It’s a mixed bag today, take your pick, in no particular order:

Negotiations continue with high profile California consultant Mike Murphy, breaking at Politico.com now, in a possible move to join the McCain campaign.

A prominent staff member for Rep. Waxman will serve as a "House" liasion for Democratic Presidential nominee-apparent Sen. Barack Obama, from Roll Call (note: subscription may be required). Elsewhere, Rep. Waxman is going after the job descriptions of future political appointees by trying to eliminate "Rove-like" job duties, from The Hill.

Former California GOP Rep. Ron Packard’s name has surfaced in a new lobbying registration, reported today in the "bottom line" section of The Hill.

Some speculation on speculation (oil, that is) on Capitol Hill, also… Read More

I was sifting through my e-mails, and got a heads up from an FR reader that the folks at VSP (Vision Service Plan — the uber-large vision insurance that state employees, and millions of others have) are parking their RV-Style "Mobile Eyecare Coach" at the east entrance of the Capitol. I’m sure that from 10am to 1pm, the VSP folks will be swamped. They won’t have any trouble telling the Republicans from the Democrats. The former will be eyeing the "Coach" skeptically, and asking questions to discern whether any tax dollars went into its creation — and Democrats will all be asking why they can’t see the color red (as in RED INK).

Then again, tomorrow most Capitol workers may be over across the street at The Golden One Credit Union filling out paperwork for interest free loans in lieu of paychecks that will not be coming until after a budget is enacted. (The flyer I got from VSP is attached. This post is proof that just about anything can be fodder for the FR Blog!)… Read More

When the FlashReport first went live back in 2005, I was very pleased to have as an important member of our FlashReport BlogPen a capable conservative activist and leader in San Bernardino County — Brad Mitzelfelt, who hails from the north end of the county (you know, the part you drive through on the way to Mammoth or to Vegas). After we got off the great, Brad passed the baton and took a hiatus from blogging for a while. Well, over a year later, Brad is now a Supervisor for San Bernardino County. He was appointed last year to fill a vacancy on the Board when FR friend Bill Postmus was elected to countywide office. This last June, voters elected Brad in his own rite to a full four-year term. I am very pleased that Brad has decided to rejoin the FR team, blogging on issues of importance that impact California, and San Bernardino County. Brad’s conservative, insightful, writes well, is "plugged in" to what is going on, and (sometimes) is pretty funny. … Read More

Today marks day seven of the new fiscal year — a week without an adopted budget for the state of California. Much has been said already, and will be said over the coming weeks and possibly months about how we’ve ended up with such a budget challenge — but Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters summed it up nicely in a column yesterday when he said, "…today’s crisis primarily stems from voters and politicians spending more money than the revenue system can produce, even in a good economy." Last week it was reported that Assembly Speaker Karen Bass had sent legislators home until July 14. That is ridiculous. The (unfortunate) reality is that California has an overdue budget AND a full-time legislature. That means that, frankly, all of our state legislators, having taken their three day weekend for America’s birthday, should be returning today to the State Capitol to roll up their sleeves and work towards a fiscally prudent state budget… Read More

Today marks day seven of the new fiscal year — a week without an adopted budget for the state of California. Much has been said already, and will be said over the coming weeks and possibly months about how we’ve ended up with such a budget challenge — but Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters summed it up nicely in a column yesterday when he said, "…today’s crisis primarily stems from voters and politicians spending more money than the revenue system can produce, even in a good economy." Last week it was reported that Assembly Speaker Karen Bass had sent legislators home until July 14. That is ridiculous. The (unfortunate) reality is that California has an overdue budget AND a full-time legislature. That means that, frankly, all of our state legislators, having taken their three day weekend for America’s birthday, should be returning today to the State Capitol to roll up their sleeves and work towards a fiscally prudent state budget… Read More

On this quiet Saturday of a holiday weekend, we are pleased to offer this outstanding column from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association…

Here’s a riddle. What is 150 years old, but has less self control than a toddler? That’s right, it’s the California Legislature, whose profligate spending has put our state almost $20 billion in the red. Over and over again it has proven Ronald Reagan’s maxim that "government is like an infant — an insatiable appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." Fiscal incontinence is nothing new to Sacramento. Back in 1979, Proposition 13 co-author Paul Gann put a reasonable limit on the ballot that tied new spending to inflation and population growth.… Read More

On this quiet Saturday of a holiday weekend, we are pleased to offer this outstanding column from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association…

Here’s a riddle. What is 150 years old, but has less self control than a toddler? That’s right, it’s the California Legislature, whose profligate spending has put our state almost $20 billion in the red. Over and over again it has proven Ronald Reagan’s maxim that "government is like an infant — an insatiable appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." Fiscal incontinence is nothing new to Sacramento. Back in 1979, Proposition 13 co-author Paul Gann put a reasonable limit on the ballot that tied new spending to inflation and population growth.… Read More

On the occasion of America’s Birthday, I wanted to share with you a special 4th of July message that was e-mailed out by our friends at the Claremont Institute. It’s certainly worth a few minutes of your time to read…

Happy Independence Day from the team here at the FlashReport! American children are not born understanding the principles of their country, and most American college students—if reports can be believed—are still largely unfamiliar with them when they graduate. So it is a useful tradition, as the Fourth of July comes around each year, to reflect again—and again—on the American political principles famously proclaimed on the original Independence Day, which, as many college graduates know, happened sometime in the past, possibly during summertime. Lest we seem to rest all our political expectations on the capacity of the next generation for self-government, let us admit that the grownups, as well, can benefit from an annual refresher.

As Thomas Jefferson said late in life, when explaining the genesis of the… Read More