Selecting our FlashReport State Senator of the year for 2007 was not an easy task. There are a great group of conservatives in the California State Senate, and many of those are deserving of much praise. When we look back at 2007, there was one most-defining event for the State Senate – the budget battle of last summer. Senate Republicans demonstrated solidarity in holding out on voting for a bloated budget, with their actions ultimately, predictably, and unfortunately having been proven to have been right on the mark. Ultimately, Senate Republicans should have held out for more extensive and meaningful spending reductions – but, hind sight is 20/20. During the budget standoff, I had the opportunity to dialogue directly with many of the Senate Republicans, and as such have what I believe is a pretty accurate of the machinations that take place “behind closed doors” during that kind of stressful and epic showdown.

While the budget situation last year was perhaps the pinnacle moment for conservatives in the Senate to show their commitment, we also look for a Senator who maintains a solid record against bills that grow the size and scope of state… Read More

Just in from the Fred Thompson for President Campaign, they have submitted a full slate of 179 potential delegates for California…

(Again, the formatting is a function of the way I received the data…)

CD 01 Janet Ney 01 Letha Carlstedt 01 Susan Biagio 02 Rick Keene, Assemblyman 02 Sean Bridgett 02… Read More

Democrat Jim Dantona has declared that he is out of the 19th State Senate primary against former Assemblywoman Hannah Beth-Jackson. Former Assemblyman Tony Strickland is the probable GOP nominee for the seat, currently held by conservative icon Tom McClintock.

With no Democrat Primary to bloody the water look for the race to bloody the Democrat nominee, look for a more hotly contested general election. Republicans currently hold a slight voter registration edge (187,000) over Democrats (169,000) with some 110,000 ‘other’ party members or decline to state voters.… Read More

Here are the Giuliani for President submitted potential delegates… (See the Romney list below this one for more explanation on this — also, the formatting is largely the way they were sent to me by the campaigns themselves…)

At-Large: William Simon, Jr., Pacific Palisades Ali Jahangiri, Newport Beach Dr. Tod Allen Burnett, Los Angeles Wardell A. Connerly, Sacramento John McMonigle, Irvine Tracy Price, Laguna Hills David W. Hanna, Laguna Beach Jon Liebman, Santa Monica Former Governor Pete Wilson, Los Angeles Lyle R. Davis, Newport Beach Thomas F. Tait, Anaheim 1st Congressional District: Margie L. Handley, Willits Iris Cochlan, El Macero Marleia Sire, Napa 2nd Congressional District: Gary Freeman, Orland Margaret Dominici, Redding Susan F. Gibbs, Colusa 3rd Congressional District: Pauline June Downum, Glencoe Kenneth Lunde, Antelope… Read More

The Romney for President Campaign has released the following list of of folks as potential National Convention delegates. The statewide delegates are awared to the candidate who obtains a plurality of the statewide GOP vote, and the local Congressional District delegates are awarded on a district-by-district basis, again, to the candidate who gets the most votes (they will get all three delegates seated in that CD).

We have the Giuliani list as well, which I we’ll post next.

CALIFORNIAROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT DELEGATE LIST

Congressional District 1: *William Pauli *Mark Pruner *David Reade Congressional District 2: *Brenda Haynes *Walter Dean Herger *Doug LaMalfa Congressional District 3: *Rob Stutzman *Kathleen Wood *Michael Wood Congressional District 4: *Margaret Favero *Leslie Dean Forman *Pam Peterson Congressional District 5: *Jose Luis Angeles *Duane Dichiara *Paul… Read More

I meant to blog right after the debates on Saturday night…then again last night…but I got so enthralled in the Facebook discussions on the debates that I just couldn’t shake myself loose. I must admit, it was pretty shocking for me at first to dive right into the deep end of some of the discussion boards, because some of the people I talked to were very comfortable shedding the niceties of a face-to-face discussion, like: respect for others, good manners, logic, etc. But once I got my sea legs, and got just as comfortable being a mom in the online world as I am in real life, I managed to temper some of the discussions and I actually learned a great deal about what my young Facebook friends think about the Presidential candidates.

I’d like to report that they unanimously support and adore my favorite candidate, John McCain, but the truth is that only 98.9% of them feel that way.

:) Kidding…but seriously, many of them became converts after I endured hours of carpel tunnel pain to teach them online history lessons that Ron Paul’s website didn’t teach them. They had never been previously versed in the parallels between today’s… Read More

I’m certainly not a "classicist," but like some other political junkies I have enjoyed reading Colleen McCullough’s series of historical novels about politics, military history, culture, and life in ancient Rome. The parallels of and constants of life 2,000 years ago to today are quite evident in McCullough’s writings. But of course, she is a writer of historical fiction! So after reading all her stuff on ancient Rome, years ago I advanced from her writings to the real thing: Cicero, Julius Caesar, and the writings of a true contemporary classicist, Michael Grant, a British historian and academic.

One of the main things I learned in all this reading was believe it or not, about campaign finance reform! As an election attorney, I was quite interested to learn about the election procedures and rules in the Roman Republic; what inspired them, and how they worked. I was also interested to see that campaign finance reform is nothing new, it has been around for at least 2,000 years! It has its roots in laws that restricted politicians in ancient Rome from investing in anything other than real property as a pre-condition to… Read More

Assembly session is at 2 PM today. Just a few bills on the file today on our floor. The other big doings coming soon are the State of the State speech tomorrow at precisely 2:45PM in our chamber. [The story for the odd and early start time is that the New Hampshire primary would overshadow the speech or vise versa.] Then comes theGuv’s budget proposal on Jan. 10. The mother of all budget fights is probable this year. The drumbeat for tax increases and the phony excuses for increased fees for service will be steady. And about 1000-1500 more bills will be introduced this first couple months, as well as the 2-year bills that are still lurking. All this coupled with the hyper activity around Prop 93’s term limits extension, that decision by voters that will affect the future of leadership and policy here after Feb 5 will make this a fascinating 2nd year of this session. Hold on to your hat, and wallet. Happy New Year!… Read More