According to the LAO, the only way out of our budget mess is raising taxes. And here’s another shocker—the Democrats think her recommendations are BRILLANT! Oh, and so does George Skelton.

None of this is a surprise. Nor is the fact that the budget gap continues to grow. It all comes down to Gov. Schwarzenegger.

Many of us here on the pages of the Flashreport have been disappointed with many decisions that have come out of the Governor’s Office in the past couple of years. We’re not happy with the people—effectively Gov. Gray Davis’ top staffers—with whom the governor has filled his office (at the same time, there some good people continue to work on the governor’s behalf, both in and out of the horseshoe). But the real test of the governor’s leadership—and his ability to stand by his word to the people of… Read More

I received quite a few emails about who controls the California Republican party. Many have mistaken uprisings and demonstrations with control. The main question people ask is how do can Conservatives get more control of the Party?

The short answer is run for office.

The next two weeks Republicans will be running for various Assembly, State Senate and Congressional races. Obviously in seats that are Republican there is little trouble filling those seats. However, those with heavy Democratic registrations face a different story. So why run in these long shot or impossible seats. There are several reasons.

Of course, you get free publicity. Newspapers do interviews with all the candidates. Any money that is raised goes to mail and sign raising your name identification. You can use this in local races.

You get to talk about issues you care about. In some district you can get Democrats to spend money against you. Campaigning helps GOP turnout.

And very importantly, if you are the nominee you get a seat on the local AND… Read More

I had a chance to meet Elizabeth Hill, the Legislative Analyst, last December at the joint legislative retreat of Senate and Assembly Republicans. She is a remarkably pleasant person, and clearly someone who has a grasp of state fiscal issues. That said, I have to say that I was extremely disappointed at the "Alternative Budget" that her office released yesterday, that is the source of so many MSM news stories today. Why the disappointment? Because Hill in a very antiseptic way is looking at the gap between projected state incoming and projected state spending, and is making proposals to "fill the gap" with a combination of spending cuts and de facto tax increase (by slashing existing tax credits) and proposing more fee increases. In other words, Hill is siding solidly on the side of "growing" state government to deal with what we have said all along is an over-spending problem. If you go back over the last few budgets, you will see that there has been a *massive* increase in state spending, that is the root of the problem. It is completely unfair to… Read More

All right, it is now time to talk about the so-called yacht tax that thankfully was defeated last week. Newspapers and Democrat bloggers have spent lots of time, ink, and electrons beating up on Assembly Republicans for helping the "rich" in that vote, but they ignore basic economics. To them, a tax raises revenue, no matter what, and not raising a tax "deprives poor children of the health care" these lefties thought would come from this increased revenue.

Let’s ignore the fact that most government programs deliver money to bureaucrats, lobbyists, and those who get paid hundreds of thousands dollars from government, and that the alleged recipients of government largesse are mostly an excuse for politicians to take money from you and me, and give it to their political friends, whether those friends are government unions or government rent seekers.

The fact is that rule number one in any decision about taxes is that RAISING TAXES IS ALWAYS WRONG, no matter when, no matter how, no matter who pays them, no matter what the alleged program that is supposed to benefit from the tax.Since it is always wrong, anyone who decides to… Read More

It’s the fall of 2006, and the midst of a very intense General Election here in California. With a host of down-ticket races providing some modest distraction, the attention of those driving the California Republican Party Victory ’06 program are focused relentlessly on the big prize, re-electing Arnold Schwarzenegger to a full four-year term as Governor of California. At the height of the effort, a decision was made by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, his campaign manager Steve Schmidt, and then State-GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim that is still having reverberations today.

You see, while the Governor’s re-election campaign was going well, and his numbers were looking solid, the Victory Program was rapidly running out of money heading into the final month — a month of critical importance to be up with television advertising. Then came the big decision (the Governor always thinks BIG) — to literally "bet the bank" and have the State GOP take out a THREE MILLION DOLLAR LOAN from a friendly contributor’s company, thus providing the necessary injection of cash into the CRP coffers to run a full campaign to the end. Chairman… Read More

It’s the fall of 2006, and the midst of a very intense General Election here in California. With a host of down-ticket races providing some modest distraction, the attention of those driving the California Republican Party Victory ’06 program are focused relentlessly on the big prize, re-electing Arnold Schwarzenegger to a full four-year term as Governor of California. At the height of the effort, a decision was made by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, his campaign manager Steve Schmidt, and then State-GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim that is still having reverberations today.

You see, while the Governor’s re-election campaign was going well, and his numbers were looking solid, the Victory Program was rapidly running out of money heading into the final month — a month of critical importance to be up with television advertising. Then came the big decision (the Governor always thinks BIG) — to literally "bet the bank" and have the State GOP take out a THREE MILLION DOLLAR LOAN from a friendly contributor’s company, thus providing the necessary injection of cash into the CRP coffers to run a full campaign to the end. Chairman… Read More

From today’s Roll Call Newspaper… Conservative Hero McClintock Testing the Waters in Two California Districts By David M. Drucker Roll Call Staff Although it now appears likely that California state Sen. Tom McClintock (R) will run for Congress in the Golden State¹s 4th district, he has yet to completely rule out a primary challenge of Rep. Elton Gallegly (R) in the 24th district, according to a Republican insider familiar with McClintock¹s plans. … Read More

I’ve gotton to know Steve Francis a bit. A successful businessman, we served together for a time on the Board of Directors of the California Republican Party. Francis was unsuccessful in 2004 in a bid for Mayor of San Diego, losing to Jerry Sanders.

Well, Francis is back. He has retooled his image for this next go-around, smoothing the edges a bit. We’ll keep an eye on this race, as San Diego is a huge city, and what happens there matters not only in that city, but in the region and the state.

Francis in this commerical below emphasis that he is taking no campaign contributions whatsoever. He is funding his entire campaign from his own (deep) pockets.

He’s now up on television with his first buy. You can see the spot below. He has purchased $200,000 in advertising for the next two weeks, and his campaign says that he will stay on the air through election day in June.

I guess by way of pushing his "independent" credentials (a label that must poll well with San Diego City voters), Fracis’ campaign volunteered that his ads are produced by the same company that works with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg!… Read More