I feel like a chump. This entire past year, Arnold Schwarzenegger had as a central theme to his campaign for re-election the fact that he would oppose any increase in taxes. I think it would be fair to say that this was a central theme to his campaign. As a matter of fact, in a candidacy that often times stressed issues that were not very appealing to core Republican voters, it was his focused contrasting of Phil Angelides’ "The Tax Man" against his own rhetoric of opposing new taxes that helped to mollify, and excite the GOP base to support his candidacy. Yet, the very first business day following his inauguration to a second term, the Governor rolls out a new massive government incursion that is straight from the playbooks of the Democrat Party, with a centerpiece being tax increases. I don’t get it. This Governor understands that what makes this country great is the idea of individual liberty and individual responsibility. Yet, he has thrown out the notion of individual responsibility, trading it in for this new "shared responsibility" rhetoric which is no more than a justification for a massive… Read More

I feel like a chump. This entire past year, Arnold Schwarzenegger had as a central theme to his campaign for re-election the fact that he would oppose any increase in taxes. I think it would be fair to say that this was a central theme to his campaign. As a matter of fact, in a candidacy that often times stressed issues that were not very appealing to core Republican voters, it was his focused contrasting of Phil Angelides’ "The Tax Man" against his own rhetoric of opposing new taxes that helped to mollify, and excite the GOP base to support his candidacy. Yet, the very first business day following his inauguration to a second term, the Governor rolls out a new massive government incursion that is straight from the playbooks of the Democrat Party, with a centerpiece being tax increases. I don’t get it. This Governor understands that what makes this country great is the idea of individual liberty and individual responsibility. Yet, he has thrown out the notion of individual responsibility, trading it in for this new "shared responsibility" rhetoric which is no more than a justification for a massive… Read More

Unfortunately, one can’t access the full online articles from The San Diego Daily Transcript without a paid subscription, but today retired State Senator Larry Stirling weighs in on its pages with a gem on how the San Diego City Council is addressing a growing crime problem.

After relating a littany of recent crimes as just an example of that faced by the city, Larry wraps up with this:

The government’s No. 1 priority is protecting the lives and property of its citizens. This moral imperative is even higher, given the fact that our government has chosen to abridge our fundamental right to protect ourselves by prohibiting us from carrying firearms in self-defense.

The government is in an absurd and indefensible posture when it neglects to protect us and then will not let us protect ourselves. That is unacceptable.

So, what exactly has the City Council done to address this fundamental moral imperative?

Well, on Dec. 6, the San Diego City Council’s committee on Natural Resources and Culture held a hearing to address and then rip out the root cause of both… Read More

Prior to the Recall, then-Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte made a public pronouncement that should any Republican legislator vote for a tax increase, he’d personally lead the effort to find (and fund) a Primary challenge against them.

Given all of today’s brouhaha, and the fact that he still sits on close to a million dollars in his political account despite having been out of office for a few years, I wonder if the Senator’s challenge still stands?

And, might we see anything similar from Ackerman or Villines?

I really hope our opposition to tax increases still unites us.It’d sure be nice for Republicans to start acting like Republicans again.… Read More

The Wall Street Journal’s Political Diary e-mail is subscribed to by political and policy leaders all around the country – and the world. The lead item in the e-mail today is on Governor Schwarzenegger and his healthcare proposal:

Schwarzenegger’s Bolivarian Revolution

The reaction of leaders of California’s political parties neatly sums up the ideological direction of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new plan to provide health insurance to all Californians by mandating that employers provide it or pay a fee of 4% of their payroll into a government pool.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunes was thrilled that a GOP governor had moved so far in his direction: "This is a plan Assembly Democrats could… Read More

All the commentators have commented on the Governor’s inauguration speech. Most focused on the "dynamic centrism" of which the Governor spoke. The key line was:

"Some said that the Democratic legislature, by working with me to increase the minimum wage or reform prescription drug costs, abandoned the Democratic nominee for governor. This is the kind of partisan thinking that frustrates the voters and diminishes our democracy. The people are disgusted with a mindset that would rather get nothing done than accomplish something through compromise."

The Governor missed the key problem of politics in both his premise and his conclusion. People did not vote for him because he enacted the Democrats’ agenda, they voted for him because he was not Phil Angelides. People, in addition, are not disgusted with a government that does nothing, they are disgusted with rulers who promise to make their lives better if people would just entrust them with power, and then those rulers use that power to line the pockets of their political supporters. People would be happy if they believed that the status quo was… Read More

So, let’s see, increasing insurance costs, a lack ofnew hospital development by the private sector, an inability by the public sector to build or improve health facilities without increased taxes via bonds (as the CEO of a public healthcare district, this is firsthand knowledge), overflowing emergency rooms, what more can I add?

Is government responsible for any of this? Let’s just touch on a couple of mandates…

Government mandates on nurse staffing ratios: Instead of a look at how individual hospitals fare in the provision of quality health care, based on an individual facility’s number of nurses needed for a select number of patients, let’s instead mandate a "one size fits all" ratio of patients per nurses based on the lowest common denominator…the worst providers of service. Oh, we already did that.

Result: Higher costs to provide a mandated number of employees in every unit, on every floor, in every hospital, regardless of the benefit or measurable outcome.

Government mandates for seismic retrofit of facilities: Yes, we all want our hospitals to stand up in an… Read More

In the Sunday FR was an article featured also on Sunday from the San Diego UT, concerning water storage. Democrat leadership pronouncing DOAany funding for new water storage in California had me more than a little dismayed. The Governor hasn’t even delivered yethis State of the State speech where he may well outline a proposal for one or two new water storage projects as part of the much needed infrastructure overhaul and augmentation this state desperately needs. Yet already, this prepronounced negativity. This on the heels of all the talk on the Assembly floor of working in a "bi-partisan way" [evidently meaning Republican principles being excluded in all or part in negotiations] and the enthusiastic embrace of "post-partisanship" from the Governor’s Inaugural day. I wouldcall the statement that "Democrats don’t support water storage" a wet blanket on the "new spirit" down in Sacramento, but you need water to dampen the #@&% blanket.

But that statement isn’t completely true. Governor Schwarzenegger in last years state of the state speech listed new water… Read More