There is some rhetoric flying around about what the Governor was and was not supporting by way of public employee pension reform last year. The Governor was supporting a change in pensions that would have shifted public sector employees from what is called a “defined benefit” program to what is called a “defined contribution” program. This change, which would have applied to only new hires (all existing public employees would be ‘grandfathered’ under the current rules), would have simply moved the methodology behind public sector retirement benifits to those used in the private sector.

In a defined benefits system, if an employee works for a set number of years, there is a specific formula of exactly how much the employer (in this case, the government) would pay a retiree, based on factors like their last salary, etc.

In a defined contributions system, the employer makes a specified contribution each pay period, or month, or year, into a retirement account for that employee (often times employees can augment this amount). Then this fund (like a 401k) grows over time resulting in an eventual retirement “nest… Read More

Tom McClintock and John Garamendi went head-to-head for the second time in a one-hour debate before the San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board on Monday. The debate was filmed at KPIX-TV. (Watch it here.)

Executive Life, the Enron-type scandal that has haunted John Garamendi for more than 15 years, triggered a lively discussion between McClintock and Garamendi in the final 10 minutes of the debate. It’s really worth watching… Emmy award-winning political reporter Hank Plante asked the last question of the candidates, and it was about the Executive Life commercials that have been running statewide featuring Sue and Vice Watson.

[See Hank Plante’s video story on the debate… Read More

I just broke this story on Red County/OC Blog.

Otto Bade, who was the GOP nominee in the 69th Assembly District in 2004, has qualified as a write-in candidate in the 34th Senate District. The Secretary of State should certify him in the next day or two.

Since Otto has a snowball’s chance in hell of actually winning, the only impact he can possibly have is to hurt Lynn Daucher’s campaign.

So why is he doing this? Is it purely retaliation against Lynn Daucher — and by extension Dick Ackerman — for their lack of support for his doomed 2004 campaign? Or are extra-party factors involved?

Stay tuned…… Read More

Tom McClintock and John Garamendi went head-to-head for the second time in a one-hour debate before the San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board on Monday. The debate was filmed at KPIX-TV. (Watch it here.)

Executive Life, the Enron-type scandal that has haunted John Garamendi for more than 15 years, triggered a lively discussion between McClintock and Garamendi in the final 10 minutes of the debate. It’s really worth watching… Emmy award-winning political reporter Hank Plante asked the last question of the candidates, and it was about the Executive Life commercials that have been running statewide featuring Sue and Vice Watson.

[See Hank Plante’s video story on the debate… Read More

Check out Campaign for Children and Families’ ballot recommendations:

CCF’s Recommendations on the 13 Propositions Vote YES on 1A, 83, 85 and 90

1A YES Makes it harder for the State to raid transportation funds for other “programs” 1B NO Instead of $38.9 BILLION in new debt, build roads with existing state funds 1C NO Instead $6.1 BILLION in new debt, ease state restrictions on new housing 1D NO $20.3 BILLION in new debt won’t improve academics or discipline in schools 1E NO This wasteful $8 BILLION expense won’t fix many levees or reform levee politics 83 YES Toughens laws on sex offenders, but 83’s actual impact is questionable 84 NO Costing taxpayers $10.5 BILLION, 84 is a slush fund for environmental activists 85 YES Protects minor daughters from secret abortions by requiring parent notification 86 NO $2.1 BILLION annual cigarette tax is money grab by the medical establishment 87 NO Taxing oil will raise gas prices, the wrong… Read More

You have to figure that things aren’t going so well for Republicans nationally if the 4th Congressional District in California is in play at all. This District, East of Sacramento, was specifically drawn to elect and keep electing a Republican for an entire decade. FR readers will recall that after the last census, the legislature passed an awful ‘incumbent protection plan’ redistricting measure that locked the GOP into about 20 safe GOP seats as compared to 33 safe Democrat seats. Anyways, despite all of the hoopla and national attention being given by the press to the battle in CD 4 between incumbent conservative Republican John Doolittle, and his opponent, a Democrat named Charlie Brown, the FlashReport still feels that Doolittle will retain the seat. The real loss for Republicans will be the ‘opportunity cost’ of having to spend a lot of funds in this ‘safe’ Republican seat — funds which could be better spent elsewhere. I’m penning this post… Read More

From the Desk of Thomas G. Del Beccaro President of the County Chairman’s Association Board Member, California Republican Party Chairman, Contra Costa Republican Party Court Delays Hearing on the Merits Brown Continues Avoidance Tactics Hearing On Merits to be in Mid to Late November ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today the Court decided to delay the hearing on the merits of this case until after the election. The Court agreed that the Plaintiffs have post-election remedies and that they are better pursued after election.

The Court did NOT decide the merits of whether Brown is eligible to become Attorney General. That issue will be decided after the election pursuant to a motion to be filed by the… Read More

Rep. Loretta Sanchez wasn’t worried a few months ago when she found out that Tan Nguyen was the GOP nominee in her 47th Congressional District. Sanchez, the lone Democrat in Congress representing Orange County still had a double digit lead in registration and a strong following.

Flash forward to last week when a letter was sent to Latino voters telling them that immigrants can’t vote and that it is a crime if they do. Here is the latest article on the mess. Although Nguyen denies any connection to the letter it is assumed that he not only knew about it but even played a role in it mailing.

The whole debacle is no surprise to many of us who never understood Tan’s strategy (which included never hiring a consultant despite spending hundreds of thousands in personal money on the campaign). Tan was a Democrat until he had to re-register to run against Loretta. In fact, Tan ran as a DEMOCRAT against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher IN 2004!

It is my nature to find humor in almost any situation and Tan provides…

Here is the actual text of a mail piece… Read More