Except for this brief mention, you probably couldn’t tell from reading today’s FlashReport that today is the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America five years ago. As I often say, you probably couldn’t tell we were engaged in a war in the Middle East if you just read the FR. We maintain a very sharp focus here on California politics, and so you really need to look elsewhere for news about – anything else. I bring up 9-11 for two reasons… The first is by way of explanation for the sparseness of MSM stories on the main page. Every newspaper has devoted the bulk of their prime coverage to the somber anniversary, and this has caused there to be less coverage on politics. I would also like to take an opportunity to ask all FR readers to pause and join me in a silent moment of prayer for the victims of 9-11, the families and friends of those who were killed, and for the soldiers who have fought, and for those who have died, defending the liberty and freedom we enjoy here in America. … Read More

As everyone who reads this site undoubtedly knows, a few weeks ago a few of my ‘friends’ on the left-wing side of the political spectrum launched their new website, the California Majority Report. Actually, I spoke on several occasions with the Democrat activists who were putting this site together, giving them some general input on a collegial level. They invited me to come up to Sacramento last month to their big, glitzy "launch party" which was attended by a couple hundred members of the Sacramento liberal elite, including many socialist-policy-embracing officeholders like State Senate President Don Perata, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and many others. This group was so left-wing that former Gray Davis/Steve Westly advisor Garry South stuck out as the reasonable one of the bunch. One cannot help but try to make a comparison between this new website and the FlashReport.… Read More

As everyone who reads this site undoubtedly knows, a few weeks ago a few of my ‘friends’ on the left-wing side of the political spectrum launched their new website, the California Majority Report. Actually, I spoke on several occasions with the Democrat activists who were putting this site together, giving them some general input on a collegial level. They invited me to come up to Sacramento last month to their big, glitzy "launch party" which was attended by a couple hundred members of the Sacramento liberal elite, including many socialist-policy-embracing officeholders like State Senate President Don Perata, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and many others. This group was so left-wing that former Gray Davis/Steve Westly advisor Garry South stuck out as the reasonable one of the bunch. One cannot help but try to make a comparison between this new website and the FlashReport.… Read More

California voters are better off when there is a vigorous debate among the leaders who serve us. The race for governor is no exception. The California Broadcasters Association has offered to host the one and only televised (played on the radio too) debate between the Governor and Phil Angelides. It is scheduled for October 7th.

Unfortunately, Angelides doesn’t seem to like the style of the debate the broadcasters have chosen. The Broadcasters who who probably give up a lot of advertising revenue to show and play the hour-long event say having the two candidates sitting at a table with the moderator is the most conducive.

But Team Angelides is holding out for some other format like a formal podium style or stool in the middle/walk around style debate.

It sounds a little petty to me. And besides the podiums are too old school and the stool version was never good. I want my politician thinking of the answer to the question or responding to the other guy, not worrying about if the camera caught him looking at the hot chick in the audience.

Mr.… Read More

There have been some interesting developments in the 18th Assembly race over the past couple of days. GOP candidate Jill Buck is running against Mary Hayashi, a left-wing public health activist who only recently moved to the area. On Friday, two of the local papers ran a front-page article announcing that Buck had been invited by Alameda Co. Supervisor Gail Steele, a Democrat, to attend a major Democrat event on Sunday (today)., the Hayward Demos Democratic Club Fall Festival. Here’s an excerpt from the article that ran in the Tri-Valley Herald (FYI-the on-line version didn’t seem to have any punctuation):

"Neither Sundays hostess, Alameda County Supervisor Gail Steele, nor club spokesman Harry Scott sees anything wrong with having the opposition present.

If she appears, we wont… Read More

The San Diego Regional Airport Authority is finally on the run. Good. After reports late last month of SDRAA’s $16.9 million of expenditures thus far for an airport site selection process that has failed miserably to achieve what was tasked by the legislature, it is time to rein in one of the most significant boondoggles in San Diego history.

As I posted in June, the Airport Authority has placed on the November ballot an advisory vote for joint use of Miramar with the Marines, a significant waste of a public vote, considering the military’s long-standing opposition to any such scenario. No matter. SDRAA does what it likes, apparently, given state legislation creating and tasking its mission for site selection of a new airport. Close to $17 million later, and the Authority’s answer is to ask San Diegans to… Read More

With the thousands of appointments that the Governor makes, it is a frequent occurance that a release comes out from his office announcing another group of appointees. For a time I was actually posting those here, with a partisan breakdown. I stopped doing that because there were to many folks being appointed from the Party of Hillary Clinton, and it was bad for morale.

That said, as I said above, you get an indicator about someone and where they are coming from based on their voter registration. You can even try to make some generalizations when you see that someone has registered as a Decline To State voter…

So what does it mean when someone is appointed who is not registered to vote AT ALL?

I’ve never seen this before, but in the most recent list of appointees, the first appointee listed is Doctor John Chin of Sacramento, who is named to the California Medical Board in the Division of Medical Quality. The last line of this first paragraph is… Read More

Most of us are confounded by the teenage drug user who cuts herself to ‘let the demons out’.

Likewise we should be equally disturbed by Secretary of State Bruce McPherson’s recent sit-down with the Sacramento Bee during which he pronounced his intention to sponsor legislation that would ban fund raising at certain times of the year.

There are so many things wrong with this idea.

For one it raises the question: What is fund raising? Is a reception where people come and bring checks? Is it going to your fund raiser’s office, sitting down and making phone calls? Is it speaking to a constituent in the district at a chamber of commerce mixer and accepting an envelop with a check from an event you had several weeks before? Perhaps its all of them. I wonder if a legislator has a campaign strategy session with key supporters and business leaders during this ‘black-out’ period, would he or she be banned from mentioning the fact that they need to raise $300,000 before the Primary Election?

… Read More