There are few politicians in California with the expertise in California and how its tax policies impact California and its taxpayers more than State Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard. So I am very pleased to present the following Guest Commentary from Leonard for FR readers: State’s Retailers Will Get Clobbered by Perata’s Tax Hike By Bill Leonard

Senate President Don Perata (D – Oakland) has thrown down the gauntlet in saying he will hold up the state budget rather than accept the across-the-board cuts the Governor has proposed. It is disheartening to see Perata’s solution is a one-cent increase in the state portion of the… Read More

Almost 300 Republican activists gathered today at the Orange County GOP headquarters for the biennial endorsing convention for the California Republican Assembly chapters in the county.

While endorsements were considered in all races, the attention was on the contested GOP primaries, where a candidate must have a 2/3 vote from the delegates from the units that cover their district.

The results in these "hot" races…

* Assemblywoman Mimi Walters was endorsed in her bid for the 33rd State Senate seat, besting Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu by a vote of 33 to 12 (1 person abstained).

* No one got the needed votes between Chino Hills Mayor Curt Hagman and Larry Dick in AD 60 (there was some drama, with Hagman falling just one vote short on a second ballot…).

* In the race with the most delegates, former Riverside County GOP Chairman and Corona Mayor was endorsed by the CRA on a vote of 48 to 20, despite a strong push to block by opponent Neil Blais. Mayor of Rancho Santa Margarita.

* Facing a last minute "unknown" primary challenge in her bid for the 73rd AD, Dana Point Mayor Diane Harkey was… Read More

I found this video to be pretty powerful.

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

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

I found this video to be pretty powerful. … Read More

My personal blogging is low-volume today as I am in the People’s Republic of Santa Monica for the annual convention of the American Association of Political Consultants. I was actually invited by Frank Schubert of California’s Schubert-Flint Public Affairs (Frank is on the AAPC’s Board of Directors) to speak on a panel this morning on the “business of blogging” – which was fun. Frank spoke about budgeting in a business, and also on the panel was political attorney Cary Davidson of Reed & Davidson who spoke about contracts.

Catch you all later, I am going to go mill around all of the cool vendor tables. Look! There’s Vince Monaco!… Read More

I’ve been thinking about this for a couple days now….. and I’m still scratching my head.

What the heck is the strategy behind the taxincrease games the Assembly Democrats are playing?

With the steadfast resolve put forward by the Assembly Republican leadership and members in their opposition to taxes – the thinking behind putting up a bill that would raise the price of gasoline (according to the Sac Bee) is just a little nutty.

It allows the Reps to stand strong for working families and paints the Dems as big-spending, tax-increase loving left wingers – out of touch with the mainstream. Not a place the Assembly Democrats want to be. And whatever you may think about the Assembly majority, they rarely make this kind of clunky play.

So, what’s up?

Are they trying to put vulnerable Republican targets up on "bad votes" that they can claim hurts education in the General Election?

Uber Democrat strategist Gary South thinks so.As reportedin the LA Times:

We’re busy at FR central getting today’s news links up, so pardon it we just post this verbatim — just off the transom, Meg Whitman of E-Bay, and who is reportedly flirting with a run for California Governor in 2010, is taking a leadership role with the McCain for President campaign:

Today we are pleased to feature this guest commentary from longtime FR friend Audra Strickland. Strickland is a member of the California State Assembly…

Expose the Democrat’s Ruse for Tax Increases By Assemblywoman Audra Strickland

Big in the news in the last couple of weeks is that Democrats and education community leaders are up in arms about the Governor’s plan for across the board cuts that include reduction in K-14 and higher education spending – cuts projected to be $5.5 billion combined. These folks say that the Governor’s solution to address the state’s $16 billion deficit is lopsided because it only includes spending cuts and no tax increases.… Read More