I thought the readers of the Flash Report would be interested in reading the following letter. It is a letter I sent a couple minutes agoto my fellow Republican House members endorsing Mike Pence for the position of House Minority Leader:

Dear Republican Colleague: I would like to ask you to join me in supporting Mike Pence for Minority Leader. My support of Mike is not due to any real or perceived shortcomings of either of his opponents. They are both fine men with excellent records, but I believe Mike will bring a new voice to leadership that can lead us back into the majority.

An axiom in politics is to win by securing your base then extending from it. Arguably, we did neither in this past election. First and foremost, we must show the country and our base that we have gotten their message and understand that change is necessary. By putting a fresh face in leadership who is dedicated to the core principals of our party and can skillfully articulate these principals, we can restore the country’s confidence in the Republican Party. Mike Pence… Read More

I can think of a lot of reasons why Rep. Dan Lungren doesn’t deserve a leadership post in the the new minority GOP House.

1) He ran a poor campaign for governor when he was the Republican nominee.

2) He left the California Republican Party over a million dollars in debt but then kept nearly as much in his own campaign account. Even after repeated attempts by outgoing chairman Mike Schroeder and incoming chairman John McGraw to collect on Lungren’s debt, he refused.

3) He doesn’t listen to anyone. If we are going to take back the majority any time soon, we need leaders who are engaged and inclusive and able to relate to the voters. Lungren brings none of that to the table.

Care to add additional reasons of your own?

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

I can think of a lot of reasons why Rep. Dan Lungren doesn’t deserve a leadership post in the the new minority GOP House.

1) He ran a poor campaign for governor when he was the Republican nominee.

2) He left the California Republican Party over a million dollars in debt but then kept nearly as much in his own campaign account. Even after repeated attempts by outgoing chairman Mike Schroeder and incoming chairman John McGraw to collect on Lungren’s debt, he refused.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

When the GOP lost control of Congress last week, there was much talk about Nancy Pelosi bringing San Francisco values to the nation’s capitol. Today, local officials in San Francisco take on two issues that show how remarkably out of touch San Francisco is with the rest of the country.

The San Francisco‘s Board of Education is expected to vote to eliminate the JROTC program from San Francisco public schools today. In typical San Francisco style, supporters of cutting the program say that the military has no place in public schools and that the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is in conflict with the school… Read More

Well, it may be a bit unconventional coming from the North California correspondent on OC election numbers, but, hey, nobody else has posted on it yet….and FR readers deserve the news ASAP! My colleague Lynn is holding to a 302 vote lead after 20,239 county wide ballots were processed today, a drop of only 59 votes, probably heavy on election day ballots. Thanks to Senator Ackerman for the updated numbers each day, they estimate about 4000 absentees left to count. Hmm, I like those odds.… Read More

Was Victory ’06 a success? After over 20 million dollars spent that is an open question for me. I have my doubts. The Governor was on the way to victory long before the GOTV operation was needed. Maybe Poizner benefited. Although he really benifited from Bustamante.

First, I want to point out that I know something on this scale has not been tried before. I know many Victory ’06 staffers. Many of them are great operatives. People can work hard and effectively in campaigns and still not achieve objectives. To be successful in the future requires us to take a hard look at some of these things.

I admit to only knowing a few things. Turnout in GOP areas was lower than four years ago. Imagine that. A "GOP" Governor is winning by 17% and turnout is worse than when we lose by 5%. What gives?

There are definitely someoutside factors at work. The National GOP collapse didn’t help. The Governor’s refusal to appear with or speak kindly about down ticket candidates was a factor. His message of a bigger bond debt and more nanny statism appealed to Dems, but not GOP voters.… Read More

The FlashReport’s Beltway Correspondent, Congressman John Campbell, has just endorsed Congressman Mike Pence for House Republican Leader. We will follow his lead as a publication, and I want to announce that the FlashReport endorses Mike Pence for Republican Leader of the House of Representatives.

We have been following, and applauding the conservative moxie of Pence for a couple of years now, since he took over the reigns of the Republican Study Committee, the conservative caucus within the entire GOP conference.

When Republicans take the kind of drubbing they took last Tuesday, the honorable thing to do is for the existing leadership TEAM (yes, all of them, not some of them) to step aside and let new leaders emerge to try and win policy and political battles in the next session and election. Unfortunately we have a couple of leaders in the House — John Boehner and Roy Blunt — who are suffering from a classic case of "it wasn’t me" syndrome. I have news for both of… Read More

The financial challenges facing state government in California are very real. We already have a structural deficit of billions. Add to that the new commitment to repay, with interest, all of the new bonds being issued (to add to the payments on those already issued) and the looming issue of dealing with unfunded pension liabilities to the tune of billions of dollars more, and you have a big challenge on your hands. But wait, there’s more! Let’s also remember that the size and scope of California state government keeps expanding, and that we have been kind of (if you don’t count deficit spending) keeping pace with obligations (ok, you have to count deficit spending, so we really haven’t kept up). But this has been with the economy humming along in great shape. In other words, we are one economic downturn away from a disastrous financial situation in Sacramento. Of course, the stage is set for a showdown because while the Governor has made it clear that he has set a table for himself, Fabian Nunez and Don Perata, to see how to expand more government programs (a.k.a… "bi-partisan, party of one"), he is also… Read More