If you looked for the Eiland family, part of the California delegation, at today’s truncated convention session — you wouldn’t have found them. They ended up leaving to go to a local Irish pub to look for the most coveted and non-existant commodities at the Excel Center — food and beverage. Other than the finger food provided in the elite RNC members-only suite, there was none to be had. I don’t mean to make this the main point of a blog on the opening session of the convention. But…

By mid-way through the session, the circular walkway around the perimeter of the arena was packed with ravenous, parahna-like delegates, looking for anything to eat. The talk was that food intentended for delegates and convention goers had been diverted to the gulf coast.

I will always remember the look of relief on the face of Mindy Fletcher when incoming California RNC Committeeman Shawn Steel pinched a Diet Coke for her from the coveted and guarded RNC members-only suite.

At some point, towards the end of the session, someone wheeled out boxes of potato chips and chocolate chip cookies. If you can imagine a coy fish pond… Read More

I’ve just returned from the first delegation meeting at the Bloomington Sheraton Hotel, the “home base” for the California Delegation to the Republican National Convention. Over breakfast, our delegation, many hundreds strong, was given an orientation of the week – which is to say that we all found out that everything is in flux. Right now, it is unclear how Hurricane Gustav is going to impact the rest of our week, but for today, we will be traveling by bus to the convention hall to take care of only the “must do” actions required under the RNC rules in order to nominate Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin as our official GOP ticket for the November election.

The Chairman of the delegation is former California Secretary of State Bill Jones (as is appropriate since he was a McCain guy back in 2000, and serves as his State Chairman for California this year). Jones welcomed the delegates, as did… Read More

The Convention is now underway, and while I could write pages on what I’ve seen, heard, and learned, I’ve decided to give you all a pictorial report for Day One, because it’s almost 1 a.m. and I still have more emails to answer. (:

Here you see the California Delegation sign with "Country First" in the background. I love that slogan; it really makes you think about what politics is supposed to be…a way to serve our country. With Hurricane Gustav blowing in, and two more storms behind it, the California Delegation worked with the American Red Cross to set up a variety of ways for delegates to donate money, hotel points, frequent flier miles, and a number of other ways suggested on www.redcross.org. It’s been pretty cool to see delegates eager to help and serve fellow Americans.

… Read More

I’ve just returned from the first delegation meeting at the Bloomington Sheraton Hotel, the “home base” for the California Delegation to the Republican National Convention. Over breakfast, our delegation, many hundreds strong, was given an orientation of the week – which is to say that we all found out that everything is in flux. Right now, it is unclear how Hurricane Gustav is going to impact the rest of our week, but for today, we will be traveling by bus to the convention hall to take care of only the “must do” actions required under the RNC rules in order to nominate Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin as our official GOP ticket for the November election.

The Chairman of the delegation is former California Secretary of State Bill Jones (as is appropriate since he was a McCain guy back in 2000, and serves as his State Chairman for California this year). Jones welcomed the delegates, as did… Read More

As the legislative session comes to a close, FR will once-again be publishing its annual list of the Top 20 Worst Bills that are on their way to the Governor. If you have suggestions on legislation that should make that list, please drop us an e-mail pretty quickly so our team can take your input!

Of course, there is a chance that the Governor will veto every bill this year, as a positive-by product of the budget stalemate (he promised to do so, but has already reneged at least once so his resolve is unclear).… Read More

In this battle against growth in government, Republican legislators must stick together and be a team. When I say Republican legislators, I mean both Senators and Assemblymembers. There is strength in unity — and this budget battle is one where, working together, we can end up with a budget that does not raise taxes, ultimately ensures that taxpaying Californians are not penalized for the overspending ways of liberal politicians.

I have heard that Senate President Pro-Tem Don is contemplating bringing up the Governor’s so-called "compromise" plan (we prefer to call it the surrender-to-more-taxes plan) for a vote as early as today.

Here are some guidelines that we here at the FlashReport think would be good ones for our Republican legislators…

No Republican votes should go up on any budget until that document has been vetting by both the Senate and Assembly Republican Caucuses, and that there is agreement that both caucuses can support a particular budget. Nothing could be worse, this particular … Read More

In Saturday’s Sacramento Bee, Jim Wasserman reports that a UC Davis Graduate School of Management study found that overspending is the biggest culprit in personal bankruptcies. Previously, illness and unemployment were the primary reasons.

It certainly came as no surprise to me that irresponsible behavior leads to financial ruin.

The liberal California State Legislature and Governor have gone down the same path.

Read the story.… Read More

In this battle against growth in government, Republican legislators must stick together and be a team. When I say Republican legislators, I mean both Senators and Assemblymembers. There is strength in unity — and this budget battle is one where, working together, we can end up with a budget that does not raise taxes, ultimately ensures that taxpaying Californians are not penalized for the overspending ways of liberal politicians.

I have heard that Senate President Pro-Tem Don is contemplating bringing up the Governor’s so-called "compromise" plan (we prefer to call it the surrender-to-more-taxes plan) for a vote as early as today.

Here are some guidelines that we here at the FlashReport think would be good ones for our Republican legislators…

No Republican votes should go up on any budget until that document has been vetting by both the Senate and Assembly Republican Caucuses, and that there is agreement that both caucuses can support a particular budget. Nothing could be worse, this particular … Read More