My first attempt at online political activism follows. The Fresno Bee has quietly, without any fanfare, cancelled the weekly John Ellis political column and reassigned him to, of all areas, the federal courts "beat". I discovered this after I sent John an email earlier this week asking him if we was on vacation, as the column didn’t appear in the paper Saturday. He informed me that the column was no longer a part of the paper!

I want to be clear: he has not asked me to campaign for the column to reappear. But it is one of the top two reasons why I even take the paper, so its important to me and many political insiders across California.

The Ellis column was the most widely read and quoted column in the Bee. I’ve seen it excerpted in the Hotline, Rough & Tumble, Calpeek and the Flashreport dozens of times and on weblogs and political websites literally every week. The Bee evidently didn’t value (or even know) of this exposure. Worse, they don’t understand that the Central Valley and State need this column. It has existed since Editorial Page editor Jim Boren had it back in the 1980’s and 90’s and probably… Read More

If I were putting together a strategy for Arnold Schwarzenegger to employ that would attempt to calm the anger among Republican activists regarding his hiring of Susan Kennedy (which I am not), I would hire a Democrat to do something really extreme that reminded Republicans why Arnold is still their best option next year.

So I’m assuming that the Schwarzenegger team has put Democratic Assemblyman Paul Koretz on their payroll, and bribed him to propose legislation and hold high-profile hearings to push for a death penalty moratorium in California. Then the governor could spend the first few months of his re-election campaign fighting heroically to preserve the death penalty in the state, while Phil Angelides and Steve Westly looked for safe hiding places until their party’s primary was over.

But even for a principled opponent of capital punishment, and even for a legislature gerrymandered into safe districts, Koretz’s quote in this morning’s Los Angeles Times offers an excellent reminder on why competitive legislative elections would improve the quality of political debate in California. Defending his proposal, Koretz told… Read More

"Republican lawmakers scolded Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday, telling him in a closed-door meeting how seriously his support among party stalwarts is wavering." – Los Angeles Times

**So…want to know which 19 GOP Assemblymembers actually showed up to hear from the Governor in yesterday’s caucus meeting? It’s at the bottom of this Commentary!**

In today’s Commentary:

I continue to be knotted up inside over the… Read More

Voters in the city of Laguna Beach go to the polls today to vote on whether to pass a new half-cent sales tax to help pay for costs related to the landslides that hit the city about six months ago.

Here is the Special Election analysis:

First of all keep in mind that this is the fourth, yes 4th Special Election Laguna Beach voters have seen in as many months (Special Congressional Primary, Special Statewide election, Special Congressional General and now this). Also on the horizon is/are the Special(s) for the 35th state senate seat.

A majority of the city council is supporting the measure that smartly would sunset in six years.

I reached out to both Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider and Laguna Beach Republican volunteer/leader Frank Ricchiazzi for their insights.

Ricchiazzi expressed several concerns:

1) The city needs to fund repairs that gone incomplete could expose the city to lawsuits.

2) The city… Read More

ARNOLD’S VISITS LEGISLATORS TODAY… EMPTY CHAIRS? OR A SMALLER TABLE? **Note, this morning I incorrectly reported that the Governor would be meeting with legislative Democrats today. That was in error (thanks Richard Costigan for the call, sorry for lighting up your phone this morning). I will bring it up with the Publisher….oh…wait…that’s me…. OK, I will be more dilgent at fact-checking next time…** Today, Governor Schwarzenegger is scheduled to spend some time meeting with Republican legislators…and his first observation might be – where are they? I’ve been talking or e-mailing… Read More

I hope that all FR readers will join me in welcoming Mr. Tom Ross to the talented group of folks that the FlashReport has assembled to help you digest California polical news. Tom, like the rest of the team, will be doing double duty — a least a couple times a week, he will bring you an insight, observation or more on something in the Sacramento area (loosely defined as stretching west-east from the Nut Tree (those of you who are out there know where this is) to the Cal-Neva hotel in Tahoe, and from Modesto to Lassen. So if you live in this area, feel free to send along your story ideas and tips to Tom or his evil-twin, Joe Justin our other Sacramento area blogger. His other duty will be, like the rest of us, to give us timely insights on statewide California political issues, or stuff going on out of his "turf". Tom’s first post is right below this, and you can click on the "i" next to his name to read more about his background, and tap the little envelope to send him a note!

Welcome aboard the team!

Jon Fleischman Publisher… Read More

I’m the last to claim that I am an OC insider, but I think that another look at State Senate seat 35 might be in order. As much as I respect Cunningham, Probolsky, and Fleischman as consummate players in OC, I also believe that their perspective on the race is biased. You see, I don’t think that these folks have ever gotten over the WAY Tom Harman was elected to the State Assembly. I also think these same folks, all of whom are friends, would rally around any candidate who challenged Harman and they thought was capable of beating him. I think that their opinions require a little balance (disclaimer: we are Tom’s consultants, and while I would never play my entire hand, I feel an obligation to at least show one card to get some balance).

A look at Tom’s actual votes in the Assembly demonstrates his Republican record. Lets use the California Republican Assembly’s rankings over the past few years, as an example. I don’t think… Read More

Four years ago only one Republican filed for the Board of Equalization’s Fourth District. The seat is now held by Democrat John Chiang and is heavily Democratic. It encompasses most of LA County (they left out the GOP areas) [Publisher’s note: Are there Republican areas of LA? – Flash]. The Republican nominee got 30% of the vote in the general election. Legislators Judy Chu and Jerome Horton are battling it outon the Democratic side. Chiang is term limited and running for a statewide office This year there are three candidates for the GOP side in what is turning into an interesting race for the Republican nomination. The lone Republican four years ago was businessman Glen Forsch. He is running again this year. He is a traditional conservative … Read More