In the weeks leading up to the well-advertised CNN/YouTube GOP Presidential Debate, I was actually getting pretty excited. What a great way to merge modern technology and politics, and get lots of people, especially younger ones, engaged in the process. Recently I gave a keynote address at a Junior Statesmen of America conference, and they had a room set up so that high school students could record debate questions, and I must have seen a hundred e-mails cross my desk referencing the debate, and people sending around their video taped questions for others to see. There was a great deal of buzz, and, for me, a hightened level of expectation.

As it turns out, this debate was totally hijacked by the MSM — and I don’t know whether to blame CNN exclusively, or apply some of the bad credit to the folks at YouTube. That is because I am not sure who was responsible for sifting through the thousands of video clips of questions, and choosing which ones would be asked of… Read More

As a Yolo County Supervisor one of the worst possibilities that I could see coming out of the 2008 election is that Sam Wakim from Yreka would end up representing part of my county. It would have put me in a real bind as I would not have endorsed him in the general election.

Wakim has announced that he is dropping out of the race and moving out of state.

You can read a post from the Record Searchlight on the issue here. The only thing that Ross had wrong is that we now have three candidates in the race. Former Senator Jim Nielsen, Marine Corps Lt. Col Charlie Schaupp, and retired Air Force Colonel Frank Stiglich are all still in the Republican primary.

This race saw Jason Larabee exit a few months ago and lateral his support to Nielsen. Larabee is a great guy. I hope he will run for office in the future.

Someday soon I hope to make a similar post with Wyman instead of Wakim in the title. That would be a great day but we all know my post on Wyman will be about him running for the Assembly or Senate attempting to get 2 more years on his pension so he… Read More

The FlashReport usually frowns upon the posting of press releases, but this one is a bit ofa novelty…

HUNTER TO HILLARY CLINTON DEBATE PLANT: "THANKS, SEND MORE!" San Diego, CA – – – GOP Presidential candidate Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) today sent the following response to Senator Hillary Clinton who planted a member of her campaign staff in the audience to ask a question at the Republican debate last evening in Florida. The retired military general, who announced during his question that he was gay, asked the candidates about their position on the Pentagon’s "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy regarding homosexuals serving in the military.

November 29, 2007 Dear Senator Clinton, Regarding the "plant", retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr, that you sent to ask me the question at the CNN-YouTube debate last night in Florida … Send more!!!

Merry Christmas, Duncan Hunter… Read More

The editorial below ran in the Riverside Press-Enterprise today.

Budget Denial

As deficits ramp up, Democrats need to quit ducking touch choices By SENATOR JIM BATTIN

I know in polite society we aren’t supposed to say "I told you so," but listening to the latest budget news out of Sacramento, I couldn’t help but think it.

The state’s nonpartisan legislative analyst, Elizabeth Hill, announced this month that California’s budget situation has "deteriorated" by almost $6 billion since the budget was signed in late August. As a result, next year’s budget deficit is conservatively estimated at $10 billion, up from about $3 billion this year. I say conservatively because state revenues are in a tailspin and the deficit could easily be billions of dollars more.

If this sounds like a broken record, here’s why:… Read More

Our publisher Jon asked me to comment on the recent $50 million out-of-court settlement by the City of Dana Point and its insurer, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (“CJPIA”), in favor of two joggers who were hit and very seriously injured by an uninsured drunk on Pacific Coast Highway last year. They were jogging in the clearly defined bicycle lane of PCH when the drunk driver swerved over the line and hit them. I was on the City Council when the accident occurred in April of 2006, and Jon thought my insight would be valuable regarding what the implications are of a $50 million liability payout by a city and its insurance company.

Well, the primary implication of this huge payout, characterized by Orange County-based personal injury guru Mark Robinson as “one of the top settlements in the county’s” history, is that basically the City of Dana Point has blown the limits of its insurance coverage, (the Dana Point annual budget itself is around $25 million, half the amount of the settlement!), it very likely has no liability insurance left for the rest of its current policy, the CJPIA now has blown a huge chunk of… Read More

Battle-hardened from his post as Communications Director for Congressman John Doolittle, Gordon Hinkle has a new position – courtesy of a Gubernatorial appointment announced today (see the details below). Perhaps the Congressman will be recruiting a replacement for Hinkle from a crisis-communications firm? Hinkle will be hard to replace – a consummate professional with the work ethic of the Energizer Bunny…

From the Gov’s release: “Gordon Hinkle, 34, of Roseville, has been appointed deputy press secretary for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He has served as communications director and senior field representative for Congressmember John Doolittle since February 2007. From 2006 to 2007, Hinkle was senior consultant to the California Assembly Republican Caucus. Previously, he served as communications director for State Senator Jim Battin from 2001 to 2006. Prior to that, Hinkle worked for Hewlett Packard as a logistics process analyst from 2000 to 2001. He is a member of the Roseville Planning Commission. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $87,132. Hinkle is a… Read More

Today we are formally calling on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of Fiscal Emergency for California state government. The long and short of it is that the anticipated revenues for California for THIS FISCAL YEAR are falling billions short of projections. While it is laudable that the Governor has instructed his agency and department heads to start to look towards cuts for the FY 07-08 budget, which will be very helpful in terms of helping to provide a starting point for massive shortfall that is projected for next year’s budget, what we have is a TODAY problem. Hence the need for a call for Fiscal Emergency.

With the passage of Proposition 58, the Governor has the power to make this declaration, lay out a plan to immediately trim government spending, and call the legislature into session to act on the parts of his plan that cannot be done unilaterally. This would show leadership, and would acutely focus the attention of all of our policy makers on dealing with a very real problem — we don’t have enough income to support all of our spending!

Now I know that the Governor would prefer to keep the focus on his health-care… Read More

Two of the things I am convinced of are:

Jackie Speier was denied the opportunity to be the Lt. Governor of California by Liz Figueroa in the Democrat primary. Had it not been for Figueroa appearing on the ballot with an anemic campaign, the votes she "earned" would have gone to Speier. Further, she was the only one that could have prevented Jerry Brown from returning to the corner office of the State Capitol in 2010. Most of the California Congressional Delegation has lost touch with the politics of California. Out of the 53 of them I would guess less than a dozen are truly active politically any more.

Speier is a formidable political force because of her media presence, compelling story, and shameless pursuit of headlines in a way that makes her appear to be the best friend of the voter/consumer/whatever. Love her or hate her the woman is a really good politician.

The reason for this post is that she is thinking about taking on Congressman Tom Lantos in the primary next year. Here is a story from Matier and Ross,… Read More