Given California’s chronic problems, it’s hard to imagine anyone sees our state as a model. But it’s clear the Obama administration does. And to make matters worse, President Obama is now using schemes from California’s playbook in his bid to impose our failures on the rest of the nation.

Much like Sacramento, Washington is mired in gridlock. The budget never really gets done and politicians seem to stumble from one crisis to the next. Like California Governor Jerry Brown, President Obama lacks the ability to forge true bipartisan consensus to solve problems.

Of… Read More

Governor Jerry Brown struck a conservative tone in his State of the State Address today when he spoke of fiscal discipline, local control and regulatory reform.

But the challenge before California remains the same: growing private sector jobs. If we want to solve our long-term budget problems, we need more taxpayers, not less.

Despite some job gains, California’s unemployment rate remains among the highest in the nation—many California counties still have double-digit unemployment rates ranging as high as 25%.

Many entrepreneurs, small business owners and even athletes are considering leaving our state due to rising taxes.

And while certain government-favored industries are growing, most job creators are struggling to survive under a growing weight of new regulations, taxes and fees.

Clearly, it’s far too early to celebrate California’s recovery. Millions have yet to experience it.… Read More

San Diego Politics & Media Mashup

If you believe Governor Jerry Brown, all of us are going to suffer if we don’t agree to tax ourselves more this November.

It’s a tired sales pitch we hear too often from California lawmakers, but that didn’t stop Brown from trying to play on our fears when he visited San Diego on Monday.

The first paragraph in the U-T San Diego’s story on Brown’s press conference framed the governor’s hyperbole this way:

Jerry Brown on Monday in San Diego peddled his tax measure to raise $6 billion annually for education and other state services, promising “real suffering by you and really our whole future” if the proposal fails in November.

There is a lot I admire about the governor, but he is on the wrong side of this issue and his messaging isn’t exactly the stuff of legend.

Maybeno one told him San Diegans… Read More