions, other statewide candidates can still receive $6,500 per person but Jerry Brown can now receive $26,000 towards his re-election race, raised just a hundred bucks from previous levels.

Under existing law there is no limit to what a political party can give to a candidate for state office, however, the revised rules allow a person to give an extra $100, now, $32,500 to a party, over the previous limit, and still $200 to a so-called "small contributor" committee, and $6,500 for a PAC that contributes to state candidates. (The unlimited support a partisan candidate can receive from a political party keeps them relevant even if Proposition 14 is upheld, which does not change that aspect of campaign finance.) There is no limit to contributions to committees… Read More

We elected a bunch of crazy leftists in California, but local elected officials are a bright spot for us in Fresno County. For conservatives, we should forget the nonsensical waste of time and money trying to compete Statewide – it isn’t going to happen. Focus on the local – and watch homegrown leaders move up the ranks. Click here for the story…..… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

Jerry Brown’s Tough Odds Jerry Brown, who will once again serve as California governor next month after a 28-year absence, is sending signals on how he plans to deal with the state’s budget crisis. As expected, higher taxes are in the cards. Step One is the usual post-election revelation of the true extent of the problem, which is always downplayed before the vote. "What we’re looking at today is much worse than it’s ever been before," he told an audience of local officials recently. His best estimate of the state’s deficit over the next 18 months is $28 billion, which is larger than annual state spending on prisons,… Read More

It seems that we are already starting to hear the "insider" crowd in Sacramento talking about a budget deal that includes more cuts combined with some sort of tax increase . It wasn’t so long ago that we heard this same idea. In fact, it was just last year when the Governor and the legislature concocted a plan to jam average tax payers with over $12 billion in higher income, sales and car taxes (as well as a cut in the child tax credit) in exchange for what? Yes, there were some spending cuts — but California can’t print money (thank goodness), so cuts will happen as a function of running out of spendable cash. The "big" reform put on the table by politicos was a very weak ballot measure that purported to be a spending cap but was proven to not be able to withstand a concerted effort by a future Governor and legislature to overspend. And to get that weak spending reform one had to vote to extend the massive tax increases for yet another two years. It’s also worth mentioning that in the 2009 budget was a sickening back-room side-deal where a portion of the new revenues captured by all of the broad… Read More