Today I am pleased to announce that the FlashReport is welcoming its first contributor from the California State Senate with addition of Senator Jim Battin to this weblog! We really couldn’t be more pleased that Senator Battin will be joining our two Assemblymen/Bloggers Doug LaMalfa and Anthony Adams. A conservative Republican, Jim Battin understands policy, politics and the importance of emerging communication technologies such as the internet and weblogs to help enhance and guide the discussions that take place about what is happening in Sacramento. I have known Battin for a long time, and have always been impressed with his ability to cut-through to the essence of issues, and of course we all admire anyone engaged in the serious business of legislating who can also inject humor into the debate. Senator Battin’s first post appears below this one, and you can click the little "i" that appears next to his name on his post (or on the blog roll on the left sidebar of the… Read More

Steven Maviglio, publisher of the Democrat blog California Majority Report, recently posted a diary entry on the subject of the Democrat Party bench of candidates in the 41st Congressional District (see map below), a seat held by longtime Republican Congressman Jerry Lewis. Maviglio speculates as to whom would be a better candidate to bear his party’s standard in a hypothetical (fantasy) special election.

This is all speculation. Currently, there is no special election and there are no active candidates seeking the Democratic Party nomination for 41st District Congressional seat for the 2008 elections.

I don’t know Mr. Maviglio personally. However, people who I know and trust, appreciate Steven for his tenacious communications abilities and the professionalism he exhibits when “spinning” the media on behalf of the political figures for whom he has worked. (Among others, Maviglio has worked for Governor Gray Davis and Phil Angelides).… Read More

Calpeek is one of the "must subscribe" political newsletters in California. Dick Rosengarten is always a credible source and has a stable of consultants and political leaders on both sides of the aisle. You can find out more here.

Calpeek’sDecember 11,2006 edition has the following article about the CRP turnout operation and what others think. This echo’s what I hear almost daily from consultants, candidates, party activists, and GOPcounty chairs. May won’t speak up for fear of the Governor’s political operation. (You’ll know it isn’t my writing bcause the grammar and speliing is pretty good).

One part of the story isn’t correct. We still don’t have a full accounting!

DOUBTS STILL LINGER ABOUT $20 MILLION CALIF. REPUBLICAN PARTY GOTV EFFORT THAT FLOPPED

I opened my newspaper today (yes, I actually do still read them) to find an article stating that no less than15 bills had been introduced already for the upcoming legislative session responding to the governor’s call on health care. Fifteen – wow – and that’s just the beginning of the liberal storm brewing.

As the Democrats compete with each other to prove who can be the most "comprehensive" (translation: cover the most people – even if they already have insurance – and don’t need the government to be in more control of their lives), and who can be the most "compassionate" (translation: spend the most tax dollars); we will see more bills.

Two things that stood out in the article I read were:

(1) that the new Chairman of Assembly Health has already started pushing tax increases to pay for what could cost $12 Billion (I believe that is a lowball number to be sure). "Who pays?" Chairman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) asked. "If you put out a comprehensive… Read More

Former Assemblyman Tom Umberg will have more than just name identification and the ability to raise funds for the upcoming special election in Orange County for the supervisorial seat vacated on Lou Correa’s recent election to the 34th State Senate District. What Umberg also has is a little money left over from his own losing race against Correa in the Senate primary — about $45,000 cash on hand, according to his most recent campaign disclosures, most of which he will likely be able to use in the supervisorial race should he decide to run in the special election. Though the Orange County campaign ordinance as originally enacted bans transfers to a county candidate committee from other candidate committees, an opinion of the California Attorney General issued in March, 2002 [85 Op. Atty. Gen. Cal.4] determined that the Orange County ban was unconstitutional as applied to "intra-candidate" transfers (for example, a transfer of surplus campaign funds from a State Senate campaign account to a county… Read More

Activists David Hernandez and Ted Hayes filed a lawsuit challenging Measure R. Successfully passed by the voters, Measure R loosened term limits for Los Angeles City Council Members AND tightened control on lobbyists. The City Attorney had warned the council that such a measure combined to many issues to be constitutional. A previous lawsuit was dropped, but Hernandez and Hayes picked up the baton. You can see there website here.… Read More

Capitol Resource Institute received the following letter from a trustee in the Antelope Valley Union High School District. You can click here to see previous posts about the High School production of "Cabaret" that included students in lingerie. BTW: I have been sent some pictures if you are an adult and your wife thinks okay. I’ll email you a link.

Here is the letter

"Thank you for your note of concern. There was an article in today’s newspaper that clarifies the high school district’s involvement and only action we could take.

“Please understand that this is not a high school or district sponsored event. There are high school students, who are enrolled in a drama class at Antelope Valley College (with parental consent) that are participating in this production. The High School District has no control over the student involvement in this production.… Read More

TIME TO CONSIDER MAKING CALI A CAUCUS STATE? There is an adage that says, "Even a broken clock is right twice a day." Los Angeles Times writer George Skelton has been consistently producing his column on Golden State politics for a long, long time. To be honest, most of the time, while I think Skelton brings up pertinent topics, I rarely agree with his ideas or his conclusions. Actually, if I did, it would probably really worry George, since he hardly sees himself as a darling of conservatives. That having been said, today in his column, George Skelton floats an idea that has a lot of merit and is worth a healthy discussion. Skelton throws out the idea that perhaps California should consider becoming a caucus state in terms of Presidential elections. What does this mean? It means that instead of voters going to the polls in the primary, instead voters of each political party would be invited to attend an actual meeting in their area where interested members of each party would show up and vote for delegates to their party’s national convention, pledged to certain… Read More