A couple of weeks ago, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called together a group of leaders of taxpayer advocacy groups in his office in Sacramento. The purpose of the meeting was two-fold — for the Governor to restate his commitment to holding the line against any new taxes, and also to strategize about how to tackle the upcoming state budget negotiations. I asked FR friend Jon Coupal, the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, who was at that meeting, if he would put pen to paper (or is that fingers to keyboard?) and tell us all about that meeting. When reading his piece, featured today on the main page, I was especially pleased to hear that the Governor made it clear that his opposition is to new taxes and to NEW FEES. As Coupal points out, this will foreshadow a host of vetoes during this legislative session as the Democrats love to pass fee increases left and right. Coupal’s piece ends with a warning, though. Which is that holding the line on taxation is very important, but that the big challenge ahead of the Governor is the reigning in of spending…. … Read More

A couple of weeks ago, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called together a group of leaders of taxpayer advocacy groups in his office in Sacramento. The purpose of the meeting was two-fold — for the Governor to restate his commitment to holding the line against any new taxes, and also to strategize about how to tackle the upcoming state budget negotiations. I asked FR friend Jon Coupal, the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, who was at that meeting, if he would put pen to paper (or is that fingers to keyboard?) and tell us all about that meeting. When reading his piece, featured today on the main page, I was especially pleased to hear that the Governor made it clear that his opposition is to new taxes and to NEW FEES. As Coupal points out, this will foreshadow a host of vetoes during this legislative session as the Democrats love to pass fee increases left and right. Coupal’s piece ends with a warning, though. Which is that holding the line on taxation is very important, but that the big challenge ahead of the Governor is the reigning in of spending…. … Read More

My Fax machine just won’t stop printing today, as article after article about 66th GOP Primary Candidate Dan Branstien and his runs for Assembly as a Democrat in the 1970’s and 80’s continue to pour in. It now appears that he ran in 1980 against Conservative Assemblyman Dennis Brown for the 58th District. I am going to attend the 66th Assembly candidates forum tonight. It should be interesting seeing what Brandstein has to say for himself. I am sure he will invoke the name of Ronald Reagan and how he was a Democrat. I don’t believe that Reagan ran three times as a Democrat for the Assembly.… Read More

"Bullet Voting" is when a candidate in a multi-candidateelection tries to get people to just vote for one candidate. The ballots normally come with an instruction toVote for no more thantwo or three. In the case of LA Central Committees 7. If you can do thisbeyond you and your family, it can make the difference in close elections. The reality is most normal non-activist types think they are wasting a vote if they don’t use it.

The County recently mailed ballots in theTorrance Municipal elections that toldvoters to vote for no more than one. Hope this trend continues. We all know there can’t ever be three really good council candidates at the same time! If youlive in Torrance "Bullet Vote" for Rod Guyton, a former CRA VP.

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The next Santa Ana City Council meeting might be a little more tense than usual. Long-time directly elected Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido has endorsed Councilman Jose Solorio over Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez for the 69th Assembly District (one of Orange County’s two Dem Assembly seats, the other is the 56th which only takes in Buena Park).

While Pulido is not a powerhouse in Dem politics, he certainly has respect among the voters. There have been dueling polls on the race that show dramatically different results.

According to a new release from the Solorio campaign–Jose is polling slightly ahead of Alvarez:

A recent poll of likely Democratic voters in the 69th showed Solorio with a slight lead over Alvarez. Just last week in the Los Angeles Times, the publisher of the California Target Book, which analyzes assembly races said, "It’s really a tossup between Alvarez and Solorio, and I’d give a slight nod to Solorio."… Read More

In 1986 I was 23 years old. Two years earlier I had cast my first vote in a Presidential election. It was for Ronald Reagan, the greatest President on the 20th Century. The reason for the history lesson is to say that I knew I was a Republican in 1986.

Also in 1986 there was a Democratic primary for the 54th Assembly District, won by Ed Waters the son radical leftist Congresswomen Maxine Waters. Again you must ask, why are you telling me this? Here is why. In that Democratic Primary Waters beat a 31 year old Lakewood City Councilman named Dan Branstine. Yes the same Dan Branstine that is currently running in the Republican primary for the 66th Assembly District.

This was not the first time Branstine ran in a Democrat primary. In 1979 he ran for the State Senate in a special election. He lost that race too.

The funny thing is that if you go to Branstine’s web sitehttp://www.dan2006.com/ there is nothing written about these two failed runs as a Democrat. I guess Mr. Branstine has a very selective memory about his past. It makes you wonder what else he may be… Read More

Woodie Guthrie’s communistic song must be sung by the planning czars on the West ide of Los Angeles. They recently had to back down on a permit granted to a Christian School thatlimited the school toonly secular educations during the week. See the article here.But there is a catch. You have to read it to believe it. the city may require a reduction in enrollment if the school can’t get the carpool ratio of 2.5 children per driver.

My solution: The school should rent some Hummers and tell the carpool goons they have 6-8 in a car.… Read More

CRP Vice Chairman Ron Nehring sent an important email out today and if you missed it, you need to visit www.unionfacts.com to check out the beginning of an important strategy to retain the Governorship. I am not going to get into how many times I have written about the importance of defining unions before they beat up the Governor, again. As a matter of fact, the Governor really needs to run his race against them, and not against Westly or Angelides.

Democrat approval numbers are even lower than Arnold’s. This is why they have transferred their voice to teachers, nurses, firefighters, cops and prison guards. And those groups are our real opponents in November. Run your campaign against the legislature, the unions, and the Democrat nominee, in that order, and you just might win.… Read More