OK, so who won already?… Anticipating a rather slow Easter Sunday on the FR blog, some of you may be reading this Monday. Either way, I don’t want to keep folks on pins and needles any longer about the winner of the first ever FlashReport "Pick ’em and Win" CD 50 election contest.

You may recall, part one was to select the top four CD 50 Republicans in their order of finish. They were, of course, Bilbray, Roach, Kaloogian and Morrow, like it or not. Four folks nailed the order:

John Dadian, Steve Friar, Mike Johnson and Marc Schaefer. Good going, gentleman.

Tie Break One…pick the percentage for the leading Republican. Yeah, there are like 500 ballots to count, but we’re pretty safe in saying Bilbray’s total is not gonna change more than a fraction. Yet, that makes things a bit problematic if it does change, as you can see by the picks of our remaining top three contestants, against Bilbray’s percentage:

Bilbray… Read More

Republican Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine is cop. He is now a LAPD reserve officer. In South Central there is a co-op farm the resident grow food on. Now the land owner wants his land and there is much controversy. Mayor Sam’s Sister City Blog has a story where Zine went to check out the farm at night in an unmarked police car. Was a gun drawn? Nevertheless people are ticked. Check it out here.He should have stopped at Krispy Kreme instead.… Read More

As all FR readers know, the race between Tom Harman and Diane Harkey in the 35th State Senate District Special Election came down to a difference of less than 300 votes. As a matter of fact, this margin for Harman matters a lot as Harkey prepares for a recount.

As a Harkey supporter myself, my eyes rolled to the top of my head when I got my mail today. Amidst some bills, a timeshare offer, and some coupons was a mailer from The Alliance for Orange County Taxpayers labasting Tom Harman, specifically telling the real story behind some ‘tall tales’ in Harman’s previous mail.

Well, to the extent that it enlightens some voters about Harman, great. That said, mail received four days after the election does no good whatsoever.

I would blame the folks at the "OC Taxpayers’ but my first inclination is to blame our government-run postal system.… Read More

This blog has reported several times on the ongoing struggle for control of the City of San Diego between reformers and laborites. Momentum has clearly been on the side of reform over the last year. Victories for the reform movement include (1) the resignation of Mayor Dick Murphy and the election of reform Mayor Jerry Sanders, which gave reformers the powers of the new ‘strong mayor’ form of government; (2) the election of reformer Kevin Faulconer (disclosure, client) in the liberal leaning 2nd Council District which gave reformers at least 4 solid votes of 8 on the council, with a couple swings and a couple laborites; (3) and the recent vote by the council – under heavy pressure by reform leaders that included businessman Steve Francis and the Performance Institute’s Carl DeMaio – to place two reform measures (outsourcing and pension reform) on the November ballot.

A couple days ago, as reported by the San Diego Union Tribune, 2nd District City Councilman Kevin Faulconer’s opponent in the June primary, former Democrat Party Chairman Kevin Kaeder, formally dropped out of the race, citing health reasons. Since the 2nd is a rather… Read More

TAX FREEDOM DAY Did you pay your taxes by today? If not, you may be looking at stiff penalties. But Americans are already penalized by a tax burdon that is way too large. The size and scope of government at every level is too high. This year, Tax Freedom Day is April 26, 2006 — so you actually have another week and half before we reach this symbolic point of the year. What is the symbolism of this day? The Tax Foundation computes all of the money that you pay in taxes (income tax, sales tax, etc.) and they figure out what percentage of your annual income it takes to pay your burdon. The dates moves around as you can see by the graph. That said, our Republican President and Republicans in the United States Senate and House of Representatives can ask themselves today, and on April 26th why, with GOP ‘control’ of the federal government, Tax Freedom day isn’t sometime in late February or early… Read More

TAX FREEDOM DAY Did you pay your taxes by today? If not, you may be looking at stiff penalties. But Americans are already penalized by a tax burdon that is way too large. The size and scope of government at every level is too high. This year, Tax Freedom Day is April 26, 2006 — so you actually have another week and half before we reach this symbolic point of the year. What is the symbolism of this day? The Tax Foundation computes all of the money that you pay in taxes (income tax, sales tax, etc.) and they figure out what percentage of your annual income it takes to pay your burdon. The dates moves around as you can see by the graph. That said, our Republican President and Republicans in the United States Senate and House of Representatives can ask themselves today, and on April 26th why, with GOP ‘control’ of the federal government, Tax Freedom day isn’t sometime in late February or early… Read More

I have spent the last few days at the Orange County Registrar of Voters as a member of the Harkey team monitoring the vote count.

You will hear more about this count and recount from others and from me later. But it is worth noting now, that I have a new appreciation for the ‘government bureaucrat‘. I have known OC Registrar Neal Kelley as a competent and fair Registrar but we generally don’t work with the people that work throughout the office on a regular basis.

These last few days I have found them to be just as knowledgeable and just as fair. That doesn’t mean they have bent over backwards for either the Harkey or Harman campaigns, they have just responded to our requests and been generally pleasant.

If you think I am just kissing up–believe me, if there was something askew to report, I would post it!… Read More

If you rent a old movie or two there is bound to be a western where the town is controlled by a rancher or mining company. People have to rent from them and the town is controlled in every way by the company in charge. Well, in LA county there is such a place. It’s called Vernon. Vernon hasn’t had an election in over 20 years. The mayor’s grandfather was on eof the founders. By the way the mayor is a Republican and so are two other council members. Most homes are owned by the city.

Vernon was founded as an industrial town and has fewer voters than a normal precinct. It sports 60 cops and is home to Farmer John. They have their own ultities and most important have about $100 million in various investments they control.

In a city this size a sudden influx of peope could change who controls power. That happened a few months ago. The interlopers may be asscoiated with the convicted Treasurer of South Gate, Albert Robles. Albert went to UCLA with me. In Fact we ran against each other for a slot on the student body council. The Bruin Democrats endorsed ME!. Get the idea.

As a result there have been evictions, lawsuits and the… Read More