It isn’t really news to long-term FlashReport readers that the record of "Republican" Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in terms of appointing fellow Republicans to be judges is… well… deplorable.

Yesterday, in the midst of a lot of political goings-on, the Governor’s office issued forth a small stream of press releases announcing more appointments to the bench. As always, whenever the Governor is announcing appointments, I cringed instinctively because to say that Schwarzenegger appoints a lot of people that are members of the party of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would be an understatement.

Just to see if MAYBE there had been a change in his thinking on the appointment of Democrats as judges, I opened the first release — an announcement of SEVEN new judges being appointed in populous Los Angeles County. If EVER there was a place that needs to have people of a more conservative bent on the court, LA’s the place.

Well, guess what? There were SIX Democrats appointed in Los Angeles County, and ONE lone Republican. This has been a consistent pattern with the Governor’s appointments in Los Angeles… Read More

It annoys me to no end when I see governmental bodies take up issues that have nothing to do with local government. They make resolutions for pickle week, tuna day, hard boiled egg month and a host of other silly efforts.

When I first heard about an effort in Congress to force a playoff system in college football I dismissed the effort as another example of something that does not belong in a governmental body.

However, after looking at the data about the billions of dollars spent on college football I started to re-consider. I love college football — but this is really big business.

Congressman Gary Miller has introduced a bill to deal with this issue. You can find out more about that here. We do need a playoff system to determine the National Champion so the title can be earned on the field not on a computer. I actually like this idea.… Read More

Rep. McClintock gave the following floor speech in support of H.J.Res. 3, which was a Republican measure to deny the authorization of the remaining portion of the $350 billion in bailout funds.

Mr. Speaker:

This resolution presents the House with its last chance to admit that the Bush bailout has not worked. And it will not work because of a simple and self-evident truth:

Government cannot inject a single dollar into the economy that it has not first taken out of the economy.

It’s true that if I take a dollar from Peter and give it to Paul, Paul has one more dollar to spend and that dollar will ripple through the economy.

But we forget the other half of the equation: Peter now has one less dollar to spend, meaning one less dollar to ripple through the economy. In short, it nets to zero.… Read More

"DUNCAN’S ELECTION would send a bizarre message of continuity and status quo to a party that has suffered TWO CONSECUTIVE ELECTION CYCLES OF STINGING DEFEATS. – Real Clear Politics, January 23, 2009

Private jets transporting candidates, elaborate slick mailers, letters from famous political leaders, robo calls, anonymous hit pieces and more, all to reach 168 voters. With the last contested election for RNC Chairman back in 1997 -when Colorado Committeeman Jim Nicholson was elected as the "surprise" choice, it’s easy to ask whether this is all necessary.

Yes, especially if your voter profile contains an electorate of seasoned politicos. At stake is whether Americans… Read More

In case you missed it, there was another reminder of what our state’s top priority should be – putting people back to work.

Today, the California Employment Development Department made a startling announcement—California has lost 166,000 jobs in the last month. That is the equivalent of the entire population of the City of Escondido losing their jobs in one month. It brings our state unemployment rate to 9.3%–one of the highest in the nation.

This is real and is affecting people we all know. My neighbor recently lost his job and last week asked when things are going to get better. One of my best friends from college is looking for a second job because of cut backs at his current employer. They want to know what we are going to do to put people back to work. What are we going to do to help create jobs?

This is why job creation has to be our top priority in California.

It’s no secret that California’s budget crisis is severe—but a key to helping solve the budget problem is to create private sector jobs, bring employers back to our state and… Read More

It seems to me that Californians are getting what they asked for in State Controller John Chiang. The contrast between selecting Chiang or his opponent, taxpayer advocate Tony Strickland, on the November 2006 ballot could not have been more stark. While Strickland was openly supported by a cadre of pro-taxpayer organizations and leaders, the bulk of Chiang’s support came from the left-wing of the Democrat Party, and most significantly, from public employee unions eager to have yet another “tool” in an important state constitutional office, ready to be put into play should the need arise. (Below, left, is a photo of Chiang standing with all of his union supporters after being elected Controller.)

While the nation’s economy is reeling, as the United States, and California, plow into a recession, public employee union bosses continue to be advocates for the notion that… Read More

It seems to me that Californians are getting what they asked for in State Controller John Chiang. The contrast between selecting Chiang or his opponent, taxpayer advocate Tony Strickland, on the November 2006 ballot could not have been more stark. While Strickland was openly supported by a cadre of pro-taxpayer organizations and leaders, the bulk of Chiang’s support came from the left-wing of the Democrat Party, and most significantly, from public employee unions eager to have yet another “tool” in an important state constitutional office, ready to be put into play should the need arise. (Below, left, is a photo of Chiang standing with all of his union supporters after being elected Controller.)

While the nation’s economy is reeling, as the United States, and California, plow into a recession, public employee union bosses continue to be advocates for the notion that… Read More

John "Union Tool" Chiang, the State’s Controller, on video.

The first video is some leftist group interviewing Chang last year when he was in Denver for the DNC Convention during the budget crisis. Nice priorities. (If you get bored watching this first video, I don’t blame you. I started to yawn. It’s really not what he is saying that is notable, but rather than he is partying at the DNC Convention DURING a state budget crisis.) The second video is short and sweet — Chiang wants to be Governor. I guess that will depend 100% on the public employee unions that make his decisions — on what to run for, and what to do in office.

This guy is an embarrassment to all of us. … Read More