Free Republic

Sacramento - -- California voters are giving state leaders some of the lowest marks ever recorded, according to a Field Poll released today. A mere 10 percent of registered voters approve of how the 120 members of the Legislature are doing their jobs, and 80 percent disapprove. That's the lowest approval rating in the history of the poll, going back to 1983, and is six percentage points lower than in July. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nearly matched his all-time low, with 23 percent of voters approving of his job performance, one percentage point higher than his low point two months ago...

September 2, 2010 – Ames, IA – Congressman Tom Latham, Honorary Chairman of For America’s Republican Majority, announced on Thursday the winners of the For America’s Republican Majority’s Iowa FARM Team project’s unique online contest – Iowa Republican Idol. The online contest, held at the organization’s website IowaFARMTeam.org, asked Iowans to cast their votes for their favorite Iowa Republican House and Senate State Legislative Candidates. The winners of each the House and Senate Iowa Republican Idol contests will be receive a $5,000 contribution from For America’s Republican Majority for their campaigns. Thousands voted over the past two months and Iowans...

There was a bit of political drama and intrigue at the end of the legislative session Tuesday night as Democrats scrambled to finish passing bills before the clock hit midnight. As voting continued at 12:00 a.m., then even later, it was standing room only in the back of Senate chamber as Republicans on the floor -- whose microphones had been cut -- shouted, "Point of order!" as voting continued on a bill regarding renewable energy projects. Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Penn Valley (Nevada County), who is vice chair of the Senate Rules Committee, was holding a rule book in the air...

ALBANY -- The Democrats who run the Albany County Legislature like to pass local laws. Critics, often Republicans, say they tend to trample the rights of individuals and private enterprise -- and are yet another intrusion into the lives of citizens. All but eight of Albany's 39 county lawmakers are Democrats. The legislature's penchant for local laws is likely linked to the dominance by the party that lends itself to a governing style of protecting constituents. Across the aisle, Minority Leader Christine Benedict and the other six Republicans and single Conservative have opposed most of the three dozen local laws...

Delaware officially ratifies Amendment 17 of the U.S. Constitution that provides for the popular election of U.S. Senators. 98 years ago, several states had already ratified the amendment, making it a part of the Constitution, so the 45th General Assembly apparently felt no need to do so. But the 145th General Assembly put their ceremonial stamp on it...

Our sources inside the Tea Party Movement tell us that the Tea Parties are planning on using a social media tactic using twitter, facebook and email to create a 'Flash Mob' at the state capitol in the next few days. The point they say is to gather a group of people (members and interested friends) in the Capitol rotunda to show legislators that the citizens are paying attention. They say that legislators are well known for slipping through controversial matters in the final days of the session. The Tea Parties are particularly interested in the potential raid of the state...

Yesterday, New Orleans Democrat and Congressional candidate state Rep. Juan LaFonta nearly managed to sneak through a concurrent resolution in the Louisiana House of Representatives which would have asked Congress to investigate Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for a “slow response” to the Gulf oil spill. The bill, HCR 144, which would normally have gone through a committee but for some reason did not, reached the floor yesterday amid a host of other bills gaining little attention from the assembled legislators in the House. And for some reason House Speaker Jim Tucker, not to mention the rest of the Republican delegation...

After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences. The bill, which passed 32-26 in the state House, had been approved by the Senate a day earlier. It now goes to Gov. Jan Brewer for her signature. The new bill would make it illegal for a school district to teach any courses that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily...

by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor April 28, 2010 Tallahassee, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Florida senators today added an amendment to a health care bill that would allow women considering an abortion to see an ultrasound of their baby. Although abortion centers frequently conduct pre-abortion ultrasounds, they don't necessarily give women a chance to see them. Sen. Alex Villalobos, a Miami Republican sponsored the amendment the Florida Senate approved on a 22-17 vote. “I just don't see the problem with having someone have a little more information before they make a decision,” Villalobos said, according to the St. Petersburg Times. The language...

ALBANY—David Paterson, the current governor of New York, has a message for his successor: You're doomed to fail. In a 70-minute interview with The Wall Street Journal, the governor cast himself as a scapegoat for the state's problems, blamed an "organized smear campaign" for ruining his political career and pinned his inability to repair New York's ailing finances on a dysfunctional budget process. "Whether the governor is David Paterson or Rick Lazio or Andrew Cuomo or Superman, we don't have a structure that empowers a single leader to get his or her state out of a major conflict," said Mr....

Senator Carey Baker will be on Fox News tonight 10PM, Greta Van Susteren Show. He will be discussing the Florida Health Care Freedom Act. HJR 37 passed both the Florida House and the Florida Senate yesterday and will be on the ballot this November. If 60% of Floridians vote "Yes", Health Care Freedom will be established as a basic right in the Florida Constitution.

Why are so many Americans concerned about what this administration and Congress are doing? Those in the Democrat/Progressive Party would have us believe that people are not losing their freedom, and President Obama is not spending us into bankruptcy. If that’s correct, why are so many Americans taking to the streets to voice their concern? As we know, the purpose of legislation/bills is to create laws which the American people and American businesses are to abide by. More laws = less freedom and less free markets. Also, bills nearly always come with a price tag. Take, for example, HR 1388...

In a laudable development, some Missouri legislators are taking the time to become intimately familiar with the ins and outs of some of the gun laws they write. About 16 Missouri lawmakers — along with several legislative staffers and at least one representative’s wife — are taking a firearms-training course sponsored by the bipartisan “Sportsmen’s Caucus” that will qualify them for concealed weapons permits. This is a good thing on a number of levels. From the political perspective, voters like to know that those who make the laws by which the people are bound have a working understanding of just...

SNIPPET: "Kamal explicitly states that this was his "final call": This is perhaps my last email to Senators, House of Representatives/Delegates/Assembly and Staff Members of United States of America unless compelled by any people. A former FBI counter-terrorism agent who was asked to analyze Kamal's emails stated: This is a significant danger because of the requirement in Islam to invite ("Dawah" in Islam) non-Muslims to Islam prior to an attack ("Jihad" in Islam). It is my professional opinion that this direct Dawah to the entire Kansas legislature and the emphasis that Monday's email is Javid Kamal's "final" email inviting them...

"The founders of our republics have so much merit for the wisdom which they have displayed, that no task can be less pleasing than that of pointing out the errors into which they have fallen. A respect for truth, however, obliges us to remark, that they seem never for a moment to have turned their eyes from the danger to liberty from the overgrown and all-grasping prerogative of an hereditary magistrate, supported and fortified by an hereditary branch of the legislative authority. They seem never to have recollected the danger from legislative usurpations, which, by assembling all power in the...

February 21, 2010 This week, we're meeting in Jefferson City on Tuesday at 8 am for very important hearings on both State Sovereignty resolutions. Meeting collectively in Jeff City when necessary means everything to this movement!** Remember that faxing as many witness forms again is so important and very simple. When you go to our website HERE , you will see the links to print out both forms--two for each individual represented. For more information on both of the resolutions, click HERE and HERE . When you meet us on Tuesday, make sure to bring along two forms with your...

If you’re like us, you’ve witnessed the mess in Springfield with utter shock. We were told it was just Rod Blagojevich but now he’s been removed and the mess remains. The only consistent feature of our dysfunctional state government is the legislature. That is why we started this non-partisan reform effort to reform the General Assembly and put the people back in charge. The “Bambenek Put-Back Amendment” is a comprehensive package of reforms designed to end the backroom dealings of the General Assembly. Did you know that most legislation is written behind closed doors and is never seen by most...

I grew up in New Jersey, and I can assure you this: all over the state, suddenly-embattled Democratic legislators and apparatchiks are now routinely referring to Gov. Christie as “that fat [insert expletive here]” - with a wide range of choices for the expletive. Why? Because that fat [insert expletive here] just told the unions that elections have consequences, and he’s one of them. To summarize: Christie is executive-ordering out 2.2 billion from the existing NJ budget to make up for the shortfalls from the previous administration (while noting that the days of optimistic estimated revenue projections from the state...

Assembly Republicans Connie Conway and Martin Garrick are top contenders in the behind-the-scenes competition to succeed Sam Blakeslee as leader of the GOP caucus, according to a sampling of caucus members. Curt Hagman and Jim Nielsen also are mentioned as candidates for the 28-member caucus's top spot. A vote is expected soon, but no date has been set . . .

ITHACA -- A Tompkins County legislator is facing a misdemeanor charge related to an outstanding traffic violation. Martha Robertson, who also is the chairwoman of the legislature's public safety committee, said her arrest last week was the result of a paperwork mix-up and that the Ithaca Police shouldn't have taken her into custody, "They could've issued me a ticket right there," she said, adding that police refused her request to go to her house and see the paperwork. At the station, Sgt. Andy Navarro told her they were waiving her bail based on her community connections, and Patrick Kimmich --...