I went to Sacramento to protect Proposition 13 and fight against tax increases. I take that commitment very seriously – and I’m proud of my record.

Soimagine my surprise when I read yesterday that on the newly released Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association legislative report card I received an embarrassing (and pathetic) 78.4 score, which is a grade of "B". Which also was the worst score of any Republican in either house.

I was stunned – and very, very concerned.

I love the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. They do great work and are one of the most important organizations in California. To be the worst Republican on their report card……yikes.

HJTA is so important to me – and this score was so inconsistent with my voting record over 13 years we started researching how this anomaly happened. We found what I believe is a scoring system that – while good intentioned – punishes you if you’re not available to vote – even if you’re sick, in my case, absent because you are recovering from… Read More

There seems to be an elephant in the web that people are not willing to deal with.

For several years many Republicans were not happy with the performance of Congress on a host of issues.

Many people want to blame Iraq as the reason that Republicans lost control of Congress. Nope. That is why the far left was upset. The reason Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have bigger offices in Washington is that Republicans were viewed as corrupt. That is how the people in the middle viewed it anyway. Corruption is why Republicans lost a majority of Congress.

With the exception of the one rocket scientist with the cash in his freezer the other high profile cases have involved Republicans.

Yesterday when I read the LA Times story about Orange County Sheriff Corona I could not believe what was happening …again.

Sheriff Corona is now going to be one of many Republican office holders in the country that is going to fight corruption charges and make headlines almost every day. The word Republican and corruption will be in every story, every day, every… Read More

We here at the FlashReport would like to wish all of our readers a Happy Halloween, our third since the FR went "live" in October of 2005. Last Saturday night, I had a chance to stop by a couple of great Halloween parties — one of them actually had guests "transported toa Carribbean Island circa the 17th century for some priate fun.

A jolly, rum-filled time was had by all at the home of my long-time friends Jim and Kellie Bieber. I don’t have words to describe the ornate invitation that was mailed out, complete with an "treasure map" on parchment with burnt edges, and a couple of weighty gold doubloons to pay for entry. The invite pointed to a cool website. (Since Jim creates and sends out direct mail for a living, he was able to prepare it all in-house.) The theme? Pirates of the Caribbean! A lot of Orange County politicos "boarded" the Bieber family home in San Clemente (the only one on the block… Read More

We here at the FlashReport would like to wish all of our readers a Happy Halloween, our third since the FR went "live" in October of 2005. Last Saturday night, I had a chance to stop by a couple of great Halloween parties — one of them actually had guests "transported toa Carribbean Island circa the 17th century for some priate fun.

A jolly, rum-filled time was had by all at the home of my long-time friends Jim and Kellie Bieber. I don’t have words to describe the ornate invitation that was mailed out, complete with an "treasure map" on parchment with burnt edges, and a couple of weighty gold doubloons to pay for entry. The invite pointed to a cool website. (Since Jim creates and sends out direct mail for a living, he was able to prepare it all in-house.) The theme? Pirates of the Caribbean! A lot of Orange County politicos "boarded" the Bieber family home in San Clemente (the only one on the block… Read More

Just in from Team Giuliani, the Mayor has assembled a pretty impressive array of GOP activists from up and down the Golden State as his regional volunteer leadership team. Congratulations to each of you, and if you haven’t done so alraedy, each of you should be applying to be a delegate from your respective Congressional District for next summer’s Republican National Convention!

As an aside, the ability to put together a strong local grassroots organization is especially important as each Congressional District will be tallied to determine which GOP candidate is awarded three delegates to the convention. Truly, in this state, all politics IS local…

Rudy’s California Volunteer State Leadership: Margie Handley, State Chair, Willits Tod Burnett, State Chair, Sacramento/Los Angeles Cathie Bennett Warner, State Communications Chair, Marin County Richard Sherman, Vice-Chair, Northridge Kay Spafford, Vice-Chair, San Diego June Downum, Vice-Chair, Glencoe Susan Allen, Vice-Chair, Capitola … Read More

The Southern California wildfires will likely go down as the largest natural disaster in California in more than a decade — more than 500,000 acres burned, nearly 2,000 homes destroyed or damaged, and losses totaling at least $1 billion dollars in San Diego alone.

There is no doubt that disasters of this sort are a tragedy of epic proportions. And my heart goes out to all of the victims of these devastating wildfires.

At times like this, it is certainly the case that some of our elected officials have an opportunity — no, an obligation to step up and make a positive difference, both materially using the powers of their offices to help to deal with the crisis and its aftermath, as well as inspirationally, providing assurances to all of those touched by the terrible situation.

I have been extremely impressed with the job that Governor Schwarzenegger has been doing the last week. As is appropriate for the Governor of any state to be struck thusly, he has dropped everything else and… Read More

The Southern California wildfires will likely go down as the largest natural disaster in California in more than a decade — more than 500,000 acres burned, nearly 2,000 homes destroyed or damaged, and losses totaling at least $1 billion dollars in San Diego alone.

There is no doubt that disasters of this sort are a tragedy of epic proportions. And my heart goes out to all of the victims of these devastating wildfires.

At times like this, it is certainly the case that some of our elected officials have an opportunity — no, an obligation to step up and make a positive difference, both materially using the powers of their offices to help to deal with the crisis and its aftermath, as well as inspirationally, providing assurances to all of those touched by the terrible situation.

I have been extremely impressed with the job that Governor Schwarzenegger has been doing the last week. As is appropriate for the Governor of any state to be struck thusly, he has dropped everything else and… Read More

The conventional wisdom about Arnold Schwarzenegger is rarely correct, the inevitable result of using the words “conventional” and “Schwarzenegger” in the same sentence. But the Field Poll this morning shows him running slightly ahead of Barbara Boxer in a hypothetical campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2010. And the conventional wisdom that Arnold is not likely to be particularly interested in flying 3000 miles each week in order to be one of 100 Senators listening to Robert Byrd talk about Cicero is about to take a beating. As unlikely as a matchup against Boxer may be, there’s a gossip mill to be fed…

More interesting, though, than a hypothetical campaign for than three years away, is how California Republicans would react if this political improbability did become a reality. Since Pete Wilson was re-elected to the Senate nineteen short years ago, the GOP has run conservatives (Haynes, Mountjoy), moderates (Seymour, Campbell), establishment candidates (Jones, Fong) and outsiders (Herschenson, Huffington). The defenses and explanations from each of these candidates’ supporters for their defeats could fill the Internet, but the… Read More