You have to love the mindset of liberal Democrats like Don Perata, the outgoing State Senate President Pro-Tem. For years and years, they (Democrats) have overseen a huge expansion of the size and scope of state government spending, without regard for the inevitable result — that eventually the proverbial chickens would come home to roost and we would be left where we are right now — with current state spending vastly exceeding anticipated tax revenues. This situation that we are in, which is mostly the doing of Perata and his liberal Democrat colleagues (since it takes a 2/3 vote to pass a budget, Republicans to share some "partial credit" for our situation), is a horrible one. But it should be crystal clear that there is only one responsible course of action to an overspending problem, and that is to cut spending back to levels that the state can afford. Of course, being liberals, Perata and company can’t understand why we should simply saddle Californian’s with higher taxes so that we can "increase state revenue" to match our overspending. It must be so easy to be a liberal. After… Read More

FlashReport Exclusive…

Ending months of speculation that he may enter the fray himself, Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R-77) will announce — at a press conference to begin in about 30 minutes — his endorsement of Duncan D. Hunter (left) for the open 52nd Congressional District seat. Hunter will also name Anderson as campaign chairman.

Anderson confirmed the news with me this morning as he was leaving Sacramento to attend the 11 a.m. press conferencein La Mesa. The announcement is a significant coup for Hunter, as Anderson has long been considered by many a potential leading contender for the seat. The 77th Assembly District overlaps much of the 52nd congressional area, including nearly all of the major communities. Hunter, a Marine Corps captain, recently returned from a stint in Afghanistan, and since then has been campaigning for the seat being vacated by his father, 14-term Congressman Duncan Hunter. "Captain Hunter is the true… Read More

What does one do when he is sitting in a foreign airport at 5 a.m. with nothing to do? Blog of course.

And how canone avoid blogging on the latest story from Don Perata, the Senate Democrat Leader, coming out of Sacramento? He has thrown the high, hanging fast ball to the Legislative Republicans. Now let’s see if they can hit it out of the park.

Apparently, yesterday, Senator Perata announced that he would hold up the entire legislative process, keep the legislators in session, until taxes were raised, basically saying that until 8 legislative Republicans (6 in the Assembly and two in the Senate) voted to raise taxes, he would not let the entire state legislature adjourn. This, in an election year. Oh please, Senator Perata, don’t do that to us, don’t throw us "wascawy" Republicans" into that briar patch. Please Senator Br’er Fox, we couldn’t take the pressure. We will feel unbelievably bad about sitting in Sacramento while story after story is written about how only Republicans are standing between the taxpayer and higher taxes in California. Of course, we promise, promise, promise never to mention… Read More

You have to love the mindset of liberal Democrats like Don Perata, the outgoing State Senate President Pro-Tem. For years and years, they (Democrats) have overseen a huge expansion of the size and scope of state government spending, without regard for the inevitable result — that eventually the proverbial chickens would come home to roost and we would be left where we are right now — with current state spending vastly exceeding anticipated tax revenues. This situation that we are in, which is mostly the doing of Perata and his liberal Democrat colleagues (since it takes a 2/3 vote to pass a budget, Republicans to share some "partial credit" for our situation), is a horrible one. But it should be crystal clear that there is only one responsible course of action to an overspending problem, and that is to cut spending back to levels that the state can afford. Of course, being liberals, Perata and company can’t understand why we should simply saddle Californian’s with higher taxes so that we can "increase state revenue" to match our overspending. It must be so easy to be a liberal. After… Read More

With Tom McClintock’s decision this morning to focus his aim on Capitol Hill, it leaves a very big vacuum in the race for who will succeed Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard, who is in his second and final term on the BOE (his current term ends in 2010). With McClintock in the race, he had pretty much cleared the field. BOE districts are vast, each of them encompassing one quarter of the state’s voters. Thus they are very difficult in which to campaign. The amount of money and resources required to communicate your message, as a candidate, to Republican voters is staggering. McClintock’s high state-wide name I.D. made him a shoo-in, and now… There is no longer a presumptive front-runner to replace Leonard. Or is there?

I am sure that a significant number of current and former legislators, among others, will now be seriously looking at a run for this safe, Republican BOE seat. One person whom you can figure is very likely to announce her candidacy sooner than later is… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, the delegates to the California Republican Party Convention adopted a strong, bold platform to serve as the ideological and policy document for the State GOP for the next four years.

Along with many others, I was proud to serve as a member of the Platform Committee that adopted this platform. It represents a lot of work by a lot of people, and I encourage all FlashReport readers to take a few minutes to peruse it. It is broken down into sections and is quite easy to digest. A lot of CRP members took a leadership role in the drafting of this document, certainly worthy of specific mention would be Mike Schroeder, Mike Spence, Mark Pruner, and Laura Gadke, with whom I worked closely in the process. But the overall effort included dozens of great Republicans, and the final version that you have here before you represents an additional five hours of work by the Platform Committee at the convention, with many different additions and revisions. CRP Chairman Ron Nehring and Committee… Read More

With Tom McClintock’s announcement this morning that he is running for the GOP nomination in the 4th Congressional District, already two of the three other candidates that had been in the race have dropped out and endorsed the popular conservative State Senator. Veteran Eric Egland and former State Senator Rico Oller both are now solidly in the McClintock camp.

So now all eyes will be on former Congressman, moderate Doug Ose. Ose, a super-wealthy businessman, has to now huddle with his advisors and make a big decision — whether any amount of money can boost him past a very popular and formidable McClintock. Especially since McClintock will be able to raise quite a bit of money himself, and stands to benefit from big efforts from groups such as the Club for Growth.

From talking to folks, Ose’s genetic makeup is never to "back down" from a fight. Then again, you are successful in business by understanding where you take advantage of opportunities, and when to commit, or in some cases, not commit resources.

Anyways, below is text of a letter that Rico Oller just sent out to his supporters. Rico’s a great guy who… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, the delegates to the California Republican Party Convention adopted a strong, bold platform to serve as the ideological and policy document for the State GOP for the next four years.

Along with many others, I was proud to serve as a member of the Platform Committee that adopted this platform. It represents a lot of work by a lot of people, and I encourage all FlashReport readers to take a few minutes to peruse it. It is broken down into sections and is quite easy to digest. A lot of CRP members took a leadership role in the drafting of this document, certainly worthy of specific mention would be Mike Schroeder, Mike Spence, Mark Pruner, and Laura Gadke, with whom I worked closely in the process. But the overall effort included dozens of great Republicans, and the final version that you have here before you represents an additional five hours of work by the Platform Committee at the convention, with many different additions and revisions. CRP Chairman Ron Nehring and Committee… Read More