I watched the Democrat press conference on the Calcliptv Youtube channel

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and found several… Read More

The Politico is reporting that Antonio Villaraigosa will announce on CNN this afternoon whether or not he’s going to run for governor next year. Since politicians announcing that they are running for office tend to do news conferences and rallies with balloons and banners (oh, and supporters), the cable television option suggests that Antonio sees the poll numbers on the wall and is going to sit this one out.

That’s good news for Jerry Brown, as Villaraigosa’s base of labor and Latinos is more likely to head toward Brown than Gavin Newsom. But it opens the door even further for another Democratic candidate (Loretta Sanchez is probably already on the phone to her pollster.

And if Brown is the nominee, here’s hoping that Whitman/Poizner/Campbell realizes that running against Governor Moonbeam, Rose Bird, and the 1970’s is a dated playbook that could use some refreshing. Hint: anyone been to Oakland recently?… Read More

The New America Foundation sponsored a program and a lunch (thanks for food) regarding the topic "California v 2.0: The Roads to Fundamental Reform." Everybody there knew this was a promo for the idea of a constitutional convention. Panelists from the Bay Area Council, California Forward and the New America Foundation all are in favor of a convention. Other than some general assumptions about gridlock, partisanship, governance failure, and political malaise, they did not present any specifics on what the problems are, nor any proof that the Constitution has to be rewritten in order to solve these non-specific problems. In fact, one of the panelists, Dr. Thad Kousser of UCSD, spoiled the party by offering proof that California government was neither in gridlock nor overly partisan, but merely reflecting the expectations of the voters. He did offer that the years of the worst gridlock occur when the state has a governor of one party and a legislative majority held by the other party. Of course, the only way to eliminate that possibility is to switch to a parliamentary system of government that combines the legislative and executive branches, but… Read More

The news today that Assemblyman Jim Nielsen pulled a Benedict Arnold on the Poizner campaign wasn’t a total surprise. Team Poizner secured support from an overwhelming majority of State Assembly members and Senators early in the campaign, so it’s reasonable to believe that after Meg Whitman entered the campaign they might lose the endorsement of a few of the legislators on the periphery. I’m sure that the Whitman campaign feels as though they scored a point today, but they still have a long way to go when it comes to securing support from the Republican legislators and local elected officials who matter. It would help if Meg had been a Republican for more than a year or two, but that’s a different story all together.

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On the rare occasion where all parties involved in a situation can come to a common-sense solution, time is of the essence.

Recently an accounting error by the Chino Valley Unified School District has caused quite a stir in our community. The school district has come across an error in its bell schedule, and consequently fourth through sixth graders at two elementary schools were a few minutes short of instructional minutes on several shortened days.

Currently, if no action is taken, the school year will be extended 34 days to make up the time lost due to this mistake. These make up days would be mandatory for all fourth- through sixth-graders at those two elementary schools. Aside from the fact that these school kids are paying for the mistakes of irresponsible adults, it is astounding for me to learn about all the regulatory red-tape we impose on our local school districts. I understand the need for rules and regulations, but it should also be obvious to even the most ignorant of observers that this mistake was not made with malicious intent.

With bi-partisan support, support from the school board, the school district superintendent and the local… Read More

My boss, Senator Benoit, has penned a commentary giving credit to FlashReport bloggers’and the Republican Caucus’ ongoing efforts to root out waste in State government: Blowing The Whistle On State Waste

BySENATOR JOHN J. BENOIT

Over the past few years, the gifted researchers from the State Senate Republican Caucus have captured insightful snapshots of real-life government waste in action.These witty and all too regular installments, called “Waste Watchers,” have brought to light dozens of tales of egregious activity in State and local governments. Since taking Senate office in December, my Chief of Staff has regularly posted these features here on the FlashReport, continuing a great tradition from my predecessor, Senator Jim Battin.All told, these features have exposed nearly $500 million in wasteful spending. … Read More

It’s late on a Friday afternoon, and I just got a press release in from the Poizner for Governor campaign, announcing some new hires. I’ll pull the relevant paragraphs from their release and put them below. Have a great weekend! Deputy Campaign Manager – Audrey Perry Audrey Perry has joined the campaign as Deputy Campaign Manager. Audrey most recently worked as Campaign Finance Counsel for McCain-Palin 2008 and as Deputy General Counsel for the Romney for President campaign. She previously served as legal counsel to the Committee on House Administration of the U.S. House of Representatives, where she advised on campaign finance, lobby disclosure, and election administration issues. She has also worked at the Federal Election Commission, where she was a law clerk to Commissioner Michael E. Toner, and at the Campaign Legal… Read More

MEMO TO LIBERAL IDEOLOGUES: PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS True liberal ideologues in the state legislature, you are agonizing over the needed cuts in state government programs because you believe in a healthy "social contract" between the people and their government. You believe to your core that in America, everyone is entitled to a standard of living that, for some, must be provided in total or in part by the government. You believe that it is right and good for those who have benefited financially from America’s free market system to "bring up" those in this country who really never have or will have the ability to pull themselves up. Victims of society, as you refer to them, need protection and assistance from those who can afford to provide it. I don’t agree with this philosophy, but I "get it" and understand that it is a valid, if flawed, point of view.

If you are one of these ideologues, then you really need to step back and look at the out of control state public employee unions. If… Read More