I don’t agree with Democrat Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez on much. As a matter of fact, I think that I would be hard pressed to agree with him on just about anything. But in an AP story today penned by Erica Werner, the Assembly Speaker unloads on the recent DC trip of Governor Schwarzenegger. You can read the whole story here, but here is the choicest excerpt:

Nunez also commented skeptically about Schwarzenegger’s newfound advocacy for what the governor calls "post-partisan" politics. While in Washington, Schwarzenegger repeated the phrase he coined earlier this year, referring to himself as a governor who accepts ideas from all sides.

"What he’s talking about sounds good theoretically. I think in practical terms the way I read it is it’s just semantics. Post-partisanship – what does that mean? I don’t know. It’s some word he made up," Nunez said.

"But I think he has a claim, in some ways, to that new term because… Read More

A h/t to Los Angeles Times blogger Bob Salladay who pointed out that in the most recent batch of Gubernatornial appointees, there is one, Gregory Bell, 21, of Los Angeles, who was appointed to the State Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency, who sticks out because instead of being listed with his party registration (or DTS), his appointment is annotated with, "Bell is not registered to vote."

Of course, the Governor’s office knew this fact from the get go, as I just reviewed the application form and you are asked whether you are registered to vote as one of the screening questions. Apparently there is no right or wrong answer to this question, it would seem. I was curious about this, and so I thought, since I report on political news that I would just pick up phone and call Mr. Bell to ask him about this. I reached him at his place of work, at the Los Angeles County Children’s Planning Council, where, according to the Governor’s release,… Read More

I know I’ve been posting fun — not serious — stuff of late, but some things are just too outstanding to pass up. Consider John Hoy’s email today with the subject header"Another great story promo from the SD Union-Tribune online edition," referring to this:

Dismemberment details emerge

The suspect arrested today in the brutal murder-dismemberment of a man in the South Bay area is described by his former boss at a local porn store and others as polite and thoughtful.

Not that the story itself is fun or oustanding, but consider that the online promo writer was able to package the words brutal, murder, dismemberment, porn store, polite and thoughtfulall into one tightly-wrapped sentence.

Hey, whatever sells readership, but someone needs to hire that guy as a political hit-piece writer.

For extra credit, tell me from where I derived the title of this post.… Read More

This last week we have witnessed the declaration by Al (Sore Loserman) Gore that the problem of global warming is a "no longer a scientific debate, it is a moral issue." Yesterday, I saw a commercial that showed some old white guy who said that the "scientific evidence shows that the irreversible effects" of global warming won’t occur until thirty years from now. Of course, the fellow is standing on a railroad track with the train coming. He announces "that won’t affect me" as he steps off the track. The picture then moves to a little girl, who, the commercial implies, gets run over by the train. This obviously contends that an indifference to global warming now will kill our children.

As the rhetoric on the issue heats up (so to speak), we must congratulate the California government for solving the crisis. Less than two months after AB 32 took effect, California and the rest of the country have suffered record low temperatures. I am impressed at how well that bill has worked. Although, given its effectiveness so far, no further action is necessary to implement the bill, I… Read More

I spoke with a prominent California pollster yesterday who called to inquire about whether or not Decline-To-State voters would be able to vote in the Republican primary for President, should they choose to do so. The question is not as silly as you might think. Several years back, after the United States Supreme Court tossed out California’s open primary law as being unconstitutional, a state law was passed that allows any political party to "opt in" to allowing Decline-To-State voters to participate in their primaries. The California Republican Party made a decision to allow DTS voters to particulate in GOP primaries for federal and state legislative, as well as for statewide constitutional office, which has been taking place for multiple election cycles now. But the Party Bylaws relative to the Presidential primary is abundantly clear. Delegates are awarded based on a tabulation of ONLY the Republican votes. Of course, the CRP could always change its rules, but to do so at its next convention might very well place the CRP in violation of the Republican National Committee deadline for submitting its rules… Read More

More Bills: Continuing last week’s theme, here are more of the bills that I will be working on this Congress. Just a reminder that some of these will not become law this Congress, but I will be working with my colleagues to increase support and move them forward. Here they are in no particular order:

Energy/Fuel Choice Bill – This is a big bipartisan effort to deal with the problem of energy security. The main motivation behind the leaders of this bill (myself included) is to reduce dependence on foreign oil for reasons of national security. We want to stop funding the efforts of countries around the world where the people want to kill us. There are also inherent environmental benefits. The overlying concept behind this legislation is that you really only have one choice today to fuel your car and that is an oil based product. This bill would require both infrastructure and car manufacturers to transition over the next five years to a significant percentage of vehicles having the option of running on some fuel other than 100% oil. These could be ethanol, methanol, bio-diesel, plug-in hybrids, or any combination thereof that… Read More

Last weekend, the annual Pollie Awards were handed out by the American Association of Political Consultants – the “campaign world’s version of the Oscars” as FR advertiser SchubertFlint Public Affairs put it.

Despite almost 3,000 entries in 80 categories, the FlashReport’s stable of contributors and advertisers took home (by my count) 20 Pollies.

FR Contributor Tom Ross’ firm, Meridian Pacific, grabbed two.

FR Contributor Duane Dichiara’s firm, Coronado Communications,won one.

Your humble author took homeone as well.

FR advertisers Bieber Communications, JohnsonClark Associates, SchubertFlint Public Relations, and Visteva each also were award winners.… Read More

ANALOGY WARNING: I have been told by those closest to me that when I try to wind up a lengthy analogy, sometimes I miss the mark. That said, I am going to try to equate the Governor’s behavior with California Democrats to a football game. Wish me luck: