Free Republic

WASHINGTON - The House ethics committee's top Democrat, under fire from Republicans, said Friday he's unaware of any errors in his financial disclosures the past nine years. Rep. Alan Mollohan (news, bio, voting record), D-W.Va., provided a detailed explanation of his investments a week after a conservative group questioned the accuracy of his annual financial reporting. Republican campaign officials called for his resignation from the ethics panel, but Mollohan refused to step down. The allegations could have an impact on the ethics committee's ability to investigate wrongdoing and could be a factor in this year's congressional elections. The committee has...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will face a hugely difficult problem tomorrow when he delivers his annual State of the State address: the Grand Canyon-sized gap between the lazy conventional wisdom about California's problems and reality. When Schwarzenegger ran during the 2003 recall campaign, his analysis of Sacramento's dysfunction was acute: Gov. Gray Davis and the Democratic-run Legislature had gone on a four-year binge in which spending grew much faster than population and inflation. This binge occurred both during the windfall years of the tech boom and as revenues plunged when the stock market tanked after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Only...

<p>It was not the topic of a sermon, but it was still a hot topic on many minds at Bethel Baptist Church in Santa Ana on Sunday. Vote with your heart or your head?</p> <p>"As believers, we should all be concerned about social issues," said the Rev. Dan Davidson, Bethel Baptist's pastor for 15 years. "Over the years, we've voted for the lesser of two evils. But I can't vote for someone who's socially liberal, even if he's fiscally conservative."</p>

<p>LOS ANGELES -- Arnold Schwarzenegger's dilemma in making the transition from movie star to politician was framed by the last question he fielded Wednesday during a session with reporters that was supposed to showcase his understanding of economic matters.</p> <p>The question came from a blond bombshell-type "reporter" from "Entertainment Tonight," the syndicated television show that chronicles the comings and goings of show-biz personalities. What exalted role, the questioner asked breathlessly, would fellow actor Rob Lowe play in Schwarzenegger's campaign for the governorship of California?</p>

<p>Give in to demands from fellow Democrats that he nearly triple vehicle license fees, or veto the fee hike but risk signaling to Wall Street that he and lawmakers can't manage the state's budget crisis.</p> <p>The Assembly earlier this week approved a measure making $8.6 billion in midyear cuts sought by the governor contingent on his agreeing to a measure that could trigger the increase in annual car fees.</p>