This morning, unexpectedly, Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham pled guilty to bribery, tax evasion, conspiracy and who knows what more. US Attorney Carol Lam was just on the local news stating that he took some $2 million in bribes from defense contractors in exchange for favors. Cunningham will be holding a press conference in 45 minutes downtown. I’ll be there and report back in this publication. My guess – he resigns and there is a special called within 90 days to fill the seats. All bets are off – the Congressional, Senate, and Assembly races in question are a madhouse of speculation.… Read More

Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham gave a brief two or three minute statement outside the San Diego Federal Courthouse 10 minutes ago in front of the national media. He admitted his guilt on all counts, said that he would spend the rest of his days on earth atoning for his crimes, and resigned his seat effective immediately. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man so broken or ashamed.

In short, ignore everything you’ve read about this race thus far. Just toss it out. My quick reading of the rules indicates that this will be a snap election in early to mid February. This will be an "open" primary. Enter a new mix of candidates – probably a couple more moderate self-funders. Quite possibly Supervisor Pam Slater. Advantage to self-funders, particularly those who are current officeholders. Pure chaos in North County San Diego. Developing….

[Latest AP Story post-resignation presser is on the… Read More

I trust that had a great Thanksgiving Holiday! This will be a busy week at the FlashReport, so I hope that you will check back to this site each and every day! Today’s featured column was written exclusively for the FlashReport by Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Entitled, Massive Bond Threatens State’s Future, Coupal walks us through the reasons why now is exactly the wrong time for the state to be looking at further leveraging its precarious financial position with a mega-bond (I’ve heard numbers ranging from 50-100 BILLION dollars) deal. From what I have heard so far, one idea being bounced around is to borrow this huge some of money, and use current moneys that are spent on construction and infrastructure to pay off the principle of that loan. Then we would pay the interest of that loan with general fund dollars.… Read More

Dave Cortese, a San Jose city council member who is running for mayor, is planning on declaring a "permit holiday,” which would reduce the red tape for potential new business start-ups in his city, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Cortese, the son of the former state Assemblyman Dom Cortese (Democrat-turned-Reform Party), faces a June 2006 primary election to replace current Mayor Ron Gonzales. Cortese told the paper that he was borrowing the permit holiday idea from the City of… Read More

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I’m sure everyone enjoyed some turkey. Well, there is another turkey being talked about in Sacramento – a public policy turkey. There is a lot of talk swirling around about a potential massive infrastructure bond measure that would be of epic proportions – numbers that have been talked about range from $50 to $100 billion (how many zeroes is that? Hmmm…$100,000,000,000.00). Anyways, you can read plenty about my thoughts on this in my commentary today.

Jon Coupal, the respected President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has penned an exclusive column for today’s FlashReport where is eloquently lays out the reasons why such a bond measure would be poor public policy, and bad news for California taxpayer.

In all of my conversations that I have had with folks about this potential… Read More

The Cunningham situation is developing rapidly… This should hold us over until we hear from Duane…

By ELLIOT SPAGAT

The Associated Press

SAN DIEGO

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes as part of guilty pleas Monday in a case that grew from an investigation into the sale of his home to a wide-ranging conspiracy involving payments in cash, vacations and antiques.

Authorities said Cunningham steered defense contracts worth tens of millions of dollars… Read More

Like many Republicans I know, I’ve spent the last few months puzzled and concerned about all of the allegations around Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. I remember meeting Duke during his first campaign for Congress, and being ‘blown-away’ by this bigger than life persona and story (as a very decorated combat flying ace). With each story that has come out, my heart has said, "Duke will show ’em! He couldn’t have done what they said!" At the same time, after each story, the voice in my head starts to say, "Hmmm. Duke is being quiet, and the case against him is getting to be so bad that even a ‘magic bullet’ theory wouldn’t explain it all." Now with the news today that Duke has resigned his seat after pleading guilty to taking millions of dollars in bribes — I have two things to say: The first:… Read More

Today I focus on attorneys. You will see some of them have political practices, others are in criminal law. All of them are OC Power Brokers.

NOTE: Many of these attorneys have been the driving force behind electing judges and the district attorney now and in the past. I don’t want to politicize the bench unnecessarily but know that these are the players who got many of our respected jurists their jobs, both appointed and elected.

Tom Malcolm. A Jones Day partner and major Republican donor he is the Dean of the OC legal community and respected by ALL.

John Ramirez. A partner at Rutan & Tucker, he is among the top land use/initiative lawyers in CA. If you need to qualify an… Read More