State Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard, a longtime FR friend, sent the following letter over to the President of the California Taxpayers’ Association, upon hearing that they had endorsed the Governor’s budget proposal that includes a massive, multi-billion dollar sales tax increase…

Dear Teresa,

I am sorry that I was unable to reach you this morning, but I did want to let you know as soon as possible that I oppose the decision of your organization to support general tax increases. If this position does not violate the charter of your organization, it should.… Read More

State Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard, a longtime FR friend, sent the following letter over to the President of the California Taxpayers’ Association, upon hearing that they had endorsed the Governor’s budget proposal that includes a massive, multi-billion dollar sales tax increase…

The State Senate just gave thumbs down to the no tax budget plan advanced by the Republican caucus by a vote of 13 ‘aye’, all Reeps, and 21 ‘no’, all Dems.… Read More

As a follow-up to yesterday’s FR mainpage link to the SFChron Matier & Ross story, here’s today’s announcement as noted by California Special Districts Association….

Correctional Officers Announce Effort to Recall Schwarzenegger

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) announced today that they will begin the process to recall Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"It’s about leadership," said CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran. "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the worst governor in the history of worst governors …" The union is collecting the 65 necessary valid signatures to serve the governor a… Read More

As the hijinks of the legislative and budget process lurches along, the "day-counts" are becoming a kind of interesting subplot…to me anyway. Now, with all the conventions over and the bill deadline over, it now can become time for the media to focus on why the Republicans should give in to a tax increase. Hey, everyone else is. What I mean by the day-countsis that today is the 70th day since the June 30 fiscal year or "working deadline" came and went. The latest budget ever was signed Sep. 5 so we have that record going for us,70 and counting.

Then, counting down, for us legislators termed out this year, we have79 days until wehave to get our stuff outof our state offices, November 26 at 5 PM, the Wednesday beforeThanksgiving. They want a couple days for the incoming crop to have their offices switched over, ready on the day of their swearing in Monday, Dec 1 at noon.

Our termsare technically until November 30 at midnight [83 days]so I guess my constituents will have tocall me or our staff by cell or at home for case work issues those last 4 days. Or maybe they find a way to do without their… Read More

As the hijinks of the legislative and budget process lurches along, the "day-counts" are becoming a kind of interesting subplot…to me anyway. Now, with all the conventions over and the bill deadline over, it now can become time for the media to focus on why the Republicans should give in to a tax increase. Hey, everyone else is. What I mean by the day-countsis that today is the 70th day since the June 30 fiscal year or "working deadline" came and went. The latest budget ever was signed Sep. 5 so we have that record going for us,70 and counting.

Then, counting down, for us legislators termed out this year, we have79 days until wehave to get our stuff outof our state offices, November 26 at 5 PM, the Wednesday beforeThanksgiving. They want a couple days for the incoming crop to have their offices switched over, ready on the day of their swearing in Monday, Dec 1 at noon.

Our termsare technically until November 30 at midnight [83 days]so I guess my constituents will have tocall me or our staff by cell or at home for case work issues those last 4 days. Or maybe they find a way to do without their… Read More

What’s the opposite of the old saying that a broken clock is right twice a day? Maybe that even normally functioning watches need to have their batteries changed from time to time?

Odd, but interesting that the Wall Street Journal of all places would opine so favorably in Mike Aguirre’s favor given the well-documented troubles of the liberal Democrat Aguirre’s office. A San Diego Retirement

Unfunded public employee pensions are a crisis waiting to erupt across the country, so a

I know Jon likes to keep this as a resource for state political news, and in that vein I guess I’ll point out how this map shows that Obama’s lead in California has dropped from 21-points in July to 11-points currently.

But more so, a)maybe I’m late to the party, but I didn’t know Rove had a website, and b)this scrolling map is pretty interesting, to see how the state-by-state polls have shifted throughout the past 6 months. Definitely something I’ll keep bookmarked for the next 60 days.… Read More