A reminder to our loyal readers that since we started the FlashReport as an e-mail newsletter back in 2001, and then shifted to a website format in 2005, we have maintained an annual tradition of giving the "elves" an annual break starting the Saturday before Christmas, extending through New Years. During the break, the main page of the site is officially closed. While we will have links up to help you navigate to many of the news sources that we go to when we compile links, we will not be populating the main page with links until January 2nd.

As we have done in the past, we are "leaving the lights on" over on the FlashReport blog page, and so look for new content to continue to appear there over the holidays — especially if we are covering any kind of breaking news.

I will not be going out of town, and is the past is an indicator, will still be surfing the web for news, and highlighting a few of the "must reads" each day on the blog — though don’t look for too many early morning posts!

Have a great holiday season, and thanks for making 2008 the most successful one in the seven years we’ve been at… Read More

It would appear, based on public statements from Democrat Legislative leaders, that dealing with the state’s fiscal mess is being punted until after the New Year. This after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged yesterday to veto an outrageous scheme concocted primary by State Senate President Darrell Steinberg — passing over $8 billion in new taxes (income, gas, sales, and more) on just a majority vote!

Fortunately for California taxpayers, the vice-like iron grip that the public employee unions have on Democrats in the legislature is so rock-solid that Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass could not muster up the votes to give the Governor some "economic stimulus" policy changes that he wants in a tax-increase package, many of which relax labor law requirements on employers (California has some of the most notorious anti-business laws in the nation). So the Governor has said he will veto the package, and while he specifically avoided opining on the issue of the illegal votes to increase taxes, we’ll take the veto as a victory for taxpayers this round. That said, it is rather oxymoronic to say that you want to have… Read More

California’s Tax Hike Showdown

California Democrats in Sacramento are conspiring to evade the state constitution and pass a tax hike of up to $11 billion in the next few days.

State law requires a two-thirds majority of the California legislature to raise taxes. But the Democrats who run the state house and senate by big margins have gotten frustrated by the anti-tax bloc of Republicans who have held an effective veto over the tax scheme. Democrats have come up with a plan to raise income, sales and gas taxes without the two-thirds vote, thanks to some fancy legal maneuvering. An enraged Mike Villines, the House minority leader, tells me: "This is just a ploy to get around the constitution. We will fight… Read More

There isn’t much point in my expending a lot of time this morning chastising Senate and Assembly Democrats for their plans, this morning, to try to stick Californians with billions of dollars in new taxes, using some scheme where they brazenly attempt to navigate around the State Constitution’s requirement for a 2/3 vote to raise taxes. Through sleight of hand and bizarre terminology, Democrats are planning to hike the state’s income, gas, and car taxes (and that’s not all) — and do it with a majority vote (Republican legislators have appropriately and boldly said NO to any tax increases to solve a chronic overspending problem).

It seems to me that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the one in the spotlight here. The Governor has already called for the legislature to increase taxes by billions of dollars as part of a package that he put forward designed to close the overspending gap not only with spending cuts but also with new taxes. Yeah, we get that. It’s disappointing, but we get it.

But this Proposition 13 end-run that is being quarterbacked by Senate President Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass… Read More

Amidst the chaos of overspending crisis in Sacramento, I wanted to highlight an announcement from the Poizner for Governor campaign. They have released an impressive list of eighteen current County Republican Party Chairmen from all around the Golden State who are early endorsers of his bid.

"Who are they?"

Glad you asked, they are: Karna Boyer, Sutter County; Joan Clendenin, Stanislaus County; Joseph Day, Tuolumne County; Margaret Dominici, Shasta County; Prudence Eiland, Kings County; Howard Epstein, San Francisco County; Dale Fritchen, San Joaquin County; Tom Hudson, Placer County; Morgan Kelly, Marin County; Karen King, San Mateo County; Janet Kirtlink, Napa County; Brian Leach, Glenn County; Bob Richmond, Riverside County; Jim Rooney, Amador County; Ken Say, Tehama County; John Steizmiller, El Dorado County; Thaddeus Taylor, Inyo County; Steve Thompson, Butte County; and Bob Vile, Calaveras County.

Poizner also announced the endorsement of Linda Boyd, who was the long time Chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee.

The list is most impressive as it has Chairmen who I would characterize as strong… Read More

There is already talk about the quick legal challenge to passing billions of dollars of tax increases with a 2/3rds vote of the legislature. But chew on this — undoubtedly a referendum will also be filed on these bills if signed into law. From my basic understanding of how that process works, just the start of the qualification process of a referendum halts the implementation of the laws for months… Chew on that! Anyone have the forms I need to submit to start the ball rolling? I think I just need to send in a letter a $200 check…… Read More

Things are hectic here at the home base of the FlashReport — while Democrats in Sacramento were slamming through very constitutionally questionable tax increases — billions of dollars worth — I was out with the family buying a Christmas Tree for the house. Now I am writing an update on the antics of the Capitol before the tree delivery people arrive with our new purchase.

As promised, Senate and Assembly Democrats called session this afternoon, and rammed through bills containing gas, income and a car tax increases. We’ll give a closer look to see which Democrats didn’t vote FOR the taxes (I am sure they "protected" targets since they only needed majority votes under their lame plan) — but I can tell you that not one Republican in the Senate or the Assembly voted for ANY tax increase.

Nevertheless, in both chambers, these tax increases were declared as being passed with a majority vote. In the State Assembly, Republican Chuck DeVore objected to the tax increases being scored as needing only a majority vote. DeVore’s objection was overturned, and he then, in turn moved to overturn the ruling of the chair,… Read More

My youngest of three children just turned ten today! I can’t help thinking about how much life has changed since she was born…gosh, I didn’t even have a cell phone then…archaic! Actually, in the past week, all three of my kids have had their birthdays. (I know, I know – great planning, huh?) I get sentimental around this time each year, because I remember bringing each little bundle of joy home, and how each trip to the delivery room made me a fiercer and fiercer protector of my brood of Buck babies. Each time a new life was placed in my arms for the first time, I became more certain that I would do anything, sacrifice everything, and stop at nothing to make sure my kids were safe from harm. And hence, I found my life’s work…the Go Green Initiative (GGI) (www.gogreeninitiative.org). After sharing my bio when I ran for State Assembly in 2006, many of you already know the story of how the GGI came into being, and if you don’t, here is where you can find out: … Read More