From John Fund of the Wall Street Journal:

I feel like I am watching a split screen – and both are depicting horror movies in public policy. As I write, one screen shows our lawmakers in Congress rushing a gigantic spending bill through so quickly that Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg admitted that none of his colleagues would be able to read a final version before they vote on it. Lobbyists with goodies in the bill had copies of the bill yesterday, even before lawmakers did. The second screen I am watching is one focused on my home state of California. There “Five Men In A Room,” the state’s… Read More

Today could be one of the worst economic days in US history.

Congress may pass the most expensive aggressive pork laden spending bill ever. Only with thehelp of 3 pathetic Republican senators.

Back home, our legislature is set to impose more taxes on the highest taxes in the US, only to preserve union power. The only way to force new taxes, votes must come from Republicans.… Read More

Waste Watchers- Your Tax Dollars Hard at Work: Paying a Teacher Not to Teach During these tough budget times, many school districts are finding ways to maximize funding going into the classroom. That’s precisely why parents should be outraged that at least one district is using tax dollars to keep a teacher out of the classroom. The Kern Union High School District pays the president of the Kern High School Teachers Association, or KHSTA, a regular full-time teaching salary even though, as president of the association, he currently spends no time in the classroom. In essence, taxpayers are paying a teacher not to teach.

According to the Bakersfield Californian (January 27), "Mitch Olsen, in his fifth year as KHSTA president, is classified as a teacher by the district. Three periods, or 60 percent of his work day, are funded by the district; the remaining two periods… Read More

Despite the fact that this is the second day that I have requested a briefing on this budget "deal" from Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill and/or Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, the silence is deafening.

It is unfortunate because I am all ears — and as I wrote with a bunch of fellow leaders of the State Republican Party, we would like to gain some perspective from our two legislative leaders, whom we hold in high regard.

In the absence of any more information — I continue to judge this "deal" based on the information available through main stream media sources.

So let me just say what I am thinking and what I have heard from literally every GOP leader, donor and activist to whom I have spoken or heard from via e-mail — this plan is terrible for California and extremely injurious to the Republican Party’s ability to win elections next year.

Over in the Capitol Weekly, there is a headline about Republicans winning "concessions" on what I will call relative minor policy… Read More

As you have probably read,a panel of federal judges tentatively ruled to release tens of thousands of California prisoners before their time is served. The liberal judgesclaim that the prisoners are non-serious and non-violent offenders,and thus won’t present a problem to public safety.

Here’s a look at the offenses that count as non-serious and non-violent:

• Human trafficking • Child abuse likely to produce great bodily injury • Stalking • Solicitation to commit murder or a designated sexual assault • Taking a hostage to prevent arrest or as a shield • Selling, offering for sale, or transporting a destructive device • Possessing components with intent to make destructive device • Possession, development, manufacture, production, transfer, acquisition, or retention of a weapon of mass destruction • Threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction • Possessing restricted biological agents • Exploding a destructive device to terrorize • Elder abuse • Manufacture or sale of drugs even while armed with a firearm • Burglary in which the defendant is armed with… Read More

Maybe it was the octuplet mother inciting public backlash, or Nancy Pelosi’s warpedthinking that preventing future productive members of society will help us out of our current economic meltdown. Whatever the reason, stateleaders have decided that parents should no longer receive tax benefits for growing their families. Included in their budget “deal” is a decrease in the dependent exemption credit. Kevin Dayton over at the Associated Builders and Contractors of California first brought this to my attention in an email. He explained that part of the budget deal was the plan to “raise $1.44 billion by increasing taxes at least $210 per dependent by reducing the dependent exemption credit to equal the personal exemption credit.”

Kevin made a great point about the exemption so I’m just going to quote him directly: “The proposed budget makes it sound so nice – ‘equalizing the credit’ – as if justice was… Read More

As more details of the budget "raw deal" are made public, there’s going to be a long list of opponents coming forward to express their disapproval. Now, the Lincoln Club of Fresno County, led by FR’s Michael Der Manouel, Jr.,announces their opposition: Lincoln Club of Fresno County Opposes State Budget Deal

Fresno, California – The Central Valley’s premier Republican Political Action Committee has announced its opposition to the recently struck “deal” between Democrats and Republicans on the State budget.

“The increases in the sales tax, vehicle license fee, income tax and gasoline tax are an unconscionable compromise by the Republicans, who have now compromised with the Democrats eight straight years in a row. The mess we are in now is a reflection of this compromise. This bill must be defeated”, said Lincoln Club Chairman Michael Der Manouel, Jr.

Der Manouel continued that the “reforms and spending caps in this compromise can easily be undone by the Democrat majority in future years, while citizens will be stuck with the tax increases. In this economy, any tax increase will… Read More

After battling for more than 2 years, Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan has succeeded in eliminating a multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded healthcare program for citizens of other countries from the Sacramento County budget.

During an earlier budget cycle (yes even before the economic downturn), MacGlashan had gone through the budget (rather than relying on staff reports) where she discovered staff had been listing the healthcare program (which was ONLY for citizens of other countries) as mandatory, when it was a purely discretionary program.

At a cost more than $2.4 million a year, Sacramento County taxpayers were providing citizens from other countries with healthcare coverage beyond that which US, California and Sacramento citizens could access. MacGlashan believed that was wrong.

Supervisor MacGlashan has been hawkish on the budget and taxes since her election to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors in 2004, noted that… Read More