It has been my firm belief since the announcement from his Imperial Majesty Senate President Don Perata that he was so opposed to the tax-relief package negotiated by Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines that he would not even bring it up for a vote in the Senate (let alone work to get it passed out of that uber-liberal body) that the budget passed out of the Assembly was DOA in the Senate. That Assembly Budget while still bloated and largely a product of the status quo that Democrats have created after many decades of majority control in the legislature, GOP negotiators made some important strides in that document.

Still, as Assembly Republican Caucus Chairman Bob Huff points out in an exclusive column today, that tax relief package was a "lynch pin" to the budget garnering enough votes to even get out of the Assembly at all. Huff says, "Without the tax cuts, the Senators will not be dealing with the budget package approved by 9 Republican Assemblymembers."

Huff, of course, was the highest ranking Assembly Republican to vote against the budget in the… Read More

References to Neil Young notwithstanding, that’s where I’ll be the next few days. Even given the generous alms Jon pays for my insights, I still deserve some time off.

Dreaded Disclosure Weekend… Vacation pending, and the worst thing in the world is to have one’s real work locked up so as to actually relax while away, yet still be facing the filing of 460s and the like. As many political hacks know, the FPPC filing period ending June 30 means campaign statements are due in two short days. Whether they admit it or not, there’s a slew of candidates, officeholders, treasurers, software providers and/or other cottage industry types sweating it this weekend to get their on-line and hard copy docs filed by the July 31 deadline, having waited (again!) ’til the last moment.

My personal worst case involved my November 1994 city council re-election campaign. The final disclosure statement — thru 12/31/94 — was due the last day of January 1995 (by FPPC tradition). However, I got married on January 28 that year, the Chargers were in the Super Bowl the next day (who… Read More

State Budget Update There is not a lot to report on this topic, but what there is, I will bring to you. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is off in Europe, thus a strong indicator of his feelings about what kind of a role he should be playing to trying to resolve the budget stalemate. That said, I spoke with Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman last night, and he said that things are "moving in the right direction" compared to the rest of this week. He had a meeting with Senate President Don Perata yesterday, and has another one schedule for tomorrow. Ackerman also added that the Governor has rolled up his sleeves and is now engaged in a meaningful way in the dialogue, which he characterized as helpful. Ackerman has assured me that the resolve in his caucus to see a state budget that does not include deficit spending is still strong, so we’ll see where things go from here. Of course, we’ll be keeping FR readers up to date. State… Read More

State Budget Update There is not a lot to report on this topic, but what there is, I will bring to you. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is off in Europe, thus a strong indicator of his feelings about what kind of a role he should be playing to trying to resolve the budget stalemate. That said, I spoke with Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman last night, and he said that things are "moving in the right direction" compared to the rest of this week. He had a meeting with Senate President Don Perata yesterday, and has another one schedule for tomorrow. Ackerman also added that the Governor has rolled up his sleeves and is now engaged in a meaningful way in the dialogue, which he characterized as helpful. Ackerman has assured me that the resolve in his caucus to see a state budget that does not include deficit spending is still strong, so we’ll see where things go from here. Of course, we’ll be keeping FR readers up to date. State… Read More

Anthony Adams can do it all. Not only was he in his first year as an Assemblyman from the 59th District, he had time to go to law school and just took the bar. See article here.… Read More

Last night I had an amazing experience. I saw a war movie, made in Hollywood, that wasn’t anti-American. How could this be?

The folks from the Liberty Film Festival warn us to expect a flood of hate America war films blaming Americans for shooting Islamic terrorists, increasing global warming and trying to upset leftists dictators. Assuredly, those films will lose tons of money, take George Clooney’s embarrassing Syriana failure last year.

Rescue Dawn is a true story of an American POW pilot Dieter Dengler. WIth his first mission for the Navy. he was shot down by Soviet anti aircraft weapons in Vietnam. His story of capture, refusing to submit, torture, humiliation but tempered with a spirit of optimism and survival is inspiring. In fact, not a single word was expressed against the Vietnam War. The commies looked like lousy commies. The good guys were good.

… Read More

State Senate Republicans are filled with resolve. They have drawn a line in the sand that is reasonable, and modest. Given the significant increases in state revenue the past few years, there is no reason for California to adopt a 2007-08 budget that spends more than projected revenues. Today’s Commentary is guest-authored by FR friend and State Senator Bob Dutton…

Controlling Government Growth By Sen. Bob Dutton With the budget now 27 days late the mudslinging in the halls of the Capitol is in full… Read More

State Senate Republicans are filled with resolve. They have drawn a line in the sand that is reasonable, and modest. Given the significant increases in state revenue the past few years, there is no reason for California to adopt a 2007-08 budget that spends more than projected revenues. Today’s Commentary is guest-authored by FR friend and State Senator Bob Dutton…

Controlling Government Growth By Sen. Bob Dutton

With the budget now 27 days late the mudslinging in the halls of the Capitol is in full swing.

My Republican colleagues and I have stood firm under the leadership of Dick Ackerman convinced that we must do all we can to get our… Read More