Who would have thought my trip to speak to the La Habra Republican Women Federated would give me the chance to meet the legendary UNLV Basketball Coach Jerry Tarkanian?

Last week I had the chance to speak as a surrogate for my friend Sheriff Mike Carona. The Sheriff was at another GOP Women’s meeting and I was happy to fill-in.

This time of year Republican clubs like Women’s Federated and California Republican Assembly as well as Central Committee meetings always have a host of candidates for various offices.

On Thursday of last week the La Habra crowd included Mike Lebeau a candidate for OC Assessor, Chriss Street, the leading candidate for OC Treasurer-Tax Collector and some other surrogate speakers for their respective 3rd tier candidates for Sheriff.

I sat at a table up front next to Yorba Linda Mayor Mike Duvall (its not secret I think he’s a good guy and I hope he makes it to Sacramento).… Read More

Howdy there FR gang, this is my first post in Bloggerdom so go easy please. I’ve greatly enjoyed viewing this siteand really appreciate Jon inviting me to be your Nor Cal ‘correspondent’, it’s a great site to participate in.So let’s have some fun.

Last Thursday on the Assembly floor was "take your child to work day". At the end of session we were informed that Monday would be a "Check-In"only day, instead of a regular session where we could process the 40 or so bills that are on the file at that point. We were aware that the so called Great American Boycott was coming up Monday, [personally I don’t see anything Great or American about it but hey….]and we were not ‘informed’why there would be no session. The fearless Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy (pictured) stood up and cut to the chase on the issue, [those exploits you can find on the FR in previous posts] and… Read More

This week, I am pleased that we will be welcoming two great to correspondents to our acclaimed FlashReport Weblog on California politics. As you know, the blog is where over fifteen different contributors each from different parts of the state (or with different ‘beats’ such as "State Capitol" or "Political Law") all post their thoughts, observations and analysis of current political events in California. Today we welcome to the blog longtime FR friend Doug LaMalfa. Doug will be our new northern California correspondent, which really means Sacramento to the Oregon border. He actually asks that we call him the ‘North California’ correspondent, probably because it sounds like its own separate state! Doug is a fine conservative who is a rice-farmer from Butte County. He and his wife, Jill, are the proud parents of four kids. Doug will be bringing us some great news and insights… Read More

You’d think it was a presidential inauguration by the amount of on-the-spot, minute-by-minute news coverage the Bay Area media is giving the “Boycott ” rallies around the Bay Area today. Like Mike Spence, I decided to counter the protest by spending money today, starting with a trip to my favorite Bay Area market, the Berkeley Bowl. For those of you not familiar with this market, it is a larger, less expensive version of Whole Foods. They’ve got everything a Bush-hating, vegan from Berkeley would want and then some. So why do I shop there? Because it also has the most amazing produce, fish, meat and prepared food departments I’ve ever seen. There truly is no farmer’s market or grocery store that can rival the Berkeley Bowl’s produce department. Plus, my son has many food allergies and because the Bowl caters to vegetarians, vegans and other food wierdos, it carries many egg-free, dairy free… Read More

I was going to blog today on the fact that my hometown mayor, the guy with the huge name ID numbers in all of the polls, couldn’t get his party’s endorsement over the LA City Attorney whose name nobody outside of Los Angeles seems to know. But then I got the following e-mail from the Poochigian campaign that said exactly what I wanted to say, but better:

For Jerry: A Rainy Weekend in Sac-Town

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky in Sacramento this weekend, but boy did it rain on Jerry Brown’s parade. Looking for a dignified coronation at the Democrat Convention, Oakland‘s princeling was given the royal Bronx cheer instead… Read More

A Day Without Immigrants — A Month Without Customers by Jennifer Vitela [Vitela is the Capitol Director for Assemblywoman Audra Strickland] The Joint Rules Committee from the California State Assembly notified Capitol employees on Friday that due to Monday’s boycott, the cafes at the State Capitol would be either closed or serving a limited menu. The Rules committee suggested employees bring their own lunches to work to accomodate for the boycott. I think it is time for a boycott of our own. These boycotts have been advertised as a means for immigrants to prove their economic power. Instead of contributing to the very country that is providing all of us with the opportunity for a better life, boycott organizers are encouraging immigrants to try to stall our economy by skipping school, missing work, and not buying anything for a day. But, we do not need to be held hostage because this is America. In a country built on capitalism, we have options.… Read More

I just got done getting gas, an oil change, breakfast, a car washand dry cleaning done. Why?I’m rewarding those hard working people who are not part of the Communistsupported boycott today. Best of all Los Angeles based Radio Hosts John and Ken of KFI 640 AM will have a drawing that reimburse some of those purchases if chosen. You can get all the details by clicking here.You can listen to the show here.… Read More

Well, it appears that the best place in San Diego to get an unvarnished view of what people are thinking about illegal immigration is the public train. Welcome to “Tales of the Rail, Part II.”

This morning I was running late. The fare is $2.25 (probably a $40 subsidy from the local taxpayers) but while rushing I dropped my trusty quarter down some sort of grating in the concrete and thus was tempting fate by ‘short-faring’ 3 stops. On top of this, I was knowingly committing what must be the most cardinal sin of any train commuter – carrying an open coffee mug filled to the brim. (bloggers note: Since this is a conservative blog, many of you have probably only seen public transportation trains on T.V., or in the 1970’s classic gang thriller “The Warriors.” When the train starts, 75% of the time the first 40 feet of the trip is taken at bullet train speed, giving the passengers an unbalancing jerk, and giving any hot liquids a chance to return to the wild. Thankfully the train then returns to a placid 1mph crawl for the remainder of the trip).

Anyway, today’s car was not crowded. One person a bench. In the… Read More