Tonight, FR’s former State Capitol Correspondent, Karen Hanretty, with be guest-hosting for Sean Hannity on the Hannity and Colmes political show. You won’t want to miss this! The details: Foxs News Channel, 6 p.m. California time. If you miss it, or want to watch Karen twice, it will play again at 11 p.m. Karen has appeared on the program before, but this is a pretty big deal, to guest host a show. Congratulations Karen!

Before her ‘starring role’ with us here on the FR, Karen worked on Governor Schwarzenegger’s campaign in the recall election in ’03 and also served as Communications Director for the California Republican Party.

Actually, you can Tivo the show, and mass produce it onto video-tapes as stocking-stuffers for all of your friends.… Read More

This column by Governor Schwarzenegger ran today in the L.A. Daily News:

TIME FOR A CHANGE ON HEALTH COVERAGE By Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger One of the most serious problems facing California and our nation is the large number of people without medical insurance. In California, 6.5 million people – more than any other state – have no medical insurance for all or part of the year. Nationally the number is a staggering 47 million. But this is not just a problem for the… Read More

A few days ago, FR Political Law Correspondent Jim Lacy penned his thoughts on a lawsuit filed to try and prevent Jerry Brown from assuming the office of Attorney General. Lacy was critical of the suit. One of the plaintiffs in that suit, Contra Costa County GOP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro, penned the following rebuttal… (Oh, and I am sure we will see a ‘rebuttal of the rebuttal’ from Jim!)

The Rule of Law Still Matters . . .

Brown cannot be “actually entitled to practice” at the same time he is not “entitled to practice law.” By Thomas G. Del Beccaro, Plaintiff in Del Beccaro v. Brown ~~~~~~~~~

The Secretary of State has certified our last election. Therefore, we the Plaintiffs, in the lawsuit Del Beccaro et. al. v. Brown et. al., have amended… Read More

I was really convinced that Dan Lungren would beat Gray Davis. Thus, I now know that predictions are not my forte. But here are five"no brainers", at least in my mind:

1. The State’s budget problems will be far worse under the current Administration than under the Davis administration, unless the Governor finds a blue pen somewhere;

2. Assembly Republican Leader Villines is damn determined to keep his caucus united on spending and taxation, and may save California from even more fiscal ruin with his focused, CENTRIST leadership – he’ll be successful if he engagesfiscally conservative activistsaround the state to help him.;

3. Republican voters are still very, very pissed about the direction of the Party and 2007 will be a very, very slow healing time – we may not even be ready for 2008 unless we get some "red meat" issues somewhere;

4. Ron Nehring and Tom Del Beccaro will be the new leadership tandem at the top of the State’s GOP… Read More

Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner today set June 4, 2007 as the opening day of the anticipated trial against the Capistrano Unified School District for claims of multiple violations of the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act.

Under the tenure of former Superintendent James Fleming, the scandal-ridden Capistrano school district has seen a number of legal problems that have led to the resignation of Fleming, including a District Attorney investigation, an ABC 20/20 investigative story on district finances, a lawsuit involving use of racial preferences in school decisions, and the open meeting lawsuit.

Plaintiff Ron Lackey of Dana Point brought the Brown Act lawsuit to address claims that the district Trustees illegally met with Fleming in closed session on June 30, 2005 and conspired to limit Lackey’s right to participate in public session meetings, which are guaranteed under the Brown Act. Lackey’s lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against the district to enforce the provisions of the open meeting law and restrain the district from future violations. Former district press spokesman David Smollar has already… Read More

In case you missed it, Time magazine’s annual "Person of the Year" was bestowed on YOU, "citizens of the new digital democracy." According to the Associated Press, "the winners this year were anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web."

Of all the YOUs in this fair land, I can’t think of anyone better thanJon Fleischman and FR, the stable of bloggers and the many readers…the onesinstrumental in the last year for using and creating content on the WWW that helped drive the digital democracy in California.

Congratulations to all of YOU, but especially to Jon and the FlashReport. Next stop for FR….the cover of The Nation and Mother Jones. That’s when we’ll know we’ve really gone legit.

In the meantime, directly from AP online:

NEW YORK (AP)… Read More

As Presidential politics heads up nationally, of course it means that all of the candidates will be looking to California as they put together their national plans — especially on the financial side of things. For the Republican candidates especially, California has traditionally been considered an "ATM Stop" as there is a lot of fertile ground here for raising political funds — that they are traditionally spend in other states. FR Los Angeles County Correspondent Shawn Steel already posted about how some of the fundraising consultants are lining up in the GOP primary, but it is also notable to see that three California major finance players are taking the lead roles in the fundraising operations of Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. Who are they? Stepping up early for retiring Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s California efforts is highly… Read More

As Presidential politics heads up nationally, of course it means that all of the candidates will be looking to California as they put together their national plans — especially on the financial side of things. For the Republican candidates especially, California has traditionally been considered an "ATM Stop" as there is a lot of fertile ground here for raising political funds — that they are traditionally spend in other states. FR Los Angeles County Correspondent Shawn Steel already posted about how some of the fundraising consultants are lining up in the GOP primary, but it is also notable to see that three California major finance players are taking the lead roles in the fundraising operations of Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. Who are they? Stepping up early for retiring Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s California efforts is highly… Read More