Today, our nation and the world lost a great mind and an individual dedicated to the advancement of personal freedom. Milton Friedman’s contributions to the study of economics and his ability to articulate its complexities to the public helped awaken the modern conservative movement and advance protections of personal freedoms in this country and around the world. In my life, his writings and works had a tremendous impact on me and helped shape my understanding of public policy as an economics major in college.

Milton Friedman said that, "The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both."

As a nation we can honor the contributions of this brilliant mind by dedicating ourselves to this principle and continually reexamining the effect our government has on the freedoms that have allowed our nation to thrive. For the whole world to know and understand what it means to be free, we need more leaders, teachers, and economists like Milton Freedman.… Read More

I had the opportunity to attend private schools as a kid and later I graduated from one of the top public high schools in the country. Having had that experience, it pains me see the conditions, academic and otherwise in public schools in Southern CA when I go out and speak on various campuses. No matter how much bond money you throw at public education you will never fix the problems.

That is one reason I am such a big fan of Charter Schools.

Yesterday the CA Charter Schools Assoc. launched a public awareness campaign that they hope will double the number of parents who have access to charter schools for their kids. They call it My School (see www.myschool.org) and it offers resources to help parents take ownership of local schools and start new charter schools.

The web page has a cool tool that allows parents to find out where the closest charter school is (there are over 600 statewide).

The Association claims that a recent poll (which my firm curiously didn’t get the chance to do despite my personal support of charter schools) shows 78% of the public believe giving parents choices within the… Read More

They Came. They Spent. They Got the Boot.

Liberal pundits are arguing that the GOP lost last week’s election because of scandals and the war, which is certainly in part true. But Democrats conclude from this, as they always reflexively do, that Republicans must move to a more centrist and compromising position on issues. Not so fast.

A Polling Company exit poll finds that 62% of last week’s voters said they wanted fewer federal government services and lower taxes against 25% who said they want more federal government services and higher taxes. It’s still a conservative country, folks — in fact, these numbers track fairly closely to the sentiments expressed by voters after the GOP’s sweeping election victory in 1994. But here’s the most startling difference: This time, only 21% of voters said they thought Republicans would spend less than Democrats.… Read More

Yesterday, I posted my endorsement of Mike Pence for Republican Leader. Here is the endorsement letter I sent to fellow House members putting my support behind John Shadegg for Republican Whip.

Dear Colleague: I come from the business world. In that environment, if your company’s earnings disappear and your stock price drops through the floor, the market requires that you replace your leadership and your methods. This usually involves changing all of the management team regardless of how much or how little each individual member had to do with the company’s problems. If you don’t do that, the market has no reason to reinvest in you. Our market, the voters, sent us a clear message last week. Just like a company, we need to prove that we understand our faults and are willing to correct our ways. John Shadegg represents the new direction that is needed in the position of minority whip. You heard John in conference before the election, and I’m sure you received his e-mails as I have. He is fresh. He is motivated. He is inspiring.

Bi-Partisan, Party of One?

Here is an excerpt from today’s column by Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee:

Walters brings up a good point.

What the Governor is labeling ‘bi-partisan’ cooperation has really been his own personal willingness to embrace several items on the Democrat Party agenda, and more or less unilaterally enact them. So the burning question in my mind is when does the pendulum swing the other way? When do we see Tax CUTS, spending REDUCTIONS, SCALING BACK regulations, LOWERING fees — all of the GOP principles that involve shifting power out of… Read More

This afternoon President George W. Bush announced that he has nominated Orange County Superior Court Judge James E. Rogan to a seat on the United States District Court for the Central Valley!

Rogan, of course, is a superstar on the Republican side of the aisle. While originally a Democrat, Rogan found his heart and soul in the Grand ol’ Party of Abraham Lincoln. He has had a storied career — as a successful gang murder prosecutor, a judge up in Los Angeles County, GOP Majority Leader (yes, we had one of those once!) of the California State Assembly, a Member of Congress (where he served as one of the handful of managers of impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton), and went on to serve President George W. Bush as an Undersecretary of Commerce and as Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and was recently appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to fill a vacancy on the Orange County Superior Court.

The… Read More

Yesterday, I posted my endorsement of Mike Pence for Republican Leader. Here is the endorsement letter I sent to fellow House members putting my support behind John Shadegg for Republican Whip.

Dear Colleague: I come from the business world. In that environment, if your company’s earnings disappear and your stock price drops through the floor, the market requires that you replace your leadership and your methods. This usually involves changing all of the management team regardless of how much or how little each individual member had to do with the company’s problems. If you don’t do that, the market has no reason to reinvest in you. Our market, the voters, sent us a clear message last week. Just like a company, we need to prove that we understand our faults and are willing to correct our ways. John Shadegg represents the new direction that is needed in the position of minority whip. You heard John in conference before the election, and I’m sure you received his e-mails as I have. He is fresh. He is motivated. He is inspiring.

Richard Costigan, who has served admirably as Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggers top point person with the State Legislature is leaving his Deputy Chief of Staff post and going into the private sector, where we hear he is going to work for the prominent, well heeled PR/Law firm of McKenna, Long and Aldridge (then again the last time we ‘heard’ where he was going, not only was he not going there, he wasn’t going anywhere). Nevertheless, the source is credible. We here at the FlashReport wish Richard the best of luck — we have no idea how anyone could stand up to the rigors of that post under quasi-normal circumstances, let alone the absolute craziness that he has had to endure. I caught up to Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman and asked him to comment on Costigan’s departure. He had this to say: "Richard did an excellent job in trying to push the Republican agenda and sometimes difficult situations. We wish him the best luck in his new endeavors." Of course, Richard’s departure sparks the question of who will be hired to fill this critical role in the… Read More