In an episode of The Office, the tactless boss, Michael Scott, looks to Wikipedia to learn the art of negotiation.He seems to think that he’s getting reliable information: “Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information.”Well, yeah, anyone can add to this site. And in some cases, your tax dollars are paying people to do so. A report released by The Sacramento Bee (October 17, 2007) revealed that “Sacramento government workers are doing their part to shape how we all see the world – inflating reputations, dabbling in pornography and whiling away work hours.” Shouldn’t we be proud that our state workers are (re)writing history? … Read More

Perhaps everyone should have been paying closer attention to the message being sent by Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman and his caucus during the Summer’s budget stalemate — that California is heading for a fiscal crisis, and that we needed to cut state spending.

Apparently the budget that was approved was smoke-and-mirrors after all. I think that the credibility of the Governor’s Finance Office and Democrat Legislative Budget staffers are at an all time low, as the ability to have a real balanced budget requires, as an essential component, the ability to make realistic forecasts of projected revenues. It would appear that projections aren’t just off, but they were grossly underestimated. Since state spending was set with these projections in mind, every day, week and month that goes by without revising our spending just makes matters worse.

While notable, it is not enough to for the Governor to ask his bureaucratic chiefs to plan for a 10% cut in next year’s budget. We need to deal with this problem now. As State Senator Bob Dutton has pointed out, the Governor has the power to call a State of Fiscal Emergency to… Read More

Yes, I am a Rudy Giuliani supporter. Let’s get that out of the way.

Yesterday a political bombshell hit the media. Former Christian Coalition leader and 700 Club personality Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani for President.

In its reports yesterday the Washington Post called Pat Robertson one of the most influential figures in the social conservative movement. They said Robertson’s endorsement of Giuliani is a significant blow to Mitt Romney, who has worked hard to court evangelical leaders.

I have been reporting here for some time that national and state polls have consistently favored Giuliani for the Republican nomination. Rudy has never been behind in a Republican poll. I have also been reporting that national polls, including in liberal states like New Jersey, show Rudy neck-and-neck with Hillary Clinton, who will be the Democrat nominee for President. Rudy can beat the Democrat. Polls show the other Republicans can not.

So, with just a few weeks until the California Republican presidential primary, who do we want to be the next President? Bill and Hillary… Read More

To: FlashReport Readers From: Dave Gilliard, Manager, California Counts RE: Electoral College Reform Initiative – An Update for FlashReport Readers! Just two weeks ago, the Electoral College Reform Initiative was destined to join many other great ideas that never made the ballot due to lack of money, organization or time. Today, thanks to the generous support from donors and herculean efforts from everyone working on the measure, I am very happy to inform… Read More

In September, on our main daily news page, the FlashReport featured an LA Times article, “Cities, counties pay price for Capitol clout,” which reported that last year local government in California spent nearly $40 million on capitol lobbyists – more than labor, oil or business.

The League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties justified these enormous expenditures of tax dollars by claiming that unlike other private interests, they can’t make political contributions to legislators and causes.

Apparently that might not be the case… In recent weeks, the League of California Cities campaign finance reports and a leaked memo suggests otherwise. In fact, their reported lobbying expenses are just the tip of the iceberg of a large and powerful political machine financed by California taxpayers.

Recent campaign reports and an internal memo reveals that the League is well on their way to spending millions of dollars on an eminent domain ballot measure that the state’s independent Legislative… Read More

This last week, I filed a complaint against the Clinton campaign alleging that the campaign had co-ordinated with the opposition to the California Electoral College reform to defeat the initiative. Clintonistas and their operatives filed a complaint against the initiative claiming that it was a secret Giuliani operation, alleging on very flimsy evidence that the Giuliani campaign was really running the operation to benefit Giuliani.

Well, since I have been involved with this issue since 2001, working on the campaign from the day of filing, and an endorser of Mitt Romney, I knew this was false, but when the campaign sputtered in July, the Clintonistas were bragging to the newspapers and media everywhere, that their aggressive opposition to the initiative caused its death.

Well, news of the death of the initiative was clearly premature, and those who were fighting the initiative literallyadmitted to the press that they had committed the very sins that they had accused the Giuliani campaign of committing. Not very smart for these supposedly very smart campaign operatives, and, if the FEC wishes to maintain any semblance of impartiality, they will pursue the… Read More

In September, on our main daily news page, the FlashReport featured an LA Times article, “Cities, counties pay price for Capitol clout,” which reported that last year local government in California spent nearly $40 million on capitol lobbyists – more than labor, oil or business.

The League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties justified these enormous expenditures of tax dollars by claiming that unlike other private interests, they can’t make political contributions to legislators and causes.

Apparently that might not be the case… In recent weeks, the League of California Cities campaign finance reports and a leaked memo suggests otherwise. In fact, their reported lobbying expenses are just the tip of the iceberg of a large and powerful political machine financed by California taxpayers.

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

You have wonder about "Light" Governor John Garamendi. Perhaps he just has too much time on his hands since, in the Golden State, his job is primarily to hang out and be available in case the Governor becomes incapacitated. We have a suggestion for Garamendi — perhaps he should spend some time in his posh office today, seeing if he is capable of patting the top of his head while he rubs his tummy at the same time. It would appear that Garamendi doesn’t believe that mature adults know how to multi-task. In an effort to win a "Hot Air" award from the FlashReport, Garamendi started flapping his jaws yesterday, complaining that State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner shouldn’t be spending any time opposing the Perata/Nunez Term-Limits End Run Initiative because all of Poizner’s time should be spent dealing with the aftermath of the wildfires. I know, Lt. Governor, that it might blow you away to hear this, since I guess it doesn’t work so… Read More