This afternoon, Governor Schwarzenegger endorsed a redistricting reform measure that has been put forward by Common Cause of California, AARP, the League of Women Voters and the Los Angeles County Chamber of Commerce. They call is California Voters First (a summary of the initiative is here). This clearly is a big boost for this initiative, which presumably will target appearing on the ballot next November. I’ve not taken a formal position on this measure, and must now give it a more in-depth review. On the natural, anything that is promoted by Common Cause, AARP or the League of Voters would have me opposing it, and requiring convincing me to move me towards support. With the triple-crown of these "we love big government" groups all together on this one, it really makes a conservative like myself want to oppose it on… Read More

Larry McCarthy, president of the California Taxpayers’ Association since 1989, died Saturday in Sacramento after a long struggle with cancer. He was 59 years old. “California’s taxpayers have lost a friend and ally,” Cal-Tax Board of Directors Chair John Cmelak Cmelak said. “For more than 30 years, Larry provided an effective, articulate voice for lower taxes and greater government accountability, and he did so with unmatched integrity and grace.” McCarthy participated in too many statewide ballot measure campaigns to mention, defending taxpayers against unnecessary tax hikes and speaking out for improved government efficiency. In 2000, he signed the ballot argument for Proposition 35, which amended the state constitution to allow contracting out for engineering and… Read More

Feinstein Knows Best… As for the much ballyhooed Dianne Feinstein “hearing” in San Diego on Tuesday, during which she lectured local officials on how to properly prepare for and ultimately fight fires …you know, she may be right about some of her charges, but mostly for the wrong reasons.

Anyone actually believing that having the title of U.S. Senator means one knows more about firefighting than local officials (or firefighters), I sure would like to hear your position on all firefighting services being administered at the Federal level. Now, there’s a proposal that would ensure more efficient delivery of public safety services.

Before anyone follows Di-Fi’s lead and raises taxes for more firefighting capabilities, please do tell where all our Prop 172 funds are currently going.

Additionally, the phrase often missing in these post wildfire debates is “defensible space.” Once again, just as in 2003, a direct link exists between defensible space around a home and whether the structure survived. It’s not… Read More

[The following is a guest commentary penned by former FlashReport Managing Editor and Fred Thompson supporter Nicholas Romero who attended the Thompson rally yesterday. – Flash]

Yesterday morning I had the great pleasure of attending a rally of roughly seven hundred experienced conservative activists who all came together in the City of Laguna Woods to listen to and support former United States Senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson. What a great event. Don’t believe me? Check out the Orange County Register’s write-up or the Los Angeles Times’s piece.

Former KFI radio host, now documentarian John Ziegler emceed and began the proceedings with a couple of zingers. (He, of course,… Read More

[The following is a guest commentary penned by former FlashReport Managing Editor and Fred Thompson supporter Nicholas Romero who attended the Thompson rally yesterday. – Flash]

Yesterday morning I had the great pleasure of attending a rally of roughly seven hundred experienced conservative activists who all came together in the City of Laguna Woods to listen to and support former United States Senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson. What a great event. Don’t believe me? Check out the Orange County Register’s write-up or the Los Angeles Times’s piece.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

On Friday I took the opportunity to critique the CNN/YouTube GOP Presidential Debate — where I candidly expressed my disappointment of the video questions that were selected for that event. I figured that I would swing back and take a moment to highlight what I felt was the low-point of the affair…

GOP Presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani were asked about whether they support taxpayer subsidies for American farmers… Both of them gave answers that were extraordinairily disappointing…. Romney and Giuliani both know better, and so I would catagorize this as political pandering at its best to corn-belt voters in Iowa and thereabouts. Check out this segment… : There are several basic… Read More

On Friday I took the opportunity to critique the CNN/YouTube GOP Presidential Debate — where I candidly expressed my disappointment of the video questions that were selected for that event. I figured that I would swing back and take a moment to highlight what I felt was the low-point of the affair…

GOP Presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani were asked about whether they support taxpayer subsidies for American farmers… Both of them gave answers that were extraordinairily disappointing…. Romney and Giuliani both know better, and so I would catagorize this as political pandering at its best to corn-belt voters in Iowa and thereabouts. Check out this segment… : There are several basic… Read More

Not wanting to be contrarian to all the recent voices for the Governor to call a fiscalemergency special session to deal with California’s critical budget crisis – but if he does – nothing will happen.

Sure – a "Fiscal Emergency Special Session" sounds great, and it would be great if Prop 58 (which created this authority) had any teeth in it. But Prop 58 was written as window dressing for Prop 57 (the $15 Billion Deficit Bond) that the governor and the Democrats really, really wanted to bail us out of the Gray Davis deficit crisis.(update: please see Steve Maviglio’s comment below – I had orginally misnumbered the Props and he was kind enough to point that out – in his heartfelt way) Prop 57’s basic concept was for California to go into more long-term debt to pay off itsshort-termdeficit – which without Prop 58 to make it look like "real reform" would never ever have made it past the voters. (consumer warning: don’t attempt this at home – you will go bankrupt)

Prop 58 is rife with loopholes. It sounds awesome… Read More