California GOP pledges against tax increases

Forty-six California lawmakers, all Republican, have signed a pledge promising to vote against any tax increases this year. The pledge is a nationwide project of Americans for Tax Reform, the conservative group run by activist Grover Norquist, who was in California today promoting the efforts.

The only GOP lawmaker who didn't sign the pledge was Assemblyman Roger Niello of Sacramento, who generally opposes pledges. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not signed the ATR pledge either, but he has consistently said he would resist tax increases.

Republicans have identified 10 relatively minor tax increases - on car registration, alcohol, tobacco and real estate - circulating in the Legislature this year. But, significantly, state Sen. Tom McClintock (pictured above) believes Schwarzenegger's proposal to raise "fees" on hospitals, health plans and doctors should be considered a tax increase worthy of resistance by all 46 lawmakers.

"Anything that involves compulsion, that is forced, is a tax not a fee," McClintock said. Norquist (pictured), speaking at the same press conference this morning, said that "in 50 states people would love to argue that you can get more money and not call it a tax, but they would be wrong." Norquist's group doesn't oppose all tax increases, by the way. They generally stand aside if tax proposals are "revenue neutral;" it's OK to raise taxes on one group as long as taxes are decreased an equal amount on another.

Norquist was planning a barrage of interviews today on conservative radio to promote the tax pledge, and he is scheduled to participate in a "conference call town hall" with McClintock supporters on Tuesday.

It's possible the ATR tax pledge won't mean much this year. No significant tax increases have been proposed to balance the state budget, and the Schwarzenegger administration seems convinced their health-care fee increases can be approved by a simple majority in the Legislature - bypassing Republicans once again.

(Photos: Rich Pedroncelli/AP; Yuri Gripas/AP)

Dennis Miller To Host Radio Show

Comedian Dennis Miller --the "9-11 conservative"--is set to host a radio show broadcast in Los Angeles and a handful of other cities for Salem Communications. The Salem network, based in Camarillo, owns 102 stations in 39 markets, Internet sites such as Townhall.com and magazines focused mostly on Christian content. The network's big names include Dennis Prager and Hugh Hewitt, both also based in Los Angeles.

Miller, who is friends with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, recently joked on Bill O'Reilly's show about being a conservative in Hollywood: "Listen, I think there's a lot of double-cheek air kissing in Hollywood. I might have lost some of those friends. But no, not my dear friends. I certainly hope our friendship runs deeper than that. I still have some ultra-liberal friends. I went to Arnold's for a Christmas party."

(Photo: Mario Tama / Getty Images)

'Massive Government Incursion'

Conservative blogger Jon Fleischman: I feel like a chump.

UPDATE: By the way, conservatives, the 4% payroll tax for companies that don't offer health insurance should be considered the floor, not the ceiling as negotiations begin over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care plan. Already, Democrats and some progressive big companies say it could go as high as 8% to adequately cover everyone. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez acknowledged that today in a press briefing, without putting his own number on it. "Somewhere between 4% and 8% - that is where you find common ground," Nunez said.

Kerry Upsets Conservatives Again

A Phil Angelides campaign rally this week featuring U.S. Sen. John Kerry and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is getting conservatives all hot and bothered because Kerry said:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq."

To right-winger Michelle Malkin, this is evidence that Kerry believes soldiers in Iraq are uneducated and pretty much worthless for nothing but war fodder. KFI-AM's John Ziegler is getting traction from it as well.

Kerry likely was making a point that has been around for decades: the poor and undereducated are sent in disproportionate numbers to die in wars. It didn't help that Kerry sounded like he was making a joke at the expense of soldiers. The Pasadena Star News said the crowd reacted with a mixture of "laughter and gasps," Malkin noted.

UPDATE: This story erupted today when White House spokesman Tony Snow said Kerry owes an apology to soldiers and their families. To which, Kerry responded:

"I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did. I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh. ...  Bottom line, Republicans want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men."

A reader says Kerry is spouting myths about the troops. A Heritage Foundation report found military recruits actually better educated than the general population as a whole. But this comes as the military enlists older men and women, and with more recruits with past criminal records, no high school diplomas and with lower scores on aptitude tests.

(Photo: Ann Johansson / AP)

Conservative Splinter Group

If you look at the polls, Schwarzenegger does reasonably well with his own party. About 15% to 20% of Republicans polled say they won't vote for him. But as Schwarzenegger cozies up to Democrats this month, conservatives are getting angry.

Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, has a new outreach program for the GOP that is conspicuous because it fails to mention one prominent candidate, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Spence, blogging on a conservative website, said he has received complaints from the Schwarzenegger campaign about the program, but he doesn't care. "We have to be honest about this. The governor's campaign while emphasizing no new taxes is built around billions of bond debt and signing bills that appeal to tree huggers, cross-dressers and the nanny staters."

In an interview, Spence said he's "not sure there is a real Arnold at this point." He said the governor has shunned conservative candidates such as Dick Mountjoy for U.S. Senate and Tom McClintock for lieutenant governor. And he isn't forcefully supporting Proposition 85, which would require parental notification for minors seeking abortions.

Spence risks alienating his base. "Everyone compares Arnold's campaign to the Clinton triangulation. You have to remember, Clinton lost the majority in the Senate and the House during the time he was triangulating."

Even the smallest slight from Schwarzenegger seems to get under conservatives' skin. They didn't like it that Maria Shriver invited Jerry Brown to the Capitol for an event. Jennifer Nelson, a Republican activist and PR agent, said Schwarzenegger also apparently failed to introduce Brown's opponent in the attorney general's race, Republican Chuck Poochigian, at a fundraiser.

But let's face it. Schwarzenegger needs moderate Democrats and independents far more than he needs people like Mike Spence. And any evidence that conservatives are angry with the governor is bound to help him in the long run.

Stork Politics

Lefties have been fretting for awhile about the birth gap with righties. In conservative Utah, families have been seen traveling around in decommissioned airport shuttles. Some advice for the left from a political scientist: fewer pets, more babies. More insight on this trend, with podcast, from the S.F. Chronicle:

"Take a randomly selected sample of 100 liberal adults and 100 conservative adults. According to an analysis of the 2004 General Social Survey — a bible of data for social scientists — the liberals would have had 147 kids, while the conservatives would have had 208. That's a fertility gap of 41 percent. Even adjusting for other variables like age and income, there is a gap of 19 percent."

And don't think children universally rebel against their parents.

"Political scientists have long found that 4 out of 5 people with a party preference grow up to vote the way their parents voted. In fact, while many people experience a temporary rejection of their parents' politics in very early adulthood, virtually nothing is more predictive of your political ideology than that of your parents — it's more of a determining factor than income, education or any other societal yardstick."