On this quiet Sunday in the midst of the holiday season, we’ll use this space to cover a few "housekeeping" items for the FlashReport:

Christmas Break As is our annual tradition here at the FlashReport, Flash and the "elves" take a break from gathering up news stories for the holidays. The last time the main page will be updated for the year will be Thursday, December 20. We will restart again on January 2. If past experience is any indicator, we’ll still see a fair amount of activity on the blog through this time!

Snap.com on the way out? After a steady drumbeat of complaints about the Snap.com pop-ups on our main page, we’re close to shutting that feature down. So if you really enjoy it, and want us to keep using it, now would be a good time for you to drop us a line and let us know that!… Read More

We’ve had a bad run here in Fresno with our athletic program. Our former basketball coach, Jerry Tarkanian, built a winning program and the world’s 20th busiest arena, but left under NCAA sanctions. His successor, Ray Lopes, violated NCAA rules regarding contacting recruits, and a star player was convicted of murder. Drugs were rampant in the program, and drug tests routinely doctored or ignored. Although football and baseball were spotless, the entire athletic program was under a cloud.

Three longtime female athletic department employees – two coaches and an administrator, were fired under former Athletic Director Scott Johnson. The firings were handled poorly and three gender discrimination lawsuits were filed against the university. All three probably had some merit, but the latest, a $19 million judgement against the university in favor of ousted basketball coach Stacy Johnson – Klein, was excessive.

Now State Senator Dean Florez(D) Bakersfield, best known for his opportunistic, arrogant grandstanding on a variety of issues,has called for the President of CSU Fresno, John Welty to resign. We can debate the merits of his… Read More

What does it mean when of all people on the San Diego City Council, it is Donna Frye that is the articulate voice against bigger government? Well, last week, that is exactly what happenned, as she and colleague Tony Young cast the only two dissenting votes on hiking the city’s hotel-room tax. I read with disappointment that the City Council in San Diego voted 6-2 (with only, of all people, Donna Frye and Tony Young voting no) to create what they call a "tourism marketing district" in San Diego. Let me explain how this works. In the geographic area specificied for the district (in this case, a broad area) there are 175 hotels. The Council, in establishing this district, increased the hotel tax for these businesses (via the bill on their guests) by 2% raising the hotel room tax (called a "transient occupancy tax") to 12.5% from 10.5%. What was the justification for an increase of taxes in the City of San Diego? The theory is that this is a tax that was "asked for" by the hotel industry, as the funds coercively taken… Read More

Here’s the release from the GOP, as well as links to two perspectives on last night’s Salate to Republican Elected Officials/Straw Poll Event. Some interesting comments starting to thread the posts….

"First in the South" Southern California Straw Poll Results

(SAN DIEGO) — Last night the Republican Party of San Diego County held its "first-in-the-south" Southern California Presidential Straw Poll at the Rancho Bernardo Inn Golf Resort and Spa as part of its annual Salute to Republican Elected Officials.

512 Republican enthusiasts of voting age from Orange, Imperial, Riverside and San Diego Counties RSVD’d to participate in the event and the Presidential straw poll.

Balloting systems were provided by Unisyn Voting Solutions, a new state of the art voting systems manufacturer. Official results of the straw poll:

Of those attending, 313 cast ballots.

Mitt… Read More

There couldn’t be a more qualified candidate seeking a seat on the California Republican Party Board of Directors than Steve Baric. Baric, the President of the California Republican Lawyers Association, posseses a combination of traits that will serve the party will in one of its governing board members — Steve is smart, understands politics and the role of political parties, grasps business issues (at the end of the day, the CRP is a major corporation) and is grounded in his freedom-liberty oriented ideology.

Anyone who thought they were alone in their positive opinions of Steve needed only attend what was billed as a modest fundraising event on Wednesday night for Steve’s campaign for CRP Secretary (the position is up at this February’s convention and the incumbent, Jalene Forbis, is termed out). Well over a hundred people came to the event, and Steve’s haul was five-figures! The good news for CRP members is that it means that Steve will have the resources to really communicate his message going into the convention.

While I was unable to make it to Steve’s event (I admit it, I was taking full advantage of free cocktails… Read More

Today the Board of Directors of the California Chamber of Commerce is meeting to discuss, among other things, whether or not the Chamber will take an official position on Proposition 93. As is often talked about here on the FlashReport, Proposition 93 is what we call the "Fabian Nunez Career Politician Extension Act" as this measure was crafted by Nunez, and placed on the ballot by him, as a pretty naked attempt to preserve and consolidate his political power, as Assembly Speaker, for another six years. Some members of the Chamber’s Board may actually want to roll up their sleeves and get into the policy matter of the initiative. But before they do so, they may want to consider the politics of the situation… The Chamber, under the very able and capable leadership of Allan Zaramberg, came out pretty publicly and strongly saying that it would support a change in the state’s legislative term limits as part of a negotiated deal that would include a fair… Read More

Today the Board of Directors of the California Chamber of Commerce is meeting to discuss, among other things, whether or not the Chamber will take an official position on Proposition 93. As is often talked about here on the FlashReport, Proposition 93 is what we call the "Fabian Nunez Career Politician Extension Act" as this measure was crafted by Nunez, and placed on the ballot by him, as a pretty naked attempt to preserve and consolidate his political power, as Assembly Speaker, for another six years. Some members of the Chamber’s Board may actually want to roll up their sleeves and get into the policy matter of the initiative. But before they do so, they may want to consider the politics of the situation… The Chamber, under the very able and capable leadership of Allan Zaramberg, came out pretty publicly and strongly saying that it would support a change in the state’s legislative term limits as part of a negotiated deal that would include a fair… Read More

Two items in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary of interest to California politicos — the first on Duncan Hunter’s son, and his candidacy for dad’s seat… The other about how Lance Armstrong has brought on an aide from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shoppe…

In the Hunt

Regardless of who tops the Republican presidential ticket next year, Rep. Duncan Hunter will have long coattails in at least one congressional race — that’s because the leading candidate to replace the 14-term House Member is also Duncan Hunter, his 30-year-old son.

The elder Mr. Hunter may be floundering in his presidential campaign at 3% in the national polls — his bleak third-quarter fund-raising report showed him with just $200,00 in the bank. But his son is already the instant front-runner based on name recognition and endorsements. Plus, he’s raised a respectable… Read More