This is not the first time I’ve weighed in on the San Diego Ethics Commission and the City of San Diego’s campaign laws that often surpass thoseof the California Political Reform Act in their regulatory ambition. Some are good, some are…well…just waiting for a lawsuit.

I was recently invited to a meeting of a potential SD City Council candidate. The individual is definitely running, yet he is not yet a candidate and the meeting in question was not a campaign meeting…because, you see,the city says so. You can’t announce your candidacy, raise money, or even put up a website until a year prior to the primary election…uhhh, not in SD anyway.

Kinda seems like a regulatory chill on the right of free speech to me.

On March 12, the Union-Trib’s Logan Jenkins penned a hilarious, must readpiece on the absurdity of it all, writing that"Franz Kafka would love this stuff." An excerpt:

For the next 2½ months, dozens of “closet candidates” for… Read More

On February 15th the Governor received a detailed assessment on California’s education system from Stanford’s Institute for Research on Education Policy & Practice. Hardly anyone reading the FlashReport will be surprised to learn that California’s schools are struggling. But some of the conclusions will surprise you. For example, the report concluded that California couldn’t spend its way out of the growing educational crisis – that better, more sensible management is more critical than additional dollars. Even school officials don’t think spending more money is the answer – in fact their top concern was not getting more money or a new program, it was the ability to fire bad teachers. Not a wholesale sweep, but just those who either can’t or simply don’t want to teach children anymore. “Tenure reform” is a hot-button issue for the teachers union – but instead of muscling up against it, they should embrace it and push for higher standards for teachers. In the long… Read More

On February 15th the Governor received a detailed assessment on California’s education system from Stanford’s Institute for Research on Education Policy & Practice. Hardly anyone reading the FlashReport will be surprised to learn that California’s schools are struggling. But some of the conclusions will surprise you. For example, the report concluded that California couldn’t spend its way out of the growing educational crisis – that better, more sensible management is more critical than additional dollars. Even school officials don’t think spending more money is the answer – in fact their top concern was not getting more money or a new program, it was the ability to fire bad teachers. Not a wholesale sweep, but just those who either can’t or simply don’t want to teach children anymore. “Tenure reform” is a hot-button issue for the teachers union – but instead of muscling up against it, they should embrace it and push for higher standards for teachers. In the long… Read More

We have our own John McCain here in Fresno and his name is Alan Autry. Mayor Alan Autry. I’ve never seen a local politico leave so many heads scratching in my life. One minute he’s the MC at the Right to Life Dinner, the next minutes he’s supporting a Democrat for Sheriff against the recommendations of all the other elected officials. Now he comes out against enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws. Huh?

I used to be in pretty constant communication with the Mayor. He’s spent most of his second term nowhere near City Hall – letting staff handle most of the day to day duties. He’s a torn man – family life keeps him from really being able to seek higher office – but inconsistent messaging does too. Is he a liberal? A conservative? No one seems to know. We know he is a Republican by registration, but he doesn’t really use the affiliation for anything. One wonders why he continues to fly the GOP flag.

His real name is Carlos Brown, and I think his westside ag roots cause him to sympathize with the plight of the illegal… Read More

St. Patrick’s Day may be filled with celebration, but it is not filled with a lot of news on California politics. So the main page is pretty light today. Yesterday afternoon and evening I had the opportunity to spend time with Governor Mitt Romney as his campaign took him through Orange County. I was able to conduct a ten minute interview with Romney, which we’ll be publishing on Monday. I also was able to shoot quite a bit of EXCLUSIVE video coverage of Romney speaking at a private home in Irvine, and at a reception at the impressive St. Regis hotel and resort in Dana Point. Romney was very impressive, and his level of Orange County financial support even more so. As daily FR readers know, last week we featured over a four-day period some columns on behalf of the major GOP candidates for President. Today, since the news was light, I took the opportunity to feature them all again, on one page. Our featured Golden Pen piece today is actually a short video tribute to former President Ronald Wilson Reagan, and I encourage you to take a trip down ‘memory lane’ and check it out. Remember to wear… Read More

St. Patrick’s Day may be filled with celebration, but it is not filled with a lot of news on California politics. So the main page is pretty light today. Yesterday afternoon and evening I had the opportunity to spend time with Governor Mitt Romney as his campaign took him through Orange County. I was able to conduct a ten minute interview with Romney, which we’ll be publishing on Monday. I also was able to shoot quite a bit of EXCLUSIVE video coverage of Romney speaking at a private home in Irvine, and at a reception at the impressive St. Regis hotel and resort in Dana Point. Romney was very impressive, and his level of Orange County financial support even more so. As daily FR readers know, last week we featured over a four-day period some columns on behalf of the major GOP candidates for President. Today, since the news was light, I took the opportunity to feature them all again, on one page. Our featured Golden Pen piece today is actually a short video tribute to former President Ronald Wilson Reagan, and I encourage you to take a trip down ‘memory lane’ and check it out. Remember to wear… Read More

San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt – who was appointed by his colleagues to complete the four-year term Bill Postmus, who was elected County Assessor in November 2006– announced today that he will in fact stand as a candidate for election to that post in June 2008. Tapped to replace Assessor Postmus in January, Supervisor Mitzelfelt – a former Flashreport correspondent – has been off to a tremendous start in his new position; numerous local leaders and the Flashreport have been encouraging Supervisor Mitzelfelt to declare a run for this seat.

(As astafferto then-Supervisor Bill Postmus, I had the distinct privilege of working with Brad Mitzelfelt and I have endorsed his candidacy as well.)

From the Mitzelfelt for Supervisor press release:

… Read More

The Governor has become famous for flip-flopping and folding in the face of criticism from liberals and the media. I say it ain’t so! The Governor is consistent on at least in one area. He has consistently appointed Democrats to the bench in LA County. See FR post here. In the past the Governor appointed 2 Democrats for every Republican. Closer to the election it changed it a little and it included a Democrat re-registering shortly before the appointment from Dem to DTS in order to confuse the numbers. See FR post here. Today the Governor stayed true. Today he appointed three to the LA Superior Court, 2 Dems and 1 GOP.See press release here. The worse news is he is now replacing a seat with a GOP judge held.Richard Van Dusen, a former Republican Club President passed away … Read More