The race between incumbent San Diego Supervisor Bill Horn and the local media elite has really heated up again over the last week. In the last couple days local TV stations ‘broke’ the news that Bill Horn, an avocado rancher, had some of his employees living on the property in what sounded like a rather comfortable trailer. Well, I can honestly write now that every rumor I’ve ever heard from Horn detractors who’ve whispered for years ‘the story is going to break’ or ‘the paper is investigating’ has now been given more than its share of public light. When and if Horn pulls this off at least we’ll all be spared the endless rumors and speculation from the downtown types about when ‘the big story is gonna break.”

That being said, I haven’t seen much from the Thompson campaign, and I don’t think a string of what appear to be petty scandals is going to take down a conservative Republican San Diego Supervisor in a conservative Republican district. On the other hand, I have seen recent, well done Horn mailers. One issue in particular from those mailings is going to sting Thompson pretty hard: his… Read More

After I blogged a little about the Dal Rae steak house in LA as a place to me (see it here), I received a couple offers for lunch at the Dal Reae of course. Today I had lunch there with a political operative. Very nice. FR readers should know I am always for available. If there are other nominees for politico restaurants, please feel free to let me know. If you are cheap, Tommy is celebrating 60 years of tasty burgers with lotsa chili(see it here)… Read More

A big thing happening up here in Butte County is the long delayed and much needed expansion of Hwy 149 [or to those from south of Visalia, THE 149] It is a two lane connecting road that runs east-west between the north-south highways 70 and 99. In 1979 or so, while I was attending Butte College nearby, 149 was greatly improved, safety and traffic flow-wise. It went from a narrow windy rolling road to one that is now wide, straight and flat. In just a few years it became very clear that with a growing population, 2 more lanes were needed. Just add ’em next to the existing ones, right?

Not so fast.

The ‘endangered’ meadowfoam plant was discovered in Butte, in the path of the needed roadway expansion. And the ‘stop or I’ll sue’ enviro crowd was determined that this wasn’t going to be a project done timely or fiscally reasonable. So afterit was studied,workshopped and hearing’d to death over 15 years, the couple of dozen government agencies that quake… Read More

Here is a column I wrote for the Orange County Register about the need for more protections against eminent domain.It ran in today’s paper. Enjoy! An excerpt is below along with the link to the full content:

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says, in part: "[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Federalist Paper No. 10 says, in part: "The diversity in the faculties of men from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government."

President Vicente Fox is going to Sacramento where he will address the State Legislature, and he will dine with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governor has a real opportunity here to make a point, privately and publicly, with President Fox that the United States, and California specifically resents the Mexican President’s steadfast opposition to our efforts to secure our borders. President Fox has called the proposed wall ‘shameful’ and has drawn analogies to a U.S./Mexico border wall to the Berlin wall – which makes no sense. But if you wanted to take his analogy and run with it, instead of Fox decrying a wall, why doesn’t he ask why so many of his citizens want to sneak into our country? Perhaps Fox and his fellow public policy leaders want to look into a mirror, they can ask themselves why they aren’t taking the actions to create a thriving economy in their own nation. That having been said, my personal opinion is that the Governor should just cancel his meeting… Read More

Recently I was asked by the Orange County Republican Party to submit a column for their revamped website.Of course I was happy to oblige, penning a piece entitled, "The Internet: The New Political Frontier." In it, I talk about the importance of the internet, and, of course, my involvement with the FlashReport. Below are the first two paragraphs of my column followed by a link so you can read it on the OCGOP.org:

If you had the opportunity to influence the opinions of millions of people, do you think would you use it? With the Internet you do. And this new way of communicating is reshaping the way politics and campaigns work. I am excited to see the Orange County Republican

I am a Life Member of the NRA and enjoy shooting. Safety first! Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. If you disagree, you might not find the following amusing. For those of you who think we all ought to know how to handle and shoot a gun and defend ourselves, read on…

This weekend the Orange County Young Republicans held their annual ATF Day. Dubbed: Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire Arms – not necessarily in that order.

OC Sheriff Mike Carona joined club President Jeff Corless (middle) as did Cheif of the OC Branch of the U. S. Attorney’s office Wayne Gross.

The event drew over 140 members and other people facinated with the idea of shooting then drinking and smoking a cigar. Though organized by the OC YRs other groups that participated included:

Atlas PAC Riverside County Young Republicans… Read More

Sometimes when we look for impediments to freedom and liberty, we need only look in the mirror.

That would certainly be the case-in-point with the situation concerning Amy Thoma, my Central Coast FlashReport correspondent. You may recall that Amy came onto the FlashReport scene in January of this year. A talented writer with a lot of opinions, Amy was at the time serving at Executive Director of the Monterey County Republican Party. Her posts varied from praise of the efforts of local GOP legislators, critical newsanaysis from a conservative slant, and of course taking on the environmental eco-whackos in her home county. Not only did Amy have the support of her employers at the Monterey GOP, several of them even penned notes to me praising her work, and thanking me for giving… Read More