You remember Chuck Quackenbush, right? He was the California State Insurance Commissioner who resigned his office amidst a developing scandal in his office (one that sent folks to jail). After his resignation, Quackenbush, a wealthy man from his wife’s success in business. Anyways, the Quackenbush family moved first to Honolulu, and then to Florida where, believe it or not, Quackenbush is a Deputy Sheriff. Although, right now, it would be more accurate to say that he is a Deputy Sheriff on administrative leave after shooting a suspect…with an investigation underway. Check out the story in the local Florida paper here.

(H/T to Capitol Alert on this one, and they have more to add.)… Read More

Sources in Placer County are reporting that early this morning Tom McClintock pulled papers for the 4th congressional race. An official announcement from the McClintock for Congress campaign will probably come next week. This congressional race is just starting…… Read More

Rep. John Campbell gets some ink on the issue of earmark reform, noted in Roll Call and The Hill today.

Roll Call chronicles the primary challenge facing presidential candidate Ron Paul, here. (Subscription, unfortunately, required)

Politico looks at the views of the outgoing Government Accountability Office chief, and notes the challenges posed by dramatically increasing social spending.

Bluey has it here over at RedState.… Read More

In what is the clearest sign yet that conservative icon and FR friend State Senator Tom McClintock is just days away from formally declaring a candidates for the United States House of Representatives, District 4, the Senator has sent out an e-mail to his sizable list of supporters, entitled "Potential Campaign for Congress" in which he shares with his team that he is "seriously considering runng" for the seat, announces the formation of an official Congressional Exploratory Committee, and urge folks to make contributions.

My intel gathering tells me that when Tom McClintock gets IN to the race for Congress, that his fellow conservative, Rico Oller, gets OUT (as does also-ran Eric Egland, who has been campaigning for the better part of a year but has failed to gain traction).

The real question will be whether or not wealthy Sacramento business tycoon Doug Ose, a moderate Republican who has announced his candidacy for the same seat, would stay in the race. Recent polling data released shows it would be a long, uphill battle for Ose — especially when you consider that McClintock will be able to raise a considerable amount of money here… Read More

In what is the clearest sign yet that conservative icon and FR friend State Senator Tom McClintock is just days away from formally declaring a candidates for the United States House of Representatives, District 4, the Senator has sent out an e-mail to his sizable list of supporters, entitled "Potential Campaign for Congress" in which he shares with his team that he is "seriously considering runng" for the seat, announces the formation of an official Congressional Exploratory Committee, and urge folks to make contributions.

My intel gathering tells me that when Tom McClintock gets IN to the race for Congress, that his fellow conservative, Rico Oller, gets OUT (as does also-ran Eric Egland, who has been campaigning for the better part of a year but has failed to gain traction).

The real question will be whether or not wealthy Sacramento business tycoon Doug Ose, a moderate Republican who has announced his candidacy for the same seat, would stay in the race. Recent polling data released shows it would be a long, uphill battle for Ose — especially when you consider that McClintock will be able to raise a considerable amount of money here… Read More

A lot of things come across the transom here at the FlashReport, but when I saw this release, I thought it was worth a mention.

You will all be happy to know that Dianne Feinstein is so anxious to protect our children that she now wants to ban certain chemicals that are used in the making of toys. Specifically, it’s a chemical used to make toys flexible. Apparently she wants all toys to be — inflexible. What a kill-joy.

Of course she is doing this because the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has said This chemical is dangerous, right? WRONG. Actually, it’s the opposite. They actually spent four years studying the chemical and found "no demonstrated health risk" from its use in toys and "no justification" for banning its use.

The Consumers for Competitive Choice, the organization that put out the release, makes the point that… Read More

My Republican state senator is a big zero. A cipher. A giant goose egg.

Senator Bob Dutton, who represents the 31st State Senate District (Riverside and San Bernardino counties), was just awarded a zero rating from ultra-liberal special interest group California Public Interest Research Group. The left-wing bestowed the low ranking to Senator Dutton specifically for his work against a big government health care scheme (Nunez/Perata), heftier fees on minivans and SUVs, and his stance against proposed bills that would have halted California’s economy.

You can tell a lot about a legislator by those opposed to him. In Senator Bob Dutton’s case, he ought to be proud of his rating from such an out-of-touch extreme leftist organization that aims for a California where Big Government reigns supreme. A California with an… Read More

Longtime California GOP leader Steve Frank publishes his winners and losers of the CRP Convention. His "big loser" is former State GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim.… Read More