It’s been a busy summer (work and fun) so I’m a little late in updating Flashreport readers on the happenings as it relates to the legislative races in the Sacramento area.

The July reports are a chance for candidates to show momentum (or lack thereof). It even brings about some late entries that will need to play catch up in the next reporting period.

That being said, there have been several interesting developments in Assembly primaries around Sacramento.

AD 2 The lack of a clear front-runner in this safe Republican seat has left the door wide open for a strong candidate such as former State Senator Jim Nielsen to enter the race. Since announcing in July, Nielsen has gained the endorsement of incumbent Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa and retains the respect of many of his current and former colleagues. Although he announced his candidacy after the June reporting deadline, many expect him to have a strong report in October. Nielsen represented a good portion of this area in the Senate and the Assembly, but he will have to move into the District to become an eligible candidate.

Nielsen’s opponent is Dentist… Read More

Prominent conservative blogger and columnist Michelle Malkin posted yesterday about the Oakland-based criminal family behind "Your Black Muslim Bakery" and the local left-wing politicians who have supported them. The "bakery" (or criminal base camp, depending on how you view it) is back on the front pages of the Bay Area newspapers after one of its young employees (?) murdered Oakland Post editor and reporter Chauncey Bailey after they had gotten word that Bailey was working on a potentially damning story. The confessed murderer said he thought he was being "a good soldier" for carrying out the brazen act.

Here’s a good snippet from Malkin’s blog post: The… Read More

There is no doubt that in the eight years since they arrived on the California political scene, the New Majority has made a significant impact. But what is the New Majority? Who are they? And what are their goals?

Just the other day, I was invited to participate in a "media roundtable" with the leadership of the California New Majority and the Orange County New Majority Chapter. It was an informative session, and so I thought that I would share some observations with FlashReport readers.

The meeting was conducted by four leaders in the New Majority — Tom McKernan, the CEO of the Auto Club of Southern California, who is the new Chairman of New Majority, Orange County — Paul Folino (pictured left), Executive Chairman of Emulex Corporation, the Immediate Past Chairman of NM Orange County, Dwight Decker, the… Read More

We’re going to be making a series of enhancements to the FlashReport website over the coming weeks, some of which will be "behind the scenes" so will not be immediately obvious to site visitors, others will be readily apparent. The first enhancement with significant impact on you is the addition of a new feature courtesy of Snap.Com — this is a feature that activates when you move your curser over any link (to another website) on the FlashReport’s main news page or this blog page. When the curser is over the link, a small window will pop up that actually shows you a mini-image of the site to which the link is connected. You can see what I mean in the graphic image to the right. To click through to the link, you just click on it as usual. But now you get a "snapshot" of what’s "ahead" to help you decide if you really want to go there. Remember, this feature is set up only for links that are not to other areas of the FlashReport website. … Read More

When the dust settled on the current budget bill that was hastily passed out of the State Assembly, it turns out that there are some significant policy issues that have arisen… Senator Dave Cogdill has taken a moment to articulate what some of those issues happen to be in this submission… In the Legislature, when considering public safety matters, we used to debate whether or not to increase or reduce sentences, whether or not to increase or decrease penalties. It’s a constant back and forth between those of us who want to be tough on crime and criminals and those who would like to see mandates on criminals eased up. I proudly belong to the former group. There is no logic behind fighting crime by relaxing laws. However, it is part of the liberal toolbox – right up there with lowering classroom standards in order to make sure everybody passes.… Read More

Tom Hiltachk could not have been surprised with the shrieks coming from the California political ruling class,when he filed his Electoral College reform Initiative last week. The initiative would eliminate the "winner take all" rule that gives all 55 California electoral votes to the winner.

Republicans and democrats both eliminated the winner take all rule for Presidential Primaries. Reasoning that to have a powerful campaign in California you needed retail politics in each congressional district. Since 1992, California has not had a serious Presidential campaign. We were ignored. All that voters for both parties were supposed to do was to give money to influence Iowa and Ohio.

California for Equal Representations (CER) will blow upthe rules. Candidates who want California electoral votes will have to campaign in all 53 congressional districts. California will once again become the battleground state, as it has been since Lincoln was elected in 1860.

Hiltachk typically is closed mouth. He won’t divulge his donors or his strategies or who he is working for. Still, it is now public knowledge that the Governor’s chief… Read More

SENATE GOP BUDGET WEBSITE State Senate Republicans have launched a new website on the California State Budget which is a great resource for obtaining information on where Senate Republican are coming from in terms of what they feel need to be compents of a fiscally prudent budget. The site provides the latest media statements from Senate Republican leadership, compiles statements and opinion pieces from Senate Republicans, gives a clear perspective of what has happened to date, and, as I said, lays out policy objectives. We’ll continue on this site to provide comprehensive coverage of the budget debate, and will alert FR readers to new and interesting content over on the Senate Republicans’ Budget site — but you should definately check it out here. (h/t to Matt Ross in Senator Ackerman’s office) WHERE ARE OUR LEGISLATORS? Today marks yet another day that California does not have… Read More

Yesterday, Congressman John Campbell blogged (see a few posts below this one) about his questioning of an egregious earmark on the floor of Congress. The pork project was called the "Paint Shield for Protecting People from Microbial Threats."

This is such a "must watch" for FR readers that I have put the video right here (courtesy of our friends at Club for Growth). Take a few minutes now, or at some point, and watch this.

Congressman Campbell lays out a succinct 5 point criteria for a credible earmark. Every Member of Congress should ask these questions before submitting ANY earmark requests. Appropriations Committee Members should be asking these questions before approving any requests, and on the floor, all Members of Congress must insist on an affirmative answer to all 5 points.

If an earmark cannot pass these 5 criteria, it is EGREGIOUS and should be rejected.… Read More