MEMORANDUM

To: Governor Schwarzenegger at the State Capitol From: Jon over at the FlashReport RE: Massive Democrat-Created State Deficit Governor, there is no doubt that the liberal Democrats who largely control the budget process have taken California down a path of severe over-spending. As we all know, state spending has massively out-paced state tax revenues, increasing a staggering $25 billion since 2003. Out of the gate this year, you correctly identified this problem for what it is, too much red ink. Too much overspending. You made it clear that California families, taxpayers, would not be saddled with higher taxes in order to address this chronic overspending issue. You rightly introduces a budget that represents a 10% across-the-board cut to what would have been the ’07-’08 amounts (from our perspective, a modest proposal). As a companion to… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

Meet Chris Cox

While the Democratic slugfest sucks up all the media attention, John McCain will have at least one big chance to move back to center-stage — when he picks his veep nominee.

Mr. McCain needs to bolster his economic street cred, especially after admitting minimal expertise on the subject. He needs to rally pro-growth Republicans and calm the fears of ordinary voters amid the mortgage meltdown. Who to call? California Republican Chris Cox was on George W. Bush’s shortlist eight years ago and didn’t get the nod. Now his… Read More

I am not the world’s greatest negotiator. If I were, I would be rich. I have however learned one thing in life. Negotiating in the government sector is not like negotiating in the private sector. Every deal in the private sector is a win/win deal (or at least it is perceived to be so at the time the deal is made). It has to be win/win, since both sides enter into the deal voluntarily. Yes, any person wants to get the best deal possible, but in the end, both sides have to get something for the deal to be consummated. That is why voluntary transactions are preferable. By definition, if both sides perceive themselves to be better off from the deal, the result to society is a net positive, all of the time.

Government deals, however, are win/lose, or maybe even lose a little/lose a lot. The only reason government intervention is necessary is when one side or the other thinks they will lose something from the deal. If they are going to lose in the deal, they have to be forced to enter into it, and government is the only party that has the right to use force to require people to interact. Since the best that a deal can be with government intervention… Read More

Governor Arnold, heard at a town hall meeting in Northern California this week:

"’The way we are taxing. I mean, we are missing a lot out there,’ the governor said. ‘There’s whole new economies that are developing, service-oriented economies. Manufacturing is going down.’"

Wow. That is deep stuff. I mean, there is lot’s of stuff out there we can tax.

Milton Friedman, where are you when we need you?… Read More

With an out-of-touch majority in the capitol, the underrepresented (minority) viewpoint in Sacramento has been forced to use the initiative process to protect our freedoms. Because of the success in using initiatives, liberals have decided to protect their concentrated power by reining in the initiative process. Assemblyman Alberto Torrico has introduced AB 1914, a bill that will deter average citizens from participating in initiative, referendum, or recall campaigns. The bill will be heard in the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee this afternoon.

Under current law, it’s a misdemeanor for petition circulators to “intentionally misrepresent or make any false statement” about a petition’s content or effect in order to obtain signatures. Torrico wants to invalidate every signature collected by a circulator convicted under the existing law. This means that an average citizen volunteering for a campaign could be charged with a crime for simply misstating the content of their petition. Going even further, he then wants the proponents of the… Read More

[Cross-posted from OC Blog]

I wanted to follow up on my earlier posts — here and here — regarding the denouement of powerhouse consulting firm Cerrell Associates‘ peculiar straddle regarding 241 toll road advocacy.

On one hand, Cerrell provided public and media relations services to the Southern California Association of Governments to the tune of at least $250,000 a year. SCAG is a important proponent of completing the 241.

On the other hand, Cerrell Associates is also a consultant to the California State Parks Foundation (CSPF) and its campaign to stop completion of the 241.

This biting of the hand that feeds you $250K a year… Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court today announced a dismissal on jurisdictional grounds of the expedited appeal of Citizens United in their case challenging Federal Election Commission regulation (read: ban) of advertisements for a full-length feature movie that is highly critical of Hillary Clinton, a la the Michael Moore method. The law seems to be that Citizens United can show the movie, they just can’t tell anybody about it in the normal method of advertising, unlike what Michael Moore does for his movies attacking Republicans.

Citizens United filed the expedited appeal to try to get a decision on the constitutionality of buying advertising (the content of which would appear critical of Clinton – a presidential candidate) during this year. The Court’s action means that the Citizens United case can continue to work through the lower court, where it is still active, but that a final resolution of the issue will not occur until after the election, when the reason for it all will be rather moot.… Read More

San Francisco’s City Hall is going to install a ten-foot-long chunk of history and it’s projected to cost over $1.1 million dollars.This new wheelchair ramp has to be gold-gilded Yellow Brick Road that leads to the Land of Oz.How else can one explain the extravagant costs?

According to The San Francisco Chronicle (February 27th), “[t]hanks to a maze of bureaucratic indecision and historic restrictions, taxpayers may shell out $100,000 per foot to make the Board of Supervisors president’s perch in the historic chambers accessible to the disabled.”There is no truth to the rumor that the only way to enter the chamber is by clicking the heels of one’s red ruby slippers. “[T]he little remodel job that planners first thought would take three months has stretched into more than four years – and will probably mean the supervisors will have to move out of their hallowed hall for five months while the work is done.”As in Oz, time is relative when it comes to city money.… Read More