It’s not often that taxpayers get good news, especially in tax-happy California. Even more surprising is when the good news is an official opinion from the state’s Attorney General, someone not normally associated with friendly treatment to taxpayers.

Last November, this column noted that local governments, especially school districts, were prone to engage in questionable campaign activity to secure an unfair advantage in bond elections. Although it is illegal for officials to use public resources (including public funds) to urge a vote for or against a political issue, consultants frequently advise tax proponents to wage one sided “informational” campaigns. This includes sending out material stating all the good things a bond or tax measure will do, but usually they stop just short of violating the law by telling people how to vote. (Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has had multiple successes in obtaining court injunctions against school districts that cross the line into advocacy, but by the time the court rules, the political damage has already been done). And to top it all off, the “consultants” compensated with taxpayer dollars are frequently… Read More

Not long ago, I said I believe that Donald Trump will be as President just as Arnold Schwarzenegger was as California Governor. Leaving aside the recent brouhaha about the debate (I will only say that if Trump cannot handle a little attack from Megyn Kelly, Vladimir Putin and ISIS will eat him for lunch), everything that Trump has done since I wrote the article has convinced me I was exactly correct. Once again, I start with the disclaimer I support Ted Cruz. That, however, does not change my observations and comparisons.

Schwarzenegger’s leftist lackeys rejected my premise, claiming Schwarzenegger practiced the politics of “inclusion,” whatever that means. They said Schwarzenegger reached out to his opponents, wanted to include his opposition, not demonize them as Trump has done. Schwarzenegger, say his apologists, was nice and fuzzy.

I don’t know how calling your opponents “girly men” is being inclusive. In fact, when he was running for office, Schwarzenegger called the Sacramento crowd corrupt, and he was going there to clean it up. I was at a rally in Sacramento, where the theme song was the Twisted Sister song… Read More

The alternative title for this post could be, “What is going on that the Deputy’s Union doesn’t want made public?”

I think we all can agree that transparency in government is a critical component of the public being able to exercise our rights to interact in an informed way with their elected officials, and of course cast informed votes at the ballot box. It was an unfortunate blow to transparency when the COIN ordinance at the County of Orange was shelved due to legal reasons — that was the measure specifically designed to make sure that the public would be informed about the details of labor negotiations in an ongoing manner, so that… Read More

California was once the State that everyone looked up to. With the best weather and natural resources, we were full of hope and innovation. We had the best public schools, a world class system of higher education, the best freeways, infrastructure to provide fresh water to our growing population, which also doubled as a source of clean energy through hydro-electric power, a business-friendly environment where entire industries grew in entertainment, aerospace, and technology, making our economy virtually recession-proof.

Then in 1978, then-governor Jerry Brown signed an executive order that imposed union-shop collective bargaining on public agencies in California, and the rise of public sector union power began.

Today, public sector unions are the most powerful political force in our State. They control a majority of our State Legislature and might control a supermajority in November if a few swing districts fall their way. No politician, Democrat, Republican or Independent, acts without considering how it will affect the union agenda.

These government unions press 100% for a progressive agenda, and they consistently agitate for increased spending. In two… Read More

By Megan Barth and Katy Grimes

Betrayal is the only truth that sticks

Arthur Miller

The rise of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are a direct reflection of the anger and pain of the electorate and the capitulation of conservative principles by the GOP. The electorate and conservatives are demanding change, and the GOP, for the sake of saving the grand old party, must change.It is necessary for therestoration of the party, conservatism,… Read More

In a provocative and electrifying legal move, Gerawan Farming Company employee Silvia Lopez filed a legal brief to disqualify ALRB Board Member Genevieve Shiroma from the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, for bias and conflicts of interest.

Lopez cites evidence of Shiroma’s close political ties with the United Farm Workers union, and long time Democrat political operative Richie Ross. Silvia Lopez, a San Joaquin Valley farm worker, filed legal documents detailing payments over $120,000 from Shiroma to United Farm Workers’ Lobbyist Richie Ross, and documented Shiroma’s financial support of the author of a bill designed to help the UFW force itself on workers. UFW is the same union trying to force itself on the employees where Lopez works, as Lopez has fought for two years for her co-workers right to vote. Shiroma made the payments to the UFW’s lobbyist while she sat in judgment of issues directly involving that union, and while the workers ballots remain uncounted in a government vault

In 2013, I did an investigation of Shiroma and found some startling conflicts.

“In 1998, voters… Read More

Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher and Tom McClintock, Assemblymembers Matthew Harper and Shannon Grove, former California Republican Chairman Michael Schroeder, former legislator Ray Haynes and legal scholar John Eastman join in backing Cruz

HOUSTON, Texas – Presidential candidate Ted Cruz today named 118 members of his California Leadership Team.

“We have assembled a powerful team in California from the Oregon border to San Diego, and from the Pacific to the Sierra Nevada and I’m thankful for Ron Nehring’s leadership of these courageous conservatives,” said Cruz. “They have the commitment, experience, and insight to win and I look forward to working with them towards victory.”

Former California Republican Party Chairman Michael Schroeder and former California legislator Ray Haynes will serve as California Co-Chairs of the Ted Cruz for President campaign. The campaign additionally announced the endorsements of Assemblymembers Shannon Grove of Bakersfield and Matthew Harper of Orange County together with former Chapman University Law… Read More

There’s more good news for Gerawan Farming! Superior CourtJudge Timothy Frawley finds that the Agricultural Labor Relations Board IS subject to the California Public Records Act.

For several yearsI’ve been writing about Gerawan Farming in Fresno, and the company’s gutsy refusal to cave under the pressure of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board’s denial of farmworkers’ rights to vote for or against unionization.

Gerawan recently was granted a significant win by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley, who agreed to the Gerawan’s request for documents in an unfair labor practice… Read More