Lots of Things: Last week, I went over the 4 "big things" that will be addressed in Congress this month. This week, I’ll give you a brief rundown on "lots of things" both large and small that have been going on here in Washington during an active period: Border Fence: Yesterday, the House passed a bill to construct 700 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico, by a vote of 283-138. This bill, which I cosponsored, is the first in a series of proposals the House will take up this as part of a substantial border security package. Now we will see if this approach is acceptable to the Senate and the president. … Read More

There’s plenty not to like in the largest slate of bond measures in the history of the state, coming this November to a ballot near you, with a total price tag of $37 billion. That’s a done deal whether we like it or not.

Knowing this was coming, one GOP state senator, Bob Dutton of Rancho Cucamonga, went into legislative negotiations over the bonds knowing he would take some flak for voting for them. He did so in hopes of getting some provisions to make the bonds more favorable to taxpayers should they pass. In fact, when the process started, the bonds were all lumped together, which would have forced the voters to vote for something like $2.8 billion for subsidized housing in order to get something they actuallywant, like transportation ($19.9 billion). In the end, after the negotiations, the bonds were split into four different questions, so voters could say "yes" to roads (1B) and "no" to subsidized housing (1C).

I say better to let Dutton and a few other Republican leaders negotiate a few taxpayer… Read More

INTRODUCING TED GAINES! One of today’s exclusive FR column comes to you from future Assemblyman Ted Gaines of Roseville, in Placer County. Gaines looks to be a rising star who will bring solid conservative leadership to our Assembly Caucus when he arrives in December. If you blinked at all over the last two years, you probably missed the race to replace termed out Republican Assemblyman Tim Leslie in the 4th AD. That’s because for the last two years, conservative Placer County Supervisor Ted Gaines has been working tirelessly on his campaign for the Assembly. That hard work paid off, as Ted earned the endorsements of local Republican leaders like Congressman John Doolittle, Senator Dave Cox, former Senator Rico Oller, and incumbent Assemblyman Leslie, as well as the CRA, YRFC, and the local central committees in the district. As a result, Ted received a whopping 80.6% of the vote in the Republican primary this… Read More

FlashReport readers can enjoy watching Karen Hanretty, one of our State Capitol Correspondents for the FlashReport, tonight on Hannity and Colmes on the Fox News Channel, which airs tonight at 6 p.m. P.S.T.

Tonight Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes and Karen will be talking about the flap in the news as United States Senator John McCain is taking on the President, and how Colin Powell has jumped into things, weighing in on McCain’s side! (Future "ticket" in the making?)

The issue is the interregation and questioning and prosecution of suspected terrorists. Join me in cheering on our own Karen Hanretty!… Read More

CRAVictoryTeam.com is place that activists can go to to get materials and data to communicate with GOP voters. They can download ten names in their area and call or walk them. The site has one page flyers on issues and candidates that can be downloaded for use.

After launching the site, we have received great feedback from activists. We’ve also got negative feedback from people that work for or with the Governor’s campaign. They all ask. Why are you doing this?

The answer is the Governor made us do it!

We have to be honest about this. The Governor’s camapign while emphasizing no new taxes is built around billions of bond debt and signing bills that appeal to tree huggers,crossdressers and the nanny staters.

This isn’t exactly agreat wayto recruit GOP volunteers. The State GOP fired their church outreach person and appears to reassigned others involved. Their church outreach can only be described as pray only.

Add to that the Governor’s lack of committment to the entire GOP ticket. First the Governor refused to support Dick Mountjoy, the US Senate candidate. And according to my sources Dick Mountjoy will… Read More

Remember the Reagan Years. They were some good times. Republican tried to appoint fellow Republicans to make a difference. Lynne Cheney was appointed chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The left went crazy. She wanted the endowment not to focus on politicallly correct junk.

California has a California Council for the Humanities. Their mission is much different. They want to "foster understanding" and "Breakdown barriers". in other words: Dont waste time on English, philosophy, language, artand literature we got to connect people and make everything inclusive.

Since that’s the mission maybe the Governor’s appointment makes sense. He announce that he was appointing Democrat Curtis Shepard as a board member. Mr. Shepard who I think I met one at UCLA, was a writer for the The Parent ‘Hood TV series. But most likely he was appointed because of these parts of his bio.

"He currently serves as director of government relations for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center"… Shepard previously…… Read More

I grew up in Arcadia – GO APACHES (for notable alums, see third row-middle – and see third row, second from left)! Anyways, Arcadia has proven fertile ground for the need for some sort of post-Kelo, eminent domain reform.

Last year, Rusnak (a Mercedes dealer) put a methophorical tax revenue gun to the City’s head, demanding that either the City find them more land, or they’d take their dealership elsewhere. Ignoring for a moment the fact that if their existing lot wasn’t sufficient, perhaps Rusnak shouldn’t have moved there in the first place, the City’s response was to very openly go to neighboring properties – a longtime restaurant, an Elks Lodge, etc – and threaten eminent domain action.

Now, a public outcry, a Council election which resulted in the seating of more property rights favoring Councilmembers, and a backing down by the City later, and… Read More

The purpose of a political party is not electing its own party members to a majority of public policymaking positions. The purpose of a political party is to see the policies that are espoused by that party enacted at the various levels of government. In the case of the Republican Party, it means that there is a serious challenge ahead of the GOP where Washington, D.C. is concerned. With a Republican President and GOP majorities in both houses of Congress, we have seen unprecedented growth in the size and scope of the federal government. So while the electoral mission of the Republican Party has been a success, Republicans are failing in the most important area — bringing our core vision of limited government and individual responsibility into public policy. On the contrary, while the Republican Party continues to wrap itself in the messaging that elected Ronald Reagan, the cold, hard reality is that the GOP has presided over largesse.

What is the solution? Well, one solution is for the Republican Party and its ancillary committees… Read More