As we often say here on the FR Blog, we really aren’t in the practice of writing about the internal politics of legislative caucuses. That having been said, it’s been reported by Capitol Weekly and the SacBee’s Capitol Alert that tomorrow Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines will step down. This, of course, follows a tremendous amount of internal and external pressure to see a change in this position after Villines negotiated and provided one of the key votes for the largest tax increase in California history.

Capitol Weekly is reporting that Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee of the Central Coast will be the next leader. Blakeslee is a close ally of Villines, and we can presume that his taking the helm would be as a result of a "friendly hand off" by Villines, who probably realized that his days as leader were numbered (especially if, as expected, the ballot measures… Read More

[Cross-posted from Red County.com]

I’d heard over the weekend that Assemblyman Van Tran would announce formation of a congressional exploratory committee later this month.

"Later" has come early, as Van announced today he’s formed his exploratory committee to take on Rep. Loretta Sanchez, according to Total Buzz.

Van will be the first real opponent Loretta has had since, arguably, her 1998 re-match with Bob Dornan (although few doubted the outcome of that race. In the meantime, she had benefited from a strong of underwhelming or downright weird GOPgeneral election nominees — much like Bob Dornan benefited from a string of underwhelming and downright weird Democratic opponents before newly-minted Democrat Loretta Brixey… Read More

When voters reject the ill-conceived ballot measures in a couple of weeks, there will be an immediate need to work through yet another massive overspending-created budget shortfall of close to $15 billion (give or take).

First and foremost, the rejection of the measures by the voters should be seen as a rejection of the idea that in a recession, taxpayers should be forced to pay more.

Beyond that, I believe it should be seen as a rejection of the “Big 5” system of budget negotiations that delegates to a small number of people all of the responsibility to come up with a budget solution. On top of it, Big 5 clearly ends up being focused on wheeling and dealing, and literal back-room politics.

I will let others give advice to Democrats, but I would strongly counsel Senate and Assembly Republicans to reject the “Big 5” budget process as a failure, and offer to facilitate public meetings with their selected budget team (note that I suggest that each Caucus be represented by a group of conferees).

Frankly, the budget committee process would be useful and helpful as a vehicle for ongoing dialogue and decision making… Read More

Let’s call it the first California test case of the voters’ view of taxes since November 2008. Let’s say the citizens asked, resoundingly,"What the heck are you thinking?"

Over 2/3 of the voters in Chula Vista, thesecond largest city in San Diego County, yesterday easily defeated the Prop A sales tax increase in a controversial mail ballot election.

Combined with the state state sales tax increase, the measure would have imposed on Chula Vistans a nearly 10% sales tax, one of the highest in the region.

Republican Mayor Cheryl Cox along with three Dem colleagues supported the tax. Opposed was Republican Deputy Mayor John McCann, the GOP nominee for AD 78 last year. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association, local Chula Vista Taxpayers Association, and Lincoln Club of SD joined the opposition, with the latter doing a sizable independent expenditure in the final days.

This is a major win forMcCann, who was recently named the SD GOP’s Local Elected Official of the Year.

More Info….

NO on Measure A website… Read More

Instead of a written commentary, today we offer you a special FlashReport video… Enjoy!

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

Instead of a written commentary, today we offer you a special FlashReport video… Enjoy!

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

Today at a meeting of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors meeting we considered eliminating benefits for undocumented residents of Yolo County. We are one of maybe ten counties in the state that provide these benefits.

At our next meeting I would expect that at least three votes will be cast in favor of eliminating these services. Many of you are probably cheering about this.

In the end I will likely (my mind is always open until the final votes are cast) be one of the votes to make this policy change because it is in the best interests of the county. Here is the rub. I actually believe that with the law requiring emergency rooms to serve everyone that walks in the door the taxpayers of Yolo County will end up paying more under this new policy.

As a County Supervisor I am watching out for the best interest of the Yolo County taxpayer in isolation. However, when you consider that the person that comes in for an indigent care visit with a cut that can be quickly treated today but instead will wait to come in on Saturday when it is infected and in need of emergency care — this is not a good thing for the people that will end up paying the… Read More

**FR EXCLUSIVE** This just in from Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association…

Right on cue, our Hollywood Governor is trotting out the firefighters and threatening Californians with burning homes unless he gets his way. Voters can absolutely be assured that, next week, he and the California Teachers Association will be threatening public education and school closures.

But these threats – reflecting little more than simple extortion – should not be taken seriously. First, the Governor’s own Director of Finance recently testified that the… Read More