While it has been talked about widely as a possibility, ace OC Register Political Reporter Martin Wisckol has written that Linda Ackerman has announced her candidacy ‘- by text message! That’s a first! This matches up with our solid FR sources confirm that tomorrow, Linda Ackerman will more "officially: announce her candidacy for the 72nd Assembly District seat left vacant with the abrupt resignation of ex-Assemblyman Mike Duvall.

While many know the "Ackerman" name through the lengthy and storied political career of her husband, Dick (who served in the Assembly and Senator, in the latter chamber as Republican Leader), Linda has her own impressive portfolio that extends well beyond that of toiling side by side with her husband. Linda has been a long-time leader in Orange County and California Republican politics. Her popularity in the party was… Read More

Just a few minutes ago Meg Whitman announced that she is making a $250,000 donation to the California Republican Party to bolster its efforts towards registering voters.

In making the announcement, Whitman said, "To rebuild California with a Republican vision, we must first rebuild the Republican Party. Californians today are paying higher taxes and getting little in return. We’ve lost hundreds of thousands of jobs, but do not encourage job creation. This must end."

I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Meg Whitman for this contribution, as an officer of the party. I can tell you that raising money for the party’s support of candidates in general elections is an easier task than it is to get early money from those who have to have a pretty mature understanding that you can’t win elections next year without investing in party "infrastructure" this year. It is my hope that many of Whitman’s donors follow her lead — and to the extent they have the ability to do so, it would be great if Steve Poizner and Tom Campbell would also step up with contributions from themselves or their donors to the… Read More

This last week FR friend Andrew Breitbart (pictured) launched his new Big Government website with what has been an ongoing release of startling videos of a couple going into ACORN offices all around the country, posing as prostitute and pimp, prostitute and politician, and more.

The following six and a half minute video is startling and shocking — with an Acorn employee saying the most outrageous things not knowing that she is on video. You cannot make up this stuff. You HAVE TO WATCH IT…

This expose, crossing the country with amazing videos, has now come to the Inland Empire of California…

In this video our "actors" literally engage an Acorn staff member with help about bringing underage girls from oversees for a prostitution "business" — and one of the… Read More

UDPATE: I just found out that a few minutes ago, live on the John and Ken radio program, Steve Poizner signed the Americans for Tax Reform No New Taxes pledge! That is AWESOME! We wouldn’t expect that Tom Campbell would sign it, since he has and continues to advocate tax increases. But perhaps Meg Whitman, who has stated she opposes tax increases, will sign the pledge as well! Here’s a photo of Poizner signing the pledge…

4pm Original Post Late this morning Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a Republican candidate for Governor, unveiled a bold fiscal plan for California that calls for a series of tax cuts to stimulate our economy (boy do we need it!). Good news for FR readers — instead of me trying to explain… Read More

This year, I am the Board Chair of the Yolo Solano Air Quality Management District. Last Wednesday we had our monthly meeting. One of the information items was about the Air Resources Board program for Drayage Truck Regulation.

I had not heard the term "drayage truck" before but these are the trucks that go in and out of California ports and intermodal rail yards. You can read more about the Drayage Truck regulation program here.

After listening to the presentation I am convinced that this is exactly the kind of thing that is killing business in California. It is what we elect pro-business candidates to stop.

The concept of the program is that ports and rail yards need to have even more stringent requirement for particulate matter (PM) than other areas of the state. As a result only certain trucks are allowed entry into these facilities to transport goods and material out the gates.

What ultimately happens to trucking outfits with a diverse fleet is that the newer vehicles go in the gate to pick up the haul and… Read More

There’s a common presumption that the more money government spends on a program the better the outcome. This simply is not so. And nowhere has the failure of massive spending been more evident than California’s education system.

California spends more money on education than any other program in the state — roughly half of the entire budget. Last year, in fact, taxpayers spent close to $69 billion on education.

What has this bought us?

California’s academic performance ranks among the bottom ten in the nation. Drop out rates are appalling. In Los Angeles, home of the largest school district in the state, for every student who graduates, another one drops out.

If additional money were the answer, why do we have so many cases of education’s abysmal performance? To illustrate the point, Elk Grove and Sacramento City Unified, the two largest districts in Sacramento County, enroll similar numbers of English learners, but Elk Grove outperforms Sacramento City by nearly 10 percentage points in English and eight percentage points in math. At the same time, Elk Grove receives nearly $2,200 per student less than Sacramento… Read More

The California Tax Commission is coming close to finalizing a package of so-called reforms to the way Californians pay for their government, and to my amazement, a center-piece of the current likely proposal is what is called a Business Net Receipts Tax (BNRT), which is similar to a value added tax. As proposed, it would apply to all businesses in California, expanding the scope of what is currently taxed in the state from just goods now to services.

This particular element of the Commission’s proposal is clearly something that should be excised. It is criticized from the left this morning in a thoughtful piece from Jean Ross of the big-government supporting California Budget Project over at CalBuzz, and right here on the FlashReport conservative Michelle Steel, one of the two Republicans on the State Board of Equalization, takes the BNRT proposal to task in a piece broadly concerned with the pending report of the commission. Joel Fox also pointed out the concerns of the BNRT to… Read More

[Cross-posted from RedCounty.com]

Conservative talk radio host/blogger Eric Hogue has done yeoman’s work charting the political evolution of Steve Poizner from 2004 Assembly candidate to 2009/10 gubernatorial candidate. Poizner and his campaign have been candid about his evolution, and judging from what I’ve read and my own conversations with Poizner, I’m reasonably satisfied his progression on issues of political economy such as taxes has been genuine.

I’m not so sure when it comes to abortion, or at least I’d like some more information.

All three GOPcandidates for governor are pro-choice on abortion. So, in the maneuvering for the allegiances of the GOPgrass roots — which are generally more conservative on the social issues than the donor class — the preferable position is… Read More