I have a breakfast meeting this morning for work, so today’s Commentary will be short and sweet: I read that Congressman Dana Rohrabacher was a participant in the Congressional hearing last week in San Diego County on the illegal immigration issue. I reached out to him to see if he would be willing to pen something for FR readers on his take on how that hearing went. He gladly stepped up to the plate and it is the main feature column on today’s main page. Imagine this for just a second. You work (at government wages) for a Congressman in Washington, who happens to be a big-cheese on the Appropriations (read: spending of your tax dollars) Committee. You then leave the Congressman’s office and become a partner in a big lobbying practice. Of course, what is the ‘specialty’ of the lobbying firm? You guessed it, bringing home the ‘pork’ via the Appropriations Committee. As a lobbying, you successfully advocate that your clients get tens of millions in tax dollars for their projects, and in return, the staffer-turned-lobbyist makes millions. Then the Congressman for whom he works becomes Chairman of… Read More

I have a breakfast meeting this morning for work, so today’s Commentary will be short and sweet: I read that Congressman Dana Rohrabacher was a participant in the Congressional hearing last week in San Diego County on the illegal immigration issue. I reached out to him to see if he would be willing to pen something for FR readers on his take on how that hearing went. He gladly stepped up to the plate and it is the main feature column on today’s main page. Imagine this for just a second. You work (at government wages) for a Congressman in Washington, who happens to be a big-cheese on the Appropriations (read: spending of your tax dollars) Committee. You then leave the Congressman’s office and become a partner in a big lobbying practice. Of course, what is the ‘specialty’ of the lobbying firm? You guessed it, bringing home the ‘pork’ via the Appropriations Committee. As a lobbying, you successfully advocate that your clients get tens of millions in tax dollars for their projects, and in return, the staffer-turned-lobbyist makes millions. Then the Congressman for whom he works becomes Chairman of… Read More

The Sacramento Bee today notes that Phil Angelides’ condemnation of Bob Mulholland’s comments on Friday doesn’t seem to have had much effect on his senior advisor. Kevin Yamamura writes: "Angelides disavowed the Mulholland remark … Mulholland didn’t heed the advice."

(Mulholland ispictured to the left speaking out against the recall ofGovernor Davis. As you can see, Mulholland isn’t just a jerk – he is a loser, too.) The Schwarzenegger campaign is picking up on this today, with spokesman Matt David saying: "It’s clear Phil Angelides isn’t ready to run the largest state in the nation when he can’t manage a single member of his campaign staff. He acknowledged that the comments coming out of his campaign were offensive, but he failed to stop his senior aide from defending them." … Read More

OK, I put in two back-to-back 6pm – 2am shifts as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff at the Orange County Fair this weekend. Be happy I motived to update the main page!

Coming tomorrow — Congressman Dana Rohrabacher shares with us his perspective from the recently held Congressional hearing in San Diego County on the subject of Illegal Immigration.

Take care,

Jon

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

Wendell Cutting Remembered… The FlashReport noted the June 28 passing of this civic activist, humanitarian and longtime aide to Congressman Duncan Hunter, including Thursday’s SDUT editorial (if you missed it), "How Wendell Cutting made a difference." Thursday’s memorial service at Shadow Mountain church in El Cajon, with nearly 1,000 attending, was inspirational. Congressman Hunter, Assemblyman Jay La Suer, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Chancellor Omero Suarez, and Salvation Army Captain Darren Norton addressed the throng, mixing stories of Wendell’s great sense of humor with testimony of his strong faith. This is a man whose life, personality and friendship will always be remembered.

The East County Herald News has set up some tribute pages to Wendell (including the photo above):… Read More

Political campaigns are a game of chess, and Phil Angelides, the Democrat nominee for Governor, has just moved himself into "check" – a move not allowed during a real chess game but certainly allowed in a political campaign. By promising to support gay marriage, Angelides puts himself in a position at odds with most of California. And he gives Arnold some room to run here, if Arnold is willing to exploit this gaffe.

I hereby advise Arnold to kill the Queen (pun intended) with a pawn, and keep on the offensive on this and other issues.… Read More

Yesterday I asked for input from FlashReport readers on the issue of term limits and potentially revising our state’s legislative term limits laws (right now there is a limit of two four-year terms in the Senate, and three two-year terms in the Assembly). As of this morning, I have had 194 FR readers write to me with their opinions on whether term limits is working or not and whether they would advocate changes. Overwhelmingly FlashReport readers do NOT want to see a change in term limits, and believe that they have been a good thing for California. Which is interesting because the common-speak among Capitol insiders is that they feel that term limits has turned out to be horrible public policy – leading to legislators perpetually focused on their next elective office and to a loss of experience in the legislature. A great many respondents also viewed the rhetoric around the need for extending terms or ending term limits as being self-serving proposals for members of the legislature who simply do not want to return to the private sector. These responses underscores a huge challenge ahead for those who want to… Read More

Yesterday I asked for input from FlashReport readers on the issue of term limits and potentially revising our state’s legislative term limits laws (right now there is a limit of two four-year terms in the Senate, and three two-year terms in the Assembly). As of this morning, I have had 194 FR readers write to me with their opinions on whether term limits is working or not and whether they would advocate changes. Overwhelmingly FlashReport readers do NOT want to see a change in term limits, and believe that they have been a good thing for California. Which is interesting because the common-speak among Capitol insiders is that they feel that term limits has turned out to be horrible public policy – leading to legislators perpetually focused on their next elective office and to a loss of experience in the legislature. A great many respondents also viewed the rhetoric around the need for extending terms or ending term limits as being self-serving proposals for members of the legislature who simply do not want to return to the private sector. These responses underscores a huge challenge ahead for those who want to… Read More