According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Rev. Amos Brown, a major liberal voice in San Francisco and former SF supervisor, is a huge supporter of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger…today. In 2004, he called Schwarzenegger “dishonest” and “disingenuous” for allowing himself to be part of the “national axis of evil.” Today, after receiving $15,000 in campaign payments plus travel expense reimbursements, Brown is starring in a Schwarzenegger campaign ad in which he calls Schwarzenegger an “exceptional governor.” For their part, the Schwarzenegger campaign says they are proud to have Brown’s “wise counsel and support.”

It’s great that Schwarzenegger, like many Republican gubernatorial candidates before him, is reaching out to the African American community around the state. It’s unfortunate, though, that Brown was put on the payroll. It may be that he would have agreed to be in a Schwarzenegger commercial without the payoff but once money is involved with such a key (and surprising) endorsement, it can’t help to raise questions about the sincerity of the endorsement.… Read More

FR friend Joel Fox, the President of the Small Business Action Committee, guest writes today’s FR Commentary, with a critical eye on Phil Angelides tax ‘cut’ plan…

Let’s accept that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides really wants to cut taxes as he recently pronounced; that the proposal is not a cynical attempt to buy votes after years and years of promoting tax increases. The obvious question: Is the tax cut proposal offered by Angelides a plus for the taxpayers and businesses of California? The answer must be viewed from a wide angle considering not only the tax cut proposals but what other policies Angelides offers and supports that will affect the economy and the state budget.

The Democratic nominee’s new tax plan offers tax credits for some individuals and tax exemptions for smaller businesses. At the same time he continues to call for raising taxes on upper income taxpayers, those making $250,000 or… Read More

The gay and lesbian community in San Francisco is up in arms, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, because of a comment KGO radio talk show host Pete Wilson (and KGO TV anchor) made yesterday on air. Wilson was discussing the fact that Supervisor Bevan Duffy, an openly gay man, and his roommate, Rebecca Goldfader, a lesbian, are co-parenting a newborn. The baby was born last week. The two, who are not in a romantic relationship with each other, live in separate units in a duplex and share parenting duties. KGO-TV reported the story on Oct. 9th.

On yesterday’s radio show,… Read More

Judges! Who knows anything about the judges on the ballot? I get asked this more than any other question. So the next few days I will be adding my two cents to some of these. First Los Angeles County has several judges up for election to Superior Court. The Los Angeles County Lincoln Club has a Judicial Improvement Committee headed by the able Richard Reinjohn. They make recommendations to the Governor for appointments. (He should listen more) and they make election recommendations. Their Nov 2006 endorsements are below. Pretty good stuff for people in LA County that need help.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Office 8 – Deborah L. Sanchez Office 18 – Daviann L. Mitchell Office 102 – Hayden Zacky Office 144 – David W. Stuart… Read More

As avid readers of this blog know, I am not a big fan of reproducing canned press releases up onto this site (though I personally receive over 100 press releases each and every day from various candidates and causes).

Every once in a while, though, I get one that is noteworthy. Usually it is NOT because of the "content" of the release, but because it represents something novel in political tactics. So I am passing this one along which happens to be from the Schwarzenegger campaign and it is about Phil Angelides making claims that don’t bear out when you check the facts.

Check it out — kudos to whomever at TeamArnold thought up this one!

Of course, while you are reading it, you may as well wonder what other lies Angelides is out there spinning. This at a time when he Angelides is trying to say that his opponent is a liar — right. Look in the mirror, Phil! (Sorry for the awkward formatting on some of the links below — moving the release to the FR format was not flawless.)… Read More

California politicians are for the most part still ignoring one issue: Illegal immigration

Defend California and U.S. Senate Candidate Dick Mountjoy are promoting an initiative that will stop the benefits that help sustain and attract illegal aliens. See Press Release below. Get more info here. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeff Evans @ 916-858-8190

DEFEND CALIFORNIA: NEW INITIATIVE WILL STOP GOVERNMENT FROM PROVIDING BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS Legislative Analyst Says Initiative Will Save Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Annually

Fed up with legislative action every year to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, former State Senator Dick Mountjoy has joined with the non-profit organization Defend California to craft an initiative to prohibit such efforts.

"Our initiative will once and for all prohibit any government entity from giving tax-funded benefits to illegal aliens," said Mountjoy, a… Read More

The Pasadena School District has been a mess in recent months. With budget shortages due to declining enrollment (Who knew? When schools are bad, parents opt to find other options for their kids’ education). The Superintendent recently left. There have been ongoing talks of numerous school site closings.

With all that, and the general union/lefty tilt of the town, it was pleasantly surprising to read that they’re considering Charter Schools as part of their solution.… Read More

Thanks to FR friend Karen Hanretty for tipping us off this morning to a great post on the KQED Capitol Notes Blog site authored by John Myers that previews a in-depth article on former California Finance Director Donna Arduin. You can read Myers intro post right here, or skip it and read about Arduin in Duke Magazine here. (Arduin is a Duke University graduate).

We here at the FlashReport are big fans of Donna’s. She has written for this site, and was a Director of Finance that was undeniably focused on rooting waste and largesse out of state government spending.

Arduin was Governor Schwarzenegger’s first Finance Director, and now is in consulting firm with reknowed economist Arthur Laffer.… Read More