By an estimated 60-40 margin, voters in the City of Clovis tonight roundly rejected a proposed 1% sales tax increase. Despite having the support of Republican City Council members Nathan Magsig, Lynn Ashbeck and Jose Flores. The lone GOP council member in opposition was Council President Bob Whalen, who is planning on running for Assembly District 19 in 2010 when incumbent Mike Villines is termed out.

The Measure was flawed from the beginning, with no sunset clause and no direction for the funds except the general fund.

The Fresno County Republican Party and Lincoln Club of Fresno County came out in early opposition to Measure A, and a consortium of conservative groups held a press conference this week opposing the measure.

Ironically, the tax increase deal brokered two weeks ago in Sacramento probably hurt the cause of Measure A. The tax increase was brokered by Mike Villines, whose District includes the City of Clovis.… Read More

I’ve received a steady barrage of news releases from "Budget Reform Now," the campaign committee seeking approval of Propositions 1A through F — which in turn are part of the Schwarzenegger/Democrat "Kill California’s Economy Now" budget.

Four landed in the ole inbox today alone, and they drive home the sad truism that big businesses interests — contrary to the self-delusions of the Left — are not the bankrollers of the Right or battlers for the free market. Oh, that it were!

In one press release, I am treated too the depressing spectacle of Joel Fox — former long-time president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association — singing the praises of Prop. 1A as head of something called the "Small Business Action Committee."

I wasn’t aware small businesses favored action to extend the massive $13.5 billion tax hike for two additional years! Call me old-fashioned, but champions of small business are supposed to oppose transfering wealth and power to government, not support extending such transfers.

Other "pro-business" groups selling out the free market include the… Read More

This random thought just crossed my mind as I am traveling on the rental car shuttle at the Oakland Airport…

It would appear that President Obama is going to govern this nation as a hardcore left-wing ideologue. In some respects I am jeolous because our last President certainly didn't govern as a hardcore right-winger. Not even close. I think I feel kind of… cheated…… Read More

For those following such things, a mini-controversy had erupted in SoCal over a scheduled fundraising event that Assemblyman Anthony Adams had coming up (this week, if I recall) featuring Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, whom Adams has endorsed for Governor.

KFI’s John and Ken got a hold of the invite and devoted a lot of air time to the subject.

The subtext of course is that Adams is one of the "Quisling Six" GOP legislators that sided with all of the legislature’s Democrats to foist upon Californians the single largest tax increase in the history of any state ever. Add to this Steve Poizner’s strong opposition to that vote, and you get perfect drive time radio drama.

Well, predictably, the Poizner event for Adams was scrubbed. But stepping up to raise money for Adams’ reelection is the most famous tax-advocating GOP flip flopper of them all — Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Since this just became public, I am sure it will make for even more entertaining fodder for John and Ken. I guess look for Arnold to be headlining events soon for Senators Maldonado, Ashburn (for BOE), and Cogdill — and for… Read More

This coming May, California voters will be asked to vote on a half-dozen different ballot measures placed before them by the state legislature.

Over the coming weeks, I will be taking a look at each of those measures – analyzing them and giving FR readers my take on them.

The first one that I am going to tackle is the last of the six on the ballot – Proposition 1F.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

The Duf Sundehim/CRAFT pay package story was first reported by yours truly five days ago on Red County.com, and then headlined on the FlashReport.org the next day.

The Sacramento Bee has now picked it up, and reporter Andrew McIntosh gave glancing acknowledgment to the story’s origin in the fifth paragraph:

It was Red County, Mr. McIntosh. R-E-D C-O-U-N-T-Y.

And you’re welcome.

By the way, Jon Fleischman is described in the Sacbee story as "a former vice chairman of the state GOP," when in fact Jon was re-elected to that post little more than a week ago. Details.… Read More

I was excited to hear from the University of the Pacific College Republicans that my former Congressman and Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum, will be in Stockton this Tuesday evening delivering a speech titled "The Gathering Storm in Hard Economic Times: Challenges and Opportunities."

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of hearing Rick speak in person, I would recommend a trip to Stockton. As the author of "It Takes a Family," Rick has been at the forefront of the national debate in protecting the traditional American family and its values. He recently has been a loud voice against radical Islamic fascism as a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Rick is an inspiration to conservatives to stand up and fight against leftists and their culture and was recognized as the strongest and most articulate defender of life in the Senate. His campaign for Congress in 1990 was the first campaign I volunteered in and he continues to inspire many young conservatives to continue to "Join the Fight" as he did with me as a young college student.

Details: 6:30 P.M. at the University of the Pacific,… Read More

This coming May, California voters will be asked to vote on a half-dozen different ballot measures placed before them by the state legislature.

Over the coming weeks, I will be taking a look at each of those measures – analyzing them and giving FR readers my take on them. The first one that I am going to tackle is the last of the six on the ballot – Proposition 1F.

1F is a pretty straight forward measure to describe – if California has a deficit in a given year, then the independent commission that reviews the salary of the Governor and State Legislators is directed to not give any raises to these politicians for that year.

On a first-pass, it sounds pretty reasonable. But the policy objective behind this measure, upon closer examination, is quite… Read More