FR friend Joel Fox, the President of the Small Business Action Committee, guest writes today’s FR Commentary, with a critical eye on Phil Angelides tax ‘cut’ plan…

Let’s accept that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides really wants to cut taxes as he recently pronounced; that the proposal is not a cynical attempt to buy votes after years and years of promoting tax increases. The obvious question: Is the tax cut proposal offered by Angelides a plus for the taxpayers and businesses of California? The answer must be viewed from a wide angle considering not only the tax cut proposals but what other policies Angelides offers and supports that will affect the economy and the state budget.

The Democratic nominee’s new tax plan offers tax credits for some individuals and tax exemptions for smaller businesses. At the same time he continues to call for raising taxes on upper income taxpayers, those making $250,000 or… Read More

The gay and lesbian community in San Francisco is up in arms, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, because of a comment KGO radio talk show host Pete Wilson (and KGO TV anchor) made yesterday on air. Wilson was discussing the fact that Supervisor Bevan Duffy, an openly gay man, and his roommate, Rebecca Goldfader, a lesbian, are co-parenting a newborn. The baby was born last week. The two, who are not in a romantic relationship with each other, live in separate units in a duplex and share parenting duties. KGO-TV reported the story on Oct. 9th.

On yesterday’s radio show,… Read More

Judges! Who knows anything about the judges on the ballot? I get asked this more than any other question. So the next few days I will be adding my two cents to some of these. First Los Angeles County has several judges up for election to Superior Court. The Los Angeles County Lincoln Club has a Judicial Improvement Committee headed by the able Richard Reinjohn. They make recommendations to the Governor for appointments. (He should listen more) and they make election recommendations. Their Nov 2006 endorsements are below. Pretty good stuff for people in LA County that need help.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Office 8 – Deborah L. Sanchez Office 18 – Daviann L. Mitchell Office 102 – Hayden Zacky Office 144 – David W. Stuart… Read More

Yesterday was a good day for Steve Poizner.

Just before noon, Chris Reed posted on the San Diego Union-Tribune’s blog about their editorial board meeting with Bill Lockyer where the Democrat Attorney General took out a sharp knife and proceeded to insert it between Democrat Insurance Commish candidate Cruz Bustamante’s shoulder blades, refusing to even say he planned on voting for the current Lt. Governor.

Then, at 2, Steve got to debate Cruz before the San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board. If you didn’t get a chance to watch it this afternoon, you should take a look. Steve’s drubbing of Cruz was actually quite entertaining.

Just one snippet: One of the Chron’s folks asked Steve why Cruz repeatedly was misquoting how much money Steve had dropped into his campaign coffers. Steve’s dead pan response, “he can’t add right.”

I died laughing.

It’s fun when one of the good guys looks like he’s going to win, and if today was any indication, that’s what now looks to be just a… Read More

California politicians are for the most part still ignoring one issue: Illegal immigration

Defend California and U.S. Senate Candidate Dick Mountjoy are promoting an initiative that will stop the benefits that help sustain and attract illegal aliens. See Press Release below. Get more info here. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeff Evans @ 916-858-8190

DEFEND CALIFORNIA: NEW INITIATIVE WILL STOP GOVERNMENT FROM PROVIDING BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS Legislative Analyst Says Initiative Will Save Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Annually

Fed up with legislative action every year to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, former State Senator Dick Mountjoy has joined with the non-profit organization Defend California to craft an initiative to prohibit such efforts.

"Our initiative will once and for all prohibit any government entity from giving tax-funded benefits to illegal aliens," said Mountjoy, a… Read More

Thanks to FR friend Karen Hanretty for tipping us off this morning to a great post on the KQED Capitol Notes Blog site authored by John Myers that previews a in-depth article on former California Finance Director Donna Arduin. You can read Myers intro post right here, or skip it and read about Arduin in Duke Magazine here. (Arduin is a Duke University graduate).

We here at the FlashReport are big fans of Donna’s. She has written for this site, and was a Director of Finance that was undeniably focused on rooting waste and largesse out of state government spending.

Arduin was Governor Schwarzenegger’s first Finance Director, and now is in consulting firm with reknowed economist Arthur Laffer.… Read More

The Pasadena School District has been a mess in recent months. With budget shortages due to declining enrollment (Who knew? When schools are bad, parents opt to find other options for their kids’ education). The Superintendent recently left. There have been ongoing talks of numerous school site closings.

With all that, and the general union/lefty tilt of the town, it was pleasantly surprising to read that they’re considering Charter Schools as part of their solution.… Read More

Today’s lead Editorial from the Orange County Register Are we borrowing trouble again? Audit finds millions misspent from parks, water and wildlife bonds passed in 2000 and 2002. An examination of annual state audits of four bonds passed in 2000 and 2002 shows "questionable spending on public relations, lobbying and even yoga classes."

The San Jose Mercury News, in stories published on Tuesday, outlined that some groups receiving bond money "failed to properly document expenses, claimed unallowable costs and went over budget because of inconsistent monitoring by state agencies."

California voters should keep such audits in mind as they consider five bond measures on the November ballot: Propositions 1B (transportation), 1C (housing), 1D (schools), 1E (levees) and 84 (water quality and parks).

The Mercury News studied audits from the California Department… Read More