Rather than taking responsibility for their own out-of-control Tax-and-Spend habits, Senate Democrats today once again blamed Proposition 13 for California’s woes as they proposed massive tax increases on Californians, under the guise of shifting the money to provide local services. The proposed plan would increase either oil severance tax or sales taxes via a majority vote. Removing tax breaks for struggling businesses and making permanent last year’s .5% increase in the Car Tax round out the increases.

The Senate plan represents more of the same from the majority party. Democrats have yet to learn that attacking Proposition 13 using a majority vote is a non-starter both with California taxpayers and in the courts. Rather than continuing to use this landmark proposition as a scapegoat for their fiscal ineptitude, the leaders should figure out how to use $88 billion in General Fund revenue to serve the most people without raising taxes during these tough economic times.

Taxes should be off the table during this time of economic recession. What message does an oil severance or car tax send to our drivers who don’t want to see gas prices… Read More

Another one for the "you just can’t make this stuff up" files… Democrat legislator Curran Price has introduced legislation that would explore requiring California automobiles replace their existing unobtrusive license plates with electronic signs — mini billboards. The state would then sell advertising on them. In the proposal, the ads would only pop up if the car was stationary at least four seconds.

Are you kidding?

My car is my car. I don’t want a billboard on my car. Period. Never mind the fact that I might not like a particular product (or political candidate?) advertising on my car’s mini-billboard, the bigger issue is that I don’t want an advertisement on my car at all.

Look, I "get it" that the right-sizing of state government to what can be afforded through the existing state tax code — it’s not easy for all of those people in the private sector to have to make cuts in their spending, either.

I also don’t want to discourage creative and "out of the… Read More

Politico.com picks up a story last week about an FEC complaint we are preparing against the Congressional Campaign of Jeff Denham. Make no mistake, we’ve accepted the outcome of the race. Make no mistake – the use of soft money funneled to a charity for the benefit of a federal candidate need to be investigated and ruled on by the FEC. If they find the practice to be legal, the campaign finance system as we know it today will be turned on its ear.

Some members of the California delegation have been pressuring us to stand down. Quit wasting your time. We won’t stand down until the matter is settled on way or another. Too many Republicans never learned a lesson from getting their asses handed to them by Nancy Pelosi in 2006 – we cannot and will not be a Party that accepts any form of corrupt behavior – period.

I will write a more complete commentary about the reason we are pursuing this matter. For now, if you’re curious, you can read my blog posts here about the entire affair.… Read More

It’s no secret that Jerry Brown’s main funding source for his gubernatorial run is labor unions, many of them state employee “associations.”

Of course, the goal for these union bosses is to continue fleecing taxpayers through the payment of ludicrous pension and compensation package for state workers, and maintain prevailing wage – and other imbalances in the work place – even in the midst of the worse economy since the Great Depression.

Lesser known, is the labor unions’ strategy to buy a seat on the Board of Equalization vis-a-vis Chris Parker, a candidate for BOE District 2, Barbara Alby’s seat.

Obviously, the second district is a safe Republican seat that will be won by candidate (and Flash Report blogger) George Runner.

Still, the Republican Party cannot afford to ignore the donations to Parker’s campaign by labor unions — $35,000 since April including from:

Four years ago I pointed out that Imperial County tends to vote for candidates with Latino surnames. My example was the Lt. Governor candidate Liz Figueroa won only a small umber of counties. It might have been her home county of Alameda and Imperial.

I got nastygrams from multiple people that told me I was wrong, racist, and mean to the people of Imperial County.

Four years later I have another prime example of why Imperial County is not like the rest of the state.

Take a look at the race for Insurance Commissioner in the Democratic primary. Hector De La Torre won a single county by a wide margin. He won with 67% of the vote actually.

Was it Los Angeles county where he lives and people know him? That would be a good guess but wrong.

Was it Sacramento County where people know his opponent Assemblyman Dave Jones? That would also make sense if you have observed Jones but not correct.

The correct answer would be Imperial County where despite being crushed by Jones statewide by a margin of 61-39 he got more than 2/3 of the vote. The map is pretty easy to… Read More

On Sunday, many families will celebrate Father’s Day. As a Dad, I look forward to this day because it means spending extra time with my kids and grandkids. But in all seriousness, Father’s Day provides a great opportunity for people to recognize the important role men play in their families.

According to a 2008 survey, 95% of Californians agree that fathers are just as important as mothers in influencing their children. Hardworking dads who make an effort to be there for their kids contribute positively to their self-esteem and decision-making abilities. A strong father figure is irreplaceable in a child’s life.

Just this last week, I authored a Father’s Day resolution (SCR 112) commending the important role fathers play in their household and community. Annoyingly, the resolution wasn’t even given a hearing, but was blocked by progressive liberals. It’s funny that the party whose members claim to champion families and disadvantaged kids would choose to ignore a resolution with such a positive message.… Read More

We’ve been seeing reductions in staff at MSM newspapers for years now, as these publications deal with the significant decline in revenues and print-circulation. As these cuts have taken place, we’ve seen a serious pruning of veteran California political and policy reporters.

In the Voice of San Diego today there is an article about a new wave of cuts at the San Diego Union Tribune as its new owner makes changes in how they will operate. Included in the broad cuts are a number of local political reporters.

But of glaring interest (and alarm) to FR readers should be that longtime veteran political reporter and analyst John Marelius is among those departing the U-T in this latest reorganization. This is terrible news. John’s been observing and reporting on political here in the Golden State for as long as I can remember. Heck, I first met and dealt with John when I was an up… Read More

As implementation of Proposition 14 looms – which will emasculate political party primary elections – the organization and activities of local Republican Central Committees will become all the more important in helping to define differences between candidates. But the same election that spawned Prop. 14 also brought some curious changes to Republican Central Committees across the state as well. In Orange County, a whopping 17 incumbents were defeated in re-election bids for their party posts. And in Placer County, high profile GOP Chairman Tom Hudson and First Vice Chairman George Park both finished dead last in their districts and were thrown out of office. Why? The phenomenon did not occur in a number of other locations. Back in Orange County, high profile leaders like Scott Baugh and Tom Fuentes finished at the top of the ticket in their districts. The losers seemed contained for some reason. And in San Diego, Tony Kravric’s team was re-elected pretty much in tact. One observation was that “tea party” activists got traction in areas of some counties. That might be true in Orange County, but Hudson and Park claimed to represent the… Read More