I had already read Tuesday’s Jon Fleischman Commentary by the time the FlashReport publisher called me later in the dayto ask if the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors had, as he had urged, rejected a proposal to "subsidize" to the tune of $700,000 the for-profit California Speedway. The proposal he spoke of was in the form of an agreement for title sponsorship of a new raceway venue and some upcoming NASCAR races.

I told Jon the Board had not rejected the proposal, and in fact approved it. Now I’ll start off by saying Jon is right to point out that San Bernardino County is a red county, and that its Board is dominated by a Republican super-majority. In fact, I believe the Board’s decision on the sponsorship package was justified based on some very sound and not un-conservative reasoning. There may be times when conservative pro-business principles seem to run counter to conservative anti-tax, limited government principles. But I don’t think this is… Read More

San Bernardino County is a red county. While it was not always the case historically, this sprawling Inland-Empire County has become a bastion of conservatism. This is evidenced by the significant partisan advantage that Republicans have in terms of the delegations to Washington, D.C., and to the State Capitol. But nowhere is this GOP influence felt more than on the local Board of Supervisors. On that board, you not only have a dominant Republican Super-Majority, but Bill Postmus, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors is also Chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. Postmus has been a friend for many years, and his Chief of Staff, Brad Mitzelfelt, is the San Bernardino Correspondent for the FlashReport! So I was quite surprised to read in the newspaper a scheme that doesn’t sound very conservative at all…

I cannot tell you how disturbed I was to read an article in the San Bernardino County Sun newspaper that, if accurate, makes it sound like the Republican County Board of… Read More

San Bernardino County is a red county. While it was not always the case historically, this sprawling Inland-Empire County has become a bastion of conservatism. This is evidenced by the significant partisan advantage that Republicans have in terms of the delegations to Washington, D.C., and to the State Capitol. But nowhere is this GOP influence felt more than on the local Board of Supervisors. On that board, you not only have a dominant Republican Super-Majority, but Bill Postmus, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors is also Chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. Postmus has been a friend for many years, and his Chief of Staff, Brad Mitzelfelt, is the San Bernardino Correspondent for the FlashReport! So I was quite surprised to read in the newspaper a scheme that doesn’t sound very conservative at all…

I cannot tell you how disturbed I was to read an article in the San Bernardino County Sun newspaper that, if accurate, makes it sound like the Republican County Board of… Read More

I just spoke with Andy Roth with the Club for Growth – and am excited to share some great news with FlashReport readers — one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress, Michigan’s Joe Schwarz (pictured to the right) has had his clocked cleaned in today’s primary, and was defeated by strong conservative former State Legislator Tim Walberg. Walberg was supported by conservative groups and blog sites from around the country and was able to successful trounce Schwarz. Schwarz was a leading opponent of making permanent the President’s tax cuts, and much more. You can read more about that here. A big FR thank you goes out to our readers — your generosity made a difference. Readers of the FR donated thousands of dollars to the… Read More

In a 260+ page report that took a year and a half to prepare at a cost of over $20 million of taxpayer dollars, Kroll Incorporated laid out a detailed explanation of the City of San Diego’s disastrous pension shortfall. This will probably be the best explanation we get until folks start rolling on each other in the courtroom.

In short: Carl DeMaio of the Performance Institute and whistle-blower Diann Shipione were right. And the city establishment – including many former current and former staffers and politicians – who tried to discredit them should take a few minutes to let that sink in. Like the report says in black and white: “the evidence demonstrates not mere negligence but deliberate disregard for the law, disregard for fiduciary responsibility, and disregard for the financial welfare of the city’s residents.” And the report puts much of the blame right on the shoulders of former Mayor Dick Murphy and the members of the City Council who were in office during the affair.

You can read the whole of the report at www.sandiego.gov. Particular attention should be paid to Section XI CONCLUSIONS AS TO INDIVIDUAL CULPABILITY.… Read More

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) today announced the return of his "Card Table Offices".

He sends a staffer out to a local library or other public location to offer constituent services on the spot. He truly is a man of the people. Or he is trying to get cheap press for little effort in which case I am feeding right into his plan…

[Adam had reproduced the whole press release from DeVore, but to ‘clean up’ the site, I will just say you can see the Assemblyman (or a member of his staff if he is busy playing pinochle) at the following places/times) at a card table at one of these locales below… Flash]

8/8/2006 Card Table District Office… Read More

A legal battle that started in 1989 will culminate next Monday when President Bush is anticipated to sign into law H.R. 5683, Duncan Hunter’s Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Protection Act, which transfers possession of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego to the federal government.

This will effectively save the cross atop Mt. Soledad, under attack for nearly two decades by those who claim they can’t drive by without getting hives or worse. Get some antibiotics or Absorbine Jr. folks, the POTUS will be signing this bill.

Several individuals have played roles over the years in this local drama, now shifted to the feds. Judge Gordon Thompson, Jr., who has consistently sided with groups like the ACLU, Society for the Separation of Church and State, and the American Atheists in ruling the cross unconstitutional.

On the other side, the side of right, Phil Thalheimer and… Read More

This morning I awoke from my slumber and made my way down to the car wash early. In Fresno, ever present construction and agricultural harvesting creates a dusty mess and car maintenance is a must! No sooner had I sat down with my paper and coffee than up walks former Secretary of State Bill Jones, the happiest non Governor and Senator in history. As you may have read in my post earlier this year, Secretary Jones is on the ground floor of a major ethanol deal here in California, and is continuing to farm on the Central Valley’s west side also. Our conversation was brief, but quite interesting, ranging from public service to local government to Iraq and the Middle East to the current ag situation. Bill Jones remains positively one of the finest people to ever serve in California politics and it was great to visit with him.

Former Mayor Jim Patterson was also in the "car wash" crowd. One of the most effective Mayors ever to serve in Fresno, he is considering a run in 2008 for Mayor again and would be the odds on favorite to… Read More