Assemblywoman Mimi Walters isn’t termed out, but she is leaving the Assembly at year’s end to go to the State Senate, but she send in this statement in response to this morning’s commentary… (Keep ’em coming!)…

“I will not vote for any budget bill or any other bill that raises taxes. The state’s budget deficit was caused by over-spending. Raising taxes and giving the Legislature more money to spend on new and bigger government programs does not solve the problem – it makes it worse. We need to pass a balanced budget using current resources and also pass a strong deficit prevention measure to constitutionally limit the growth in state government spending.”… Read More

No pressure here to raise taxes in this years budget.I amfirm on this point as is our caucus.

We seek a true spending limitation so we don’t keep doing this everytime the state economy and subsequently, tax revenues are down. The economy and most other things [global temperature]run in something called cycles. We cannot always count on high revenue to sustain year over year new spending. The rainy day fund, which should really be called a drought fund is an important tool to help in budget drought years. However, we won’t see many deposits into such a fund as rainy day/high revenueyears are less likely without a spending limitation on budget spending.

As it is, I don’t see howwe will see the type of excess revenue to sweep into the "drought fund" fora while. Not this year, not next, and probably not 3 years out. Which makes the chatter about a rainy day/drought fund as this years bigfix, bogus. It’s not a fix without a spending limit. It’s as simple as that.

If you want to prolonga stale economy, go ahead and raise taxes to… Read More

PLEASE READ THIS THROUGH, LISTEN, AND THEN CONTACT STATE SENATOR ROY ASHBURN!

Upon returning from my vacation, I was impressed upon by some Capitol insiders that there was a "problem" within the Senate Republican Caucus — and that we may no longer have a unified team to oppose a tax increase. As you know too well from last year, it takes a two-thirds vote to pass a budget, as well as to pass a tax increase (or place one on the ballot). That means that only two GOPers need to "go south" before the entire defense against new taxes shifts over to the Assembly where six votes of Republicans (or perhaps seven due to the illness of one Democrat member) are needed, along with every Democrat, to pass a budget, raise taxes, or place a tax increase on the ballot.

I was told that State Senator Roy Ashburn was publicly saying there were circumstances under which he would be willing to support Governor Schwarzenegger’s "temporary sales tax… Read More

No need for me to write anything SD-specific this morning. Logan Jenkins’ column in the UT today does a great job providing some insights on Farrah Douglas, a local city council candidate….

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/jenkins/20080810-9999-1mc10jenkins.html

Carlsbad candidate has come long way The winter day the shah fled Iran, Farrah Douglas was trapped in gridlocked traffic with her American husband, Rick, and their 2-year-old son, Kevin.

They had just been at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran to apply for Farrah’s green card for an eventual move to America. The Islamic revolution had caught them by surprise.

“Everyone got out of their cars and started dancing, they were so happy,” she told me. A young Iranian stuck his head in the window and said to Rick, “After the shah, it’s your turn.”

Farrah thought to herself, “This is end of my country as I know it.”

The family made it home that day – Jan. 16, 1979 – to learn that… Read More

We are pleased to present this guest commentary from Jon Coupal, the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association… Governor’s Position on Pay Cuts is Legally Sound By Jon Coupal

California’s budget stalemate reflects a political war which has many fronts, a myriad of combatants and an endless series of battles. The battle du jour involves the Governor’s executive order laying off thousands of temporary state workers and reducing the pay — to federal minimum wage level — of even more full time state workers.… Read More

Recently it was reported in the New York Times that a guy named Matzzie (who is an ultra-left activist and supporter of BHO for President) has started a group called "Accountable America" that is going to identify thru public records every conservative donor to a 527 group in this election and send them a letter suggesting their contribution might be illegal and they should contact the group they gave to for assurance of legality or ask for their money back.

I subscribe to an email blog for election lawyers and professors and there has been a lot of discussion of this over the past few days. To their credit, a couple of liberal law professors I know have taken the position that the Matzzie tactics are "McCarthyism" and wrong. But a number of the usual liberal law professors on the blog have taken the position that it is perfectly OK for Matzzie to send our his threatening letters to conservative donors, because it is just a part of preventing perceived corruption in the political process, whether or not the actions of the 527s are legal.

Because I thought readers would find it of interest, below… Read More

We are pleased to present this guest commentary from Jon Coupal, the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association… Governor’s Position on Pay Cuts is Legally Sound By Jon Coupal California’s budget stalemate reflects a political war which has many fronts, a myriad of combatants and an endless series of battles. The battle du jour involves the Governor’s executive order laying off thousands of temporary state workers and reducing the pay — to federal minimum wage level — of… Read More

As much as my friends in the GOP may wish that they can stop time, or even reverse time by 30 years, the likelihood of this occurring is slight. In my personal day to day interaction with time I’ve found it to be a one way street. Further, I’ve found that, as much as I would not like this to be the case in many instances, human culture, which includes our own society, changes and evolve as we move along in time.

I make this observation as a preface to a statement which will draw some degree of anger but which I’ve wanted to write for some time: Ronald Reagan and the politics of the 1980’s are not the answers to the doldrums in which we Republicans now find ourselves. Political parties, like society, either evolve, innovate, and change according to the needs of voters, or they stagnate, look backwards, wither and die.

There is an argument to be made that the Republican Party has collapsed for two essential reasons:

**There is more – click the link**

View Full… Read More