At a campaign stop in Orange County on Wednesday, Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman unveiled a new policy document… Longtime FR friend Richard Costigan, who heads up the policy team for Whitman, fills in FR readers… Meg Whitman’s "Policy Agenda For Building A New California" By Richard Costigan Meg Whitman 2010 Deputy Campaign Manager, Director of Policy … Read More

Here’s an unbelievable story in the Sacramento Bee that looks at the various aspects of how government is trying to shake down Californians – even for 4 cents! And after they had already received a letter saying they were all good!

No wonder taxpayers are saying "enough is enough."… Read More

I strongly encourage FR readers to listen to this week’s California Republican Party podcast.

The first half of the podcast is devoted to discussing last weekend’s State GOP Convention. But the most important segment to discuss would be the second half of the show, where we talk about why Proposition 14, the "so called" Open Primary measure is very, very bad for all Californians.

CRP Chairman Ron Nehring hosts the program, and appearing with me as the other guest is Jennifer Jacobs.

You can listen to the podcast here. You can subscribe to the CRP’s weekly podcast on iTunes.… Read More

GOP Consultant/Strategist Marty Wilson (pictured) is driving things over at the Carly Fiorina for U.S. Senate Campaign. With the latest numbers out from the Field Poll, Wilson fired off an e-mail a few folks — one of whom sent a copy of it along to us. We thought, while protecting our source, we’d post it up for your perusal… From: Marty Wilson Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 To: XXXXXXXX… Read More

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association threw down the gauntlet today and entered the Ballot Initiative fight to stop California’s massive “Energy Tax.”

This is a game-changer in the race to Suspend AB 32.

Up until now, the effort has been critiqued for enjoying the support of Valero energy company, giving firepower to its enemies who suggest this is only an effort being fought by the oil companies.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

With HJTA entering the fight, this changes everything.

You may recall it was HJTA who lead the fight against the Governor and his political machine during last year’s Prop. 1A fight — you rememeber — the $16 billion tax on the people. The opposition effort to the Governor and the Legislature’s proposed tax increases were hardly organized by Sacramento standards – until they got involved. At the end of the day, even though they were outspent 20-to-1 by the Governor, the Democrats, and the Unions, Prop. 1A was defeated by a very healthy 2-to-1 landslide.

Expect them to do the same with the effort to Suspend AB 32. Expect them to bring to bear the… Read More

It is the primary season in a year of Republican ascendancy. Conservatives have figured out that their fratricide of the last several years handed power over to the Democrats, and they have united (to a certain extent). That means that candidates have "seen the light," they have experienced their election year conversions, and all Republicans candidates are conservatives. They run commercials this time of year touting how conservative they are, how their opponents are not, and how they are going to implement [insert conservative agenda item here] when they get elected.

This year they will be elected. Whether they are running for Governor, Senator, Member of Congress, Legislator or other, they will be elected. As in 1994, they will suddenly have power.

However, for the last 16 years, many of these candidates have been sitting in their offices, their country clubs, their neighborhoods or in their homes, listening to the media, their friends, their office mates, or their business associates deride conservatives in office. They have been told how unreasonable conservatives are, how unrealistic they are, how important it is to work with liberals,… Read More

While House Democrats are plotting political gimmicks and backroom deals while vying for ‘yes’ votes on their health care bill, most Americans would be shocked and confused to learn that Democrats have included a plan – tied to the health care bill – to eliminate private-sector options for a government-managed direct student loan program.

In 1993, President Clinton expanded the government-operated direct loan program. While I didn’t support the move then, Republicans and Democrats aimed to strike a balance between government-controlled student loans and private loans. With this new super-Democrat majority, the days of negotiation have passed, and Democrats have made leaps towards a full government takeover of the student loan industry.

Not only are these two bills now being tied together in reconciliation, they also have eerily similar historic paths. Just as the Majority said they wanted to create a ‘government option’ for student loans, to only fully takeover the program years later; they are making the same claims about health care today. For Democrats, it starts with a call for a ‘government option,’ but make no mistake; the intent… Read More

First the good news: J. Clark Kelso wants to reduce prison health care costs.

And now the bad news: He wants to release upwards of 1,000 supposed invalid prisoners – many of whom might have committed such acts as rape, 2nd degree murder and other dangerous felonies. But does California really have a high level of invalid prisoners to warrant this legislation?

Probably not.

But painting the picture of a few comatose inmates makes for good political theatre. Though it does not tell the real story, which is: We have some incapacitated inmates AND California already has a law that deals with this issue – on a case-by-case basis.

Therefore, the Kelso-sponsored legislation (including Sen. Mark Leno’s Senate Bill 1399) does nothing to address the problem of sky-high health care costs for California prisoners, which is currently $17,000 per prisoner per year!

(Other large states spend a fraction of that: New York spends $5,800. Florida spends $4,300. The federal government spends only $4,400. It may be the opinion of a liberal federal judge that California’s prison… Read More