This column was submitted by FR reader Eric Wickland. Wickland is a recently retired urban planner and building official. He is a former director of the California Association of Professional Employees, CAPE, AFL-CIO. Wickland serves on the Executive Committee of the California Republican Party, and is a member of the Lincoln Clubs of Los Angeles County.

The Case For Taxation With Representation by Eric Wickland Tomorrow morning, after California voters’ rejection of budget balancing propositions 1A-1F, Governor… Read More

This just came in from longtime FR friend Bruce Bialosky… Give Them More Money? by Bruce Bialosky It is difficult to determine whether to give more money to our friends in Sacramento. This dilemma was no more apparent than during my just-completed road trip. I flew to Kansas to drive my son back from college for the summer.

We drove Interstate 40 through five states. We started with Oklahoma – the state… Read More

[Cross-posted from RedCounty.com]

As readers know, OC’s lone Democratic state Senator, Lou Correa, provided the vote necessary to pass the largest state tax increase in American history — a vote cast in violation of a promise he made repeatedly in his 2006 campaign to oppose any tax increase.

Now that the damage is done, Sen. Correa is promising that henceforth, he will not vote for any more tax increases…again…for real this time.

You can read the rest of the post here.… Read More

I remember a meeting the Governor had with Assembly Republicans right after the 2005 special election debacle. Remember that one? The Governor raised millions of dollars for some mediocre initiatives (and one good one, elimination of agency fee), spent that money on mediocre ads prepared by mediocre consultants, who gave him bad advice (specifically they told him not to put anything on illegal immigration on the ballot because it would be too controversial, even though illegal immigration was the one issue that would draw out the voters the Governor wanted to the polls), and he lost, everything.

After that election, he said he had learned his lesson, and he completely capitulated to the Democrats. He hired Susan Kennedy, one of the chief aides to the failed Governor Gray Davis (and one of the chief architects of his failures), began rolling over for Democrats, and began capitulating to the Democrats on every major issue. He was no longer the terminator, he wasn’t even a Compromisinator, he was the Capitulator. His capitulation to Legislative Democrats created the current fiscal crisis in the state, just as the capitulation of Gray Davis to the Legislative… Read More

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reform initiatives went down to defeat in the Fall 2005 special election, he reacted by embarking on a statewide "apology tour" in which he told voters he was sorry for trying to reform government along conservative lines, and promised never to do it again — a promise, it must be said, he has kept. in spades.

My question: when his latest "reform" initiatives go down to defeat tomorrow, will the Governor embark on a second "Apology Tour" and tell voters he is sorry for three-and-a-half years of boosting government spending, fattening the state payroll and imposing job-killing regulations on the state economy? And then promise never to do it again?

Don’t hold your breath. That would be hard and entail angering special interests, and Arnold don’t play that anymore.… Read More

The front page of the Flash Report today features a great article by my friend Allan Bartlett who attended a rally emceed by KFI’s John and Ken, the hosts of a very popular afternoon show on that station. This dynamic duo has done a great job exposing the 1A-1F scam and publicizing the tea party movement. Growing up in Orange County, every weekday from 9am-noon I listened to Rush Limbaugh on KFI. So now that I’ve moved to Sacramento, I still tune into KFI via their Internet broadcast and occasionally stay tuned long enough to catch John and Ken’s show. Imagine my surprise when the KFI on Demand streaming audio popped up with an ad for YES on 1A-1F!

I know that John and Ken have repeatedly called out the governor for selling out taxpayers, so perhaps the governor’s “California Dream Team” thought purchasing some ads on KFI would be a fun way to tweak his radio critics. Sometimes the path money travels in politics can be rather humorous. The CRP,… Read More

A longtime FR reader brought to our attention that according to Politico.com, "sources say that" Governor Schwarzenegger is going to travel to Washington, D.C., tomorrow to be on hand as President Obama sticks it to American families during a recession by mandating new, expensive fuel standards on auto-makers. In fact, to the extent that the taxpayers are "invested" via bailout in U.S. automakers, we are getting smacked by these regulations twice!

I don’t know who will be more ashamed tomorrow, U.S. automaker executives who rightfully have been fighting these regulations but now have to attend this White House event as their companies are on the public tit, or Arnold Schwarzenegger who, as our reader put it, appears to be, "slithering out of town with his tail between his legs," as voters seem on a certain path to reject his ill-advised package of special election ballot measures (which include a massive tax increase).

I wonder if the Governor will have time to vote on his way to his private jet? I haven’t known him to vote by absentee ballot,… Read More

While I can’t vote tomorrow and join in the reindeer games, I can watch from my "inside the beltway" perch. Here’s what I’m seeing so far: According to an informal Facebook "review" of the Governor’s "friends" it’s not going well.

About 20 minutes ago, The Gov. posted a plea for Facebook "friends" of his to support the list of propositions that read like a Sesame Street sponsorship list. "Today’s tax increase was brought to you by the letter….."

In the 20 minutes since The Gov. posted his appeal, 17 of his "friends" have told him, via the "comment" feature to pound sand–electorally speaking. I’ll bet now there will be a social media campaign afoot to tilt the scales in the other direction.

It will be interesting to see if the trend continues, but based on my early analysis: with "friends" like these…The Gov will either sound enthusiastic like Elmo or mopey like Snufalufagus.… Read More