Tim Clark tells us the number one indicator of political success is money in the bank. It looks like the three major Republican presidential candidates are burrowing inthe California money tree.

Ultra Heavy weight Anne Dunsmore of Capitol Campaigns [Pete Wilson and W] will take charge of Gov. Mitt Romney’s fund raising efforts. She worked with Gov. Romney when he served as Chair of the Republican Governors Association, 2004, and his Commonwealth PAC. She has the best Rolodex in town from raising millions and millions forPresident Bush alone.

Another millions and millions fundraiser Casandra Vandenberg, will head McCain’s effort with an impressive list of a half a dozen experienced regional fundraisers. She will be moving to a reported 11,000 square foot HQ in Century City in the near future. McCain will use LA as one of his three National Headquarters. That is a first in a long time for California.

Finally, financier Bill Simon is tapped to run Rudy Giuliani’s effort here. Simon a prodigious fund raiser himself, active in political and charitable circles, promises to make California the most sought after location for… Read More

Today I am pleased to announce that the FlashReport is welcoming its first contributor from the California State Senate with addition of Senator Jim Battin to this weblog! We really couldn’t be more pleased that Senator Battin will be joining our two Assemblymen/Bloggers Doug LaMalfa and Anthony Adams. A conservative Republican, Jim Battin understands policy, politics and the importance of emerging communication technologies such as the internet and weblogs to help enhance and guide the discussions that take place about what is happening in Sacramento. I have known Battin for a long time, and have always been impressed with his ability to cut-through to the essence of issues, and of course we all admire anyone engaged in the serious business of legislating who can also inject humor into the debate. Senator Battin’s first post appears below this one, and you can click the little "i" that appears next to his name on his post (or on the blog roll on the left sidebar of the… Read More

Two cities in Orange County have vacancies on their city council’s.

SANTA ANA When Jose Solorio was sworn in to the Assembly he left behind a vacancy on the Santa Ana city council. Now the council expects to appoint a successor on January 2nd. Applications are due by December 18th. Details here.

Santa Ana faces issues including budget shortfalls, crime, delayed street improvements and the almost enviable problem of massive amounts of commercial and residential development but a slow and ‘old school’ planning department that can’t keep up. YORBA LINDA Mike Duvall resigned from the Yorba Linda city council on December 4th to be sworn into the 72nd Assembly District seat and now the remaining four council members say they will fill the vacancy he left which will be for two years. Applications are due December 12th. Details here.

Yorba Linda faces… Read More

TIME TO CONSIDER MAKING CALI A CAUCUS STATE? There is an adage that says, "Even a broken clock is right twice a day." Los Angeles Times writer George Skelton has been consistently producing his column on Golden State politics for a long, long time. To be honest, most of the time, while I think Skelton brings up pertinent topics, I rarely agree with his ideas or his conclusions. Actually, if I did, it would probably really worry George, since he hardly sees himself as a darling of conservatives. That having been said, today in his column, George Skelton floats an idea that has a lot of merit and is worth a healthy discussion. Skelton throws out the idea that perhaps California should consider becoming a caucus state in terms of Presidential elections. What does this mean? It means that instead of voters going to the polls in the primary, instead voters of each political party would be invited to attend an actual meeting in their area where interested members of each party would show up and vote for delegates to their party’s national convention, pledged to certain… Read More

TIME TO CONSIDER MAKING CALI A CAUCUS STATE? There is an adage that says, "Even a broken clock is right twice a day." Los Angeles Times writer George Skelton has been consistently producing his column on Golden State politics for a long, long time. To be honest, most of the time, while I think Skelton brings up pertinent topics, I rarely agree with his ideas or his conclusions. Actually, if I did, it would probably really worry George, since he hardly sees himself as a darling of conservatives. That having been said, today in his column, George Skelton floats an idea that has a lot of merit and is worth a healthy discussion. Skelton throws out the idea that perhaps California should consider becoming a caucus state in terms of Presidential elections. What does this mean? It means that instead of voters going to the polls in the primary, instead voters of each political party would be invited to attend an actual meeting in their area where interested members of each party would show up and vote for delegates to their party’s national convention, pledged to certain… Read More

Capitol Resource Institute received the following letter from a trustee in the Antelope Valley Union High School District. You can click here to see previous posts about the High School production of "Cabaret" that included students in lingerie. BTW: I have been sent some pictures if you are an adult and your wife thinks okay. I’ll email you a link.

Here is the letter

"Thank you for your note of concern. There was an article in today’s newspaper that clarifies the high school district’s involvement and only action we could take.

“Please understand that this is not a high school or district sponsored event. There are high school students, who are enrolled in a drama class at Antelope Valley College (with parental consent) that are participating in this production. The High School District has no control over the student involvement in this production.… Read More

Former Assemblyman Tom Umberg will have more than just name identification and the ability to raise funds for the upcoming special election in Orange County for the supervisorial seat vacated on Lou Correa’s recent election to the 34th State Senate District. What Umberg also has is a little money left over from his own losing race against Correa in the Senate primary — about $45,000 cash on hand, according to his most recent campaign disclosures, most of which he will likely be able to use in the supervisorial race should he decide to run in the special election. Though the Orange County campaign ordinance as originally enacted bans transfers to a county candidate committee from other candidate committees, an opinion of the California Attorney General issued in March, 2002 [85 Op. Atty. Gen. Cal.4] determined that the Orange County ban was unconstitutional as applied to "intra-candidate" transfers (for example, a transfer of surplus campaign funds from a State Senate campaign account to a county… Read More

Activists David Hernandez and Ted Hayes filed a lawsuit challenging Measure R. Successfully passed by the voters, Measure R loosened term limits for Los Angeles City Council Members AND tightened control on lobbyists. The City Attorney had warned the council that such a measure combined to many issues to be constitutional. A previous lawsuit was dropped, but Hernandez and Hayes picked up the baton. You can see there website here.… Read More