Free Republic

I am going to vote no on all of the propositions in May. Very simply stated, the so-called spending limit does not warrant the tax increases, or an extension. As usual, our Republican friends in the Legislature got sold a bill of goods. They really got nothing for the tax increases they voted. for. The ballot propositions that are supposed to implement the budget solutions are either meaningless, foolish, or increase state spending. As usual, the Democrats got everything they wanted, that is, no spending reductions at all (I am not going to argue about the baseline issues, there really...

Speaker Bass wrote a column in the Sacramento Bee today calling for a "stimulus package" for California. Her solution? Give the state more federal welfare. Since the state's financial problems have been caused by overspending, poor fiscal management of the tax dollars entrusted to them, and a complete lack of self control, you would expect the President and Congress to say no to this outlandish demand. However, since neither the President nor Congress have said no to the completely self indulgent behavior of the private sector, the Speaker's request might actually be considered. The Speaker claims that the state has...

I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow, but, should a miracle occur, and Republicans avert the impending debacle that many of the polls now predict, we should recognize that such a victory would be a divine gift, and not the result of any thing we have done to deserve the respect and support of the American people. We deserve to lose, because we have not been who we say we are. We have spent so much time worrying about how we market ourselves that we have forgotten to worry about doing the right thing. The most unfortunate thing...

Jon asked me to comment on the debate over the "water" bond currently being proposed in the Legislature. Since there really is no water bond being proposed, the debate is a false one. We are already in a water crisis it is true. Democrats have done nothing to alleviate that crisis since sometime in Jerry Brown administration in the 70's, that is true as well. About 6 bonds have passed since 1996 claiming to be water bonds, and they got Republican votes to get on the ballot because somewhere in the language of the bond, someone wrote the word water....

[ Ray Haynes is a Republican from California. He served in the California Legislature from 1992-2006 as a Senator and Assemblyman. ] Now that I am in the private sector, I have learned an important lesson. Last month, I was in Costa Rica on behalf of a company that I have been doing some work for. We found that one of our distributors had been taking our product and diluting it. It still worked, just not as well, and our customers were blaming us. To protect the brand, and the quality of our product, we got rid of the distributor....

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Governor cares little about his relationship with Republicans, and the groups that count on Republicans to protect them from an intrusive government. Whether it is the business community, taxpayers, gunowners, or families, every recent Republican governor has at least understood that only way that Republicans could prevail is by keeping these groups somewhat happy. Even Pete Wilson, whose pro-choice position caused some consternation in conservative circles, took on education, tax, gun, and family battles so that those of us who were conservatives could honestly look at our constituents and say that they could...

After 14 years representing the Inland area in Sacramento, Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, has opined on many things in his rarely subtle approach to politics. On Democrats: "Most of the Democrats want us to be nice little Republicans and pat us on the heads. Well, sorry. You're going to have to fight me for what you got." On air-quality regulators: "We have a bunch of clean-air Nazis that have been running roughshod over the people of California ... because they think they've got God and nature on their side." On himself: "I've developed a persona that Haynes is kind of...

I have spent a lot of time trying to think of what I would say to each of you in this, my last, Monday Morning Memorandum. God, and some gonzo lawyer, has put an end to this phase of my political career, and I personally don’t have the hardware or the training to send this out each week to the 30 or so thousand of you that receive this memo. So, I have to end this commentary, for the moment. If I can, I will resume it, but for the moment, this is the last of my comments to you....

A lot of comments have been directed at this country’s “greatest generation,” those who suffered the Great Depression, fought World War II, and then rebuilt this country from the ruins of those catastrophic events. I remember, as my generation attended college and entered the workforce, a lot of debate among my peers as to what we would do when we take over. We all thought we would “do it right,” make this country a better place to work, live and raise a family. I think I can say, having inherited a sizable legacy from the “Greatest Generation,” the baby boomers...

If we have lost anything in this country, it is our sense of what is important in a political election. Recently, in California’s election race, Oakland Mayor [and former Governor], Jerry Brown, called Chuck Poochigian an extremist because State Senator Poochigian believes in the Constitution. Mayor Brown is a very smart and experienced politician. Obviously, he thought his accusation would get him votes. That is very frightening. An electorate that doesn’t soundly reject any politician who advocates ignoring the Constitution, expanding government power, and diminishing freedom is in serious trouble. In so many ways, California is in serious trouble. Quite...

Scaredy cats Business fights Prop. 90 in self-pity and cynicism saying it must submit to survive in corrupt, socialist California. Assemblyman Ray Haynes represents California’s 66th Assembly District. In 1922, Ludwig von Mises, an Austrian free market economist, wrote: “It is not the business of entrepreneurs to lead the political fight against Socialism ... It follows, therefore, that neither associations of entrepreneurs, nor those organizations in which entrepreneurs’ support counts, are inclined to fight on principle against socialism.” When I first joined the Legislature, I could not understand why the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Manufacturers Association, the California...

There is always a good excuse for big government. I thought I would spend some time to catalogue some of those excuses, just to put them down on the record. Whether it is on the floor of the Senate or Assembly, in budget or other committee hearings in the Legislature, these excuses pop up from time to time. In this era of term limits, it is rare for those in decision making positions to hang around long enough to hear these excuses repeated, so this article can act as a chronicle, since I have now heard many of these excuses...

One of the favorite tricks of the opponents of an initiative is to claim they oppose an initiative because it is “poorly written” or it has “unintended” consequences. If the opponent believes that the policy of an initiative is popular, the opponent will say “Hey, I support that policy, I just don’t support this initiative because it just does too much, or it will cost too much, or it is poorly written.” We are currently seeing this tactic used by those that oppose California's Proposition 90. Let’s start with the context of the discussion. For years, state and local governments...

An original column penned for the FlashReport by Republican State Assemblyman Ray Haynes. The first question for those of us who believe in conservatism is what specific values we believe in. Do we believe in small government? Do we believe in fewer taxes? Do we believe in individual liberty? If we believe in these things, how does that translate into actual public policy? Proposition 90 begins with the first fundamental premise; no government--federal, state or local--should be allowed to take a private individual’s property, and turn it over to another private individual, no matter how good a reason the government...

In Nazi Germany, the first step in Hitler’s effort to eliminate opposition was to undermine the influence of churches and people of faith. Since the church in Nazi Germany was receiving state subsidies, it wasn’t too hard to get compliance, but the consequences of that compliance was devastating. In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes the effects of Hitler’s policies on the church, and how that ultimately led to the collapse of the moral fabric of the nation. We all know what occurred after that. There are several linchpins of liberty. The first is property rights. If...

Freedom is a fragile thing. A candlelight in a windstorm, if you will, requiring constant vigilance to preserve. It is never safe, as the old saying goes, as long as the California Legislature (or Congress, for that matter) is in session. That is because the ruling class, that is, elected officials, bureaucrats, and their allies in the private sector, get money, power and prestige from bigger government, and bigger government is an anathema to freedom. Therefore, those who are in charge of protecting our freedom, (i.e. government officials) have a vested interest in taking it away. Human nature being what...

From the beginning of his time in government, California’s Democrat candidate for Governor, Phil Angelides has never met a government program he didn’t like, or tax that he thought was too high. In the midst of the energy crisis, he proposed a complete government takeover of the electricity system. During the budget crisis, his contribution to the spending problem was to renegotiate state bonds to obtain a payment holiday. In other words, for two years we did not pay off any of the principal while interest accrued. That is Phil Angelides way of “saving” the state money. In the end,...

Sometimes, I think that I am repeating myself over and over again. It seems that my liberal friends in the Legislature keep doing the same things over and over again, and never realize that it is what they are doing that is hurting the rest of us. The latest thing is affordable housing. About a month ago, playing off of the theme of her husband’s presidential campaign, Senator Hillary Clinton said, “It’s the American dream, stupid,” obviously implying that Democrats should focus on making sure people can buy a home—the “American dream”. This has led to a lot of the...

About a month ago, playing off her husband’s presidential campaign slogan, Senator Huller Clinton said, “It’s the American dream, stupid,” implying that Democrats should focus on making sure people can buy a home — the “American dream.” Immediately, legislative Democrats began trying to find ideas that would expand government under the guise of providing “affordable housing.” Two hit the floor of the Legislature this week. SB 521 (Sen. Tom Torlakson) would allow Contra Costa County to assess an extra $1 per page on the recording of documents for real estate transactions. The rationalization for this tax increase is that it...

An initiative to create a statewide border police force failed in its second effort to get on the ballot and appears to be headed for California's political dustbin. The Border Police Initiative fell far short of the 373,816 signatures needed to make it on the November ballot, according to the California Secretary of State's Office -- short by 373,816 signatures. "The counties did not submit any petitions for verification," said Nghia Nguyen, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Bruce McPherson. The proposal was the brainchild of Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Temecula, who launched a signature-gathering effort last year. Haynes, who did...