Two important rulings made public last week by the Federal Election Commission demonstrate the FEC is attempting to follow guidance established by the U.S. Supreme Court in the so-called Wisconsin Right to Life case, and one of the rulings adds toa newbody of law which slightly expands the permissable content of candidate-related political speech that is unregulated by the FEC. Becausethe rulings are based on interpretations of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, they can and shouldinfluence the regulatory posture of the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

The decisions apply to so-called "527" issue advocacy groups but theyshould also be of note to nonprofit advocacy organizations organized as corporations and tax exempt under different sections of the IRS tax code.

In one of the decisions, which is a detailed written ruling, the FEC found that the Pennsylvania-based Lantern Project did not cross the line to require Federal political action committee status (andtherefore FEC regulation, contribution limits, ban on corporate/union contributions,and disclosure) when itspent… Read More

Quote of the Month… Who needs detailed analysis over tax, borrow, spend, excuse and obfuscate proposals when it’s so simple to utilize the colorful? Thanks to FR reader Ray Palmucci for sending along a bit of brilliance. He callsthe half-dozen measureson the May 19 ballot "A six pack of Austrian backwash." Speaking of Just Saying No to Leaving a Bad Taste… The Republican Party of San Diego County last week released it’s official Voter Guide for No on Props 1A thru 1F. See the website info here and apdf of the guide here.

As well, if you haven’t heard the No on 1A radio ad campaign that started last week, take a listen:

Wolf in Sheep’s clothing

Jon Coupal Urgent Warning

An… Read More

I obtained the audio files of freshman Assemblyman Danny Gilmore, who ran as a conservative, "defending" his support for Proposition 1A. Essentially, he said he was supporting it, but he hated it.

What no one is talking about, of course, is how the budget "deal" that recently passed the legislature is dead on arrival. The revenue isn’t anywhere near the projections.

The audio files are here.… Read More

Last Tuesday, on a Southwest flight to San Jose, I literally ran into my friend John Clarey, a successful businessman from Orange County.. The irony is that John and I work about 30 feet from one another in Newport Beach, in the same office suite.

John is a huge supporter of Meg Whitman’s campaign for Governor, and so it wasn’t a surprise when he told me he was on his way to a Meg Whitman "Call Day" — this is when supporters gather and make fundraising calls from one location, with the candidate on hand to jump on the line. As always, John tried to get me to go along — but he knows as an officer of the state GOP, I have to stay out of contested Republican primaries.

"Call days" were a favorite fundraising technique of Mitt Romney during his Presidential run — so it’s no surprise that Whitman, who was a key player in Romney’s campaign for President (while he lost the nomination, Romney raised a vast amount of money).

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

Last Tuesday, on a Southwest flight to San Jose, I literally ran into my friend John Clarey, a successful businessman from Orange County.. The irony is that John and I work about 30 feet from one another in Newport Beach, in the same office suite.

John is a huge supporter of Meg Whitman’s campaign for Governor, and so it wasn’t a surprise when he told me he was on his way to a Meg Whitman "Call Day" — this is when supporters gather and make fundraising calls from one location, with the candidate on hand to jump on the line. As always, John tried to get me to go along — but he knows as an officer of the state GOP, I have to stay out of contested Republican primaries.

"Call days" were a favorite fundraising technique of Mitt Romney during his Presidential run — so it’s no surprise that Whitman, who was a key player in Romney’s campaign for President (while he lost the nomination, Romney raised a vast amount of money).

Anyways, turns out that Whitman’s "Call Day" event drew 150 political and finance leaders in her campaign — VIP’s ranging from former Governor Pete… Read More

Earlier this week the San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a stunning ruling affirming the individual right to bear arms. My latest Townhall.com column takes a look at the ruling and how out of step state lawmakers are with the growing case law affirming our Second Amendment rights. … Read More

I am scratching my head a bit this morning, as I caught up with the news that two GOP Assemblymen from the Central Valley, Tom Berryhill and Danny Gilmore, have endorsed Proposition 1A. Other than the three infamous Republican Assemblymembers (Adams, Niello and Villines) who voted to tie $16 billion in taxes to the passage of 1A, Berryhill and Gilmore are the only two GOP Assemblymembers to endorse 1A.

The reason why I am scratching my head is to try and understand why they would endorse this measure. We know that it's passage triggers $16 billion in income, sales and car taxes, as well as cuts in the tax credits for families wity children. We know that the “revenue smoothing” language in 1A is so vague that our state's leading experts on spending restraints oppose 1A and specifically have criticized the so-called spending cap — the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the National Tax Limitation Committee, the Pacific Research Institite, the People's Advocate, the Claremont Institute — to name some.

This to say nothing about the “great ruse” – the considerable efforts by the proponents of 1A to… Read More

"More is more," is one of my favorite slogans, and in the case of the battle against the misleading campaign being waged to pass Proposition 1A, a second major effort to get the truth out to the voters about the $16 billion in additional taxes that are triggered by its passage has kicked off. To complement the Herculean efforts already underway under the leadership of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, we now have Californians Against New Taxes – No On 1A. This committee kicked off its efforts with a press event in downtown Los Angeles, and we asked their Communications Director, longtime FR friend Jonathan Wilcox, to pen something on how that event went…

Riordan, Steel, Foy, Baric Kickoff Latest No on 1A Effort The formation of Californians Against New Taxes is set against the backdrop of a record expansion in state spending and we believe not coincidentally a record expansion of the state’s budget deficit, expected to reach more than $41 billion by… Read More