Mexican President Vincente Fox is coming to California this week. I’m sure he has economic development on his mind. Fox opposes a fence at the border. He probably isn’t facing an influx of Americans sneaking into his country. It’s how you vote, not whether you speak to legislation that is the measure of a legislator. The reality is that floor speeches are limited, so don’t use whether someone makes one or not to judge their support on an issue. The new Cal-EPA director for Governor Schwarzenegger was a senior staffer heading up legislative issues for recalled Governor Gray Davis. Why do we keep taking on officers from the HMS Titanic? Sent to me from a senior House staffer (re: immigration): “I agree with your comments, but I believe the stronger case is based not on the semantics but rather on the impact of the policies under consideration. Beyond being unfair to those who came here legally or are currently waiting to come here legally, amnesty would harm our country by promoting massively more illegal immigration and making it even more difficult to stop it and ofcourse all the … Read More

Yesterday, the House Republican Study Committee conservatives were successful in removing half a billion dollars inspending that exceeded the budget threshold in the budget just passed on wednesday night. This $507 million was disguised as emergency war spending but was actually for standard construction projects most of which were in the United States. The White House agreed that the money should be removed. Democrats admitted it was a "budget gimmick". I’m not sure we would have won this fight a year ago. This success reflects growing support in Congress for the idea that we are spending too much and also reflects the increased willingness of conservatives to make a stand.

Congratulations and thanks go out to Rep. Mike Pence (R-In), John Shadegg (R-Az) and Jeb Hensarling (R-Tx) who led the fight to save taxpayers a half a billion.… Read More

Today’s guest commentary is authored by Flash Report contributor Adam Probolsky. The top story today is the Governor’s appointment of Democrat Linda Adams as Cal EPA chief. I will let others make the ‘fox in the hen house’ analogies.

But this appointment is a further evidence that the Republicans need to develop some credibility on environmental issues and change the bellwethers on which the public judges whether someone cares about the environment.

Republicans need to change the conversation by totally debunking the idea that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska is bad for the environment, promote all the local Republican-lead initiatives (backed by developers) that preserve natural open space and habitat and improve water quality and yes, even acknowledge that Global Warming could, could be something we should at least look into.

Caring about the environment is not part of the exclusive domain of the Democratic party.

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just… Read More

Alex Brant-Zawadski is a young free-lancer who writes for the OC Weekly, primarily about the 241 tollway completion. While I completely disagree with Alex’s passionate opposotion to completing the 241, he is almost always ahead fo the mainstream media when it comes to reporting on new developments on this issue.

Now, this isn’t a really new development because I started thi spost more than a week ago, but still worth posting about.

Alex wrote on May 20 as to how Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) has taken up the banner of stopping the extension of the 241 Tollway — a mere 3-hour drive south from his district. He’s even pasted this picture of a bulldozer cresting a pile of (formerly pristine) state park dirt:

This takes you to Nava’s stop the tollroad page and apress relase by Nava boasting of his (ultimately unsuccessful) efforts to block completion of the 241. I recommend… Read More

Today’s guest commentary is authored by Flash Report contributor Adam Probolsky. The top story today is the Governor’s appointment of Democrat Linda Adams as Cal EPA chief. I will let others make the ‘fox in the hen house’ analogies.

But this appointment is a further evidence that the Republicans need to develop some credibility on environmental issues and change the bellwethers on which the public judges whether someone cares about the environment.

Republicans need to change the conversation by totally debunking the idea that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska is bad for the environment, promote all the local Republican-lead initiatives (backed by developers) that preserve natural open space and habitat and improve water quality and yes, even acknowledge that Global Warming could, could be something we should at least look into.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

The Daily Breeze Has a profile on Dan Walker. Dan has been a fixture in South Bay politics since the mid 70’s. It includes two runs for State Assembly. He says win or lose in a tough race for re-election that this will be his last race. See the profile here.… Read More

Are there really that few conservative voters in California? That’s what I feel like polls must be showing these days. If you look at the national political picture, President Bush and the Republican Congress are suffering hemorrhaging on their right flank due to frustrations on the inability of the federal government to grapple with the issue of illegal immigration, the desire for an exit-strategy for Iraq, and the out-of-control spending that is taking place under GOP reign. Conservatives have strong feelings on the issue of illegal immigration, and our preferred way of dealing with the many millions of undocumented people who have violated our nation’s laws by coming here are articulated well by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher here. You can understand more about the spending problem here. So I find myself frustrated on two levels. As I look back in Washington, D.C., I am… Read More

Budget for 2007:This week, the House passed the budget for fiscal year 2007.As a member of the Budget Committee this is an issue I have been working on for several months. By passing this budget, we have turned the corner in the effort to control spending, and put ourselves back on to the road to fiscal responsibility.It returns the government’s growth rate to a reasonable level: below the rate at which revenues are increasing and below the growth in population plus inflation. In the years following the recent tax cuts, we have seen a dramatic increase in government revenues as our economy has expanded.By ensuring we keep these policies in place while controlling spending simultaneously, we will be able to reduce the deficit over time. … Read More