The thoughtful commentary below submitted to us from longtime FR friend Amy LeFever. LeFever joined thousands and thousands of Californians over the weekend and on Monday in urging Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado, in his capacity as Acting Governor (Governor Schwarzenegger is on a trade mission in Asia) to file an appeal of the lower court decision in the Proposition 8 case.

Maldonado did not file the appeal, and disappointed many people because of it. Popular talk radio show Dennis Prager devoted a large amount of his time to urging Maldonado to "do the right thing" and file the appeal. Former Attorney General candidate John Eastman had even done all of the necessary legal work, so all that was required of Maldonado was his signature.

So the upshot? It was very disappointing that the Republican Party’s nominee for Lt. Governor would not stand with his party on this key issue.

It was disappointing that Maldonado did not file the appeal — but let us remember that Governor Schwarzenegger himself deserves the brunt of the criticism. His responsibility is to represent the people of California, who voted to pass… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger is floating around an idea to tax services such as hair cuts, chiropractic adjustments, taxi rides, concerts, bowling – you name it. If it’s a service, it could become subjected to taxation.

The governor’s reasoning is that service-oriented business owners don’t pay their fair share of taxes.

“… We know that the economy now is a service-oriented economy, but we really don’t tax anyone that is in this new economy,” the governor said in his Aug. 24 speech to the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The fact is anyone who operates a legitimate business in California is paying some of the highest taxes in the nation not to mention obeying a dizzying array of regulations, which has made California the most hostile state in which to conduct business.

The reality of taxing services is that “mom and pop” business owners would feel the pinch with the addition of one more onerous expense, driving some owners to throw in the towel and close shop. Larger companies would go around the law by outsourcing to service providers in places like Nevada and Arizona, whose state… Read More

Other than the political fun of watching Jerry Brown insult Clinton and then Clinton accept his apology and endorse the guy, why should people care about this flap? Because it says a whole lot about Jerry Brown. 2010 gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown wants us to believe that he is not Governor Moonbeam of the 1970s anymore; he’s matured and grown up.Look, he’s even married now and his buddy Jacques Barzaghi is not hanging around. But his public mocking ofBill Clinton’s honesty and his “I did not have taxes with this state” joke demonstrates that Jerry Brown hasn’t changed much.Here’s a guy who is behind in fundraising and needs all the friends he can get.Instead, he’s sticking his foot in his mouth, having to apologize to a fellow he … Read More

Fox News has some interesting new poll numbers about the state of political affairs here in California. The September 11th poll found Whitman leading Brown by 6 points, and Fiorina just two points behind Boxer. Unsurprisingly, jobs and the economy are the number one priority for those polled, with 46% saying it’s their primary concern this year. Even more interesting than the election polling numbers were the results of questions asked about office holders that aren’t up for election this year. The Fox News headline says it all: “California Cools to Dems.”

Obama has only a 48% job approval rating despite winning California by a 24-point margin in 2008. In a ray of true hope, 35% say they think Obama’s actions have hurt the economy. And according to Fox News, respondents were evenly divided on whether to repeal ObamaCare. Only 46%… Read More

In a dead even race, sometimes you have to wait for one candidate’s meltdown. After a lifetime of hyperbole, Jerry Brown may be fully embracing a "self-indulgent death wish", as Garry South, Gov Davis’ guru and major dem consultant stated yesterday.

Brown’s explosion against all things Clinton is just too good to be true. It seems almost scripted by Meg to inflict as much damage as possible to sink Brown’s support among those democrats who still worship Bill Clinton. Most democrats don’t consider Clinton the "Prince of sleaze"–but Jerry sure madea good point.

Sunday’s comments at a democrat party office may be remembered as the weekend of Brown’s precipitous fall. "I mean Clinton’s a nice guy, but who ever said he always told the truth." Go get him Jerry.… Read More

Yesterday I penned a column making the case for why Meg Whitman should endorse Proposition 23, the California Jobs Initiative that would suspend former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Regulatory Bill until such a time as California’s economy is doing a heck of a lot better than it is today.

Thanks to a lot of help from FR strategic partners (thanks, all!) that piece also went out via email to well over 100,000 people! I took the liberty of sending it out as an email myself to over 30,000 Republicans.

I can tell you that I was stunned by the response. There is no doubt that Proposition 23 is not only popular with Republican activists — its a major motivating factor for this November’s elections. I received countless e-mails from GOP grassroots leaders, donors (big and small), legislators, county supervisors, city councilmembers and many others.

Two things were obvious to me from all of the responses — the first is that a broad group of people are knowledgeable and… Read More

Over the course of the past year, there has been a narrative developing… Everyone makes light of the fact that "you never know what Jerry Brown is going to say" — which is certainly true. But as his eccentric behavior exhibits itself more and more often, and his campaign theme starts to become "Tales of the Bizarre" — I think that more and more serious people are going to question Brown’s core competency. I was in elementary school when Brown was last Governor, so I don’t know if these "behavior issues" were pervasive then as well (were they?). Whether comparing Meg Whitman to former Nazi propaganda chief and genocidal maniac Joseph Goebbels, or now beating the rhetorical snot out of long-time ex-President Bill Clinton…

Oh well, it does make for good blogging.

So the Whitman campaign releases this commercial, which includes great clips from the 1992 Democrat Presidential debate, where Clinton takes off the proverbial gloves on his then fellow Presidential aspirant Brown…

… Read More

Emotion regarding social issues is clouding the political judgment of political observers and the local press in the race for the 5th Assembly District between Republican Small Business Owner Andy Pugno, Democrat Community Physician/Educator Richard Pan, and Peace and Freedom College Student Elizabeth Martinez. So the Pugno campaign will attempt to provide some facts for people to consider about the race, the district and the candidates. Pugno Fact #2 In 2008, Peace & Freedom candidate Karen Martinez won 8% of the vote for Assembly District 5 in a 3-way race. This year it is again a 3-way race with Peace & Freedom candidate Elizabeth Martinez (her daughter) on the ballot. Polling shows the third-party candidate pulling 10% of the vote, almost totally from liberal voters. Pugno Fact #1 In the June primary election more than 42,000 votes were cast for Republican candidates compared to just 35,000 for Democrats. 7,000 votes is a substantial difference.

Note: I am the general… Read More