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

There’s a poll in the field tonight in the 74th Assembly District (disclaimer: I represent candidate Martin Garrick). I’ve got the details from two sources now, so I figure I can write about it. First, the poll has a variety of questions about candidate Marie Waldron’s past city council disclosures and the disclosures she was required to file in order to run for Assembly. There are some fairly significant issues there if these questions have any basis in reality. The lion’s share of the polling was asking various questions about Waldron, so I assume its either a Packard poll or a Waldron poll. I’m in a fairly strong position to argue its not a Garrick poll. Second, Assemblyman Mark Wyland has not endorsed Martin Garrick or any other candidate in the race.… Read More

I know and like the editorial page editor of the Fresno Bee, Jim Boren. While not exactly conservative, he’s made some great changes to the page and the editorial policy has moved from way left to center left over the years. Still, I am always very surprised when any Republican gets any Bee endorsement for Statewide office.Not only was I knocked off of my chair thismorning,but thelanguage of the endorsement was so strong, and so definitive, and so critical of the Democrat opposition, that Poochigian actually received their endorsement for both the June and November elections.

The cynic in me says its a favorite son play. But I know better. Chuck really is the overwhelmingly superior candidate. Andthe strength of the endorsement willget voters and other editorial boards thinking twice about dismissing our Republican nominee. Today is a good day.… Read More

I just got a call from State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, just as I was preparing to post a photo and release on the press event held jointly by Senate and Assembly Republicans outside of the very closed State Senate chamber doors. The chambers were closed as Democrats cancelled, on a party-line vote, the session today to support the "Boycott of America" taking place nationally today.

Ackerman (pictured behind the podium, with Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia to the left) had this to say to me, "The Republican caucuses supports legal immigration. We do not support illegal immigration. We shouldn’t be condoning their activitists by not encouraging people to go to work and to school."

Here is a release sent along by FR friend Morgan Crinklaw at the Assembly GOP Caucus:

SACRAMENTO… Read More

I work in downtown Santa Ana. Out of the windows of the offices here, you can observe about 5,000 protesters milling around saying “Yes, we can!” (Though they are yelling it ‘en espanol’ not in English).

From our offices, you can really see how effective horses are at crowd control. No one wants to get too close to a big police horsey!

The crowd is pretty passive, marching around in circles. There really is no way to coordinate the movement of that many people, I don’t think.

I’ve got some photos that I can post when I’m not on this Blackberry.

P.S. I did patronize the local Ralph’s here in Santa Ana, but haven’t managed to fax the receipt into KFI 640’s John and Ken, where they are picking one lucky patron an hour to be reimbursed up to $640.… Read More

Another great submission to the FlashReport from our friend Karen Hanretty:

Monday’s “Great American Boycott” – or “Day without a Gringo,” as ’s President Vicente Fox was calling it – turned out to have little impact, despite hundreds of thousands of legal and illegal immigrants taking to the streets of major cities throughout the country and closing down certain industries like garment and produce.

Nor will the boycott/demonstrations have much political impact moving forward, and the reason is pretty simple. There is no political leadership and no consistent message.

Throughout the day on Monday I monitored and participated in print, radio and television coverage of the demonstrations. Not once did I see or hear from any major political leaders.… Read More

I only had one brush with the boycott — although I’m not 100% positive that’s what it was.

My two youngest daughters asked if I would take them to our favorite taqueria — Taqueria Guadalupana — for rice and beans. Personally, I was looking forward to some tacos al pastor, which are killer at Guadalupana (especially when the skinny cook is there).

So, we roll up to the taqueria about 6:00 p.m. — and it’s closed! According to posted stores hours, it’s supposed to be abierto until 8:00 p.m.

Now, I don’t know if the proprietors closed in observance of the boycott — there was no signage indicating such — or if they closed because business was slow because of the boycott.

Of if they weren’t there for some other reason.

But that’s as close as I came to being impacted by the "Day Without Immigrants."… Read More

Appropo for today, May Day. No one ever said Dennis Mountjoy isn’t colorful. As noted on FR last Friday, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore wrote about Dennis’ comments the other day in Human Events Online, but now they are being being picked up in various other blogoplaces. This from Calicapia:

Dennis Mountjoy. Love him, or loath him, you have to admit he’s always entertaining. At the end of Thursday’s Assembly Session, following the announcement of the Democrat plan to shut down the legislature on Monday so the majority party could go participate in the anti-rule-of-law demonstrations, Mountjoy announced that he’d located a number of former members of the legislature who were willing to come in that day. Further, he remarked that they’d work for half the price of the elected members. One small issue, he said, they haven’t been documented by the… Read More