Last night, Speaker Fabian “Louis Vuitton” Nunez convened a rare Wednesday session of the Assembly to debate their plan to raise taxes on oil production in California, which would have raised gas prices at a time when Californians are paying record prices. Democrats all but admitted that this was not a serious exercise, but just a public relations stunt to try to position themselves as “white knights” riding into to save the day from “evil Republican budget cutters.”

Democrat after Democrat rose to blame oil companies for “not paying their fair share” to the state as the reason why teachers were receiving layoff notices this month. Others bemoaned the fact that Californians received modest tax relief in recent years, blaming the repeal of the Gray Davis’ illegal car tax increase for the state’s current budget woes. They even said with a straight face that Californians have endured “heartless” budget cuts over the past four years and said they would refuse to support a budget this year that takes responsible steps to reduce spending. Perhaps we should remind them that revenue in California increased 40 percent over the past four… Read More

Update: After 2 3/4 hours and 42 speeches debating this bill, the predicted outcome is official, the bill, AB 9 XXX, a tax increase [requiring 2/3’s,54 votes] was defeated45-30, no Republicans present voted for it,all Dems present but onevoting "aye."

AB 9 of the 3rd Extraordinary session is being introduced by Chuck Calderon for Speaker Nunez. This is the bill to raise taxes on oil produced within Califonia. [Thereby increasing dependence on imported oil if you believe as I do that taxing something causes there to be less of that product or activity.] 43 Democrats are coauthoring the bill. Thankfully it requires a 2/3 vote to pass so we all know going into this debate that the bill will fail and that it will cost Californians tens of thousands of dollars to process and run this bill through committee and on our floor. Since this is ostensibly a bill to help fund education, how many teacherscould be paid instead of the costfor this bit of theater for this sure-to-failbill? Not to mention the tone-deaf attitude of this legislature toward record fuel prices… Read More

Sacramento Democrats are a consistent bunch. Their play sheet only has two songs — "Spend More" and "Tax More." That it. And they keep playing their two-song greatest hits album over and over again.

Last week we had Democrat Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata pledging a long summer budget stalemate until Republicans agree to $5 BILLION in new taxes. Now, on the Assembly side, Fabian "Louis Vuitton" Nunez is calling for a massive 6% increase on tax on oil in California — as if the prices of gasoline in America aren’t high enough? Nunez plan will only serve to increase reliance on foreign oil, as he seeks to make it more expensive to pump oil out of the ground here in the Golden State. Well, there is a silver lining to every cloud, they say. And in this case, it is simply this — Sacramento Democrats are setting up a great debate for the Spring, presenting the stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats. You see, while the Democrats want to increase taxes on working Californians (who do you think will get hit the hardest if gas prices increase?), Republicans have vowed to block… Read More

I just left a lunhctime meeting of the Coronado Republican Womens Federated club on Coronado Island in San Diego. It was a great meeting with a very informed and influential guest speaker…me! :-)

They wanted me to carry forth a message to our state legislators — hold the line, and don’t give in to pressure to raise any taxes!

Amen!… Read More

Sacramento Democrats are a consistent bunch. Their play sheet only has two songs — "Spend More" and "Tax More." That it. And they keep playing their two-song greatest hits album over and over again.

Last week we had Democrat Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata pledging a long summer budget stalemate until Republicans agree to $5 BILLION in new taxes. Now, on the Assembly side, Fabian "Louis Vuitton" Nunez is calling for a massive 6% increase on tax on oil in California — as if the prices of gasoline in America aren’t high enough? Nunez plan will only serve to increase reliance on foreign oil, as he seeks to make it more expensive to pump oil out of the ground here in the Golden State. Well, there is a silver lining to every cloud, they say. And in this case, it is simply this — Sacramento Democrats are setting up a great debate for the Spring, presenting the stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats. You see, while the Democrats want to increase taxes on working Californians (who do you think will get hit the hardest if gas prices increase?), Republicans have vowed to block… Read More

Well, it’s official. The Assembly Democrats are convinced that we are not paying enough at the pump. I just don’t know what other conclusion you could arrive at when you see the latest tax increase being proposed by Nunez and his tax-loving caucus.

According to Los Angeles Democrat Fabian Nunez, the State of California is one of the last states to "impose" a surcharge tax on oil companies. Nunez has proposed a 6% tax on all oil from California and a 2% surcharge on oil companies that earn more than $10 million.

Nunez would love to gloss over his unquenchable thirst for new taxes by claiming that the "profits" he would take from our gas pumps will go to help education.

I guess the $60 Billion plus a year we spend on education isn’t getting the job done. Here’sa thought: Give the school districts back the money we already take instead of tying it up in countless layers of State bureaucracy and ridiculous "one-size-fits-all" testing standards that force every teacher to teach to the test.

California’s working families are paying more for their house, more for their groceries,… Read More

My friend Floyd Brown (of Willie Horton ad fame) and I have established an independent expenditure committee that will be involved in California and nationally in the presidential election. The name of the group is National Campaign Fund. We hired Adam Geller, a noted nationwide pollster based in Princeton, New Jersey, through my firm Landslide Communications, to conduct a statewide poll of voter attitudes towards the presidential candidates in California, as a start to our activities. A power point presentation on the poll results is attached.

The poll was conducted February 26-27 and has a 4.38 % margin of confidence.

The poll includes a lot of detail on issues, but herein I am including just the report on perceptions of candidates.

According to our poll as of the end of February, in California, Hillary Clintonhas a 55/42 favorable to unfavorable ratio; Obama 64/31; and McCain 50/41.

In matchups, Hillary beats McCain 50/40; Obama beats McCain 51/36.

The message that works best against Obama in California is taxes. After the push questions, Obama’s lead over McCain is cut by a third – 5… Read More

[Cross-posted from OC Blog]

If you haven’t yet read Saturday’s "Capitol Watchdog" column by the OC Register’s Brian Joseph, then you ought to.

Brian delves into the twilight zone of how taxpayer-funded governmental associations like the League of Cities engage in campaign spending out of the public eye and on-the-clock.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore has introduced legislation to force the League O’ Cities and its kindred associations to disclose the sources of their political spending.

Yesterday evening, Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle e-mail out Brian Joseph’s article, accompanied by this intriguing and forceful commentary zeroing in on the… Read More