I think most of California’s political community is scratching their heads over the Susan Kennedy COS appointment. Even if you are a liberal, sorry progressive Democrat you have to wonder how it all happened.

We Republicans especially are searching for answers. I have identified a few reasons, thoughts and some options, some rational, some not.

>"It is 99% Maria and 1% desperation," says Probolsky [Note to media, feel free to use this as long as you attribute to me and Flasreport.org]. -Call me vain for quoting myself, but I think this is the best explanation. It is no secret the insider pull the Governor’s wife has. If Maria trusts someone, and I gather there are few people she trusts, they have a pretty good shot at becoming [fill in high level government job here]. > "Some would suggest it… Read More

THE FISCAL FUTURE OF CALIFORNIA This week, the FlashReport has been featuring some great original columns from folks we think are experts on California’s finances, and have very real concerns about where we should go from here. On Monday we featured a great piece from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, on why the idea of massive infrastructure bonds right now are a poor public policy choice for California. Today, we have a piece from State Senator (and soon to be Congressman) John Campbell, that look as where we should be going, in terms of fiscal policy, after the defeat at the polls of Proposition 76. Campbell, too, opposes a massive bond-obligation scheme without meaningful (and unlikely) fiscal reforms. Tomorrow we will be featured yet another piece from a prominent authority on why the borrowing scheme is a bad one, with some constructive input on handling California’s infrastructure… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger was never a friend to conservatives, he was just a palatable choice who had some sex appeal, and could win we were told.

Credit was given to him for kinda-sorta fixing workers comp and talking a good game on improving the business climate. And I have opined that the Governor’s Special Election while a lose took guts and should be recognized.

WHAT HAS CHANGED

Since the Special Election we have seen a slide, shift, some sort of movement away from Republicans and Republican principles first with the suggestion that it was GOP donors who didn’t put a big enough money sack in the pot to win the Special Election when we all know it was the Governor’s failure to defend himself for months against the relentless union attacks. Next we saw the proposal for his $50 billion bond further saddling the state with debt. And now the Kennedy chief of staff appointment. Her appointment is stick in the eye to ever Republican that held their nose and voted for him. Worse yet putting a liberal Democrat activist in charge demonstrates to the GOP party faithful that our… Read More

Here is the email sent this morning from Pat Clarey, the Governor’s former Chief of Staff, passing the reigns of her office:

Props go to William Bradley for e-mailing out the news a couple of hours before me. Ironically, I didn’t know it because I wasn’t on his email list. I am now. Perhaps, if you want to be in the loop, you should be… To get on it, email Bill. Bill gets all of the credit/blame if you do or don’t like what he says in his columns. But he gets an "A" for aggressive reporting.

Wall Street Journal Editorial Staff Writer John Fund has been a longtime friend of the FlashReport, back to the beginning of our e-newsletter in 2001. He’s been a personal friend of mine going back much further. John, a native Californian, keeps a remarkable finger on the pulse of California politics with a network of friends, operatives and contacts that would make many reporters who actually live in California quite envious. He has written two California stories today in the WSJ’s Political Diary (a subscription based publication, but John gave me permission to print these) — one on the Governor’s appointment today of Susan Kennedy, and the other most post-mortem on the Duke Cunningham debacle:

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Since the Congress went into recess after the November 18 battle royale over Rep. John Murtha’s Iraqi withdrawal resolution, Washington has been very quit. Until Monday of this week when Rep. Duke Cunningham, another Vietnam War veteran, announced his resignation and detailed his astonishing level of corruption.

The already competitive race for the 50th district got more interesting last week when Assemblyman Mark Wyland, who many believed to be an early favorite, dropped out, opting for an easy election to the state senate seat held by Bill Morrow. However, Cunningham’s announcement, which triggers an early spring special election, has given Wyland reason to reconsider. With his personal wealth, a compacted race would give him a significant advantage. Wyland is reconsidering but as of this writing, has yet to make up his mind. His district director, and likely campaign manager, Chip Englander, is leaving for Oklahoma to manage Congressman Ernest Istook’s campaign for governor.

Other competitors for the 50th are Senator Bill Morrow, former Congressman Brian Bilbray, former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, and… Read More

In this, his latest battle, Randy “Duke” Cunningham found himself surrounded by MIGs. They were not piloted by a foreign enemy this time, but by federal prosecutors from the nation he had first sworn to protect in the 1960s, and which in Vietnam he had done so with honor, distinction, and courage. In this battle, the United States Government, if not having superior firepower, certainly had overwhelming evidence against him.Randy Cunningham had no choice but to surrender.

I first met Cunningham in the late 1980s, after his retirement from the Navy and Top Gun.He was being touted as a potential candidate, and clearly had the credentials.He was speaking to some now forgotten group of Republicans, but I remember his story.It was the first of many times I heard it in the subsequent years.How, upon landing on an aircraft carrier after he and Willie Driscoll downed an enemy fighter, one of the deck crew ran up to him and exclaimed , “We… Read More