FlashReport Weblog on California Politics
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Today’s Commentary: 2006 Golden Trash Can Award: An Orange County Scandal
THE 2006 LEGISLATIVE GOLDEN TRASHCAN AWARD GOES TO… The final days of the 2006 legislative session are upon us, with hundreds of pieces of questionable legislation being negotiated and bartered about as the days turn to hours before no more bills can be passed on to the Governor. This year, the FlashReport is awarding its Golden TrashCan Award to Assembly Bill 523, that would change California State Law to allow the scheme of a former Orange County Congressman to come true — subsidizing a public television station with a de facto gift of millions of dollars – at the expense many thousands of Community College students…
STORY OF AN ORANGE COUNTY SCANDAL …A FOUNDATION WANTS THE TAX PAYERS TO SUBSIDIZE THEIR PURCHASE OF A TV… Read More

Don’t bookmark your Agenda with a VRWC Membership Card
Reports of Wednesday’s blow up on the Assembly floor over still more domestic partnership legislation has further lionized members like Dennis Mountjoy and Jay La Suer — with conservatives, at least — while demonizing them with the left.Thursday’s SDUT story has La Suer calling the debated bill a “part of the homosexual agenda.”
Not surprisingly, his office has received a few phone calls as a result. Some of those callers are demanding to know if La Suer’s staff has a copy of the Homosexual Agenda. Realizing they were going to get nowhere with a rational answer, Jay’s trusty staff started telling callers they didn’t have a hardbound copy.
I think the appropriate answer might be, "No we don’t, but would you like to see my official Vast Right Wing Conspiracy membership card?"
For the record, calls and emails to La Suer’s office are tallying at least 4-1 in… Read More

GOP HQ under attack! Is it a hate crime?
I’ve written in thge past about the huge GOP Headquarters in Whittier. See here.I guess others thought it was a big target as well. There has been an increasing amount vandalism directed at the headquarters. See article here.
Two thoughts.
One. Why doesn’t the legislature create a hate-crime bill for political parties. Vandalism is worse when directed at political speech than at any other business? Right? Of course I’m kidding, but that is the logic of creating special classes of crimes. But lawmakers continue to value some people more than others.
Two. People in the area don’t know if the vandalism is political or not. One thing is for sure. IF these people are voters, they would vote for Jerry Brown for Attorney General. Agreed?… Read More

CA GOP SUMMER CONVENTION – WINNERS & LOSERS!
THANK YOU!!
Below you will find my picks for Winners and Loser from last weekend’s GOP convention — but before I get into that, I wanted to take a quick moment to express my appreciation to the many legislators, volunteer leaders, and CRP delegates who endorsed my candidacy for Vice Chairman, South of the California Republican Party (read more here). The election will not be held until February, but time invested into the campaign last weekend was well worth the time!
I would like especially thank the four Statewide Republican Volunteer Organizations that have voted to give me an early endorsement in this race…
… Read More
Plescia stands for Freedom…opposes price controls…
Today, in a sharp step away from the free-market principles of Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman, Govenor Schwarzenegger has entered into an alliance with the most liberal elements of our State Legislature to impose government price-controls on prescription drugs.
THIS IS HORRIBLE PUBLIC POLICY.
I cannot say it any better than Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia in the following statement just released from his office:
“Republicans agree that expanding access to prescription drugs is an important priority, but we have many serious concerns about this prescription drug plan.
“By forcing companies to cut drug prices through price controls, which is the practical effect of this measure, we will jeopardize the development of life-saving drugs for all 35 million people in our state, drive up health insurance costs for all insured Californians, and threaten the jobs of thousands of highly skilled workers in this critical industry.
“Using a heavy-handed approach to force drug companies to participate may have the unintended and dangerous consequence of taking away critical medications for vulnerable Californians… Read More

Today’s Commentary: CA GOP SUMMER CONVENTION – WINNERS & LOSERS!
THANK YOU!!
Below you will find my picks for Winners and Loser from last weekend’s GOP convention — but before I get into that, I wanted to take a quick moment to express my appreciation to the many legislators, volunteer leaders, and CRP delegates who endorsed my candidacy for Vice Chairman, South of the California Republican Party (read more here). The election will not be held until February, but time invested into the campaign last weekend was well worth the time!
I would like especially thank the four Statewide Republican Volunteer Organizations that have voted to give me an early endorsement in this race…
… Read More
Ballot designations matter.
I am fascinated by what people choose as their ballot designations, those three words you get to describe yourself. Unless you are an incumbent, you have more liberal ability to use more text.
But so far this year I have two favorites…
CITY OF TUSTIN – Nekoda Mae Mattox…Retail employee This doesn’t exactly instill any confidence of leadership ability. Although his/her (I am not really sure what it is) probably has a better handle on finance knowing how to make change from a $20, than most candidates for local office.
OCEANVIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT – Les Tait…Industrial Firefighter I am unsure what that means. Perhaps since my brother has an industrial warehouse and a fire extinguisher could he be an industrial firefighter?
More soon…… Read More