This just in from Navy Commander Larry Wahl, Ret’d. I think it is worth a read on what he has to say about some comments made by Don Perata earlier this week…

If you are caught stealing from a neighbor, the police would surely arrest you for theft. Well, that’s basically what has been happening in Sacramento, but so far, no arrests have been made. In fact, the City is not even sure where thousands of “missing” water meters have gone. To date, the bill to ratepayers has hit more than a million dollars however, yet not one person has been held accountable. According to the Sacramento Bee, (June 26, 2008), “The city of Sacramento cannot currently find or track nearly 4,500 water meters that the city has purchased in recent years at a cost of $1.3 million. On top of that, the city’s Utilities Department has been operating with such lax oversight that it repeatedly entered into no-bid contracts for meter-reading equipment that should have… Read More

Is there something special about the figure $9 billion, other than it is a huge amount of money?

Well, it has been a popular figure this week — and a potentially expensive one for Californians. Earlier in the week, the liberal Democrats who dominate the California legislature held a press conference and announced that in order for California to be a state worth living in (or words to that effect), we all need to embrace $9 billion in new taxes. Seriously. I was proud that the immediate and strong response from legislative Republicans was that this proposal was dead on arrival (fortunately for taxpayers, the State Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber to raise taxes — how prescient). Actually, I mused to one legislator friend that Republicans should match the call by Democrats for billions in new taxes with a call for an equal amount in tax cuts. Somebody somewhere is going to start saying "let’s compromise" and I say the GOP position should be such that the "middle" represents no additional taxation on Californians. I thought to myself that one… Read More

I have made a major part of my Congressional career so far to be one of the leaders [along with Jeff Flake (R-AZ)] in the fight against the wasteful and abusive pork spending known as earmarks. I would love to tell you that we have been successful in getting earmarks eliminated or substantially reformed. But no. Gosh, I wish I could tell you that at least they are all being disclosed or not dropped into bills in the dark of night with no hearing. But that hasn’t happened either. There has been a bipartisan addiction to these things which continues to this day.

But what we have been successful in doing is raising the issue with the press and the public. Just a couple of years ago, the public didn’t even know what was going on with earmarks and the press didn’t cover them. But that has all changed. The press now is all over the issue and polls show that the public overwhelmingly wants the practice to stop. Even in Alaska, in which the famed "bridge to nowhere" was to be built and where the earmarks per capita are by far the highest in the country, a majority of the voting public would now give up the pork to see all earmarks go away. Senator… Read More

Today we are pleased to offer this exclusive Guest Commentary from Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello. Assemblyman Niello is the Vice Chairman of the Assembly’s Budget Committee, and is the lead Republican in the Assembly on Budget issues…

Democrat Budget Increases Taxes and Spending! By Assemblyman Roger Niello

Democrats showed their true colors this week by passing a budget out of the conference committee that contains nearly $10 billion in tax increases and increases state spending by billions of dollars over last year.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

Today we are pleased to offer this exclusive Guest Commentary from Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello. Assemblyman Niello is the Vice Chairman of the Assembly’s Budget Committee, and is the lead Republican in the Assembly on Budget issues… Democrat Budget Increases Taxes and Spending! By Assemblyman Roger Niello Democrats showed their true colors this week by passing a budget out of the conference committee that contains nearly $10 billion in tax increases and increases state spending by billions of dollars… Read More

FlashReport readers who haven’t joined the "social netoworking generation" should sign up at Facebook. When you do, join the FlashReport/California Politics group! And, as a bonus, I am willing to be your "friend" — so reach out.

Jon… Read More

I’ve dropped in on the Freedom Fest conference at Bally’s in Las Vegas. Looks to be about 500 members of the VRWC (vast right wing conspiracy), gathered in a large, dark room. Steve Forbes is on a panel of other libertarians (this is primarily a free minds, free market crowd). You can tell because some other guy on the panel is railing aOf course, the first thought that crossed my mind is that I would prefer a banana daqueri poolside… But since I am here, at what is billed as “The World’s Largest Gathering of Free Minds…”

It’s a positive sign that besides Forbes, I haven’t run into anyone I know. Perhaps that means there are more of us than I thought…

Actually, I came over to catch up with my friend Steve Moore, editorial writer and editorial board member of the Wall Street Journal. There he is…. That’s it for now…… Read More