Topping the news, Rep. Issa (R-Vista) and Rep. Souder (R-Ind.) have called on the House ethics panel to review what The Hill calls "sweetheart" mortgage deals for Members and staff. It’s here.

House Democratic Leadership has pledged to permit a vote on the issue of offshore drilling and other energy exploration measures, but the bill may come with some baggage, The Hill reports today.

The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, a bipartisan conservation and outdoor activity promotion group has released a poll showing Sen. McCain ahead among the sporting set. On a related note, this is a great group: if you have business in Washington or are an outdoorsman, support this group. More online here.

Speaking of McCain: the Washington Post reports today on confidential… Read More

In our quest to get termed-out legislators on the record against any tax increases, whether so-called temporary or not, we got this statement from Senator Dick Ackerman:

“Temporary or not, I do not support the use of taxes to balance the state’s budget. This includes an exchange of higher taxes today for a promise of lower taxes and fiscal responsibility in the future. This latest proposal misleads California taxpayers and does not deserve support.”

Oh, and I got a shout-out from Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, who agrees completely.… Read More

I got off of the phone a little while ago. The termed-out Assemblymember assured me that she is “No! No! No!” in any tax increases, “temporary” or not.… Read More

The file item that contained the state budget bill, AB 1781, was passed over this morning. Republicans made a motion to at least have a vote on the current bill, as reported out of the budget Conference Committee. That motion was defeated, so we still don’t know what the ‘temperature’ of both caucuses is on the current document or how far away the Assembly is from achieving 54 votes to pass any form of budget.There are47 Democrat members in regular attendence in our floor sessions. It is widely assumed, if a vote was taken today,that there are less than 47 likely ‘aye’ votes as of right now for this budget document…but who really knows? … Read More

The following op-ed ran in my local paper today – The Desert Sun —

Union bossTyrone Freeman has stolen a lot of money from low wage union members. According to the the Los Angeles Times (link) in a Pulitzer-worth piece, reporter Paul Pringle will not be invited to the next SEIU Christmas Party. This SEIU local, 6424 United Long-Term Care Workers, is controlled by its organizer Freeman. It has some 190,000 workers paying each month into his local. Local 6424 sees itself as the "poor helping the poor" union. Like many such unexamined unions, this one became Freeman’s personal bank. … Read More

Union bossTyrone Freeman has stolen a lot of money from low wage union members. According to the the Los Angeles Times (link) in a Pulitzer-worth piece, reporter Paul Pringle will not be invited to the next SEIU Christmas Party. This SEIU local, 6424 United Long-Term Care Workers, is controlled by its organizer Freeman. It has some 190,000 workers paying each month into his local. Local 6424 sees itself as the "poor helping the poor" union. Like many such unexamined unions, this one became Freeman’s personal bank. … Read More

The IRS doesn’t want charitable organizations to have links to political campaigns on their websites, and on July 28, the director of IRS Exempt Organization Examinations issued a ukase on "Political Campaign Activity on the Internet."

The IRS will now open examinations of charities that have a direct link to a political action committee or candidate website on the charity’s website. They will also open an examination if they find a charity has linked to an unrelated501(c)(4) advocacy organization or commerical sitethat itself links to a candidate or PAC site whereit isintended by the charity to indirectly link the viewer to the political site.

Cases involving "related" 501(c)(4) organizations are more complicated and the IRS is less likely to take action to indirect links to political sites by that route. However, a "fact and circumstance" is how many clicks it takes to get to the political site. If it is really easy, that is a problem.

I’m sure IRS agents love this duty, siting in front of a computer 8 hours a day and websurfing. Must be… Read More