Back in 2009, six Republicans voted with all of the Democrats in the Capitol to sock it to Californians with the largest tax increase in state history — Senators Roy Ashburn, Dave Cogdill and Abel Maldonado, and Assemblymembers Anthony Adams, Mike Villines, and Roger Niello — all of whom besides Niello had violated a written pledge against raising taxes (and Niello ran on some pretty strong anti-tax rhetoric). Three of these scoundrels are actually trying to run for public office again this year. Anthony Adams is running for Congress as a “No Party Preference” candidate in CD 8, an open “safe GOP” seat in the high desert of Southern California. Abel Maldonado is running for Congress in the coastal 24th District. Finally, Roy Ashburn is running for a seat on the Kern County Board of Supervisors, a job he held eons ago before being elected to the legislature.

All three of these ex-politicians seeking election this year were rewarded for their willingness to raise taxes with plum political appointments. Maldonado, of course, was appointed to be the state’s Lt. Governor, though he was trounced in his bid for election to a full term… Read More

Nathan’s decision to leave the Republican Party must have been a difficult one. It isn’t easy to leave a party you’ve been a member of for nearly 20 years. While I’m disappointed we’ve lost Nathan, I know he feels this is what is right in his heart.

It’s okay to be sad he left the party, many of us are, but attacking Nathan’s character is taking it too far. Nathan’s character, tested in battle in Iraq and Africa, is rock solid. Nathan is the same person he was a week ago. None of his positions changed, and he remains one of the most honest, hard-working and smartest members of the Legislature. He will make a great mayor. His accomplishments in the Legislature speak for themselves: he authored Chelsea’s Law, a groundbreaking, difficult piece of legislation to pass, held the line against higher taxes and authored regulatory relief for small business.

It’s telling that so many of us who know Nathan still stand with him. Governor Wilson, Assembly Leader Conway, Senator Anderson, Senator Wyland, Republican Caucus Chairman Brian Nestande and thousands of others are fully behind Nathan and believe he is the… Read More

This year San Diego voters are being treated to a very lively contest to see who will succeed Republican Jerry Sanders as mayor of California’s second largest city. I have and will continue to write about this and other races taking place in the City of San Diego – but I think it is important to share with you that I have not endorsed any candidates for mayor or city council, nor have I made any financial contributions. The only bias that I bring to any analysis of the mayor’s race is my conservative perspective, and a disclosure that one candidate, Nathan Fletcher, has been a personal friend of mine for many years. In fact, it has been my friendship with Nathan that has made it a bit awkward for me as I have contemplated for many days what to write about his sudden decision to leave the Republican Party and become a decline- to-state voter.

Let me just throw out there that I believe Nathan’s decision to re-register was strictly a tactical maneuver for the purpose of attempting to rebrand his campaign, and improve his odds at making it into the runoff election after June. It’s pretty clear that something had to be done as survey after survey kept… Read More

San Diego Tax Fighters

10969 Red Cedar Dr.

San Diego, CA 92131

Voice: (858) 530-3027

Monday, 2 April, 2012

Press Release – Authored by Richard Rider

California “Tax Freedom Day” IMPROVES – sorta, kinda

Today the Tax Foundation released its annual computation of “Tax Freedom Day” for the nation and each state. http://taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday, “Tax Freedom Day” is the day on which the average taxpayer completes paying their taxes – federal, state and local. It’s a widely used (though incomplete) benchmark representing the tax burden to citizens.

First the seeming bad news – the 2012 California Tax Freedom Day is four days later this year than in 2011 – it’s now 20 April. The “good… Read More

Fix It: Episode III – The episodic thing makes me feel like I am writing the next Harry Potter or something. OK, enough fantasizing. On to the real stuff.

Energy: The “fix” for our energy problems is actually one of the simpler ones. And, the reason it is simple is not because of any action of Congress or the President. It is not even because of our founding fathers. It comes from God.

This country is blessed with enormous natural resources. We have more coal than any other country on earth. We can make electricity from coal. We also have enough natural gas, by some estimates, to last us for a century. We make electricity from natural gas. We have a number of nuclear plants that generate electricity and we can build more. And, we have rivers to create hydroelectric power which can be harnessed to create more power should we need it. I have just described four sources that currently create more than 90% of all the electricity in this country. And, we can expand them all if we want or need to without importing anything from any other country.

But, you say, you haven’t mentioned anything about our… Read More

If it weren’t for the Republican Party, we would not even know who Nathan Fletcher is.

That’s right, the political party he abandoned last week after 15 years of professional association; the one that provided the structure and opportunities for a politically ambitious young man to learn the system; the one that gave him the identity and resources to run and win a seat in the State Assembly; the one that put him in position today to be a leading candidate for mayor in the 8th largest city in America; and the one that put him in a position of prominence such that his quitting actually mattered to anyone.

Unfortunately, Fletcher’s quitting the GOP has been looked at through the lense of a sympathetic establishment and media who believe Republicans are too extreme. This same establishment bemoans the party’s inability to focus on unifying economic issues while playing down “divisive” social issues. What makes this narrative remarkable is that in their enthusiasm to see Nathan as the good guy and the GOP as the bad, they ignored what actually happened.

The Republican Party didn’t reject Nathan Fletcher. It embraced Carl… Read More