Republican House Members All Oppose Phony Stimulus Bill

Congratulations to all 19 Republican Members of Congress from California for standing with every single Republican in the House of Representatives in voting against the massive partisan Democrat spending bill being marketed as 'economic stimulus.'

If signed into law in its current form, this bill will only stimulate growth in the size of government, stimulate more government waste, and stimulate growth in the already massive federal budget deficit, saddling future generations with debt repayments for a program that will not help our economy at this time of crisis.

The solid Republican stimulus plan offered tonight differs from the Democrat version insofar that the Republican plan would actually work, boosting the economy by cutting taxes and encouraging Americans to work, save and invest. And it would do so without further exploding the size of the bloated federal government.

If overspending was the key to economic prosperity, with a federal budget deficit already over a trillion dollars our economy would be humming right along instead of shedding jobs by the hundreds of thousands.

Democrats have squandered the opportunity to pass real economic stimulus legislation, instead choosing to blow over $800 billion on projects that have little to nothing to do with generating jobs and promoting economic growth, including money for climate change research at NASA, new cars for the federal government, and arts funding.

Republicans in Washington took a giant step forward today in reasserting ourselves as the party of fiscal responsibility standing up for the middle class taxpayer.

Republican Study Committee Exposes Waste in Stimulus Bill

The Democrat stimulus bill moving through Congress is having a hard time picking up Republican support, even after a high profile visit by Barack Obama to the House and Senate Republicans yesterday. The House Republican Study Committee has exposed the reason why: a massive amount of wasteful and non-stimulative spending in the bill, like digital converter box coupons and climate change research.

Take a look at the legislative bulletin from the RSC for all the details.

RSC Legislative Bulletin: H.R. 1

Send Gitmo Detainees to San Francisco?

In a rush to satisfy the extremist wing of his own party, Barack Obama this week announced the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay will be closed within one year. So, which Congressional District will get to be the new home to the most violent and dangerous killers in the world?

How about Alcatraz? It's an isolated island conveniently located right in Nancy Pelosi's Congressional District.

Fox News reports that Speaker Pelosi says the idea of putting the most dangerous prisoners in the world in her Congressional District was not a realistic proposal. Alcatraz, she said, is more of a national park these days.

That's true. But at least Alcatraz was built as a prison, while the facility at Guantanamo Bay was hastily constructed following 9/11 as a temporary facility in a Navy base. Perhaps one of the infrastructure programs in the stimulus bill restore Alcatraz to its former glory?

If not Alcatraz, then just whose Congressional District will get to house these killers? The Democrats have no answer, which begs the question as to why the decision should be made to close the facility when no solution has been identified as to where to send the inmates.

Logue Continues to Organize North State

I traveled to Nevada City on Thursday for a meeting of regional Republican leaders hosted by Assemblyman Dan Logue, who continues to drive Republican organizing in this part of the state.

When I served as President of our County Chairmen's Association I saw the value of sharing information on developments, programs and best practices between colleagues. Assemblyman Logue is driving this same kind of process in his region.

Elected officials can help drive party organizing because they bring important resources, skills and relationships to the table. Thanks for your leadership, Dan!

Good Response to CRP Tech Initiative

The CRP's new technology initiative and Technology Leadership Committee are drawing a good response from Republican activists and those connected to the tech community.

On Thursday I spoke to a large Republican group in Southern California and drew an immediate response when discussing how our aim is to make our state Republican Party the national leader in the use of new technologies in organizing and communicating.

The committee includes more individuals than those listed in the original release - we've enlisted members of the Silicon Valley Republican underground and we’re thrilled to have them on board.

Interested in getting involved? Send an email to tech@cagop.org.

Nunes: CA's Gold Rush Has Been Reversed

One of California's shining stars in the House of Representatives is Congressman Devin Nunes, who took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal this past week to crisply describe what ails California and outline a series of bold reform proposals to stem the outflow of people and talent from our state as an increasing number of citizens seek opportunities elsewhere.

When I attend meetings of the Republican National Committee, my fellow counterparts from states like Idaho, Arizona and Nevada let me know how their newest residents – Californians – are now doing.

Congressman Nunes puts it this way: "After more than 150 years of being a destination, California is becoming a place entrepreneurs, investment capital and the hardy workers who made it a global leader in agriculture, technological innovation and scientific research are fleeing. This exodus is the marker of something deeper than a national recession. It's a sign that the attempts by state leaders to spend their way back to prosperity are killing California."

He's right, of course. Higher taxes, onerous regulations and an atmosphere of big government is diverting the flow of investment and people elsewhere "just as a fallen tree can divert the flow of water in a creek."

Congressman Nunues backs up his findings with solid facts, and describes an agenda for reform. Read the article: California's Gold Rush Has Been Reversed.

I Thought “We Only Have One President At A Time”

While it seems a bit humorous to see the press corps continue to ask President-Elect Barack Obama questions related to the economy, Israel, national security, the federal bailouts, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the usual response has been, “We only have one president at a time.”

Obama is right “we only have one president at a time.”

But if “we only have one president at a time”, and President George W. Bush is that president, why did Obama meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday to discuss matters such as regional security and immigration policies?

In addition, when several Democrats criticized the release of the additional $350 billion in federal bailout money, Obama on Tuesday “vowed to veto any move to block the money.”

If Obama is willing to discuss with a foreign leader issues related to the porous border, drug violence, trade treaties, and the economic situation facing our two nations, while also vowing to veto a measure when he hasn’t even taken the oath of office yet, why can’t he provide insight on the current middle eastern conflicts or our current economic situation?

Although the press never tires of asking and getting the same answer from Team Obama, Americans deserve more from the President-elect than cherry-picking questions and dodgy answers. This isn’t the campaign anymore, Obama should not be given a free pass on selectively participating in the national dialogue.

I guess “we only have one president at a time” when it is convenient for Obama.

Republicans Show Leadership In Budget Negotiations

As the State of California continues to deal with a $40 billion budget deficit, the Democrat leadership declined to agree with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to decrease their own legislative budgets by 10%.

As noted by the Sacramento Bee, “Schwarzenegger called on lawmakers to cut their expenses as a show of leadership while state programs are being cut and tax hikes proposed. ‘I think to ask the people to sacrifice and for them [state legislators] not to sacrifice at all...is not really right,’ said the governor.”

While the governor’s office has cut its budget by $700 million, the Republican legislative leadership agreed. “If you are going to ask an employee of the state of California to take a pay cut, then it should apply to everybody who gets a paycheck from the state,” said Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill.

The Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines “noted that the Republican budget proposal introduced last month calls for legislators to receive a 5 percent pay cut. ... Villines said he would agree to cut the legislative budget by 10 percent, including reducing staff members’ salaries.”

As Republicans continue to show leadership in this budget negotiations, the Democrat leadership continues to propose more tax increases, by refusing to even cut their own expenses.

Entire article: California Legislative Leaders Prepared to Cut Own Budgets

Good News: New York Times Is Upset with RNC/CRP

I was delighted to read this morning that the liberal New York Times is mad at the Republican National Committee, and by extension the CRP, for challenging portions of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law in a new legal challenge. The CRP is one of four plaintiffs in the suit, together with the RNC, the Republican Party of San Diego County, and RNC Chairman Mike Duncan.

We are challenging the law's provisions that amount to FEDERAL regulation of political activity that has nothing to do with a federal election. We don't dispute that the federal government can pass all the silly, ineffective and self-defeating rules it wants for federal candidates, but it should not have the power to impose those rules on political parties engaged in supporting state and local candidates.

Predictably, the New York Times hyperventilates that if the suit succeeds, "it will seriously damage democracy." At the same time, the paper argues that the current campaign finance system is "badly broken."

Come again?

Never mind. Trying to reconcile the New York Times editorial page with logic is about as easy as reconciling liberal Democrats with fiscal discipline. For example, the paper championed the passage of McCain-Feingold on the grounds that it would fix the campaign system...which now it says is broken, under the same law.

The reality is this: under the current law, the feds require that parties (national, state and local) pay for certain activities in support of state and local candidates with funds regulated by the federal law. Those campaign activities are already regulated by state and local law, as they should be. Another layer of federal regulation makes little sense.

Interestingly, we have seen that since this latest campaign law was passed, a massive amount of funds have shifted away from democratically governed, broad based political parties to privately controlled, narrowly focused so-called "527" groups. How healthy is it for our democracy to have a campaign system that drives people and resources away from broad based, transparent, democratically governed groups to those that operate and secret and with far less transparency?

$100 Billion To Hugo

With Californians paying an average of $2.02 per gallon of gasoline, it seems that the price you pay at the pump might get a bit more expensive courtesy of the Democrat Party and the Organizations of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The twelve countries that make up OPEC ( Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela) voted in November, to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. That meeting was followed up by a December 17, 2008 meeting where OPEC decided to cut production by another 2.2 million barrels, with the stated goal of driving up prices and profits.

In similar fashion, as the legislative leadership of the Democratic Party in California convened in December 2008, they also voted to make the prices per gallon of gas a bit more expensive. The Democrat leadership voted to impose a 39 cent tax on top of the regular price of a gallon of gas to help pay for their government programs. Luckily, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the proposed gas tax.

Just after OPEC decided to cut the next 2.2 million barrel of oil in the new year, the Democrats are back trying to figure out how to take more of your money, at a time when our California families need it the most.

We need a long term energy plan that ensures Californians are not at the whims of foreign countries who don’t have our best interest at heart. Our families shouldn’t be subjected to the continued barrage of higher fees and more taxes when we seem to be getting less and less from government.

Higher gas prices hurt us all. Philip K. Verleger Jr., an expert in oil markets and a professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business recently noted that, “the difference between a year at $30 a barrel and a year at $70 a barrel would be $100 billion or more out of the U.S. economy.”

As of January 6, 2009 the price for a barrel of oil reached $50.47, compared to the $147 from last summer.

We can either send that $100 billion+ to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or we can spend that money on creating jobs, providing food and clothing for those in need, supplying our schools with additional resources here in the United States.

Higher gas prices, whether through OPEC’s oil production cut or through the Democrats price increases, will have a direct negative impact on all of our families.

How much is $100 billion? Here is a quick view on how much $1 billion buys:

A person can spend $1 million a year for the next 1000 years or $8 million a year for the next 125 years.

You can buy the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Seattle Seahawks or one of 15 other national football teams...and still have some cash to spare.

You can buy Youtube.

You can buy Facebook.

You can buy 12 Swedish jet fighters.

You can take the entire state of Massachusetts to Disneyland for three days.

Now Multiply the examples by 100.

Orange County YR's Assemble Leadership Team

Many of our state's most capable young Republlican activists have come through the ranks of the Orange County Young Repubicans, one of the many well organized YR chapters here in California.

Following the group's organizational meeting this week, new OCYR President Lauryn Picciano announced the members of her leadership team:

President - Lauryn Picciano
Political Director - Erik Brown
Internal Vice President - Scott Carpenter
External Vice President - Kat Vermelis
Public Relations - Cam Mangels
Treasurer - Kasey St. James
Membership - Emanuel Patrascu
Secretary - Maryam Farvid
Social Chair - Shawn Bentz
Recruitment - Nichole Meissner
Volunteer - Ray Grangoff
Outreach - Josh Haskins
Newsletter - Sabrina Ross
Past President - Shawn Fago
Executive Director - Erika Torres

Expanding our party's reach among younger voters is key to our future, and the Young Republicans are the key "go to" group to accomplish this in concert with our state and county committees. Congratulations to the OCYR's for providing well-organized leadership in Orange County.

Del Norte Republican Chairman Elected to Key Post

Congratulations to County Republican Chairman Scott Feller on his election to the key post of Harbor Commissioner for Del Norte County. The Commission is charged with the operation of the county's harbor at Crescent City. Over 90% of some types of seafood brought into California pass through this key harbor. Additionally, it is the only designated "safe harbor" between Portland and San Francisco.

The United States: A Safety Magnet

As unemployment continues to rise and more businesses are finding themselves on the brink of bankruptcy, many immigration researchers had been predicting that a larger number of Mexicans would return home for the holiday festivities and would decide to stay. The opposite seems to have occurred. Fewer immigrants made the pilgrimage home and more Latinos in Mexico are considering making the trip to the United States-not for jobs, but safety.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has brought a war against the drug cartels which control entire towns, regions, police departments, judicial systems, government offices, small and large businesses, and some members of the military.

Battle for control over trafficking routes to the United States and the Mexican government's war against the warlords in 2008 has marked the bloodiest year for Mexico, with drug-related violence more than doubling from the previous year, from 2,275 deaths in 2007 to 5,207 in 2008. In the border state of Tijuana, killings rose from 337 in 2007 to 843 in 2008.

The threat of kidnappings also keeps many Mexicans in fear of returning to Mexico. These criminals specifically single out people who have family members in the United States, knowing these families have money to pay the ransom.

As the increasing crime rates keep some Mexicans in the United States, many in Mexico continue to flee their home country, the United States may not only be a magnet for economic opportunity, but also safety.

Schwarzenegger: Israel Has the Right to Defend Itself

Governor Schwarzenegger met with the Israeli Consul General in Los Angeles, after which he stated his support for the country's efforts to stop the endless barrage of missiles emanating from the Gaza Strip.

Schwarzenegger declared that "every nation has the right to defend itself against terrorism and cold-blooded attacks on its people. Israel is no different and is right to defend itself against the unceasing violence of rocket attacks launched by Hamas." (Source ynetnews.com)

Cuba 'Celebrates' 50 Years of Communism

Perhaps it's the Cuban government that is celebrating, but as for "the people," in whose name the revolution was conducted 50 years ago, that's expected to be "low key," according to BBC News.

So, how has 50 years of a total lack of political and economic freedom worked out?

According to the CIA, "The average Cuban's standard of living remains at a lower level than before the downturn of the 1990s, which was caused by the loss of Soviet aid and domestic inefficiencies." Further, "The government continues to balance the need for economic loosening against a desire for firm political control. It has rolled back limited reforms undertaken in the 1990s to increase enterprise efficiency and alleviate serious shortages of food, consumer goods, and services."

That's right, in recent years Cuba decided to abandon the limited "reforms" it tried in the 1990's to move the economy out of a completely hapless state, only to revert back to a purer form of Communism -- meaning, one that works even less.

Unfortunatey for the Cuban people, Cuba continually proves the folly of statism and serves as an example what results when those who demand government control of the economy have their way.

BBC: Cuba Marks 50 Years of Revolution
CIA World Fact Book: Cuba