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

Usually when I take the time to write a more in-depth piece about someone, I put up their photo so that you can see what he or she looks like. Except in the case of Robert Stryk I couldn’t find a photo anywhere online. So instead of looking at Stryk’s photo, you have to allow me to paint you a picture of a young, single 34 year old Washington, D.C., lobbyist with a transient and questionable background, who one day decided he would throw his hat into the ring to be the next Mayor of the small Napa County town of Yountville, population approximately 3,000.

Those who have spent time reading my columns over the years know that second to politics, my second passion in life is wine. I’ve been a “wine enthusiast” for many years, and love when I can to visit the Bay Area wine regions, and often times stay at a favorite… Read More

On July 2nd, 2009 in a special session of the Legislature dealing with the budget, abill was introduced to mandate new reporting and filing requirements for tens of thousands of California businesses thatpreviously never had to deal with the Board of Equalization.The bill passedand was chaptered on July 28 without any of the usualpublic outreach or amnesty period.

Forbes.com has the story this morning. http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/11/california-internet-sales-tax-personal-finance-small-business-delay.html… Read More

Usually when I take the time to write a more in-depth piece about someone, I put up their photo so that you can see what he or she looks like. Except in the case of Robert Stryk I couldn’t find a photo anywhere online. So instead of looking at Stryk’s photo, you have to allow me to paint you a picture of a young, single 34 year old Washington, D.C., lobbyist with a transient and questionable background, who one day decided he would throw his hat into the ring to be the next Mayor of the small Napa County town of Yountville, population approximately 3,000.

Those who have spent time reading my columns over the years know that second to politics, my second passion in life is wine. I’ve been a “wine enthusiast” for many years, and love when I can to visit the Bay Area wine regions, and often times stay at a favorite… Read More