It has been an honor and pleasure to provide you with information and commentary about state government these past years. Today I am accepting an appointment from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve as the Secretary for State and Consumer Services with the mission to hold down government spending.I am resigning my position the Board of Equalization and turning it over to the capable hands of my chief deputy, Barbara Alby. Because I now have only one boss, the Governor, this will be the lastposting for 2010.I need to focus exclusively on helping the Governor with the duties he assigns me. Thank you for your comments, support, suggestions and prayers, as they are all … Read More

One of the things I love most about my friend Barbara Alby is her "I know something that you don’t know look" — which hasn’t changed in the nearly twenty years that I have known her. When I sat down briefly with Barbara last weekend at the California Republican Assembly’s 75th Anniversary Convention in Buena Park, and asked her about her campaign for Board of Equalization, she gave me "the look" when I asked her about her ballot designation. She told me that it was "a surprise" but that her choice for ballot designation would be very important to her campaign (along with her published statement in the ballot pamphlet).

As always, Barbara has a gift for understatement.

During the CRA Convention, it was obvious that State Senator George Runner was out-hustling her for what concluded in his endorsement by the CRA for his candidacy. Runner had a full campaign operation working the event. In contrast, with a peace of mind about her that was enviable Barbara was in what I would call a "happy place" quietly chatting with the many convention delegates).

It turns out that Barbara was… Read More

One of the things I love most about my friend Barbara Alby is her "I know something that you don’t know look" — which hasn’t changed in the nearly twenty years that I have known her. When I sat down briefly with Barbara last weekend at the California Republican Assembly’s 75th Anniversary Convention in Buena Park, and asked her about her campaign for Board of Equalization, she gave me "the look" when I asked her about her ballot designation. She told me that it was "a surprise" but that her choice for ballot designation would be very important to her campaign (along with her published statement in the ballot pamphlet).

As always, Barbara has a gift for understatement.

During the CRA Convention, it was obvious that State Senator George Runner was out-hustling her for what concluded in his endorsement by the CRA for his candidacy. Runner had a full campaign operation working the event. In contrast, with a peace of mind about her that was enviable Barbara was in what I would call a "happy place" quietly chatting with the many convention delegates).… Read More

My good friend Eric Hogue may have indulged in a little bit of over-analysis this morning as he penned a lengthy blog post over at Hogue News on the fact that the campaign of ersatz Board of Equalization member Alan Nakanishi made an ‘amateur hour’ faux pax at the California Republican Assembly convention last weekend in Orange County

The committed sin? Nakanishi’s campaign flyers, distributed all around the convention, were printed on official government paper with a watermark. How might that have happened? Well, Eric goes on about that at length. But if you haven’t see it yet, our cool graphic artist buddy Dave took the flyer I brought home and "enhanced" it so you can see the watermark. Check out his work below.

I will ask this question — why in the heck does the state place watermarks on its paper ? And how much does it cost taxpayer to do that. While apparently there is some utility in knowing when "government" paper is used, I would think those would be few and far between. Oh well, state government does a lot of things that make normal people go,… Read More

" Jihad is our path. Victoryto Islam. Death to Israel. Revolution. Revolution until victory. Rolling to Jerusalem. " Sami Al-Arian, Sept 26, 2001, FOX TV.

Normally, not the kind of rhetoric one finds in a US Senate race.

Tom Campbell seems to have forgot a couple of items. Campbell denied Al-Arian was a donor… Read More

I was struck by an excellent column by Timm Herdt of the Ventura Star. He posed a very insightful question, “Are efforts to better collect taxes that are already owed the political equivalent of actually raising taxes, or are they designed to ensure fairness for those who are already paying their full share?” I say the answer is they are tax increases, but so small as to be inconsequential. Fairness is pursuing individuals who falsify their tax returns and purposely do not pay. Raising other people’s taxes is not fairness.

Herdt focuses on several issues, like the proposed “Amazon tax” that would require internet retailers with affiliates in California to collect sales tax on behalf of the state for sales that they do not make. Another is a proposal to assess penalties on high-income taxpayers who are denied eligibility for certain tax credits. Under the bill (SBX8 32), those who unsuccessfully claim credits that defy “reasonable basis” in an “excessive amount” – both undefined terms – face a 20% penalty of the amount claimed, if the taxpayer makes over $250,000 a year. At the same time, the bill would allow people who short-sell… Read More

FlashReport’s in-house cartoonist, Eric Eisenhammer, has made as the subject of his latest work the latest effort from the left (can you say Berkeley Study?) that asserts that if you were worried about second hand smoke, you really need to be worried about third hand smoke. Seriously.

Look for a slew of legislation on this as the advocates of the Nanny State who firmly occupy the State Capitol look for another opportunity to trample on the liberty and freedom of Californians.… Read More

Yesterday several interesting discussions took place at the Public Lands Steering Committee of the National Association of Counties in Washington, D.C. A disturbing trend I’m seeing is that a subject that increasingly comes up in meetings involving federal land managers is Global Warm- er … I mean ‘Climate Change’ (which is the term that attributes any change in the weather to greenhouse-gas emitting – read breathing – human beings).

One speaker, Tom Tidwell, Chief of the USDA Forest Service, claimed that climate change has increased wildfire seasons by a month, and that it has caused more frequent and severe fires and droughts. When a county commissioner asked him whether the lack of proper forest management resulting in overgrowth had anything to do with the fire problems, he didn’t seem as convinced of that possibility even though intellectually it makes more sense to a lot of people.

Later in the discussion a resolution was introduced to oppose the federal government’s plans to establish a "cap and trade" system for controlling greenhouse gases. I was quite pleased to see the resolution pass.… Read More