The FlashReport would like to congratulate the three members of California’s Congressional delegation who have been tapped with ‘high honors’ from the National Taxpayers Union — receiving their coveted "Taxpayer Friends" rating… And the winners are… Dana Rohrabacher, Ed Royce and our own FR Beltway Correspondent John Campbell!! It should come as no surprise to FR readers that among the many "F" recipients (all Democrats) from the NTU for 2006 were our two United States Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and of course our new Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Here is how each of the Republicans from California scored, since we follow GOPers most closely here at the FR…

**There is more – click the link**

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There is a ‘must read’ story in the new Beltway Uber-Online Newspaper, The Politico, where reporter Roger Simon publishes a story after conducting a 45 minute private interview with Governor Schwarzenegger. In the story, apparently the Governor told Simon that he would not endorse a Republican in the Presidential primary, though he had praise for McCain and Giuliani for being "centrist" and the kind of Republicans that can win California. The way that Simon worded his story, there is no commitment that the Governor will limit his endorsement options to only the GOP nominee… The Governor quelched any rumors that his wife, Maria Schriver, might run for public office herself, talks about how Democrats are being unfair to Hillary, and expresses his support for a date-specific withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. You can see the story here. … Read More

The Assembly Elections Committee on a party line 5-2 vote passed through the early presidential primary bill, SB 113. An amendment offered by Committee Vice-Chair, Assemblyman Anthony Adams [AAA] to require specific language in the bill to reimburse counties the $88 million this early election will cost was denied, by the same vote, 5 Dems-No, 2 Reps-Aye. Assemblyman Roger Niello, in committee,noted that such language is necessary in the spirit of Ronald Reagan’s "Trust but verify" when the Dems ‘promise’ to reimburse counties for this extra election. We’ll see…… Read More

Shortly after the conclusion of the CRP convention last week, my fellow FR correspondent Brandon Powers of the LA region shared his insights on the potential open seat in AD 60, currently held by conservative Republican Bob Huff.Assemblymember Huff may vacate AD 60 to seek a potentially open State Senate seat. (I say “potential” as a result of the term limits modification measure that may be up in February). My friend Brandon Powers lists several good candidates for the 60th, but he incorrectly identified the constituency’s demographics as only taking in a “sliver of San Bernardino County.” Read about it here.

Actually, AD 60 includes the growing and VERY Republican city of Chino Hills, which is actually the largest city in the district. This means that any candidate who calls Chino Hills home begins with a geographic base that is crucial to success in this district.… Read More

A week or so ago my six-year-old daughter and three year old son were playing with me on the on the bed. We were wrestling and they were having a blast. Their mother and my wife, doesn’t share the joys of messing up the bed and throwing the pillows around the room, inquired about how long we were going to keep playing around.

My daughter observantly replied, "We are playing until someone gets hurt".

It is all fun and games until someone puts an eye out. See the story here. … Read More

The convention wisdom in modern American politics is that in a primary, a Republican should run to the "right" and a Democrat to the "left" — seeking to tie down core base voters of their party. Then, in a general election, the candidates who emphasize those issues that would appeal to voters in the other party. Apparently no one has given John McCain the important memo — the one that has two parts. First, you’re in a GOP primary. And the second — you do not get the ‘internationally famous movie star turned politician’ exemption to this rule. Last year, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lurches to the ideological left that most infuriated GOP leaders and activists around California was his calling for the passage of Assembly Bill 32, dubbed by the environmental-extremist community as the "Global Warming Solutions Act" — legislation which has called for increasing regulations in California to fight an alleged… Read More

The convention wisdom in modern American politics is that in a primary, a Republican should run to the "right" and a Democrat to the "left" — seeking to tie down core base voters of their party. Then, in a general election, the candidates who emphasize those issues that would appeal to voters in the other party. Apparently no one has given John McCain the important memo — the one that has two parts. First, you’re in a GOP primary. And the second — you do not get the ‘internationally famous movie star turned politician’ exemption to this rule. Last year, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lurches to the ideological left that most infuriated GOP leaders and activists around California was his calling for the passage of Assembly Bill 32, dubbed by the environmental-extremist community as the "Global Warming Solutions Act" — legislation which has called for increasing regulations in California to fight an alleged… Read More

Our former State Capitol Correspondent for the FR, Karen Hanretty, maintains a regular blog over at the MSM’s News10 Website, but (with permission) I lifted this post for your reading pleasure: Robbing Small Businesses to Pay for Illegal Workers A capitol insider asked me the other week if I think anything will come this year of Governor Schwarzenegger’s $12 billion health care proposal to provide health insurance to 6.5 million uninsured people in California. … Read More