Back in June, the Democrats had a pretty heated race in the 34th Senate Primary. Assemblyman Tom Umberg, backed heavily by the unions lost to Supervisor Lou Correa, who had Senate President Don Perata on his side. Despite the General Election match-up with Assemblywoman Lyn Daucher beingthe hottest legislative race in the state, and the Republicans’ best chance at picking up a seat in either house, rumors persisted that Labor was going to sit this race out.

It would certainly appear that those were more than just rumors.

As is the case every year, the unions have sent out their Voter Guide, pitting the “little guy” against “the man,” and urging votes for a predictable lot of liberal politicians.

This version of the Union slate comes from Central Orange County. In addition to the pre-printed section which advocates for Angelides, Garamendi, Bowen, etc down the line, they also have a laser section which goes on to pushing for the guy who’s going to lose to Dana Rohrabacher, Measure M, and Assemblyman-to-be Jose Solario. They… Read More

On a recent trip a friend of mine suggested that, "Affordable housing is whatever I am willing to pay for it."

I have to admit I laughed when he said it. Call me cold. But the idea that government can or should successfully dictate housing costs in any particular market goes against my ideology. However, as a planning commissioner I am in the middle of the affordable housing debate all the time. And since the other leaders in my city don’t hold my philosophy, I am usually trying to improve the plans and programs rather than block them.

So whenever someone who I respect comes up with a cogent commentary on affordable housing I read it with interest. Diane Harkey is a Dana Point city councilwoman and financial whiz and one of the few elected officials I know that has a command of how our economy really works. Here are her thoughts on the subject: The Affordable Housing Dilemma…or the problem with living in paradise…

We love to read about how… Read More

The Lincoln Club of Fresno County’s radio buy on Fresno’s KMJ 580 has had the desired effect – 25,000 downloads of our voter guide in just six days. New memberships, and better yet, lot’s of recognition in the area. Our objectives are simple: drive turnout for the downticket candidates, our local endorsed candidates and the defeat of all of the bonds and tax increases.

We also know that many of these downloaded voter guides will wind up emailed all over the State.

Assemblyman Mike Villines reads our next ad, starting Thursday. Check out our voter guide at www.fresnolincolnclub.org.

By the way, I am in Ohio this week. You want to see negative ads, come out here. It’s a bloodbath.… Read More

Nothing is more frustrating than the lack of information available about judges. I’ve already given the LA County Lincoln Club picks for LA Superior Court and told everyone to vote No on Supreme Court Justice Joyce Kennard. The same provision that allows us to vote on State Supreme Court Justices allows us to vote up or down Court of Appeals Justices. There is hardly any information.

Outside of LA, CRA has recommended a NO vote on Kathleen O’Leary- an extreme Davis appointee in the Orange, San Diego and Inland Empire area. As for LA I (not CRA) make the following recommendations.

But, First the method to my madness. I looked at their bios. If you were a Brown and Davis appointee–easy no. Deukmejian, Wilson served in ReaganAdministartion, — yes. The current Governor of course is wobbler on these things. So if you were a Democrat, Brown appointee and then elevated by Arnold- More Likely No. I… Read More

Supervisors today made San Bernardinothefirst county to approve ameasurefurthering the provisions ofJessica’s Law (Prop. 83) byunanimously givinginitial approval toa proposedordinanceby SupervisorsBill Postmus andGary Ovitttoexpand onsex-offendercontrol protections in the statewide initiative.

The County’s ordinance,scheduled for final adoption on Election Day, November 7,would prohibit sex offenders from residing within 2,000 feet of a daycare center and within one-half mile of a school. It would alsocreate 300-foot "Predator-Free Zones" around schools and parks inunincorporated areas.

In April,Postmus and Ovitt created a Child Safety Task Force to encourage municipalities and county departments to prepare to implement local-government provisions of Prop. 83.Postmus said the ordinanceis a result of that effort. He added thatit wasdrafted in a format to allow cities,where mostcitizens reside, toeasily be able to provide their residents suchincreased… Read More

What blogs do you visit to keep up on political issues in California politics? Obviously there is the FlashReport blog. But there are many others out there, and we want to make sure that we have them all. We’re getting ready to revamp the way that this website keeps track of the other blogs that cover California politics, to make it easier for our readers to monitor the ‘blogosphere’ for what else is going on, with the idea that the main page of the site right now keeps a pretty good eye on the main-stream-media, but not on political blogging. So please drop the FR a note, or post up a comment sharing any and all political blogs you visit that write on California politics. Thanks! We are pleased to let you know that while we are still working out a few bugs, the FlashReport development team has largely finished retooling the site to make it much easier to visit using a PDA. So whether you are on a Treo or a Blackberry, please surf the site and give us your feedback. We limited the fixes to the main page, the blog page, and the commentary page. But it should be much, much easier to navigate than it was before! Are you signed… Read More

One of the reasons why I think that everyone reading the FR should help Tom McClintock in his campaign for Liuetenant Governor of California is McClintock’s strong, decisive leadership on policy issues both in the legislature, and before Californians on the ballot.

Back in early August, Senator McClintock took positions on every matter on the November election and listed all of his positions (along with explanations for them) on his campaign website.

I took the opportunity to take a look at the website of Tom McClintock’s opponent, John Garamendi, to see where he stands on the statewide ballot measures — and there was nothing there. You can’t even tell from his site if he has a position on Proposition 83, the Jessica’s Law measure!

But Garamendi is in good company as I meandered through the websites of… Read More

Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up. Did I miss this in the FlashReport before, or did we all miss it?

I’ll let Riverside FR Correspondent Barry Nestande weigh in with an analysis of the impact, if any, on the AD 80 race, but we can’t ignore it in the meantime.The Desert Sun runs a piece today alleging that Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia told a class of high schoolers that she wouldn’t kick the Governor out of bed.

Hey, I’m the first to hold off on something before I hear the other side, but it looks as if Bonnie isn’t denying the quote, just accusing those making hay out of it as trying to smear her (see follow-up article).

OK, I know that if she really said it she was only joking…with a group of underagers, but perhaps Arnold’s previous hot-blooded comments about her were on… Read More