Free Republic

Voters along California's Central Coast on Tuesday turned back a Democratic attempt to gain more power in the state Legislature, electing a Republican to fill a vacant state Senate seat. The win by state Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee denies Democrats the opportunity to consolidate their power in the Senate and come within one vote of claiming the two-thirds majority needed to pass budget plans and tax increases. The special election drew interest from around the state, both in endorsements and campaign donations. Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman campaigned for Blakeslee, while President Barack Obama endorsed the Democratic candidate, former Assemblyman John...

Laird vs. Blakeslee-California 15th Senate District Special Election I couldn't find a thread for this race so I decided to create one. I feel so empowered.The race is tight so far at 0% to 0%

State senator and former Assembly Republican leader Dave Cox died today, ending more than two decades of public service by a fiscal conservative and political tough guy who savored a good joke and loved to laugh - even at himself. His family said Cox died at home, surrounded by friends family, after a 13 year battle with prostate cancer. "A devoted family man, he always found time to serve his community and constituents," said the statement from the family. "Dave took great pride in public service and making government work for the people it serves." Cox, 71, served on the...

The head of the California Senate and minority lawmakers unveiled a resolution Wednesday urging a boycott of Arizona to protest its new police immigration law. Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, said 44 legislators have agreed to co-sponsor his Senate Concurrent Resolution 113. It urges, but does not mandate, an end to California public entities investing or doing business in Arizona. The measure also recommends not traveling to Arizona and calls on private businesses to consider severing business ties with the state. Arizona's new law requires police officers to ask for proof of legal status if they have "reasonable suspicion" that...

Senate Democrats on Monday unveiled their plan to give counties greater control of state programs, potentially shedding $3 billion to $4 billion in ongoing costs to the state budget. Many of the programs are already delivered by counties but paid for through state coffers. Senate Democrats see their changes as a more appropriate "realignment" of services and costs over the next four years. Their plan would not cut taxpayer costs but rather give counties new forms of revenues to pay for the added responsibilities. The state would approve a tax on oil production, permanently extend the state's higher vehicle-license fee...

techmuse writes "The San Jose Mercury News reports that the California state legislature wants to put electronic advertising on license plates. The plate would display standard plate information when the car is moving, but would also display ads when the car is stopped for more than 4 seconds (say, at a red light). Not distracting or annoying at all! 'The bill has received no formal opposition. It passed unanimously through the Senate last month and is scheduled to be heard Monday by the Assembly Transportation Committee.'"

Members of the two-house legislative committee working on the state budget – especially its dominant Democrats – have spent much of the week lamenting that they don't have enough money to satisfy all demands, including their own. "We're starving our education system," Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, complained during the three days of talking about K-12 and higher education support. "There's just not enough money." Leno's comment, echoed by other budget conferees, didn't prevent the committee from appropriating $8.7 million to Charles Drew University for another year, however – money originally given to the private Southern California medical school to...

Republican State Senator Roy Ashburn, a political conservative from the Central Valley, was the only GOP vote in Sacramento on Thursday in favor of a resolution demanding an end to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the U.S. military. For him, the issue was clear. "Since the time of Julius Caesar, there have been gay people in the military, and it's time to end the practice of requiring people to conceal who they are," said Ashburn, R-Bakersfield. Which is exactly what Ashburn admits he has done throughout his 14-year career in the legislature. A deception that ended earlier this...

California State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, a Democrat, did an interview with the LA Times. Thought you may enjoy her response to the following question: How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislature's work? Bass' response: The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: "You vote for revenue and your career is over." I don't know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it's about free speech, but it's extremely unfair. Now that's a first. I know that politicians...

A California assemblyman has split from the Democratic Party as both houses of the Legislature head toward a contentious vote this week on a plan to bridge the state's $24 billion budget gap. Juan Arambula confirmed today that he has re-registered as an independent. Formerly a moderate within the Democratic caucus, Arambula is scheduled to be termed out next year from his Central Valley district, which encompasses portions of Fresno and Tulare counties. It is not immediately clear how Arambula's decision will affect the coming budget vote, which includes more than a dozen bills that will require a two-thirds majority...

Do Californians suffer because they themselves have too much political power, and their representatives too little? Politicians tend to say “yes.” So do their hangers-on. George Mitrovich’s fiery indictment of California voters and policymakers for the San Diego Transcript, in a column entitled “The Failed State of California,” is an unsurprising example. According to Mitrovich, a self-avowed liberal Democrat, California’s humongous deficits and other troubles are the combined fault of Governor Schwarzenegger, voters, lawmakers, and special interests — an indictment so generalized that its sheer vacuity might pass for a selling point. But then you notice something. If voters, unions,...

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Lawmakers Reject State Worker Pay Cut By Jim Sanders A new across-the-board pay cut for state workers was rejected Tuesday by the Legislature's joint budget conference committee. The 5 percent salary reduction had been proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to save $470 million and preserve cash in the coming fiscal year's general fund budget. The legislative committee rejected the pay cut by a party-line vote, 6-4, with no Republican support. The measure was one of dozens under consideration to bridge a projected $24 billion budget shortfall. Even with the committee's action, the pay cut and other...

Legislators' cars cost taxpayers $3.2 million in three years The cost includes gasoline and insurance coverage. Spouses and offspring are covered too. The benefits, rare outside California, may be curtailed. By Patrick McGreevy June 15, 2009 Reporting from Sacramento -- When not in a capital gripped by budget crises, state Sen. Ron Calderon can be found touring his San Gabriel Valley district in a Cadillac STS V8 Luxury Sports Sedan that the state bought for $54,830. The Democrat from Montebello spent an average $83 per week on gasoline last year, charged to California taxpayers on a state-issued card. When legislators'...

Californians can brace for a new war over raising revenue to close the state's multibillion-dollar budget shortfall – the first shots are on their way. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said Wednesday that her caucus is deciding among numerous revenue-raising options because the $24.3 billion shortfall is too large to bridge without an infusion. Bass and other Democratic lawmakers fear that mending the hole without new revenue would devastate the state's safety net. "You can't solve a deficit this big through cuts alone, considering all the cuts that have been made over the last few years," Bass said. The Los Angeles...

Democrats have remained coy on the idea of new taxes, but Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel last week that it is "not reasonable" for any legislator to rule out taxes . . .

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers to blow up the boxes of government, and on Wednesday they obliged -- though not exactly as he envisioned. A legislative budget committee delayed action on many of Schwarzenegger's proposals for cutting waste, and instead took an ax to operations managed by the governor. They voted to get rid of entire departments and agencies under his authority. The committee voted to eliminate the Secretary of Education office, an appointed position that exists to help the governor on school issues. Lawmakers declared that the governor does not need such an office, as it overlaps with the...

Assemblyman Roger Niello, who cast a key vote to pass a state budget that raised taxes this year, has been replaced as the GOP's point man on the Assembly Budget Committee. The Fair Oaks Republican will hand his committee post to Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, who is a freshman in the lower house but served a dozen years in the Senate, leaving in 1990. The switch was made by the Assembly's new Republican leader, Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo, who has stressed that taxes cannot be raised again in tackling a $24.3 billion shortfall.

SACRAMENTO -- Former state Senate leader Don Perata, who has been the target of a five year-long FBI corruption investigation, will not be charged with any crimes, sources told The Chronicle today. In declining to indict the 64-year-old Oakland Democrat, federal prosecutors in Sacramento put an end to a wide-ranging FBI probe into whether Perata had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars of kickbacks in return for actions he took as a legislator and as president pro tem of the Senate. Perata announced in March that he would run for mayor of Oakland in 2010. The government's decision not to...

By a nearly two to one margin, California voters rejected the “compromise” tax hike propositions put on the ballot by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and the Democratic majority of the state assembly. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) called voters’ rejection of the measures “a tragic error.” “It’s a demonstration of lack of trust in those of us charged with governing this state,” Bass said. “We tried to minimize the pain. Now, it will be severe.” “Now we will get to see how voters like having their kids home early from school, paying for their own medicine, dodging the thousands...

Boy oh boy, did California voters show bickering state officials a thing or two with their slam-dunk downing of five out of six financial propositions in Tuesday's voting. As The Ticket reported then, they didn't just say No; they said No way! In rapid response, first thing Wednesday something called the California Citizens Compensation Commission announced on a 5-1 vote that it had slashed the salaries of the governor, attorney general, controller, all legislators and other top elected state officials by 18%. That's nearly 20%! Whacked. Because in a democracy top elected officials should share the hard times and pay...