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

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

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

Today’s lead Editorial from the Orange County Register Are we borrowing trouble again? Audit finds millions misspent from parks, water and wildlife bonds passed in 2000 and 2002. An examination of annual state audits of four bonds passed in 2000 and 2002 shows "questionable spending on public relations, lobbying and even yoga classes."

The San Jose Mercury News, in stories published on Tuesday, outlined that some groups receiving bond money "failed to properly document expenses, claimed unallowable costs and went over budget because of inconsistent monitoring by state agencies."

California voters should keep such audits in mind as they consider five bond measures on the November ballot: Propositions 1B (transportation), 1C (housing), 1D (schools), 1E (levees) and 84 (water quality and parks).

The Mercury News studied audits from the California Department… Read More

My friend Nathan Barankin who works for Attorney General Bill Lockyer has to be having a good chuckle after reading the latest post on the Los Angeles Times Political Muscle Blog, penned by veteran political reporter Bob Salladay.

From the Tales of the Bizarre comes this story about some long-ago history on Claude Parrish, the GOP nominee for State Treasurer. Apparently once upon a time back in the ’80s, when Parrish owned an ice-cream company, he bought a pricey sports car, and according to records unearthed by the Times, he proceeded to not make his payments. The story of what happens from their is, like I said, bizarre. I would try to summarize it here, but I have to say that Bob Salladay does a delightful job of sharing the story. But with players like Claude Parrish, the "Cheap Detective Agency." and a Mercedes-Benz SL380 Roadster — we know it will be interesting.

I will make two observations, and then send you on to read the sordid details…

… Read More

Many politicos in San Diego and Riverside are chuckling over Monday’s SDUT story indicating that Democrat challenger Mark Hanson hopes to raise $1.6 million to unseat Senator Dennis Hollingsworth in the 36th SD.

Uh huh, right. The district is 50% Rep, 27% Dem, and elected Bush over Gore in ’04 by 30 points. Hollingsworth initially won the seat over the more moderate Charlene Zettel, even though he had way less money. Even SDUT reporter Phil LaVelle had to have written Hanson’s claim while smirking about such gravitas.

By all standards, SD 36 is a suicide seat for any Democrat.Hanson, who doesn’t seem to have any significant personal resources, raised $80k thru September 30, with $11k cash-on-hand.His unrealistic hopes may be based on the fact that Hollingsworth has only raised twice that and has a mere $56k on-hand.

OK, for some fun, email me and take a stab at how much Hanson will actually raise for the… Read More

Nationally syndicated columnist Bob Novak, most recognizable from his many years as a co-host of CNN’s Crossfire program, follows politics pretty closely. As a matter of fact, his Evans & Novak Political Report is a great e-mail to receive if you don’t get it already. It’s free, so you can check it out if you want (if you aren’t wary of feeding your e-mail to him, and whomever he sells it to). Anyways, Novak has officially placed Arnold Schwarzenegger in the "Likely Republican Retention Column" in his latest e-mail. Here’s his chart:

Republican-Held Governorships In Play… Read More

The Lincoln Club of Fresno County goes up on KMJ 580 tomorrow with one of the more significant ad buys of the campaign season. Our goal is to drive turnout and traffic to our web page, where voters can download our ballot recommendations, listen to our ad campaign or request a membership application.

In the first ad, we urge voter participation for the sake of electing Chuck Poochigian Attorney General, Tom McClintock Lt. Governor, Cal Minor for Fresno County Sheriff and Scott Miller for Fresno City Council District 1. We also mention our opposition to the tax increases on the ballot.

The second ad, to air starting next week, will highlight our opposition to the bonds, and will feature Assemblyman Mike Villines. We haven’t worked out the third ad yet.

All of this is due to our loyal, dues paying membership and our webmaster, Fresno City Councilman Jerry Duncan, whom we greatly appreciate. I hope you get a chance to visit our simple website and take a look.

With the down ballot races… Read More