Today is going to be a big day for Carly Fiorina. The former Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett Packard from 1999 through 2005 will make it official that she is a candidate for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. Her goal is to retire the ultra-liberal and ineffective incumbent, Barbara Boxer, next November.

As I like to say here on the FlashReport, we are "fair and biased" — and so I don’t mind laying out for all that there is no one that I can think of in the United States who combines the qualities of liberalism and shrillness into an all-together nauseating toxic cocktail of a politician.

In advance of her official announcement today, I had a chance to sit down with Fiorina. While normally I would try to release a lengthy interview in more digestible segments, in order to help FR readers assess this new entrant into the U.S. Senate race I have… Read More

In conjunction with her official announcement of her candidacy for the United States Senate, Carly Fiorina will be laying out her official initial "campaign team" (I’m sure it will grow as her campaign gets into gear)… TEAM CARLY Campaign Manager: Marty Wilson of Wilson-Miller Communications (pictured) … Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger’s office just announced the appointment of State Senator John Benoit to fill a vacant seat on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

"I am humbled to receive this appointment from Governor Schwarzenegger," Benoit told me on the phone just a few minutes ago. "While I have spent nearly seven years representing a large portion of Riverside County in the State Legislature, I believe that there lot of challenges to be dealt with on a local level. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and working with my new colleagues on the Board of Supervisors."

I asked Benoit what he would miss the most about leaving the state legislature. Without missing a beat, he told me, "I have had the honor to serve with a lot of great people, from both sides of the political aisle. I have learned a lot from them, and will miss them — though I will work to apply much of what I have learned in my new position."

Benoit won a hotly contested race for the 37th State Senate seat last year (the incumbent, Jim Battin, retired due to term limits), and so will actually be leaving the Senate after less than one… Read More

Today is going to be a big day for Carly Fiorina. The former Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett Packard from 1999 through 2005 will make it official that she is a candidate for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. Her goal is to retire the ultra-liberal and ineffective incumbent, Barbara Boxer, next November.

As I like to say here on the FlashReport, we are "fair and biased" — and so I don’t mind laying out for all that there is no one that I can think of in the United States who combines the qualities of liberalism and shrillness into an all-together nauseating toxic cocktail of a politician.

In advance of her official announcement today, I had a chance to sit down with Fiorina. While normally I would try to release a lengthy interview in more digestible segments, in order to help FR readers assess this new entrant into the U.S. Senate race I have… Read More

Watch Fiorina’s announcement for U.S. Senate live…

Live Broadcast by Ustream.TV… Read More

In 1999, the first year of the beginning of the Davis debacle, I was re-appointed as the Republican member of the Health and Human Services Budget Subcommittee (I had been the one Republican member of the three member committee before, but had been removed because I was "too difficult" to deal with). When I returned, my consultant on that committee was Mike Genest. For at least one budget cycle (maybe two), we sat in the committee watching then Committee Chair (later Congresswoman, and now Labor Secretary) Hilda Solis spend the state into oblivion. During her time as the Committee Chair, Solis increased welfare spending by 42%, moving the state to its largest (by percentage) deficit in its history.

During that time, I learned more about the budget, how it works, and what works and what doesn’t than I had in my first stint on the committee. I had great consultants before and after that time, but I learned a lot from Genest, and learned how the budget worked. A better budget technician you will never find.

He is now leaving the state, and I think the Governor will be worse off for it. He is loyal, he is competent, he is smart, and he… Read More

Last night the State Senate made a decision that the Assembly will mull over this morning — do you put a "solution" to the state’s water problems in front of voters that includes billions of dollars in unnecessary spending? To talk to Republicans who are supporting this proposal, they would tell you that they support some of the non-essential spending in order to make the measure itself more appealing to liberal votes in parts of the state that aren’t suffering from water shortages. Talk to others and they would tell you that the water crisis is so bad that billions of non-essential borrowing and spending is simply the price paid to get a water-fix through a legislature dominated by liberal Democrats.

Either way, if the water bond proposal as passed by the State Senate last night is approved by the Assembly and scheduled to go before voters in November of next year, there is serious question about whether or not such a "Christmas Tree" measure (with boughs filled with ornaments of enviro-pork) will be passed or rejected by voters.

To be sure, there is a large chunk of this proposal that makes sense — borrowing to… Read More

Last night the State Senate made a decision that the Assembly will mull over this morning — do you put a "solution" to the state’s water problems in front of voters that includes billions of dollars in unnecessary spending?

To talk to Republicans who are supporting this proposal, they would tell you that they support some of the non-essential spending in order to make the measure itself more appealing to liberal votes in parts of the state that aren’t suffering from water shortages. Talk to others and they would tell you that the water crisis is so bad that billions of non-essential borrowing and spending is simply the price paid to get a water-fix through a legislature dominated by liberal Democrats.

Either way, if the water bond proposal as passed by the State Senate last night is approved by the Assembly and scheduled to go before voters in November of next year, there is serious question about whether or not such a "Christmas Tree" measure (with boughs filled with ornaments of enviro-pork) will be passed or rejected by voters.

To be sure, there is a large chunk of this proposal that makes sense —… Read More