Americans for Prosperity of California, part of the national grassroots taxpayer advocacy organization, issued its own statement about the Governor’s revised budget today, which I have posted below. One of the key budget points for taxpayer protection groups is the Governor’s commitment to cutting spending.

As noted in the press release below, Democrats are simply returning to an already-dry well by demanding more and higher taxes. This is a short-sighted plan that will only serve to worsen California’s dwindling tax base. It may seem like inverse logic to Democrats, but cutting taxes in the short-term will actually lead to increased tax revenue in the long-term as businesses and taxpayers thrive and the tax base grows.

My statement on the May Budget Revision…

“The budget cuts proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger are tough ones – but are realistic ones, given that revenues simply aren’t available to fund state government and its spending programs at their current level. The reality is that California is in a recession, and when the economy restricts, that means that the size of the state government must do the same. What cannot be on the table – which seems to be acknowledged in this May revision – is asking already over-taxed Californians to pay more in taxes. Blame lies on the Democrats for the tragedy of this situation – which has been directly caused by excessive social program spending, massive and unsustainable concessions to public employee unions, and draconian regulations that have caused terrible damage to this state’s economic health. I commend the Governor for having the courage to set out as a priority in this budget… Read More

There was a bit of good news Thursday in the fight for Republicans to hold onto the 15th Senate District Seat formerly held by Abel Maldonado (some would actually call it a chance for a GOP pick-up!): Monterey County officials reported that the U.S. Justice Department registered no objection to their initial request for holding a special election on June 22. This means that the federal government has not yet been persuaded by any of the rather outrageous legal objections (the election violates the Voting Rights Act, is racist, etc.) Democrats have been raising to try to delay the election until November, when more rank-and-file Democrat voters tend to turn out.

To recap, this all started six months ago, when Governor Schwarzenegger first appointed (sigh) Abel Maldonado to be Lieutenant Governor. In a blatant political move, Speaker Perez and company turned Maldonado’s February hearing into a race-baiting partisan spectacle with no consensus, and then delayed his second hearing several weeks so that the deadline would pass for consolidating the special election with the June primary.

Nomination of Maldonado aside, fortunately, Governor Schwarzenegger… Read More

The Meg Whitman campaign has launched a new radio ad featuring Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President (and FlashReport contributor) Jon Coupal… (h/t to Richard Costigan, who alerted us to this on his twitter feed)…

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Unfortunately we are all used to the fact that when the Governor issues lists of new appointees, it is filled with Republicans and Democrats and people of neither party. These days, it is not uncommon to see Republicans on the short end when you tally the batch of appointees.

What is not very common, though, is to see the Governor to appoint members of minor third parties. In the case of today’s appointments, the Governor has appointed a member of the Green Party to a position over at the Public Utilities Commission:

We’re going to start posting up .pdfs of the major slate cards that are dropping around the state (note: are you a slate mailing company? Send us your .pdfs!) — so that you can see what they look like, and who they are featuring for office. Of course each is a sample, so you’ll know who they are carrying statewide, and in the local area that happens to match up with the sample they send.

The first slate is the National Tax Limitation Committee’s Voter Guide, which is managed by Jim Lacy’s Landslide Communications. The piece goes out to 1,400,000 households, targeting GOP voters. Yes, they will mail in the fall. Go to their website if you want to inquire about how to get on it.

Click on the images to enlarge.… Read More

Well, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ace Reporter Carla "Scoop" Marinucci reports that Steve Poizner’s campaign is launching a new ad for the San Francisco Bay Area. This is notable because up until now, Poizner has had no broadcast ads up in that entire area of the state.

Below is the new ad…

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This just in from Ana Matosantos, Governor Schwarzenegger’s Director of Finance… This afternoon, Governor Schwarzenegger sends the revised version of his January budget proposal – the “May Revision” – to the Legislature. And while a budget should be a reflection of what Californians value the most – and a budget that safeguards its most important services and its most vulnerable citizens – that won’t be the case today, and the Governor will spell out clearly why that is.

What’s changed since January? Much that’s not positive. The recession’s lingering effects mean our overall revenues are below forecast. Program costs have increased and federal judges have blocked the state from implementing budget-saving measures that the Governor proposed and the Legislature approved. Because the budgetary solutions adopted in the Special… Read More