Congressman Jim Costa (D), Fresno voted against the Democrats cap and trade bill on the House floor last night but don’t be fooled – he’s no moderate. Although personally likeable and knowledgable about many issues, he’s been AWOL on the water debate here in the Central Valley. I had a journalist from the Fresno Bee tell me a couple of months ago that "Costa had no clout with Pelosi" because he’s a "Blue Dog" moderate without a voice in the capitol, so he couldn’t "get anything done" on the water issue.

I did some research on this and here is what I found. According to the Washington Post, Jim Costa voted with his Party leadership 94% of the time in 2008, and 97.9% in 2009 year to date.

It’s not hard to see the writing on the wall here. I blasted an email out about this to the Westside farmers in Costa’s District last week, and many of them wrote me back stunned and angry that we have another Pelosi Democrat masquerading as a moderate here in the Valley.

Sources in the capitol tell me that once it became apparent that cap and trade was going to pass, Costa got a… Read More

The liberal Democrats in Sacramento desperately want to do something, anything to push out and delay having to confront the state’s $24 billion budget shortfall in one package. They will give anything to get Republicans to approve any stop-gap measures — three billion, five billion, seven billion — they will put up the cuts with "no strings attached" — to tantalize the member of the minority party, who have rightfully complained about the engorged spending of the California welfare state, to support these cuts.

The key here is that there are "strings" attached — as they say, no one ever gives up something for nothing in this business.

The end game for Sacramento Democrats is fairly simple and straightforward — they want to increase taxes as much as possible to close the budget hole — but they know that there is no political appetite for such increases right now in the State Capitol. With legislative Republicans blocking the 2/3 vote on taxes and the Governor vowing to veto any so-called "majority vote tax increases" — all the Democrats can do is try to buy time.

That is the… Read More

Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed what is being referred to as the "Cap and Tax" plan or "National Energy Tax" bill by House Republicans — legislation pushed by President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Congressman Waxman and other liberals. No matter how you slice it, this legislation represents a massive expansion of federal government regulation, and the costs associated with the enactment it is are enormous for taxpayers. The Democrats referred to it as a "Cap and Trade" bill.

Only eight Republicans in the House voted for this legislation, and of the eight, only on is a Californian — Mary Bono Mack. Rather than trying to attempt to characterize for the Congresswoman why she voted for this bill, I reached out to her for a statement that I could share directly with FR readers. That statement is below.

I will be writing more on this vote by Congressman Mack next week, but I wanted to get her statement out as soon as possible. Suffice it to say for now that I am deeply troubled by Mack’s support of this legislation for a number of critical reasons.

The fact that the Democrats lost over 40… Read More

Another friend e-mailed me to recommend recently termed-out state Sen. Jim Battin as a preferable primary challenger to Rep. Mary Bono-Mack, rather than former Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia.

Jim Battin served three terms in the Assembly and two in the state Senate, and is currently eying a run for Lieutenant Governor. Jim amassed a solid conservative record, but my most vivid impression of him was during the fight to bring down Assembly Speaker Doris Allen in 1995. That fracas separated the men from the mealy worms in the Assembly GOP Caucus, and Battin was always right on the front line. That spirit left long-lasting positive impression on me.

Clearly, Battin still aspires to political office, and that same fighting spirit would prove a valuable weapon in a primary battle to take out Bono-Mack.

I don’t know what, if any, relationship Garcia or Battin have with Bono-Mack. Different readers will have different takes on which they would prefer as a primary challenger… Read More

In a previous post, I called for a serious candidate to step forward and challenge Rep. Mary Bono-Mack in next year’s Republican primary.

Bono-Mack was one of only eight Republican House members to vote for the ":cap and trade" energy tax — the largest tax hike in our history, and a staggering transfer of wealth and control to the federal government. Without the votes of Bono-Mack and those seven other Republicans,m cap-and-trade would have failed.

It is simply unimaginable that any Republican with even a marginal adherence to GOPprinciples would vote for this monstrosity. We Republicans tend to cut our incumbents slack on the occasional stray vote, but some are so over-the-line, and so destructive of liberty, that they demand more than criticism. They call for someone to step forward and challenge that incumbent in the defense of basic party principles.

A fellow conservative blogger, Erick Erickson of RedState.com, suggested former Assemblywoman… Read More

The Accidental Congresswoman has outlived her uselessness. GOPRep. Mary Bono-Mack needs a primary challenger, stat.

"Cap and trade" — the energy tax that constitutes the largest tax in American history (a category in which it has some stiff competition) has passed narrowly, thanks to the votes of 8 Republicans.

Absent those 8 Republicans, this tax hike would have failed.

One of those Traitorous 8 was Rep. Mary Bono-Mack. She votted "no" on the earlier test vote, then flipped to a "yes" on the final vote.

Thanks for nothing, Mary. It is inexplicable to me how anyone calling themselves a Republican would vote for this ginormous tax levy to fight a climate phenomenon that no one — no one — has proven is the result of man-made activity.

Mary Bono needs a primary challenge. A serious challenger who can win and send her packing off to… Read More

For the past week Americans has been watching with rapt attention the drama unfolding in Iran after its national election. Millions of Iranians have taken to the streets to demand their freedom. Many have died in their quest for something we as Americans so easily take for granted. Last weekend Iranian-Americans took to the streets of Los Angeles, which has the largest community of Iranians in America, to express their support for a free Iran.

In providential timing, a movie is being released today that exposes the cruel treatment of women under Iran’s regime: The Stoning of Soraya M. My Townhall article this week talks about the movie and how simply going to see the film expresses support for those suffering under Iran’s despotic government. The film will open in several California cities, with more openings next weekend.

Those in Orange County will have a great opportunity to see the film and participate in a Q & A discussion with the director and two… Read More

The more I think about the idea of approved roughly $3 billion in stand-alone cuts to education in the 2008-09 FY, I am gelling on the fact that to the extent that these cuts that represent just over 10% of needed cuts to fix the state's fiscal imbalance, they also push out any imperative to make other cuts for at least a month…

I am NOT a “policy” guy, I admit that. So that gives me license to do some generalizing. In the Governor's proposal to deal with the $24 billion problem, rougly $17 billion of his proposals are cuts, with a presumption that said cuts will go into effect on July 1. If we were to approve the $3 billion “kick the can” proposal advocated by Capitol Democrats and Assembly Republicans, this would ensure that Dems wouldn't have to face more cuts for at least a month…

So, 1/12 off of $17 billion… (I'm not near a computer or calculator). Let's call is $1.5 billion.

So already the “savings” from the immediate non-comprehensive cut has been “discounted” by 50% before you add in inevitable other costs associated with pushing out a real… Read More