Free Republic

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...

Two months after announcing he was gay, state Sen. Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield discussed his sexuality on the Senate floor and cast votes on two separate gay-rights bills. Ashburn was the only Republican senator to vote in support of allowing openly gay people to serve in the military, but he also voted against a bill that could remove a political obstacle to proposals to legalize same-sex marriage. Ashburn then took the unusual step of publicly explaining his votes on the Senate floor. "I would not have been speaking on a measure dealing with sexual orientation ever prior to the events...

Anti-gay Republican Senator Roy Ashburn -- the man who was arrested last week on a DUI charge after visiting Sacramento gay bar Faces -- confirmed today that he is, in fact, a homosexual. Sacramento Bee reports that the Senator, who has been on leave since his arrest, told KERN radio host Inga Barks in an interview this morning these simple words: "I'm gay." Ashburn went on to say, "Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long." Explaining his vile voting record against gay, Ashburn explained that "his votes were a reflection of how the...

Roy Ashburn, the conservative California state senator who was arrested last week for drunk driving after reportedly leaving a gay bar, has acknowledged that he is gay. CBS13 reports that Ashburn made the announcement to a radio station where he used to host a talk show. "I'm gay," he told radio host Inga Barks, according to the Sacramento Bee. "Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long."

SACRAMENTO -- The county district attorney says Republican state Sen. Roy Ashburn's blood-alcohol level was .14 percent when he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after leaving Faces, a gay bar and nightclub. Ashburn has voted against every gay rights measure the senate has voted upon, according to Project Vote Smart. The California Highway Patrol says the Bakersfield lawmaker was arrested early Wednesday after he was spotted driving erratically. Ashburn was taken to the Sacramento County Jail, booked and then released. Ashburn, the married father of four, was reportedly driving with a male passenger who was not identified. A...

SACRAMENTO (CBS13)- A state senator from Southern California was arrested for allegedly driving drunk after leaving Faces, a gay nightclub in midtown Sacramento, early Wednesday morning. The California Highway Patrol pulled over Senator Roy Ashburn at 2:00 a.m. Wednesday after an officer noticed a black Chevy Tahoe swerving at 13th and L Streets. Ashburn, a father of four, is a Republican Senator representing parts of Kern, Tulare and San Bernardino Counties with a history of opposing gay rights When the officer stopped the state-issued vehicle, the driver identified himself as Senator Ashburn. He was arrested without incident and charged with...

Sources tell CBS13 a state senator from Southern California was arrested for allegedly driving drunk after leaving Faces, a gay nightclub in midtown Sacramento, early Wednesday morning. The California Highway Patrol pulled over Senator Roy Ashburn at 2:00 a.m. Wednesday after an officer noticed a black Chevy Tahoe swerving at 13th and L Streets. When the officer stopped the state-issued vehicle, the driver identified himself as Senator Ashburn. He was arrested without incident and charged with two misdemeanors: driving under the influence and driving with a blood alcohol level higher than .08% or higher. A male passenger, who was not...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- It's getting more rewarding to be a home buyer. There's the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers. ....There's just one hitch: You have to buy a newly-constructed home that's never been lived in. (And later in the story) There are some other limitations: The credit is available for just one year. Also, the state allocated $100 million to the credit -- once the funds run out, so does the tax break. And taxpayers must live in the home for two years or pay the credit back, Morris said. The state tax agency will pay...

SACRAMENTO, CA (KGO) -- Finally, some much needed good news for homebuyers in California. New homebuyers will get a $10,000 state tax break starting this weekend. It is part of the deal that was negotiated to get the state budget passed.In a last minute deal to get Republican Senator Roy Ashburn to support the budget compromise last week, he asked for and got the credit. The properties in California must close escrow between March 1, 2009 and March 1, 2010. They must be brand new, single family homes that have never been occupied, and it must be the buyer's principal...

State GOP won't pay to support tax backers By Peter Hecht California Republican Party delegates passed a resolution Sunday to deny funding for campaign mailers for six state lawmakers who voted for a budget with tax increases. But the party action, approved in a voice vote at the Republican's state convention in Sacramento, didn't include a formal censure of the lawmakers as originally drafted. The vote may be mostly symbolic because only two of the six targeted legislators are eligible to run for re-election in 2010. But Jon Fleischman, a state party officer and a conservative firebrand who publishes the...

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- A California Republican Party committee has voted to reprimand six GOP lawmakers who voted for a compromise budget plan that boosts taxes. The measure, which was endorsed Saturday during the party's spring meeting in Sacramento, also denies the lawmakers any financial support from the party during the 2010 elections.

Republican Sen. Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield is invoking the memory of the man conservative love to idolize -- Ronald Reagan -- as he prepares to vote for a budget package that includes more than $14 billion in new taxes.

SACRAMENTO — One vote shy of a budget deal, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday pressured reluctant Republicans in the Legislature to pass a complex plan to close the state's $42 billion deficit. The head of the Assembly locked down the chamber, forcing members to remain as the measure stalled in the Senate. Republicans are unwilling to raise taxes to deal with the state's historic deficit, but at least three GOP votes were needed in each house for the two-thirds majority required to pass the budget. Senate leaders thought they had enough votes lined up to ensure passage, which meant...

Since the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, its recipients have enjoyed public acclaim and great honor the world over. This year however, the Committee has done great damage to the respect and prestige of this award by honoring Al Gore for his politically slanted film on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. Gore’s work is a tale filled with questionable science, deceptive anecdotes, and outright falsehoods that do not come close to the true accomplishments for world peace that previous recipients have earned. Past recipients of the Peace Prize have included American Presidents and other world leaders who...

SACRAMENTO - The state Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would force lawmakers to relinquish the power to draw their own districts, a day after legislative leaders abandoned efforts to link redistricting and term-limit reform for the November ballot. Despite the bill's passage in one house, its fate in the Assembly was uncertain. Even if eventually passed by both chambers, the proposed constitutional amendment is a longshot for the fall election. Friday is the deadline for the Legislature to place measures on the ballot. "It's not going to be on this year's ballot," said Senate President Pro Tem Don...

California lawmakers took steps this week to provide an outlay of funds for the inland Mojave Spaceport, an action also designed to keep the state aggressive in public space travel and space enterprise. The California Legislature has moved a bill to invest $11 million in the Mojave Spaceport. Noting competition from other states and nations, the Senate Committee on Transportation voted on a bipartisan 8-1 vote in favor of Senate Bill 1671 by State Senator Roy Ashburn that will ensure a competitive advantage for the first, and only, inland spaceport in the United States. The measure would establish a loan...

MOJAVE - The Mojave Airport will receive an $11 million state loan to build a spaceport terminal, hangar and related infrastructure should a bill by state Sen. Roy Ashburn pass in the Legislature. The Bakersfield Republican's bill, Senate Bill 1671, faces its first hurdle Tuesday in a hearing before the Senate Transportation and Housing committee. The funding is necessary to position the airport for future spaceport activities, such as the tourism spaceflight operations of Virgin Galactic and other emerging space endeavors. Mojave Airport became the first - and remains the only - inland spaceport in the country when it was...

Republican Rep. Bill Thomas, chairman of the influential House Ways and Means Committee, was set to announce Monday whether he would retire from Congress or seek a 15th term. Thomas, 64, scheduled a morning news conference in his hometown of Bakersfield, Calif., amid speculation that he would leave the House of Representatives. Because of House Republicans' self-imposed term limits for committee chairmen, the mercurial but brainy former college professor is serving his last year as head of the powerful committee that writes tax laws. GOP officials are working under the assumption that Thomas will retire, according to a Republican election...

Conservative Republicans who are upset with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are heading to Bakersfield this weekend and are certain to vent their feelings. However, most experts say a full-blown conservative revolt against the GOP's only major candidate for the state's highest office is unlikely. The California Republican Assembly, which represents the conservative wing of the Republican Party, will gather at the DoubleTree Hotel starting Friday for its election-year nominating convention. CRA president Mike Spence was among conservatives who until recently were threatening to lead a movement to withdraw the Republican Party's endorsement of Schwarzenegger. However, that threat appears to have been...

The recent spotlight on the impending execution of multiple-murderer Stanley “Tookie” Williams has once again highlighted the flaws in California’s death penalty law. Williams was put to death at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, after he was denied clemency by Governor Schwarzenegger. Williams was convicted in 1981 of murdering four people and sentenced to death. Yet 26 years after his victims took their final breaths, the killer still lives. His lawyers have continued to maneuver to thwart the sentence duly handed down by a jury of his peers until the very end. Williams’s case demonstrates just how dysfunctional the death penalty...