Former Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte is an early riser, and we’ve already chatted this morning. He said that from telephone calls, e-mails and text messages with his former colleagues, he has not seen Senate Republicans this united in many years. This morning I also spoke with the current Senate Republican Leader, Dick Ackerman, who told me that he expects all fifteen members of his caucus to vote for an amendment to the currently proposed budget that eliminates California’s structural deficit.

Ackerman has given an overview of some of the proposals by Senate Republicans in an … Read More

Did you know that the budget being pushed by the Democrats (the one approved in the Assembly) includes SIX MILLION DOLLARDS TO TRAIN UNION ACTIVISTS AND CREATE PRO-UNION PROPAGANDA? It’s true. Fortunately, among other items being slated for jettison from this proposed budget by Senate Republicans is particularly noxious item.

Read more about it here.… Read More

It’s 9:14am and the Senate Chambers are a ghost town. The much awaited introduction of the Senate Republican budget reforms were not brought up this morning. Senate President Perata made some announcement about the State Department of Finance needing to review this or that (blah, blah), and "presto!" — the Senate is rececessed for 24 hours.

How many times have the Democrats brought up items and the Republicans have no time to respond? Well, I guess with the majority comes the ability to do this — get the info from your political opponents and then delay so you can have time to prepare your response.

I guess I don’t blame Perata, but it is a bit anti-climactic.… Read More

Former Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte is an early riser, and we’ve already chatted this morning. He said that from telephone calls, e-mails and text messages with his former colleagues, he has not seen Senate Republicans this united in many years. This morning I also spoke with the current Senate Republican Leader, Dick Ackerman, who told me that he expects all fifteen members of his caucus to vote for an amendment to the currently proposed budget that eliminates California’s structural deficit.

Ackerman has given an overview of some of the proposals by Senate Republicans in an exclusive piece for the FlashReport this morning. But as soon as they are officially released, look for the FR to post up all of the detailed reforms and cuts being proposed by Senate Republicans to begin a process of reigning in some of the excessive spending in state government, with a particular eye on some of the more egregious examples of misprioritized spending by Democrats. If the watchers of Capitol politics are looking for telltale signs of Senate GOP unity, you need… Read More

The main page (www.flashreport.org) will be updated around 8:30am, but I wanted to give the early morning blog readers early access to our lead column this morning, which is my State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, Senate Republicans Meet the Budget Challenge. It goes over the proposal coming from Senate Republicans this morning.… Read More

Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani made a campaign stop at the Coffee Depot in Riverside earlier today, and loyal FR reader Allen Wilson, who serves as Chairman of Rudy’s efforts in the City of Diamond Bar, was there. He sent over this account of the event, that I thought we would share with FR readers…

The coffee house was huge, not your conventional Starbucks, but big enough to get enough supporters to fill in to hear the former New York City Mayor running for President. The room was packed! Shoulder to Shoulder of supporters for Rudy! Roughly 100 was in… Read More

Here is an exclusive commentary from State Senator Roy Ashburn for FR readers…

Senate Republicans – Standing United Last week fifteen Republican State Senators faced down a political freight train and brought it to a grinding halt. By remaining united just fifteen of the one hundred and twenty California Legislators were able to draw a line in the sand and say “No” to an irresponsible State budget. To compare our ordeal to that of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae might be a bit of a stretch, but there have been times this week when it certainly felt like it. … Read More

Yesterday there were a few MSM articles generated because the State Bar’s "Jennie" Commision gave an unfavorable rating to one of Governor Schwarzenegger’s new judicial appointments, conservative Republican Elia Pirozzi. In response to this rating by the bar, the FR reached out to Steve Baric, the President of the California Republican Lawyers Association for some commentary. As with all attorneys, brevity is not Steve’s longsuit. But he pens a compelling post below…

On its website, the California State Bar states that the mission of the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE) of the State Bar of California is to assist the Governor in the judicial selection process and thereby to promote a California judiciary of quality and integrity by providing independent, comprehensive, accurate, and fair evaluations of candidates for judicial appointment and nomination. A noble mission. However, in practice the above is… Read More