Since we’re a website on California politics, I am not going to assume that all of our readers know that life-long Republican Charlie Crist, the Governor of Florida and a candidate for United States Senate, in recent days announced his departure from the GOP, choosing to re-register as an independent to guarantee his presence as a candidate for the Senate this November. Crist, you see, had been the prohibitive front-runner for the GOP nomination – but his strong embrace of President Obama and some of his most liberal policies (most famously the TARP plan) on top of years of embracing his own form of populism that demonstrated a severe lack of defining ideology – made him very unpopular with Florida’s Republican voters. His former primary opponent, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a strong conservative, had been an underdog against Crist, but then as Rubio’s message spread, and Crist’s embrace of Obama (literally) became well know, Rubio shot way ahead to the point where Crist was sure to lose the GOP nomination – hence his decision to bail on the Republican Party all… Read More

In case you hadn’t heard, we are getting closer to officially recognizing Ronald Reagan Day here in California. On April 8, by a vote of 34-0, the Senate approved SB 944, the Ronald Reagan Day bill proposed by Senator George Runner and me. SB 944 (Runner and Strickland) is the first – and so far only – Ronald Reagan Day bill in the nation to be passed by any legislative house. All other legislative efforts to recognize Ronald Reagan Day have been single-year resolutions or have not been approved by a legislative house. No one will get a day off under SB 944 (Runner and Strickland); instead, schools will be encouraged to teach about Ronald Reagan and his contributions. SB 944 (Runner and Strickland) was introduced in the Senate on February 3 and was approved by a 7-0 vote in the Senate Education Committee on March 24 before its unanimous passage in the Senate on April 8. We are expecting that SB 944 (Runner and Strickland) will be heard in the Assembly Education Committee in June. You can read the text of the bill at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_944&sess=CUR… Read More

We are pleased to share with FlashReport readers in this "scoop" that Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth and Senate Republican Leader-Elect Bob Dutton have set out a specific transition date for the "passing of the baton" of leadership from the former to the latter — it will be September 1st. This date, in theory, will be after this year’s budget has been adopted, and puts Dutton in the saddle for bringing home political victories for Senate Republicans at the ballot box this November.

Here is the text of the memo that they will be releasing with the details — attached below is the spiffy .pdf version on letterhead with initials and such…

May 4, 2010 TO: Senate Republican Caucus… Read More

The Associated Press Economic Stress Index just released its Top 20 most and least economically stressed counties in the nation. Guess which state had 12 of the Top 20 most economically stressed? Yup, California.

Imperial and Merced counties top the list, with San Benito, Sutter, Yuba, Stanislaus, and San Joaquin all making the top 10.No California counties appeared on the least economically stressed counties list.

No wonder unemployment is climbing and Californians are leaving for other states. This list is just another shameful reminder of the dismal state of California’s once stellar economy.

My new 60-second radio ad for Board of Equalization is running across BOE District 2 starting today.

In the ad, Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (and fellow Flash Report blogger) says, "Senator Runner is identified as a taxpayer advocate on the ballot because that’s exactly what he is."

"Runner believes that when people are taxed too much, liberty islost,"Jon also says.

"This isn’t someone that’s ‘going along just to get along’ in Sacramento, and that’s why the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers AssociationPolitical Action Committee proudly supportsTaxpayer Advocate George Runner for the Board of Equalization," Jon continues.

The ad for my BOE race runs from today through Election Day (June 8) on conservative radio stations in Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Redding, Chico, Marysville, Merced, Grass Valley and Sonora.

I am proud to be the only candidate endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assocation in the race for Board of Equalization, District 2. Thanks to HJTA for their support (and thank you, Jon, for your help with the… Read More

This just in from longtime FR friend and Assemblyman Joel Anderson…

Republicans Act to Increase Jobs – Will Democrats? By Assemblyman Joel Anderson This week, the California State Assembly will have a chance to keep more jobs in California. Will the Legislature stand with you and me, or on the side of Arizona, Nevada, and Texas who are luring our entrepreneurs and employees across state lines? I introduced Assembly Bill 2278 to keep high technology business in California. High-paying jobs benefit our state and the skilled workers who do them keep California on the forefront of… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

In another year, Carly Fiorina vs. Barbara Boxer would be one of the premier races in the country. This year, it’s not even the most watched race in California, an accolade that belongs right now to the Meg Whitman-Steve Poizner gubernatorial primary.

Ms. Fiorina, who dropped by the Journal last week, has struggled with name recognition and getting her message out. She acknowledged the experimental nature of her greatest publicity hits — her "demon sheep" Internet video, which was aimed at GOP rival Tom Campbell, and the balloon video aimed at Ms. Boxer. Both "served their purpose," she says. One message came through clearly enough: Ms. Fiorina is no fan of big-spending, big-taxing government.

Ms. Fiorina’s first hurdle is the June 8 GOP primary. Polls have her… Read More

I complained here earlier this year about the Dana Point City Council’s vote to implement a new additional hotel tax and taxing district last year during the middle of a recession and at a time of the highest unemployment in recent state history. The city already imposed a 10% "transient occupancy tax" on top of the 8 3/4 % state sales tax. The new tax adds another $3 a night to a hotel bill. Republicans on the council who voted for it claimed the hotels themselves wanted the new tax. Then, after implementation of the new tax district, the biggest alleged supporter of the tax, the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, bankrupted itself. I’m sure the new tax had nothing to do with the bankruptcy, but it was a sad poetic justice to the shaky justification offered by tax-raising Republican Lisa Bartlett and Joel Bishop for their votes.

But the Dana Point tax-raisers actions pale in comparison to what is going on in San Francisco. Tourism in San Francisco has been troubled since the 9/11 attacks. And I don’t see The City’s tourism recovering too quickly given the implementation of the 2006 "health" tax that has… Read More