This just in from Tucker Bounds, Communications Director for the Whitman for Governor campaign…

With Election Day 2010 fast approaching, Jerry Brown has refused to explain what his intentions would be as governor. It’s a stark contrast to the way Meg has gone about courting voters.

Meg, who leads her Republican primary rival by 30 points and is tied with Jerry Brown in a brand new poll, is running a modern, multi-tiered media campaign that is focused on how Californians get their news today. Since announcing her intentions to seek the Republican nomination for Governor,… Read More

Joe Matthews reports today that the electronic petition signature of Mr. Michael Ni has been filed in San Mateo county, the first of its kind, (and on a marijuana initiative) setting up a legal battle on whether such a signature is a valid "affixation." If it is, Matthews says "efforts to reform California’s dysfunctional government could get an important boost."

Not too long ago our publisher asked if I’d consider writing something about the brewing issue of iPhone applications for California initiatives. I punted at the time. But Joe’s story today breathed some life into me. I disagree with the analysis that electronic signatures can help reform California in a positive way, and I want to spend a little effort here to parse this "iPhone" initiative distribution talk, because I think it is not legal, not a good idea, and will only create more dysfunction, because ultimately it will undermine and reduce the influence of initiative campaigns themselves. More on that near the end of this post.

First, I disagree with the underlying notion that the initiative system is the source of the… Read More

Saturday mid-day I sent an email out to fellow California Republican Party Central Committee Members, inquiring if they would like to see the GOP candidates for Governor, Attorney General, and U.S. Senate invited to debate at next month’s State GOP Convention in Santa Clara.

You can see the e-mail that I sent out here.

I have not sent out any follow up emails (not wanting to be a pest). Still, I’ve been impressed that over a holiday weekend I have heard back from around one out of every five Central Committee members.

In that e-mail, I said that I would keep folks up to speed on the results of my informal survey… Read More

Yesterday mid-day I sent an email out to fellow California Republican Party Central Committee Members, inquiring if they would like to see the GOP candidates for Governor, Attorney General, and U.S. Senate invited to debate at next month’s State GOP Convention in Santa Clara.

You can see the e-mail that I sent out here.

In that e-mail, I said that I would keep folks up to speed on the results of my informal survey periodically. So below is the first update. NUMBER OF CRP MEMBERS RESPONDING SO FAR: 211 (Roughly 15% Of All… Read More

This year the Republican Party is poised to make major gains in congress and those of us in California should be proud that one of our own, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, is right in the thick of it.

I had the great pleasure to work with Kevin when he served in the Assembly and I was in the Senate. I respect his skills and count him as afriend.

The Daily Beast blog just did a feature on Kevin and what he’s been doing on our behalf. You can read it here – or just below. The Right’s New Rock Star

With expectations through the roof, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the GOP’s top talent scout, is recruiting the candidates he hopes will win back the House.

Yesterday we carried a column on the FlashReport from longtime FR friend Villa Park Councilwoman Deb Pauly that was extremely critical of GOP Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman on the issue of paycheck protection.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of attention to detail on the part of the team here, that piece did not indicate that it was submitted to the FlashReport by the Poizner for Governor campaign, or that Deb was a backer of Poizner.

We here at the FlashReport take our business very seriously, and felt that this oversight needed to be corrected (the column if you go back to it is now correctly annotated) and a formal statement placed here on the blog.

Look for plenty of more pieces on this website that are hard hitting, that’s the nature of politics. But look for us to do a better job of letting you know from where the hit is coming.

Our apologies.

Jon Fleischman Publisher, The FlashReport… Read More

This in just in from Lew Uhler, President of the National Tax Limitation Committee…

The Paycheck Protection Initiative is too important to California’s future for it to be used as a political weapon in California’s Republican Gubernatorial Campaign. I have it on the highest authority that Meg Whitman is not opposed to Paycheck Protection and that she is not urging her supporters to boycott the initiative or ignore it financially. For Steve Poizner’s supporters to say otherwise is inaccurate and should stop. And now that public employee unions have announced a multimillion dollar independent expenditure campaign against Meg Whitman, she and her campaign supporters have ever more reason to engage the unions directly by supporting the paycheck protection initiative.… Read More

Last night Brad Goehring (disclosure:client) held a fundraiser at Lange Twins Winery in northern San Joaquin County and raised in excess of $100,000 in his campaign to unseat liberal Congressman Jerry McNerney. With over 400 supporters coming out the event highlights the strong base of support Goehring has in San Joaquin County which is by far the largest geographic voting block in the 11th district.

Having already received the support of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau and the Associated Builders and Contractors along with a slew of GOP elected officials on both sides of the district, Goehring has the organizational strength on both sides of the district and the financial support needed to win the primary and square off against McNerney.

Goehring has raised the vast majority of his campaign dollars from inside the district and continues to receive endorsements from elected officials who actually reside in the 11th district. With a large lead in money raised to date, cash on hand, local endorsements and grassroots conservative support, Goehring continues to control the primary race for the right to defeat Mcnerney and return this seat to the GOP in the fall.… Read More