* It didn’t seem appropriate to take this post down, but apparently this rumor is not true. Vallante has made no such announcement. – FLASH

An excellent source just told me the California Republican Party’s Chief Operating Officer, Mike Vallante, is joining the Rudy Giuliani for President campaign and will be running his California operations.

This could be a leading indicator of a coming scramble for California talent by the major presidential contenders, spurred by the prospect of a February 5 presidential primary.

UPDATE (2-7-07): Vallante may not have made an announcement, but I stand by this post. Once the CRP convention is over and the new regime is elected, Vallante is going to go to work for the Giuliani for President campaign.… Read More

It is October 2005. FlashReport has launched and I need content to keep the publisher off my back. I write a column that says the 36th AD race will be decided by the outcome of the Palmdale City Council election that November. Steve Knight a LAPD officer and sone of State Senate and Prop. 22 author Pete Knight is running for City Council. If he wins, he will be a favorite for the Assembly race. See story here.

I get calls saying no way is Knight running.

Well, I get a couple calls that guess what Knight is running in 2008. It is a miracle.HE clearly becomes the front runner. He will face Palmdale’s union backed, car tax loving Mayor Jim Ledford. See here. God Speed

I’m wrong so often, it’s nice when I’m right… Read More

When Speaker Fabian Nunez held his press conference yesterday to announce that his "support" for a fair redistricting process, he didn’t count on the Mayor of San Francisco displacing all of his prime media coverage — yet that is exactly what happened. Nunez’ little tap-dance where he and his termed-out, self-interested legislative colleagues who desperately don’t want to have to return to life outside of the legislature was relegated to less optimal locations in state newspapers… We will be talking a lot here about this ‘deal’ where a weakening of California’s term-limits statute gets married up with a fair redistricting proposal, and the pros and cons. But since I am in a hurry this morning, I will jump straight to the big news of the day… San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had an affair with his campaign manager’s wife… Joy. The good news for Newsom is that our nation is filled with examples of public… Read More

The race to succeed termed-out Assemblyman Todd Spitzer is gearing up.

Over at Red County/Riverside, you can read about Corona Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Miller signing up GBWA to run his campaign, and about other potential contenders.

In OC, Rancho Santa Margarita Councilman Neil Blais has hired JohnsonClark & Associates to run his AD71 effort.… Read More

Assemblyman Joel Anderson introduced legislation earlier this week to divest the Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) of investments in Iranian-connected businesses, appropriately questioning whypublic funds should support terrorist states (read the original FR post and Joel’s SDUT op-ed).

At the time, not even he likely comprehended the amount of monies invested, as research was still being conducted to determine the total. Granted, California may have the best-funded retirement system in the world, but the answer is still unbelievable.

According to Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG), a Washington, DC-based research and consulting firm that specializes in corporate ties to Iran and other security concerns, CalPERS is invested in 152 companies with ties to Iran with investments that total some $14 billion. CSAG further identifies 69 of these companies,… Read More

Last night the phone lines were blazing when the story hit the wires about Mayor Gavin Newsom’s affair with a woman who was 1) a staff member; 2) a substance abuser and 3) the wife of a staffer with whom Newsom was personal friends. Newsom’s deputy chief of staff confronted him yesterday after his wife confessed the affair.

Yesterday, Newsom refused to comment. Today, Newsom admitted the affair: "I want to make it clear that everything you’ve heard and read is true, and I am deeply sorry about that. I am deeply sorry, and I am accountable for what has occurred."

I’m betting that Newsom’s public approval numbers in SF actually go UP after this story and the accompanying… Read More

Assemblyman Joel Anderson introduced legislation earlier this week to divest the Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) of investments in Iranian-connected businesses, appropriately questioning whypublic funds should support terrorist states (read the original FR post and Joel’s SDUT op-ed).

At the time, not even he likely comprehended the amount of monies invested, as research was still being conducted to determine the total. Granted, California may have the best-funded retirement system in the world, but the answer is still unbelievable.

According to Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG), a Washington, DC-based research and consulting firm that specializes in corporate ties to Iran and other security concerns, CalPERS is invested in 152 companies with ties to Iran with investments that total some $14 billion. CSAG further identifies 69 of these companies,… Read More

Senator Joe Biden made a really stupid and seemingly racist comment that is running in the Feb. 5, 2007 The New York Observer about Senate colleague Barack Obama. He said. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

I take issue with the "mainstream" part of his comment as much as the "clean" part. Some people would argue that it is just ‘old out-of-touch white man speak’ rather than racist. Maybe, but either way it’s pretty bad.

It did however remind me of some of my other favorite racist rants. Here are a few, two were said while on California soil:

Back in July 2004 then-Education Secretary Richard Riordan told a little girl at a Santa Barbara library reading program that her name, Isis, "means stupid, dirty girl." After she asked him if he knew what it… Read More