MEMORANDUM

To: Governor Schwarzenegger at the State Capitol From: Jon over at the FlashReport RE: Massive Democrat-Created State Deficit Governor, there is no doubt that the liberal Democrats who largely control the budget process have taken California down a path of severe over-spending. As we all know, state spending has massively out-paced state tax revenues, increasing a staggering $25 billion since 2003. Out of the gate this year, you correctly identified this problem for what it is, too much red ink. Too much overspending. You made it clear that California families, taxpayers, would not be saddled with higher taxes in order to address this chronic overspending issue. You rightly introduces a budget that represents a 10% across-the-board cut to what would have been the ’07-’08 amounts (from our perspective, a modest proposal). As a companion to… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

Meet Chris Cox

While the Democratic slugfest sucks up all the media attention, John McCain will have at least one big chance to move back to center-stage — when he picks his veep nominee.

Mr. McCain needs to bolster his economic street cred, especially after admitting minimal expertise on the subject. He needs to rally pro-growth Republicans and calm the fears of ordinary voters amid the mortgage meltdown. Who to call? California Republican Chris Cox was on George W. Bush’s shortlist eight years ago and didn’t get the nod. Now his… Read More

A week ago today, Ameriquest founder and mortgage magnate Roland Arnall passed away from cancer at the age of 68. Arnall was a major contributor to GOP and conservative causes over the years, in additional to many philanthopic efforts that included co-founding the Simon Weisethal Center in West Los Angeles. I had an opportunity to meet and talk to Mr. Arnall a few times, and came away from those chats very impressed with the depth of his passion and love for this country. My good friend Jeff Miller (not the Assembly candidate, but the policy advocate and Co-Chairman of fundraising efforts at the Republican Governors Association) worked closely with Mr. Arnall for many years, and had a close friendship with him. Jeff forwarded me an obituary of Arnall that ran this last Saturday in the Wall Street Journal, the link to which can be found below. I asked Jeff if he would be willing to share some thoughts with… Read More

A week ago today, Ameriquest founder and mortgage magnate Roland Arnall passed away from cancer at the age of 68. Arnall was a major contributor to GOP and conservative causes over the years, in additional to many philanthopic efforts that included co-founding the Simon Weisethal Center in West Los Angeles. I had an opportunity to meet and talk to Mr. Arnall a few times, and came away from those chats very impressed with the depth of his passion and love for this country.

My good friend Jeff Miller (not the Assembly candidate, but the policy advocate and Co-Chairman of fundraising efforts at the Republican Governors Association) worked closely with Mr. Arnall for many years, and had a close friendship with him. Jeff forwarded me an obituary of Arnall that ran this last Saturday in the Wall Street Journal, the link to which can be found below.

I asked Jeff if he would be willing to share some thoughts with FR readers on the passing of Roland Arnell. Jeff, who traditionally stays "behind the scenes" demonstrated how much this… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

What Did They Expect from the ‘Terminator’?

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is not much one for sentiment. He has bounced both his brother-in-law Bobby Shriver and his fellow actor and friend Clint Eastwood from the State Park and Recreation Commission.

Mr. Shriver, who chaired the commission, and Mr. Eastwood, who was his deputy, both opposed the Governator’s plan to build a toll road between Orange County and San Diego that would have cut through a corner of a state park.

"It shows you how strong these developers were that [they] were able to… Read More

When you are going into a fight for your life, you want to make sure that everyone in your fox hole is at the top of their game — and it looks like State Senator Jeff Denham, who is the subject of a frivolous and political recall effort but can take nothing for granted, has put together quite a team. Fresh off the "No on 93" team are lead consultants Wayne Johnson and Tim Clark of JohnsonClark Associates, consultant and media strategist par excellence Kevin Spillane, and uber-research specialist Mark Bogetich of MB Associates. They’ve already kicked Don Perata’s porky butt once, and I am sure relish the opportunity to do it again… Rounding out the team: Veteran pollster Steve Kinney of Public Opinion Strategies, Capitol fundraiser John Bovee of the Bovee Company, district fundraiser Jane Clark of the JLC Group — and on the ground: tapped as the on-site campaign manager is John Franklin (from Darrell Issa’s political team, he recently managed the successful election campaign of Brian Bilbray in the very high profile 2006 special election to fill Duke Cunningham’s seat). Franklin’s Deputy… Read More

In the wake of incumbent school board Trustee Luis Acle’s failure to qualify for the ballot in San Diego Unified (the FlashReport broke the story two Sundays ago and your extremely humble blogger alerted the “mainstream” media to the development), folks were scrambling in the days to follow for analternative candidate.

Last week, it was confirmed what I already knew. Charles Wesley Kim, Jr. had filed his nominating papers by the extended deadline, but even he guessed he didn’t get enough valid signatures submitted. The resulting U-T story even caused Jon Fleischmanto ask on the FR mainpage, "Keystone Cops?," given the fact thatboth an incumbent and a new candidate had failed to qualify, thus leaving labor organizer Richard Barrera as the lone, unopposed heir to Acle’s seat.

Please bear with me on this one.

The 200 signature requirement in the City of San Diego is… Read More

AB 1940, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore’s bill to grant pregnant women temporary disabled parking passes, failed to make it out of the Assembly Transportation Committee this afternoon. In an unusual move, every member of the committee abstained from the vote with the exception of Cathleen Galgiani (Yes) and Betty Karnette (No), the final vote being 1 to 1 (there are 14 committee members).

Assemblyman DeVore had offered an amendment to the bill that would have prevented use of the permits in paid municipal meters, which already have high usage in urban locations. The National Organization for Women testified in opposition to the bill, once again proving the hypocrisy of their group’s title. Responding to their allegations that AB 1940 classified pregnant women as disabled, DeVore stated that pregnancy is a temporary state, not a permanent disability, much like when an athlete is injured and needs some assistance for a few months.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists argued that such permits would discourage women from getting exercise. DeVore countered that many of the stories coming in to his office were from mothers who actually turn… Read More