Tomorrow former Assembly Republican Caucus Chairman and FR friend Charlete Zettel will start a new job as Director of Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger's San Diego field office.

Zettel yesterday resigned her position on the San Diego Regional Airport Authority, but will retain her prestigious position on the University of California Board of Regents.

Charlene, good luck in your new endeavor!… Read More

With serious legal trouble surrounding Acorn, a group with close ties to President Obama, it seems natural for the press to have engaged the president in discussions about the left-wing organization.

But apparently that was not the case, according to this Wall Street Journal article.

Instead, the press nearly ignored the issue. And when one Sunday morning political talk show brought up Acorn, the president scuttled the importance of Acorn’s felonious behavior concerning voter fraud.

Obama’s actions might be considered politically savvy, and he might be hoodwinking a majority of Washington journalists, but he is not fooling the electorate. In fact, his actions could fuel the fire for voter reform, including requiring voters to present identification at the polls.… Read More

Okay, so I am being dragged, kicking and screaming, into writing this particular blog post. I am not kicking and screaming out of any dislike or blame for Meg Whitman or her campaign by the way, but because in writing this blog post, I am in fact becoming part of the problem about which I am about to complain.

Today Meg Whitman gave a speech here in Orange County, and announced that she is officially running for Governor. (Long pause)

"Wait," you say, "I thought Meg Whitman was already running for Governor?"

I’m glad you asked that question, loyal blog reader. Yes, in fact, Meg Whitman has not only been running for Governor for many months now — but she has been a rather high profile candidates, literally raising millions of dollars, and maintaining a pretty high profile in the media (and on this website) as she has been gearing up her campaign efforts.

Thanks to a lot of obscure and immoral campaign laws, there is actually some sort of technical distinction between having an… Read More

California business owners of all sizes and nature understand intimately the inordinate expense and complication of running a company in the Golden State. Because of the hostile and expensive work environment, some business owners have chosen to move their operation to other states; while others have shut down altogether.

The end result is the same: California loses jobs.

That’s why I am not surprised that a recent study by two Sacramento State professors shows California loses an astonishing amount of money year after year due to regulatory laws.

How much?

$493 billion.

That amount is almost five times the state’s general fund budget, and almost a third of the State’s gross product.

The Varshney Study provides the most comprehensive and complete analysis of the total regulatory burden in California. The study and findings have implications for policy-makers and those in charge of the regulatory environment. The results also suggest that future research should attempt to understand how to minimize the intended and unintended costs of… Read More

It was announced last week that UC is increasing student fees by 32%.This is from an institution that makes the bogus claim that it does not charge tuition.As private colleges often point out, when the sum of all school fees are compared to tuition at private colleges they are much more equal than advertised. So if I am a UC student and I somehow manage to pay 32% more will I be getting smaller class sizes, more library books, or better computer access?No, around a third of the student fee money, including the increase, will subsidize the fees of poorer students.Here we see the classic effect of distributive schemes: Raise costs on one group so that money can be given to others.The higher costs result in greater numbers who cannot afford to pay. Eventually the enterprise runs out of other peoples’ money.Lost is the simple notion that if the fees were … Read More

It took just shy of 15 hours between the time lurid recordings of now former Assemblyman Mike Duvall were played on network television and his abrupt resignation from office. Now the voters of the 72nd Assembly District will be facing an imminent special election to fill the vacancy in this seat, and as with most special elections, this race promises to be quote a donnybrook.

Let’s first “set the table” by making sure that FlashReport readers around California understand that the 72nd District may be one of the most conservative districts in the state. It’s heavily Republican and despite a decent showing by Barack Obama last year (where didn’t he have a good showing in California?), the voters of this inland, North Orange County seat are overwhelmingly conservative. A great many of the Democrats in this district are “Reagan Democrats” – so look for most of the action in this race to be on the GOP side of the isle. This despite the fact that in a special election like this, all of the candidates appear on the special primary ballot (probably to take place in November), with the top vote getters of each party going on to a special general election… Read More

According to a recent PPIC (Public Policy Institute of California) poll, almost half of Californians are worried that they, or someone in their family, will lose their job in the next year. With the unemployment rate topping 12 percent and given the fact that most of California’s job losses – 760,200 of the 952,800 attributed to the current economic recession – occurred only in the last year, those concerns are unfortunately well founded.

All told, more than two million Californians are unemployed, with thousands more joining their ranks every month. In July, eight industry sectors lost jobs, including 15,900 in the trade, transportation, and utilities fields, 10,700 construction jobs, and 3,300 manufacturing jobs.

The only sector to enjoy job gains over the year was educational and health with 17,900, but 3,300 jobs were lost there in July. Between July 2008 and July 2009 the trade, transportation and utilities sector lost a staggering 196,600 jobs. 144,500 construction jobs, 132,000 professional and business services jobs, 124,400 manufacturing jobs, 62,100 jobs in the leisure and hospitality industries and tens of thousands of other positions… Read More

It took just shy of 15 hours between the time lurid recordings of now former Assemblyman Mike Duvall were played on network television and his abrupt resignation from office. Now the voters of the 72nd Assembly District will be facing an imminent special election to fill the vacancy in this seat, and as with most special elections, this race promises to be quote a donnybrook.

Let’s first “set the table” by making sure that FlashReport readers around California understand that the 72nd District may be one of the most conservative districts in the state. It’s heavily Republican and despite a decent showing by Barack Obama last year (where didn’t he have a good showing in California?), the voters of this inland, North Orange County seat are overwhelmingly conservative. A great many of the Democrats in this district are “Reagan Democrats” – so look for most of the action in this race to be on the GOP side of the isle. This despite the fact that in a special election like this, all of the candidates appear on the special primary ballot (probably to take place in November), with the top vote getters of each party going on to a special general election… Read More