After a long city council meeting 4 of the 5members of the West Covina City Council and the City Manager were looking to relax and get something to eat. They innocently traveled 20 minutes away to the Dal Rae in Pico Riveria.

I should note that Iknow the W.C. council pretty well and would never disparage them.

Now they are being accused of violating the Brown Act. See article here.

No need to worry. They took the City Attorney along. Councilwomen Shelley Sandersonexplains;

"Sanderson said Alvarez-Glasman was at the dinner to make sure the members did not discuss city business."

Hats off tothe City Attoney for spending his free time (unless hisservices end up in the bill) as chaperone. If more Council’s would do the same thing these problems just wouldn’t come up.

Memo to West Covina Chamber: You really need to work onthe Shop West Covina campaign.… Read More

[Update: Assemblyman Chuck DeVore just called to say that a late-scheduled session has been set in the State Assembly for 5:30 p.m. today…]

The Democrats in Sacramento must be really enjoying themselves today. What could possibly be more enjoyable for them than to see Republicans boxed into a corner. In the downstairs office, you have a GOP Governor against whom almost all of the Democrats have endorsed, and across the aisle they have GOP legislators, who stand as their longtime opponents in their quest to massively grow the size and scope of state government. It is being reported in articles all around the state (check them out on the main page of the site) that both houses of the legislature are going to be voting today to send a on a package of four bond measures for the November ballot. It is with great glee that Senate and Assembly Democrats are pushing as hard as they can to include literally as much non-infrastructure spending as possible into a bond package on which the Governor would like to stake his re-election. It’s a win-win for… Read More

[Update: Assemblyman Chuck DeVore just called to say that a late-scheduled session has been set in the State Assembly for 5:30 p.m. today…] The Democrats in Sacramento must be really enjoying themselves today. What could possibly be more enjoyable for them than to see Republicans boxed into a corner. In the downstairs office, you have a GOP Governor against whom almost all of the Democrats have endorsed, and across the aisle they have GOP legislators, who stand as their longtime opponents in their quest to massively grow the size and scope of state government. It is being reported in articles all around the state (check them out on the main page of the site) that both houses of the legislature are going to be voting today to send a on a package of four bond measures for the November ballot. It is with great glee that Senate and Assembly Democrats are pushing as hard as they can to include literally as much… Read More

A hearty welcome to U. S. Representative John Campbell to the role of Flashreport contributor.

I am particularly proud to have him aboard for two reasons, first, he is my Member of Congress. And second, it really gives me some peace of mind knowing that my Congressman knows how to use a computer and email and even the back-end system that controls the Flashreport.

If you think about it, there are probably a huge percentage of the 535 Members of Congress who haven’t a clue how to check the weather in NYC let alone add their two cents (in the case of John Campbell his two silver dollars) by posting their thoughts on the web.… Read More

I was struggling about what to discuss in my first blog to the FlashReport. And then Jon Fleischman ran the as the “golden pen” a column by Arnold’s former budget Director Tom Campbell (no relation). Jon, you handed me an issue on a golden platter.

Tom Campbell wrote about how we should let the state taxing authority (the franchise tax board (FTB)) fill out our tax returns on line. I could not disagree more.

I fought this issue while in the state legislature and am now fighting it in Washington with the IRS. As a taxpayer, you want to pay the lowest possible amount of tax that is legal. That is not the IRS’s goal. There are many gray areas in the tax law. The IRS will not interpret them to your advantage. It’s a conflict of interest. It’s like letting another player play your poker hand.

There are various commercial services (like Turbo tax) that have free online tax preparation programs if you want to save a buck on preparation. They have a motivation to help you find the lowest legal tax. But… Read More

It is being reported in the San Francisco Chronicle that negotiations among the legislative leaders and Governor Schwarzenegger on an infrastructure bond measure for the November ballot are coming close to a compromise agreement. The article says that there is a goal of trying to get something placed on the ballot before the heavy negotiations begin on the state’s budget. This approaching self-imposed deadline seems to really be turning up the heat to ‘make a deal’ — and so I would caution negotiators that the only reason that there is any steam coming out of the hot kettle is because you have all created a convenient, but… Read More

I am very, very pleased to announce a great new addition to our FlashReport team — United States Congressman John Campbell! When I approached the Congressman with the idea of becoming our new Washington D.C. "Beltway" Correspondent, he was quite interested! He is going to be a great participant, bringing FR readers a steady stream of great information from our nation’s capitol. There are several reasons why I reached out to Congressman Campbell, specifically, for this site (and no, one of them is not because he represents me):

A rock-solid conservative who joined the Republican Study Committee as soon as he won election. A grounded person, strong in his faith, with a great family, and a perspective of someone who owned a business. An acumen for understanding that place on the road where policy and politics meet. A great writer — I’ve come to know him as someone quite gifted in the art of communicating via … Read More

I am very, very pleased to announce a great new addition to our FlashReport team — United States Congressman John Campbell! When I approached the Congressman with the idea of becoming our new Washington D.C. "Beltway" Correspondent, he was quite interested! He is going to be a great participant, bringing FR readers a steady stream of great information from our nation’s capitol. There are several reasons why I reached out to Congressman Campbell, specifically, for this site (and no, one of them is not because he represents me):

A rock-solid conservative who joined the Republican Study Committee as soon as he won election. A grounded person, strong in his faith, with a great family, and a perspective of someone who owned a business. An acumen for understanding that place on the road where policy and politics meet. A great writer — I’ve come to know him as someone quite gifted in the art of communicating via … Read More