With Labor Day now well behind us, we are now officially in the 2010 primary season, and as such, we here at the FlashReport will start to take a closer look at the legislative primaries shaping up in both safe GOP and competitive Congressional, Senate and Assembly Districts.

Where to start first on such an endeavor is always a challenge – so I picked the 33rd State Assembly District, which stretches up and down the California coast, from Hearst Castle on the Northern almost to Santa Barbara to the South (map). This seat has been considered a “safe” GOP seat for many years, though voter registration trends ensure that this year, with an open seat, it will be in play next November. The current incumbent, Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee (pictured), will retire at the end of next year due to term limits, and is expected to run for State Senate in 2012.

In making my… Read More

The word "unbelievable" comes to mind as we look at the "cover story" on Politico.com’s website this morning. There is a reason why the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal has dubbed Rep. Jerry Lewis ("R"-CA) the "Minority Maker" — and is because when Republicans had the majority in Congress, Lewis rather prolifically used his roll as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee NOT to shrink the size and scope of the federal government, but to lord over a pork barrel spending process that saw Republicans embrace and even increase the amount of egregious earmarks from what the Democrats did when they were in power. Even now, the "Minority Maker" continues to give his party bad press with his slipping in an egregious $3 million public subsidy for a well funded Goldmach Sachs venture mining project.

There are clearly a few reasons why Republicans do not enjoy a majority in Congress today. But there is… Read More

With Labor Day now well behind us, we are now officially in the 2010 primary season, and as such, we here at the FlashReport will start to take a closer look at the legislative primaries shaping up in both safe GOP and competitive Congressional, Senate and Assembly Districts.

Where to start first on such an endeavor is always a challenge – so I picked the 33rd State Assembly District, which stretches up and down the California coast, from Hearst Castle on the Northern almost to Santa Barbara to the South (map). This seat has been considered a “safe” GOP seat for many years, though voter registration trends ensure that this year, with an open seat, it will be in play next November. The current incumbent, Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee (pictured), will retire at the end of next year due to term limits, and is expected to run for State Senate in 2012.

In making my… Read More

To look outside you would swear Summer is in transition to the Fall. But to follow the California Republican Gubernatorial primary between Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman — it’s definately Spring time! The Whitman campaign has just released a video (below) accusing Poizner of being the "perfect politician" because of Poizner’s attempt to "explain away" his writing large checks to the Gore Recount Committee and the DNC as being donations on behalf of his wife, a liberal Democrat — with Poizner saying that he signs family checks as more of an administrative function of their household. We’ll visit the whole issue of Poizner and contributions to Democrats at some point (it’s impossible for anyone to keep up with all of this), but I want to pass along this video… Fun times for all those engaged in the spectator sport of mud-wrestling candidates… I guess we’ll need to keep an eye out for a Poizner video highlighting Whitman’s past financial and political support of Barbara Boxer… … Read More

Our California political system makes party nominees and the party the focus of the November general election. However, for the June primary election the candidates are on their own. Although the state and local parties have the legal power they rarely intervene in a primary fight and should never do so without some overriding reason where the endorsement helps the party.

Never until a week ago when the Ventura County Republican Central Committee endorsed a candidate for my job, and I am told they did so with no candidate debate, and in fact only one candidate invited. I am termed-out of my position on the Board of Equalization and there are 4 candidates pursuing the campaign. There is no reason in the world that the Republican Party voters in the 2nd District should not be allowed to choose their own nominee without party interference. This is an insult to the Republican voters in the 2nd District.

Now Barbara Alby (whom I have endorsed), Alan Nakanishi, and Roy Ashburn will have no political choice but to go after county central committee endorsements. I… Read More

UPDATE: Longtime FR friend and national talk show host Hugh Hewitt rips the Sacramento Bee a new one in this lengthy blog post on his website. Worth a read for those following this issue (which based on reader feedback would be everyone).

Just off the transom — the Meg Whitman Campaign sent the following letter to Amy Chance of the Sacramento Bee in response to piece on Whitman’s (lack-of) voting record that ran September 24th…

Letter from the Meg Whitman Campaign to The Sacramento Bee … Read More

Health Care Update: As you have probably heard, the Senate Finance Committee last week rejected attempts to put the government-run "option" in the Senate health care bill by a vote of 15-8. What you probably did not hear was that only about an hour later, Speaker Pelosi held a press conference and stated that the House version that she intends to bring to the floor would have the government option in it. So what gives? It takes 218 votes to pass a bill in the House. Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) has introduced a health care bill that is a full-blown, complete "single-payer" system with the entire health care system being run by the government and private health made illegal. This bill hasnearly 100 cosponsors – all Democrats. Since Republicans are being excluded from the health care billdesign & negotiations, thereis no Republican thatwill vote for what they have now. That means thatnearly half of all the people who will vote for the Pelosi bill are on … Read More

Last week I had a chance to sit down with Gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman for the better part of an hour. Our interview covered a number of policy areas including global warming/AB32, eminent domain, gun control, abortion, and philosophy about government. Because we had the handy FlashReport digital recorder along, we’ll be able to bring you some direct excerpts from the interview. Because of the location at which we met in Menlo Park on the San Francisco Peninsula, we’ll call these "Excerpts From The Peet’s Coffee Interview" — and here is a segment where we discuss the environment, global warming, and the implementation of AB32, California’s legislation that requires strict reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of all sorts… Enjoy! Flash. … Read More