In the wee hours of Tuesday the 10th there were still some 1,600 ballots to count in the hotly contested +/- $2 million fight for control of San Diego’s 2nd City Council District. The spread was 500 some odd votes, with Republican Kevin Faulconer in the lead, but with no concession from Bustamonte aide-de-camp Lorena Gonzalez. The last votes have now been counted and the tally is 15,038 Faulconer v. 14,316 Gonzalez, a 722 vote victory for the reformers. Gonzalez has conceded. So I guessits officially the first GOP victory of2006 here in California.

However, because the 2nd council district was a special to fill the seat vacated by the ongoing city corruption scandals (more indictments last week), the seat will be open for election again in June. During the primary, Gonzalez indicated in writing that she would not run against whoever won the special, but her comments thereafter leave some doubt. However, Gonzalez does own a $1.2 million house in San Diego’s 7th council district, which is opening in 2008. She had just purchased the home when the 2nd district, where she rents, came open. Reliable rumors from deep in labor have it she had… Read More

About a hundred dyed-in-the-wool Republicans are gathered here at the picturesque and historic Mission Inn in downtown Riverside. The meeting room is quite impressive, and intimidating – with statues of Angels, prophets and more. The ceilings are quite impressive – solid dark wood with arches and intricate carvings. Anyways, I digress.

The Chairman of the committee, Kevin Jeffries, is resigning as he is seeking the Assembly seat of termed-out conservative Ray Haynes. This has set the stage for political drama, with a contested race to succeed him. The two candidates — long time GOP activist from the Coachella Valley (read: greater Palm Springs) Bette Myers, and Jeff Miller, a member of the Corona City Council. In this short, wide county, it is West versus East.

(Let me add that I’ve managed to sit next to the lively Don Genhart, from the desert, who is a great guy – blessed with a strong work ethic AND a good sense of humor!)

We heard a lot of great reports from over a dozen different GOP groups – lots of stuff going on. Also talks from legislative representatives. This latter group of speaker pretty much all… Read More

Taking the wrong message from the November election results The top story of the day is not usually a column – it’s usually a hard news story. But I think that this column IS news because in reading it, it really hammers home a point. And that is that the Governor’s policy decisions this year have significant political ramifications. He is on a complete 180 degree course from last year, and instead of attacking spending as the problem, is now embracing spending as a solution. My colleague and fellow FlashReport contributor Dan Schnur says today in the San Diego Union Tribune, "Arnold is not moving substantively very far at all, but he is dramatically changing his emphasis. Almost every policy proposal that’s come out of the Governor’s Office over the last week or two is not significantly different from things he’s talked about in the past. But he’s making a much greater effort to emphasize a more moderate and conciliatory approach." It may be the case… Read More

When Ernie Dronenburg announced his resignation from the San Diego County Board of Education on December 14 during the regular board meeting, the resultingnews reports were nowhere to be found. Curious, considering that only a few years ago when Susen Fay and Jim Kelly served on the board, neither of them could breathe without a Union-Tribune headline or editorial.

Nowadays, without anyone serving on the board that the media would define as "right-wing," apparently the U-T doesn’t even cover the meetings, so the paper knew nothing about Dronenburg’s resignation. It should be noted that before serving on the County Board of Ed, Dronenburg served a mere 20 years as a Republican on the State Board of Equalization, among many other things authoring the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. See his bio here.

Yet, still no news reports or even announcements from the board’s County… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger trumpeting the age of borrowing with his proposal to place a $68,000,000,000.00 (that’s how $68 billion would look on a calculator, except calculators don’t have enough digits!). You would think that he rang the cow bell — because here come the Democrats. Their voracious appetite to spend money has the entire herd cramming into the feed barn at once!

The only good news, if you can call it that, is that the Democrats can’t really propose borrowing more than the Governor (since he pretty much maxes out the state credit card). Maybe when the Governor sees how enthusiast all of these liberals are about the Bondinator, he will come to his senses, and scale back this massive proposal. No one is saying there are not major infrastructure investments needed, but a plan that includes no reforms so that we, starting… Read More

OC Attorney Power Broker John Ramirez (pictured to the right) and Rutan & Tucker law partner Joel Kuperberg had a huge victory on Friday. The pair defended the Orange County Water District (OCWD) in a lawsuit v. the Yorba Linda Water District (YLWD).

Sadly this was a dispute that has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds.

I will forgo the legal stuff and focus on the amusing facet of the case. After making accusations in court that OCWD had engaged in "deceit" by hiding a 1970 agreement from Yorba Linda Water District (note that the agreement was recorded, and is a public record), OC Water District attorney’s found evidence that OCWD in fact sent the agreement to YLWD in 1988. YLWD then switched its story to admitting that OCWD sent the agreement, but accusing OCWD of not telling YLWD… Read More

Monday Assemblyman Van Tran (R-68) is set to annouce he will seek the GOP nomination for the 34th Senate Dist. Tran was just elected in 2004 to the Assembly after serving on the Garden Grove City Council. Tran may face Lynn Daucher (R-72) who is termed out. I expect Daucher will drop her bid with Tran coming on strong.

Even after winning in the Primary, Tran will face the Democrat in a district that will have a plurality of Republican voters, but has sent a Democrat to the Senate twice in the last eight years. Assemblyman Tom Umberg is the leading candidate for the Dems, while County Supervisor Lou Correa is also rumored to be considering a run.

Also this week expect to see Janet Nguyen, Republican Garden Grove… Read More

Governor, I’m not sure I can make the case any more.

I can do the "He’s Better Than Angelides" argument: that one’s still easy. But for the last several weeks, I’ve maintained that your new approach has more to do with tone and emphasis than any substantive policy change. The Administration’s new state budget proposal makes that a lot more difficult.

As my friend Fleischman noted, I was quoted in this morning’s San Diego Union Tribune saying the following:

"Almost every policy proposal that’s come out of the Governor’s Office over the last week or two is not significantly different from things he’s talked about in the past. But he’s making a much greater effort to emphasize a more moderate and conciliatory approach."

When I spoke to the reporter writing this story, that’s what I believed. But that was before the governor released his new budget.

I’ve… Read More