"The insight of conservatism is the lasting power of America’s founding principles. The Claremont Institute articulates these principles with brilliant clarity, and challenges each and every Lincoln Fellow to live up to them. There is no better training ground for a lifelong campaign in the trenches of political warfare."

This week, I have the honor and privilege to have been selected to be one of twelve participants in the Claremont Institute’s Lincoln Fellowship Program. I am very excited about it – frankly, it’s a really big deal for me.

First and foremost for those FlashReport readers who are not familiar with the Claremont Institute, the mission of the Institute is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their… Read More

There seems to be something particularly egregious about something I read about in today’s Los Angeles Times, DWP proposes hiring former Assembly speaker Nuñez to help lobbyists.

Apparently the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a public agency, is looking to spend big bucks to hire former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to provide "strategic advice" on how the agency should be navigating through the regulatory maze that has come about with the passage of AB 32, the legislation that requires state government to enact rules limiting people-caused actions that produce carbon emissions.

The irony hear, which should make FR readers cringe, is that Nunez himself was an absolutely critical player, while Assembly Speaker, in the passage of AB 32 in the first place.

Or to put it another way — are we creating a new "industry" in California — which is where… Read More

Confirming the breaking news presented here on the FlashReport by San Diego County Correspondent Barry Jantz, the following release just came over the transom…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: John Wainio John@TheSanDiegoGroup.com

David Bejarano to be next Chula Vista Chief of Police

Campaign for Sheriff Ends

Chula Vista, CA. August 11, 2009 – David Bejarano today announced that he has accepted the opportunity to serve as Chief of Police for the City of Chula Vista. "The decision was based on the ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to return to my passion of being a local municipal Police Chief for the community that my family and I have ‘called home’ for almost thirty years," said Bejarano.

Bejarano is excited about making a public safety contribution for the Chula Vista Police Department and the community where he is active through various non-profit organizations, a community bank, and as a Trustee for the Chula Vista Elementary School District.

Today’s announcement also means… Read More

***Exclusive to the FlashReport***

The item on today’s Chula Vista City Council meeting agenda is simple:

22. PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54957 Title: Police Chief

That could mean a lot of things. However I have it from an impeccable source that David Bejarano, the leading fundraiser in next year’s San Diego County Sheriff’s election, will be appointed as chief of police in Chula Vista, to be followed by his announcement that he will drop his bid for sheriff.

The obvious impact on the sheriff’s campaign may be more significant news for some than the police chief announcement itself. For Bejarano, I’m guessing not!

The source is "vaunted" enough, that I am calling the news now.

More to follow.

9:10 am Update: The news is confirmed. See follow-up post.

2:00 am Update: The Union-Trib has … Read More

Chris Cillizza, a well respected Beltway Pundit, handicaps the CA Gov Primaries thusly:

4. California governor (Republican primary): Handicapping this race is next to impossible. Supporters of former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman point to her fundraising success, her wealth and her business profile as evidence that she is a national star in the making. Backers of state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who also is wealthy, argue that Whitman is all show and no substance, and that voters will see through her consultant-heavy campaign. Still others believe that neither Whitman nor Poizner is the sort of candidate that California Republican primary voters are looking for and believe that a true conservative could get in the race and win the primary. 3. California governor (D): The story lines in the Democratic gubernatorial race are the stuff of great fiction. One candidate is running for the job he held more than three decades ago and… Read More

Three Federal Judges, who are virtually unaccountable, have declared that California felons deserve better living conditions than our troops in Iraq. Without regard to consequences against the public or to state budget issues, they have now ruled that the only way to accommodate these prisoners is to release about 25% of them. The 160,000 males in our state prisons are all there on felony charges. Local judges do not sentence people to state prison for non-serious convictions. But the Federal Judges say that about 40,000 must be released from prison.

There is only one right way to do this. That is to contact God and have Him send the Governor a list of those men who have truly charged their heart and their behavior. Men who, once released, will never commit a crime again; men for whom time behind bars has worked to end their life of crime. Short of contacting God there is no good way to build a list of who should be released. The Governor has proposed a combination of felons who have a short amount of time left on their sentence and those who are elderly. Neither of these criteria guarantees no future crimes will be committed.

Who are these… Read More

Saturday’s Union-Tribune front-page-local-section news was that the current top fundraiser in next year’s campaign for San Diego County Sheriff is also vying for the police chief position in Chula Vista. Political watchers are buzzing about the impact on the sheriff’s race.

Yet, the persistent rumors of David Bejarano being interested in the chief’s job have been swirling for weeks. Kudos to Tanya Sierra and her colleagues at the UT for getting someone to confirm it for the record.

Despite the rumors, it was clear to me and others — or so we may have thought — that no one at the City of Chula Vista would be confirming any such thing. Personnel matters are, after all, private for a reason, even in the public sector. Just as many of us have at one time or another applied for a job while not wanting our current employer to know we are "looking," applicants are typically protected from such disclosure. As well, it should be noted that appropriate protocol would also dictate that if Bejarano were… Read More

It should be alarming to everyone that, according to a new report, California’s Hidden Deficit: Unemployment Insurance Fund Owes $2.6 Billion, released jointly by ProPublica and the California Report, that state government is going into massive, multi-billion dollar debt to (to the tune of $30 million more each day) in order to pay out what appear to be unsustainable benefits ($$) to those who have lost their jobs. You can read the report here, and listen to it here.

According to ProPublica…

Seventeen states have been forced to borrow federal money because their unemployment insurance trust funds have run dry — but even among this group one state stands out from the rest.

California, which now owes $2.6 billion,… Read More