FRIENDS OF JEFF DENHAM AGAINST THE RECALL Date: May 6, 2008 To: Jon Fleischman/The FlashReport From: John Franklin, Campaign Manager RE: Grassroots Turnout Impressive – But Important Days Ahead Jon, thanks for asking for an update for FlashReport readers on how things are going here at the political epicenter of Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata’s petulant attempt to recall Republican State Senator Jeff… Read More

In less than an hour, Assembly Speaker Fabian “Louis Vuitton” Nunez will be holding what is being billed as his “last press conference as Speaker” – thank goodness. It is tiresome, as we all know, to hear self-absorbed people speak at a microphone.

Anyways, according to a blog post over on the Nunez Propaganda Website, the Speaker’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Steve Maviglio, says that Nunez is going to unveil yet another attempt to reduce legislative term-limits (apparently the Speaker’s memory extends backwards around ten weeks, but not much longer) – coupled with some sort of redistricting reform and a fundraising “blackout period” during budget negotiation season (yeah, those are so effective).

Once again, though, it is the Fabian “Party of One” – where Nunez figures out what he wants, announces it from a podium, and he is off to the races. This worked like a charm for his health care boondoggle, and his Career Politician Term Limits Weakening Initiative (Prop. 93), didn’t it?

As demonstration of Nunez’ ongoing… Read More

Late last week, California’s esteemed Lieutenant Governor, Democrat John Garamendi, took a break from his statewide "we need taxes not spending cuts" tour to fire off a petulant letter to his successor as Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner. The subject? Garamendi is upset because after reviewing them since he was elected to office, Poizner has determined that a bunch of last minute regulations that Garamendi adopted literally on his way out of the office were in need of revision, which he is doing. I will spend more time soon delving into the policy issues involved with these regulations. For your Monday morning entertainment, though, I want to encourage you all to take five minutes to read the back and forth between Garamendi and Poizner. Garamendi’s letter, which you can view here, reads like it was written by a small child, at least in… Read More

Late last week, California’s esteemed Lieutenant Governor, Democrat John Garamendi, took a break from his statewide "we need taxes not spending cuts" tour to fire off a petulant letter to his successor as Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner. The subject? Garamendi is upset because after reviewing them since he was elected to office, Poizner has determined that a bunch of last minute regulations that Garamendi adopted literally on his way out of the office were in need of revision, which he is doing. I will spend more time soon delving into the policy issues involved with these regulations. For your Monday morning entertainment, though, I want to encourage you all to take five minutes to read the back and forth between Garamendi and Poizner. Garamendi’s letter, which you can view here, reads like it was written by a small child, at least in… Read More

Today the Governor announced that he is taking steps to make the State Capitol "wi-fi" friendly, with the first phase being a wireless "hotspot" in the Governor’s Press Conference Room on the first floor. Outstanding. The next phase of his plan is to make some portion of the Capitol cafeteria a "hot spot" – which is cool. These are great first steps.

But the big project, to which any project to bring wireless to the State Capitol must include, is making the Senate and Assembly Chambers wireless, so that people up in the galleries (or the press corps or guests in the back of the chambers) can access wireless. After this, it should be the Committee Rooms where the most influential meetings take place.

Speaking on behalf of the blogging community, it really would enhance our ability to live-blog about the goings-on in state government.

Now I don’t know where the boundaries are between where the Governor has jurisdiction to create "hot spots" versus the legislature — but someone should get right on this!… Read More

I won’t take credit for being the first political columnist to take umbrage with Fontana Mayor Mark Nuaimi, but I will say that it seems to have caught on… I will now refer to him as the "embattled King of Fontana" who is at the center of swirl of controversy… Or should I say controversies (plural)? This guy is now commonly referred to as "The Conflict King" because of his dual role as the Mayor of Fontana while also being the Assistant City Manager of the nearby city of Colton.

He is controversial to this columnist because he is a Republican, but yet seems to have no trouble using his office to overtly and covertly push his personal vision for the city of Fontana on private property owners, regardless of what they want to do with their property. You can read through to what I’ve written or posted on Nuaimi in the past by going here. But I have one heck of a column coming your way based on information sent to me after I first started writing about "The King" — so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I have yet another video about… Read More

With Doug Ose pounding the TV airwaves with millions of dollars of ads, the Tom McClintock for Congress campaign needed some reinforcements from fellow conservatives. Well, the Club for Growth has just announced that they are launching their own TV ad to introduce/reiterate Ose’s liberal tax-and-spend voting record in Congress.

According to Club for Growth’s press release, “the ad seeks to educate voters about Doug Ose’s liberal record when he served in Congress. Ose is currently running millions of dollars in ads but he is leaving out the most important pieces of the puzzle, including his votes to waste billions of tax dollars on wasteful pork projects. These projects include The Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Texas, peanut competitiveness, and an indoor rainforest in Iowa. Ose also voted for a Democrat budget and huge new entitlement spending—votes he conveniently neglects to mention in his own ads.” I’ve also heard similar Club for Growth radio ads on local talk show stations. … Read More

UPDATE: No action taken on 2747 today. This Thursday is the likely date or ???

Many of you may have received an email last night about a bill, AB 2747, that relaxes the use of "end-of-life" sedation to one much closer to assisted suicide. The current practice is known as "palliative sedation" and would be dramatically expanded under this new bill.. The bill will be eligible starting today on the Assembly Floor, and can be taken up any day we’re in session. You can find more info at www.Californiaprolife.org… Read More