At this weekend’s California Republican Party Convention, there will be some lively debate over the issue of how the party reacts to the passage of Proposition 14, the so-called “open primary” measure promoted by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abel Maldonado, the express purpose of which was to moderate the party. Let’s be very, very clear on this point, because it is pivotal to the discussion, and should be the cornerstone issue by which CRP delegates think about how to proceed.

Schwarzenegger, Maldonado, and the “big business” community headed by the California Chamber of Commerce, as proponents of Prop 14, could not have been more clear. First and foremost, they actually put in the Official Voters Guide (signed by the CalChamber President) the following description in the arguments FOR Prop 14: “Supporters of Proposition 14 believe: The Top Two primary system will put more moderate politicians in office."

Here are… Read More

Albert Einstein defines “insanity” as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well, it’s the same old thing with California government – spending beyond our means and raising taxes – and it’s not working.

California’s taxes are some of the highest in the nation. We have the highest sales taxes. We have the highest gas taxes. Our personal income taxes are the third-highest in the nation. What’s worse, the Governor now wants to increase your taxes by more than $50 billion.

The problem is we already extended these tax increases two years ago. I said then raising taxes would not work to fix our economy and it hasn’t – things are worse now than they were then. The fact is, we’re not in this budget mess because we’re taxed too little; it’s because we’re taxed too much.

Every year, California government continues to overspend and then reaches into the pockets of hardworking taxpayers when it runs out of cash. To get us out of this budget crisis, we need to come up with meaningful reforms and ensure we do not raise taxes on over-burdened… Read More

For those who read Jill’s post below this one, please be advised that Ron Nehring’s proposal has now been altered to provide that any participant in a caucus who is away, on active duty, may have an alternative represent them. So while there are differences between the plan, both plans address the concern about active duty military personnel.

Clearly some electioneering was going on, as no attempt was made to get Nehring to take care of this concern before "going public" — this was just an effort to attack the Nehring plan. Nevertheless — the issue has now been addressed and is moot.… Read More

March 15, 2011 … Read More

Senate Republican Leader Bob Dutton responded to Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg’s representation that the budget being voted on Wednesday "responsibly and honestly promises to put California’s fiscal crisis behind us once and for all."

"The simple truth is, the budget the Senate Democrats are putting up for a vote on Wednesday is not a balanced plan," said Dutton. "It is just another short-sighted tax-and-spend scheme that relies on a $50 billion bailout from California taxpayers. It does nothing to fix the state’s budget crisis or put Californians back to work. The Democrats say, "Let the people vote," but what the Democrats really want is for the people to pay for government as usual."

The Democrats’ budget proposal is not half cuts/half taxes:

Today’s L.A. Times headlines "Investigation details deals at CalPERS." March 15, 2011 in a lengthily account by reporters Marc Lifsher and Stuart Pfeifer had this to say.

" While at CalPERS, Buenrosto [ CEO] repeated " inserted himself into the investment process in a manner inconsistent wit prior practice at CalPERS, pressing its investment staff to pursue particular investments without evident regard for their financial merits."

It is said Buenrostro intervened with staff on behalf of Aurora Capital Group of Los Angeles [ Gerald Parksy] to obtain investment money. Buenrostro told subordinates that Aurora was politically powerful, and that Aurora principal Gerald Parsky served on a state commission [appointed by Gov Schwartznegger] dealing with public employee benefits, the report said."

Aurora was a Villalbos [principal figure of the probe], and Buenrostro told the board, and those complaints "become a basis for the board’s efforts to replace him as CEO," the report said."

CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension fund, with @228… Read More

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So apparently tomorrow the State Assembly is going to put the Governor’s proposed budget up for a vote tomorrow.

After the passage of Proposition 25 last November, which allows for the adoption of a budget on a majority vote, this should be a non-event. While not one Republican will go up on Brown’s budget, not one Republican vote is needed… EXCEPT…

Oh yes, Brown’s budget has not been revised to accept the political reality, which is that there are no Republican votes to place the largest tax increase in the history of any state on the ballot this June. And Brown has not responded by putting forward the additional cuts necessary to present a real, balanced budget to the legislature.

So what we have tomorrow is a game of political theater. Which makes you wonder what the liberal Democrats will do with their votes. These committed leftists don’t support any cuts in California’s generous social safety-net spending. So will they put up votes for tomorrow’s cuts, knowing that they are just part… Read More