The size of California State government is ENORMOUS. All of the debate that we hear about is focused directly on the 100 BILLION++ general fund of the state budget. But if you want to look at the big picture, you need to add to this number TENS OF BILLIONS in additional state spending that is not included in this discussion – in “special funds” where funds come in from taxes that are not called taxes (they call them by a pseudonym, “fees” and say they take only a majority, not a 2/3 vote to enact) and these taxes go to specific programs, and then they are “moved off-budget” into this other (ignored in the current debate) corner, out of sight. Let us also not forget the BILLIONS OF BILLIONS of already authorized bonded indebtedness that occurred and will continue to occur, without so much as another vote of the people (or in the case of those scandalous “prison bonds” – without a vote of the people). All of this adds up to just a VAST and MASSIVE amount of money that California taxpayers, present and future are going to be coercively paying (or in the case of the… Read More

DeMaio Council Bid Has the Unions a Tad Scared… Never repeat the negative, they say. But, I can’t pass up the efforts to which some will go in attempts to kill the San Diego City Council candidacy of government watchdog Carl DeMaio. To many, he would be the Tom McClintock of the San Diego City Council. To some, that is good, to others, well…they just can’t stomach someone on the council that is willing to stand up so honestly and strongly to the back-scratching foolishness, complete failure of fiduciary duty and outrageous lack of concern for our tax monies that caused the city’s fiscal mess in the first place.

An anti-Carl website was launched last week, which I would ignore if it weren’t so amusingly inept. Perhaps the best way to cover the "effort" is to repeat San Diego Tax Fighters Chairman Richard Rider’s reaction:

If you want to see just how much Carl DeMaio scares the crap out of the labor unions (both public and private labor unions), go to this amazing, LITERALLY slimy… Read More

Today we are pleased to present a Guest Commentary from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association…

Ordinary Citizens Are Slaves to Their Public Masters By Jon Coupal

Had a raise in pay lately? For many Californians the answer is "no." Their major concern in these uncertain economic times is just hanging on to their jobs.

However, when it comes to pay increases, some of our citizens are faring much better than others. These are workers employed by the state of… Read More

Today we are pleased to present a Guest Commentary from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association…

Ordinary Citizens Are Slaves to Their Public Masters By Jon Coupal

Had a raise in pay lately? For many Californians the answer is "no." Their major concern in these uncertain economic times is just hanging on to their jobs.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

I got Boom! for Christmas. I resisted reading it for three months until I finally gave in a couple weeks ago. It was worth it because it is not like other books that I have read on the sixties.

In other books on the decade like "Reunion: A Memoir" by Tom Hayden or "Sixties: Years of Hope and Days of Rage" by Todd Gitlin you get a very different view of the time. From those book the reader would believe that Tom Hayden and his student protester buddies defined the entire decade. After reading Brokaw’s more than 600 page review of the era and some of the impact it is having on the present day it is clear to me that Hayden over time will be viewed as an interesting historical footnote and nothing else. Brokaw makes only three minor mentions of Hayden in the entire book.

Boom! defines the sixties as the period of time that spans from the assassination of President Kennedy in November of 1963 until the resignation of President Nixon in August of 1974. The book does give great importance to the roll of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement in setting the stage in the time prior to the August 1863 March on… Read More

How long does it take to figure out that something is not going to work? It took the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) seven years and $10 million to abandon plans to automate the way it grants permits to truckers carrying oversized loads on California roads and highways. The Sacramento Bee (March 2nd) has reported that the latest software failure has become “a long and puzzling line of computer contract failures in California government …. [State government] has repeatedly spent millions of dollars on projects that were ill-designed or mismanaged or simply collapsed under the weight of their own complexity.” Caltrans officials decided the agency needed a computerized system when an investigation revealed a Caltrans employee had given a truck driver with an oversized load a permit and bad directions, causing the truck to crash into an … Read More

I usually don’t comment on commentators. Most of the commentators in Sacramento are lefties or Democrat leaning, and so, are wrong, and not worth the time of commenting. One that hits things right some of the time, however, is Dan Walters. He has inside information, years of insight, and a fun writing style. Sometimes he pontificates too much, but he is worth the read.

If he has any faults, however, it is his idea that the system is Sacramento is broke because "both sides" are at fault. He said today that the current budget crisis is the responsiblity of both parties because the Democrats spent too much, and "Meanwhile, Republicans have been blasting away at the Democrats for squandering years of revenue increases and ignoring their own role of demanding unaffordable tax cuts." What? First, let’s inspect the comment. Demanding unaffordable tax cut does not a tax cut make. How can the state be in a deficit for tax cuts demanded, but not enacted. Quite simply, it is not. I can understand wanting to attack Republicans and Democrats alike, but the better attack is not that Republicans asked for tax cuts they did not… Read More

Earlier this week a new political action group was launched here in Sacramento. The new group, California Forward, is promoted as a “bipartisan” effort to “transform” California’s government. The Flash Report was invited to participate in the launch event held at the Sacramento Library on Wednesday and I attended on its behalf.

Co-chaired by Leon Panetta and Thomas McKernan (the CEO of the Automobile Club of Southern California), CA Forward is marketed as a “diverse group of prominent Californians” who will “develop and advance improvements to the state’s electoral and fiscal systems.” And because this is a bipartisan effort, CA Forward’s Leadership Council includes Bruce McPherson and Chuck Poochigian. The rest of the council’s members can be viewed here.

As mentioned on the front page of Flash Report today, there are five groups funding CA Forward: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The… Read More