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Congressman Doug LaMalfa

Today’s Commentary: Late Nights: An Expensive Lump Of Coal For Taxpayers

“As California goes, so goes the nation,” as the old saying goes. America, please don’t do what we are doing. Last week, Americans witnessed the U.S. Senate adopting the schedule that the California Legislature uses for its all night legislative slumber parties in our State Capitol. Americans had to wait until 1:00 AM eastern time to watch the Senate vote on the healthcare system’s destruction.

Back here at home, many of our state’s most important decisions over the last few years have also been completed well after last call in any neighborhood bar. And judging by the government spending sprees of late, both groups of late night patrons had similar decision-making capabilities: an explosion of new spending on bonds, budgets that are BILLIONS out of balance before the photocopies of the legislation have cooled. All this was voted on by California legislators after an attrition strategy by their leaders to delay votes until near dawn.

The California Legislature would often convene in late-night session after CalSpan is off the air, thus avoiding their handy work being exposed to “We The People.” After seeing votes scheduled for 1:00 am,… Read More

Congressman Doug LaMalfa

Late Nights: An Expensive Lump Of Coal For Taxpayers

“As California goes, so goes the nation,” as the old saying goes. America, please don’t do what we are doing. Last week, Americans witnessed the U.S. Senate adopting the schedule that the California Legislature uses for its all night legislative slumber parties in our State Capitol. Americans had to wait until 1:00 AM eastern time to watch the Senate vote on the healthcare system’s destruction.

Back here at home, many of our state’s most important decisions over the last few years have also been completed well after last call in any neighborhood bar. And judging by the government spending sprees of late, both groups of late night patrons had similar decision-making capabilities: an explosion of new spending on bonds, budgets that are BILLIONS out of balance before the photocopies of the legislation have cooled.

All this was voted on by California legislators after an attrition strategy by their leaders to delay votes until near dawn. The California Legislature would often convene in late-night session after CalSpan is off the air, thus avoiding their handy work being exposed to “We The People.” After seeing votes scheduled for 1:00 am,… Read More

James V. Lacy

Dana Point’s tax and regulate New Year

Of course I am a little prejudiced, having served on its city council and planning commission in the past, nevertheless, news reports of coastal Orange County’s City of Dana Point’s plans for the New Year help us understand why Obama actually beat McCain here in John Campbell’s Congressional District, of which Dana Point is a part. My hope in the New Year is thatleaders in adjoining coastal cities won’t catch the "tax and regulate" flu that is now endemic on the Dana Point City Council and Planning Commission.

Dana Point is site to a lovely harbor and beautiful ocean views. It also is the locale of several luxury hotels. The City’s revenues, which have always been in tip-top shape, are largelytied to sales taxes associated with the hotel industry, namely, a "transient occupancy tax" of 10% added to traveler’s hotel bills. This "TOT" tax is stuck on top of the normal sales tax of 8.75% in Dana Point. So, a typical unsuspecting visitor to Dana Point has taxes of 18.75% added to their hotel bill. For the Marriott Laguna Cliffs least expense room on the internet to stay… Read More

James V. Lacy

A silver Christmas

Judging from a quick walk around South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa this afternoon, silver, and not diamonds, are what people are buying this first Christmas during the Obama era.

I took a stroll by a few of the shops in the designer section of the mall. Nobody was in Mikimoto (known for pearls) mid afternoon just two days before Christmas. Nobody was in Bulgari, the very high-end Italian designer jeweler. Nobody was in Van Cleef and Arpels, the "legendary" French high-end jewelry store.Top drawerJapanese, Italian, and French stores, all empty just before Christmas.

But America’s Tiffany’s was jumping. Not the whole store though, however. The diamond display cases, for which Tiffany is best known, were almost without any customers. So were the platinum and gold cases. However, the silver cases, where Tiffany’s offers jewelry priced about $200 were exploding with activity (the lowest you can get something in the other cases is closer to $2,000). In fact, Tiffany’s was so loaded with people in the lower cost silver section, that the store had initiated crowd control… Read More

Jon Fleischman

Schwarzenegger To Democrats: Federal Bailout or Welfare Cuts – You Decide…

Governor Schwarzenegger deserves some quick and strong praise from conservatives for his first "opening salvo" on the 2010 state budget debate. In today’s Los Angeles Times, reporters Shane Goldmacher and Evan Halper explain how the Governor has put forth some major negotiating points he will use with the legislature to work towards closing an estimated budget shortfall of over twenty BILLION dollars. Governor Schwarzenegger has thrown down the proverbial gauntlet, making it clear that without money from the federal government, he will be advocating large and deep cuts in social spending programs.

Here is a relevant excerpt from the Times article: If Washington does not provide roughly $8 billion in new aid for the state, the governor threatens to severely cut back — if not eliminate — CalWORKS, the state’s main welfare program; the In-Home Health Care Services program for the disabled and elderly poor, and two tax breaks forRead More

Jon Fleischman

Michelle Steel: California Kidney Punches Taxpayers

This in from the Honorable Michelle Steel, elected member of the State Board of Equalization

California is down and out when it comes to hosting one of the biggest boxing matches of the year. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that Manny Paquiao’s business manager advised him against fighting in California because of high taxes. For those of you not familiar with boxing; Paquiao is currently the WBO World welterweight champion, IBO and Ring Magazine light welterweightRead More

Shawn Steel

The Return of CAL-YAF

Whatare the implicationsif there is an explosion of young conservatives emerging into the political fabric? Young Americans for Freedom created under Wm F. Buckley, seems to be re-emerging. YAF are chronic trouble makers. They demonstrate in the streets, confront crazed leftists, argue endlessly with totalitarian professors, write inflammatory articles, think day and night plotting for a conservative revolution. YAFers they are not nice Republicans.They are impatient.They reticule political grifters. They eventually become important political leaders. Governors, legislators and inside bureaucrats. Sen Jeff Sessions was Alabama YAF chairman. Dana RohrabacherCo-Chair of CAL-YAFwith me.Ed Royce at CSUF. John Lewis. A Federal Judge in California.In fact, they are everywhere.

YAF is a college intellectual equivalent of the older Tea Partiers—with firm philosophical goals.

Jordan Marks, the fire-lighter and current ED of YAF, just opened the national YAF office near Washington DC. What a bold and… Read More

Jon Fleischman

Dispelling The Myth Of “Partisan Gridlock”

Let me quickly dispel a myth – a “narrative” that us being spun by some – that “partisan gridlock” is the big problem in the State Capitol today. This simply isn't true. In fact, this idea would seem to support the idea that any solution for a problem that can be reached through bipartisan cooperation of some sort is a good solution.

The problem in Sacramento is not partisan gridlock, but rather it is decade after decade of liberals running up the tab on state spending. Yes, there are some issues that require a 2/3 vote, which means a token number of GOP votes are needed. But this process at best slightly tweaks already-cooked left wing policy.

In other words — the problems in state government have not and are not caused by “political parties” — but rather one political party. In the quest for reforms, the most obvious one is right in front of everyone — we need real Republican majorities in Sacramento.

By the way, the so-called “open primary” by our analysis, if passed, would actually lead to higher taxes and more fees and regulations. It's passage would… Read More

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