The U.S. Supreme Court has taken the unusual step of asking for additional argument in the pending"Citizens United" case. That case is all about a commercially- produced movie by Citizens United, a conservative group,that is critical of Hilary Rodham Clinton, a la Michael Moore.Liberals say it violates the Federal Election Commission rules, specially the McCain-Feingold amendments which really increased FEC regulation of political speech. Part of the McCain-Feingold amendments that regulated "issue advocacy" type campaign speech were gutted by the Supreme Court in the "Wisconsin Right to Life" case. With the request for reargument, now the Court is signaling it may beon the precipice of throwing out the heart of the whole darn law!… Read More

Today is the last day of the 2008-2009 fiscal year, and it is the final opportunity for the State Legislature to place on the Governor’s desk a comprehensive fix to next fiscal year’s way-out-out-whack budget before we are actually IN that fiscal year. By "comprehensive fix" — I mean a package of cuts and reforms that ensures that state government will be able to make it all of the way to June 30, 2010 without having yet another "fiscal crisis" where we are back at the cliff, again.

Governor Schwarzenegger has been 100% on message since the May 19th Special Election — we need a complete fix for the budget situation — one that does so taking into account that the voters overwhelmingly rejected tax increases to do so.

Legislative Democrats, unbelievably Sunday (in the Assembly) and yesterday (in the Senate) rammed through billions of dollars in illegal majority-vote tax increases for what appears to be the sole purpose of sticking the legislative "middle finger" up at California voters — especially since the Governor has and continues to make it clear that any legislation that hits his desk with… Read More

Today is the last day of the 2008-2009 fiscal year, and it is the final opportunity for the State Legislature to place on the Governor’s desk a comprehensive fix to next fiscal year’s way-out-out-whack budget before we are actually IN that fiscal year. By "comprehensive fix" — I mean a package of cuts and reforms that ensures that state government will be able to make it all of the way to June 30, 2010 without having yet another "fiscal crisis" where we are back at the cliff, again.

Governor Schwarzenegger has been 100% on message since the May 19th Special Election — we need a complete fix for the budget situation — one that does so taking into account that the voters overwhelmingly rejected tax increases to do so.

Legislative Democrats, unbelievably Sunday (in the Assembly) and yesterday (in the Senate) rammed through billions of dollars in illegal majority-vote tax increases for what appears to be the sole purpose of sticking the legislative "middle finger" up at California voters — especially since the Governor has and continues to make it clear that any legislation that hits his desk with… Read More

Congressman Tom McClintock delivered the following speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on June 26 during the debate on the "Cap and Trade" (National Energy Tax) Bill… The Biggest Economic Mistake Since The Days Of Herbert Hoover I had a strange sense of Deja Vu as I watched the self-congratulatory rhetoric on the house floor tonight, and I feel compelled to offer this warning from the Left Coast. Three years ago, I stood on the floor of the California Senate and watched a similar… Read More

The IHSS program has seen disproportionate growth over the past several years, and IHSS costs have grown nearly twice as fast as inflation and population growth.

With this remarkable growth has come a growing element of fraud, estimated to be as high as 25% of all funds expended. The Governor is seeking simple reforms to help rein in growing fraud in this worthy program. They are:

These are simple steps that ought to be easy to support to ensure scarce funds go farther.

The chart below shows the incredible growth in the IHSS program. Yet another example of a program with rapid growth, runaway fraud, deserving of additional scrutiny to ensure more funds are available to the truly needy. For 2009-10, the chart reflects what expenditures would be without the Governor’s proposed reductions. … Read More

Anyone reading the Flashreport knows that these are not average times for California. This great state of my birth is collapsing around us, and we need exceptional leadership during these exceptional times. I believe Meg Whitman best fits that bill for 3 reasons:

1) We don’t just need a governor, we need a game changer. Meg has the potential to truly change the political landscape in California. She brings a strong background from eBay, and her capabilities, determination, and character, are exactly what we need. Technical changes, tinkering around the edges or working within the system will not get it done. The next governor must command the stature to lead us to a new place and I believe Meg Whitman can do that.

2) She is not afraid to take an unpopular position in which she believes and then stand firmly by it. Clearly, governance by polling has not worked for this state. We have seen Meg Whitman take a principled stand on Prop. 8, in the face of opposition from her core constituencies in the Bay Area internet community. She will lead… Read More

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has launched a statewide radio buy blasting Democrats for wanting to raise taxes. Echoing the theme of Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, Jon Coupal, HJTA’s President blasts Democrats for wanting to raise taxes to finance highly paid union workers — "They say more money is required to help the needy, but what they really want is more money for government employees."

You can listen to the ad right here.… Read More

For those who weren’t watching the CalChannel for last night’s Assembly Session (where the Democrats pushed through billions in illegal majority-vote taxes), which we hope is most of you, you certainly will not want to have missed the best floor speech of the night — a two minute oration from Assemblywoman Audra Strickland. Her remarks incensed the Democrats causing many of them to take to their microphones in protest… Audra’s speech really highlighted how these Democrats have made a priority of growing state government itself, doing no favors for those at-risk people who would benefit from a less costly way of delivering services. Good job, Audra! (h/t to Eric with killmedia.tv for the footage) … Read More