Time Magazine is reporting that ex-Congressman Duke Cunningham wore a wire in cooperation with the FBI before he publicly admitted to being on the take and resigning in disgrace.

As you may remember, I am not a fan of federal prosecutors (see my previous post here) but I have even more distain for rats. Those among us who would for their own personal gain abuse friendship and a history of trust to entrap someone else are some of the lowest of the low.

It’s a sad day when any office holder is found or admits to being guilty of crimes against the very people they represent. But even worse to me is the crime of being a rat which is punishable with a total and complete… Read More

I share Jon Fleischman’s disappointment over the Traditional Values Coalition and its role in the Abramoff sleazefest. But I’m a lot more worried than he is, not because the TVC’s activities have been outside the norm of acceptable political behavior, but because in modern-day Washington, they are the norm. In the national news media, Reverend Lou Sheldon’s role in this ethical circus has received a relatively small amount of attention, because similar behavior has been attributed to conservative activist Ralph Reed, who is alleged to have taken money from Abramoff’s Indian gaming clients to oppose other gambling expansion. Not to slight Reverend Sheldon’s political import, but Reed, who was a major player in the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign and is currently a candidate for Lt. Governor of Georgia, is a major, major player in national Republican politics. He’s also one of the savviest operators in the political arena today, which makes me wonder exactly how broad and… Read More

I too have a history with Rev. Sheldon. I have known the Reverend for more than a decade. I do not agree with him all the time and I certainly do not agree with some of his tactics. But it is very important to be clear, no one is accusing Rev. Sheldon of any improprieties and if they did, they would find none.

Today it is more politically correct to bash Abramoff and anyone he stood on line with at the grocery store let along gave a contribution to, than to give a college scholarship to a one-legged, lesbian illegal alien. So I understand my colleagues desire to pile on. But I caution that but for our tendency to focus our businesses in California rather than DC or the fact that some of us (not I) choose do politics for Sen. McCain rather than Rep. Delay, we could have some of the Abramoff stink on us too.

My point is, attack the good Reverend all you want. But don’t confuse something you don’t like with something that is off the charts illegal. [Publisher’s note: Adam brings up a good… Read More

I wanted to wait for a few days to react to the Governor’s speech. This will be brief. I haven’t changed my mind from previous posts, which you can read if you like. The special election was the Governor’s re-election and he lost. Republican strategists have no answer for nurses, teachers, firefighters, prison guards and cops. Republicans cannot buy votes by outspending Democrats, so the State of the State speech was of little consequence to Arnold’s re-election bid. Bill Whalen succinctly outlined what the Governor didn’t say in his speech.

Let me add a couple of items to this list. While the Governor correctly outlined the massive infrastructure deficit faced the by the State, what he didn’t say is that the Legislature has made choices over the years to spend windfall tax revenues on programs, not infrastructure, and that this is the only reason bonds are necessary to finance these projects. He also didn’t point out the obvious – there is waste, fraud and abuse in State Government, and… Read More

Dan, I have had a couple of days to ponder your open question to the FlashReport contributors, and so I thought that I would take a shot at answering a few of your questions. First, a brief historical note. As you know, on the GOP philosophical scale, I am pretty much bumping up on the right end. A red meat conservative with a healthy amount of libertarian ‘marbling’ throughout. My credentials include three years as State Chairman of California Young Americans for Freedom (the conservative youth organization founded by William F. Buckley, Jr, in 1960), two years as State President of the California Republican Assembly, and while my service as Executive Director of the State GOP years later isn’t a reference to my degree … Read More

Another response, in addition to Lew Uhler’s (see prior post). Whether I agree with it or not, and whether he meant it as such or not, Republicans and GOP legislators could view Richard Rider’s comments as a challenge (and definitely food for thought):

San Diego Tax Fighters E-mail: RRider@san.rr.com

Press Release – For Immediate Release by Richard Rider, Chairman

The Terminator Morphs into Girlie Man San Diego – It’s over. The giddy times of tossing out Gray Davis and replacing him with the tough Terminator are now behind us. After Governor Schwarzenegger’s State of the State speech, stunned Democrats welcomed him with open arms. Democrat Assemblywoman Saldana offered him a voter registration card so he could officially change his party affiliation. He’s become the very Girlie Man he denigrated in times past.

The Governator is… Read More

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay permanently resigned as Majority Leader in a letter to House Republicans. DeLay’s announcement triggers leadership elections (to be called by the Speaker) that rumors have to be either Jan. 26, bringing Members back prior to President Bush’s Jan. 31 State of the Union speech or on Feb. 2. Either way, the Speaker will want to have this dealt with prior to the Feb. 9-11 GOP Conference retreat.

Ohio Rep. John Boehner, chairman of the Education & the Workforce Committee and Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, Majority Whip and acting-Majority Leader are considered to be definite candidates to succeed DeLay. House Rules would not require Blunt to resign as Whip meaning he could continue in that capacity if he failed to win the Leader’s post.

RSC chairman Mike Pence of Indiana is rumored to be a candidate for… Read More

Regarding the top story in today’s edition of the FlashReport — I think we are going to have to ask San Bernardino County Supervisor (and FlashReport friend) to share more about his plans with the readers of this fine publication. While the level of political sophistication of FR readers varies from the interested reader to experience consultants, the idea of the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of a major county (that has no term limits) running for an obscure office (politically) like County Assessor seems like an odd move. Add to it that Postmus has partisan politics running through his veins (he is also the Chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party), and you wonder what he is up to. Bill is a chess player. In political parlance, it means that like a successful chess player, he makes his decisions thinking about the longer-term ramifications. Well, we invite the Supervisor to let us know why he would make this move… Until then… We’ll just be glad… Read More