It’s no secret that I strongly oppose Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). They’re nothing more than special interest giveaways to unions and provide no benefit to taxpayers. I can’t imagine any Republican that would support these agreements. Construction contracts of any kind should be awarded to the best bidder, regardless of if they’re union or non-union.

My friends on the left love to claim that these union giveaways guarantee quality and accountability on taxpayer financed projects. However, the Associated Builders and Contractors, California Cooperation Committee (ABC-CCC) and their Taxpayer Accountability Project have blown a hole in that argument. The City of Milpitas enacted a PLA for the construction of a $39 million library project. City officials boasted that this project, because of the PLA, was a resounding success. The problem for City officials stems from the fact that they never anticipated that any organization would actually audit the project to ensure state labor laws were followed.

ABC-CCC, under the leadership of executive director (and friend of the FlashReport) Kevin Korenthal, conducted an independent labor… Read More

FlashReport readers know that Damon Dunn is a newcomer on the political scene, but has made quite a splash with his candidate for the GOP nomination for Secretary of State.

I received an interesting note from Anthony Bookman, Damon Dunn’s Jr. High classmate, college friend and Stanford teammate. It is an interesting read and provides some great insights into Dunn. I have reprinted it below. Since Anthony played football at Stanford, I "Googled" him and came up with this great article where he played a key role in a major Cardinal defeat of Notre Dame back in 1997. This photo is Anthony setting up a touchdown in the 4th quarter of the game.

Understanding The Real Damon Dunn… Read More

Fresno City Councilman Larry Westerlund announced his intention todayto run for the Republican nomination for the 19th Congressional District seat currently held by retiring Congressman George Radanovich. Westerlund become the 4th candidate, and the3rd candidate from outside the District, toseek the nomination. Former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson is the only declared candidate that lives inCongressional 19, and is joined by former Congressman Richard Pombo (Tracy) and State Senator Jeff Denham (Salinas).

Westerlund’s run is interesting, to say the least. The Lincoln Club of Fresno County has supported him for his Council campaigns twice, but even the most casual observer knows he has no chance to win the Republican nomination for CD 19. So what is his candidacy all about? Time will tell, but it is far from a wild conspiracy theory to believe he is part of a strategy to deny former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson votes in the Fresno area.

For now, Patterson’s greatest asset is strong name id locally, and a popular following among KMJ 580 radio listeners. Pombo, if he is to be succesfull, will ride the endorsement of Congressman… Read More

I am so grateful to Senators Feinstein and Boxer for quickly attacking Governor’s Schwarzenegger’s plan to get increased federal aid. They killed it; it is dead. My concern was that the entire special session on the budget would be spent wasting time asking our federal representatives for help. Now that will not be necessary. The Governor proposed a Plan B if the federal aid did not appear, and it is now time to implement Plan B. It entails a great dismantling of the welfare state and would actually balance the state’s budget by real, permanent cuts in spending.

Feinstein and Boxer declared that California made its own troubles while totally ignoring their own poor immigration policy and the numerous federal mandates they created. I would be curious to know what they think the California trouble is. Do they support cutting excessive spending? Or do they think that California taxes are not yet high enough?

In any event, thanks for such a speedy response so that the Governor can now focus on cutting spending.… Read More

We talk about how 2010 is going to be the "It Year" for politics — and it’s already started. Between the policy changes facing Sacramento including a projected $20 billion shortfall (and those predictions always seem to be low), and what will be a staggering year for politics – what, with Gubernatorial, U.S. Senate and down ticket races, and an expectation of a few thousand ballot measures qualifying for November, there will be no shortage of material to write about here on FR.

But not to be missed as a critical happening in 2010 will be the outcome of legislative elections up and down California. Right now Democrats enjoy a 25-15 majority in the Senate, just two shy of the 2/3 vote necessary to pass taxes increases, and in the Assembly Democrats sit at 51 seats, just three shy of the 2/3 mark.

There is no doubt that Senate President Darrell Steinberg, and Assembly Speakers Bass and Perez, along with their public employee union allies will be working overtime to try and pick up those five critical seats.

… Read More

This just in from conservative Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich…

Governor’s Budget Rearranges Deck Chairs On The Titanic Michael D. Antonovich, Los Angeles County Supervisor Without structural reform to fix California’s broken budget system, this budget is a mix of tax schemes and band aids that only delays the inevitable. Our state currently has some of the highest gasoline, sales… Read More

We talk about how 2010 is going to be the "It Year" for politics — and it’s already started. Between the policy changes facing Sacramento including a projected $20 billion shortfall (and those predictions always seem to be low), and what will be a staggering year for politics – what, with Gubernatorial, U.S. Senate and down ticket races, and an expectation of a few thousand ballot measures qualifying for November, there will be no shortage of material to write about here on FR.

But not to be missed as a critical happening in 2010 will be the outcome of legislative elections up and down California. Right now Democrats enjoy a 25-15 majority in the Senate, just two shy of the 2/3 vote necessary to pass taxes increases, and in the Assembly Democrats sit at 51 seats, just three shy of the 2/3 mark.

There is no doubt that Senate President Darrell Steinberg, and Assembly Speakers Bass and Perez, along with their public employee union allies will be working overtime to try and pick up those five critical seats.

**There is more – click the… Read More

I try to be creative here on the FR, but I can’t tell you how many times I want to start my post with "only here in the Bay Area." Yesterday’s "No Pants" day on BART is a great example. Although since the silly stunt was sponsored by a New York performance art group, I guess we’ll just have to categorize it as an "only in New York or San Francisco" event.

Thank goodness, I didn’t plan to take my kidsinto the City yesterday. I don’t think my 11 year has recovered from the time we were trapped on a cable car outside of the St.Francis whenUnion Square was taken over by bicyclists taking part in the once-a-month, anti-carCritical Mass bike event. On that day, everyone on the cable car lost their appetite when an extremely large, extremely white and extremely naked man rode by on his not-quite-large-enough bicycle. Truly an image that no one needs to have in their head.

Here’s an image from yesterday’s stunt:

… Read More