Mike Genest and I are indeed friends, and I appreciate his response.Hisresponse saidthat I said his piece in the Modesto Bee was an ad hominem attack. I most certainly did not say that. What I did say was that his piece, which ran in Senator Denham’s hometown newspaper, mentioned Senator Denham by name, and criticize Senate Republicans for not voting for the budget, was "naive to the fact that the Democrats were trying to recall Denham." This type of article does indeed aid and abet the recall attempt of the Democrats, and while it may not be "ad hominem" per se, it certainly, and actively, promotes the political goals of the Democrats, and undermines the policy goals of the Republicans.

It is not enough to say that "I am only reciting the facts" when there is an active attempt to remove a friend and colleague from office. At this time, the Republicans in the administration (the few that are left), must actively seek to protect and promote Legislative Republicans by seeking to resolve the budget impasse and pressing a Republican policy agenda, not by justifying the current budget.

In his article, Genest quotes… Read More

In response to Senator Ray Haynes’ post below, I recieved this response from Mike Genest, the Director of Finance for Governor Schwarzeneger, who is mentioned in Haynes’ post…

Ronald Reagan’s famed "11th Commandment" was to never speak ill of another Republican. However, my friend Ray Haynes has posted that my opinion piece in today’s Modesto Bee, which responded to some of the criticisms that Senator Jeff Denham made of the budget now before the Senate, was intended as an ad hominem attack. … Read More

I know we have a policy here at the FlashReport of not reposting press releases that we receive. Mainly because when we do that, we just get a billion more press releases. But as Captain Barbosa said in Pirates of Carribean, our policy is is more what you’d call "guidelines" than actual rules. Today Senate Republicans put out a release that I actually thought was worth passing along to you as it was written (there is some work on our part, to activate links and such). Well, here it is… Can You Hear Us Now? A Review (Again!) of the Senate Republican Budget Concerns Since before July 20th when the Democrats forced… Read More

While much to-do was made over the recent non-binding resolution passed by the California Republican Party Board of Directors reaffirming our current party rules that say you must be a registered Republican vote cast a ballot in the Presidential primary, that did not mean that the issue was resolved. Former California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim had been making a case for submitting a formal change in our rules, to be considered at the State GOP’s Fall Convention in September, to allow non-Republicans to vote in the Republican Primary. Well, the deadline for submitting such a change for our September Convention has now come and gone, and Mr. Sundheim did not introduce such a proposal, nor did any other party member. As such, any question marks hovering over this issue are now gone. So all Republican Presidential campaigns can focus their message on GOP voters for our primary (and, of course, on efforts to take non-GOP supporters and get them to re-register to the party of Ronald… Read More

As FR readers know, California Congressman John Campbell has become a leader for fiscal responsibility in the House of Representatives, bravely taking on the issue of egregious earmarks. We couldn’t be more proud of him, and take as a point of pride that he is a contributor and blogger on this website.

This obsession with wasteful pork has infected Congressman in a terrible way. The Club for Growth has released a startling and information "RePork" Card (which you can preview here) — next week we’ll be walking FR readers through the results of how our California Delegation voted on fifty separate votes to remove from Appropriations Bills some of the most outrageous wasteful spending you have ever seen.

In the meantime, we invite you to take about six minutes to watch Congressman Campbell’s appearance last night on the FoxsNews Channel’s Hannity and Colmes program (h/t to CfG for uploading the video)… … Read More

Today, in the Modesto Bee, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Jose Mercury News, the Governor and his staff have taken to attacking Republicans, and specifically Jeff Denham, in the budget fight. This is a huge mistake.

Dan Dunmoyer, one of the Governor’s staff, a former Nolanista, and a good solid conservative, as well as Mike Genest, the State’s Finance Director, who was the head of the Republican Senate fiscal staff under Jim Brulte, and my advisor when I sat as the lone Republican on the Senate Health and Human Services Budget Subcommitte, wrote articles for the Modesto Bee and the LA Times. The Genest article is the most disturbing, since it mentions Denham by name, and appears to be naive to the fact that the Democrats are trying to recall Denham. Genest, whom I like and respect, in his zeal to promote the Governor’s plan, is putting Denham at severe risk. That is a most dangerous game, and one that a Republican Governor would never play. Not even Pete Wilson, in the time when he called any Republican legislator who would not vote for his tax increase f—ing irrelevant, did anything publically to put any of them at risk. The move… Read More

Have you ever heard that expression, "politics makes for strange bed fellows?"

Yesterday an organization called Taxpayers for Protecting Public Safety held a press conference in the State Capitol to announce that they have filed litigation to stop the State of California from issuing billions of dollars in bonds for prison construction. A perusal of this organization’s website shows that their preferred route of dealing with the state’s prison overcrowding issues are not those to which I would subscribe (new sentencing commission, paroling those on life sentences, yadda yadda).

But looking past the poor public policy direction that this group would like to take in the area of having a penal system that is tough on criminals and protects Californians, I will say that the legal proceedings in which they have engaged seem to be quite meritorious.

Specifically, this organization has filed suit saying that the massive Prison Bond package that the legislature passed earlier this year was illegal because they were not approved by a… Read More

Have you ever heard that expression, "politics makes for strange bed fellows?"

Yesterday an organization called Taxpayers for Protecting Public Safety held a press conference in the State Capitol to announce that they have filed litigation to stop the State of California from issuing billions of dollars in bonds for prison construction. A perusal of this organization’s website shows that their preferred route of dealing with the state’s prison overcrowding issues are not those to which I would subscribe (new sentencing commission, paroling those on life sentences, yadda yadda).

But looking past the poor public policy direction that this group would like to take in the area of having a penal system that is tough on criminals and protects Californians, I will say that the legal proceedings in which they have engaged seem to be quite meritorious.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More