At first blush, the Great Crab Strike of November 2005 might sound like another organized labor stunt. But a quick review of the facts reveals a far more entrepreneurial story.

Although the season opened on Nov. 15, Bay Area crab fisherman have left their boats tied up while they haggled over prices with the largest company that processes their catch. In a great example of market forces at work, the independent crab fisherman, represented by the Crab Boat Owners Assocation of San Francisco, refused to catch any Dungeness crab until the processor, Pacific Seafood, an Oregon-based company, raised the per pound price it was willing to pay.

While there are other processors, Pacific Seafood has a near-monopoly on the market, and is using (abusing?) it’s power to dictate the price. At the official start of the season, the two sides were 35 cents apart on the per pound price of crab. The crab fisherman wanted $1.85 a pound, a dime increase over last year’s price. Pacific Seafood initially said… Read More

Can Los Angeles County Sheriiff Lee Baca be beat? As Baca approaches re-election, there are dark clouds above him. Prisoners escape, get killed aor are let out early. He supported a tax increase that failed.

Baca is allegedly a Republican, although no one would know if from his endorsements or public policy ideas.

The Los Angeles Times has an article on the three current challengers Ray Leyva, Ken Masse and Don Meredith. See it here.

In full disclosure, I know Don Meredith from his time on the LA County Republican Central Committee a decade ago and I’ve met with Ken Masse, a West Covina resident several times about his campaign.

I’m in the process of writing an analysis about this race—so stay tuned. [Publisher’s note: I certainly remember when Baca… Read More

Happy Thanksgiving to all fans of the FlashReport! We are getting close to two months of publishing of this site! I hope that you have enjoyed it. Today in my Commentary, I am soliciting your input and feedback. If you read this blog (which, if you are reading this, you undoubtedly do) — take the opportunity to tell me how you would like to see it improved or changed — or tell me what you like about it.

There are plans underway to integrate a method for you, FR blog readers, to be able to comment on the site. We are considering options with a goal of minimizing anonymous blogging, but maximizing reader interaction. Anyways, read more about this and provide your input here.

Finally, did you know that union bosses have been quietly circulating petitions to qualify a so-called "Shareholder Protection Measure" for the June… Read More

[This request for input will be here Thursday – Sunday of the holiday weekend. I hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving! – Flash] The online version of the FlashReport is getting ready to celebrate its two-month anniversary next week. I hope that you have enjoyed the new look and format of the report. As most of you know, the FR was an e-newsletter for years before being published as a website.

The process of creating this site was a collaborative one. I had a lot of input from readers, and also a great development crew over at Cloudspace in Orlando (they are the development team with which I worked – and their site is linked at the bottom of the site).

That said, we are constantly updating the site, both the front-end for you, the user, as well as the ease of use ‘backstage’ for the Publisher (me!) as well as the fantastic FR Blog Team (aren’t they great?).

Just recently we… Read More

MARK WYLAND – A GREAT LEGISLATOR Yesterday’s news that Assemblyman Mark Wyland, the well-respected legislator from northern San Diego County will not run in the GOP primary for Congress (the seat currently occupied by the sullied fighter ace, Duke Cunningham) will certainly impact that Congressional race. But it should not be lost that Wyland, who will likely face little or no competition for the State Senate seat for which he has opted to run, will make a great addition to the State Senate GOP caucus. State Senator Bill Morrow is term-limited out of his office, and is a leading candidate for the Cunningham seat.

In his time as a State Assemblyman, Wyland has garnered a reputation for being a smart, political savvy, and policy-wise legislator. He has been a leader within his caucus for philosophical conservatism, and he also has put together a great group of staffers who are dedicated to the same limited-government cause which Wyland… Read More

Fior d’Italia may not be the darling of the foodies in San Francisco, but it is one of city’s oldest restaurants and serves a mean plate of pasta. It made headlines on Wednesday for offering dinners at… Read More

District 3 San Diego Councilmember Toni Atkins on Fridayfiled a Form 501 Candidate Intention to raise money to run for the 4th District County Board of Supervisors, setting up what would be a significant showdown against incumbent Sup Ron Roberts next year.

Roberts no longer being in the hunt for an executive position at Centre City Development Corporation (see Duane Dichiara’s prior post) has scuttled Atkins’ hope for a vacancy on the Board of Sups. Yet, it is clear that her recent tenure as acting mayor in the wake of Dick Murphy’s resignation has bolstered her confidence in taking on Roberts.In recent days, Atkins indicated no interest in being city council presidentin favor of Scott Peters, thus ensuring the time needed for a campaign.

Add to this … the clear bet that… Read More

ITS ALL ABOUT THE LAWYERS… Well, the new candidate on the block for State Attorney General on the GOP side, Pierre Prosper, is finding out that making his case to the GOP faithful will be a tough one. The front-runner for the Republican nomination, Chuck Poochigian, starts with a seemingly insurmountable advantage, whether you look at endorsements (Poochigian enjoys unanimous endorsements from all of the GOP legislators, and a host of others), he had a tremendous amount of grassroots support acquired from years of toiling in the vineyards for causes dear to the GOP faithful, he has raised over $3 million with around $2.5 million cash-on-hand, and has ace political guru Ken Khachigan to make sure those funds are spend wisely. All of that said, it is certainly the case that Poochigian’s substantial support was garnered in the vacuum of an unopposed… Read More