So far, most of the reporting on my Assemblyman, Mike Villines (R) Clovis, has been a joke. The new Assembly Minority leader, described by some in the media as some kind of over the top conservative, is a Pete Wilson alumnus with a keen eye toward fixing California’s budget catastrophe. It is not hard to see this mess coming – $73 billion in bonds, mixed with a structural (and illegal) state budget deficit of $4-6 billion, and a Governor who wants to insure 6 million Californians without cutting any other programs – is a roiling recipe for the biggest fiscal train wreck in California history.

There are only 46 people in California that can stop this mess from happening – 32 Assembly Republicans and 14 Senate Republicans. It is Villines job to literally save California from this financial meltdown – and keep his Assembly caucus unified.

There are only two conservative principles at work here – and they both have the coveted "centrist" appeal. First is a balanced budget, and second is a firm line against tax increases. Villines and most other elected Republican leaders rightfully understand that… Read More

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took on Federal election campaign finance reform yesterday and stated that the McCain-Feingold law, intended to restrict "soft money" in Congressional elections, has resulted in restricted First Amendment rights and more negative campaigning. McCain-Feingold and its amendments have indeed resulted in some bizarre situations. Here in California, Congressman Darrell Issa was the unfortunate target of a months long FEC administrative action becauseof his support for the recall of former Governor Gray Davis. The FEC objected to the Congressman’s fundraising effort to support collection of recall signatures. The FEC would have limited the Congressman’s ability to raise funds for a state effort by artificially imposing the "Federal" McCain-Feingold limits onhis state electioninvolvment. That case was ultimately dropped, but McCain-Feingold was the pretext, and the FEC hasn’t really completely clarified the rules going forward. The case illustrates that when a California Congressman gets involved in a state race, ballot proposition, or recall, he/she really doesn’t have the same First… Read More

This week the Republican members of the California State Senate and State Assembly will hold a ‘retreat’ at Donald Bren’s posh Island Hotel (formerly the Four Seasons) in Newport Beach, California. This multi-day affair is an annual tradition, and affords a chance for nearly fifty GOP legislators to come together and spend some ‘quality time’ — getting to know one another (over a quarter of these legislators are taking office for the first time next week), and look at their political and policy strategies for the upcoming legislative session and election cycle. If FR readers will recall, on the Thursday after the election, Assembly Republicans caucused for several long hours and emerged with a new leader – Mike Villines of Fresno. We featured a column from Villines on this site the very next day, where the new Assembly Republican Leader talked about his priorities, paramount of which is trying to bring fiscal discipline and sanity to state government.

Because of the way California’s Constitution is worded, it takes a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature to enact a tax increase, or to pass a… Read More

This week the Republican members of the California State Senate and State Assembly will hold a ‘retreat’ at Donald Bren’s posh Island Hotel (formerly the Four Seasons) in Newport Beach, California. This multi-day affair is an annual tradition, and affords a chance for nearly fifty GOP legislators to come together and spend some ‘quality time’ — getting to know one another (over a quarter of these legislators are taking office for the first time next week), and look at their political and policy strategies for the upcoming legislative session and election cycle. If FR readers will recall, on the Thursday after the election, Assembly Republicans caucused for several long hours and emerged with a new leader – Mike Villines of Fresno. We featured a column from Villines on this site the very next day, where the new Assembly Republican Leader talked about his priorities, paramount of which is trying to bring fiscal discipline and sanity to state government.

Because of the way California’s Constitution is worded, it takes a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature to enact a tax increase, or to pass a… Read More

Welcome aboard to these 2 legislators… from the far North Californialegislator. [2ndAssy. district Jon, not 4th] Ray’s comments and insight are always welcome and interesting, especially since we’ll be missing those floor speeches, such as speech #2 on Spending, or the Partridge in A Pear Tree speech about all bills creatingthe:5 new commissions, 4 new task forces, 3 new studies, 2 new agencies, and yes, Ray isstill a legislator til Nov 30 at midnight. [did you know that there is NO Assembly and only half a Senate from then until Dec 4 at noon? Go do something that hasn’t been legislated or regulatedagainst during that 3 1/2 days!!!]

And Anthony, don’t worry about putting foot in mouth on the FR, or on the floor. Since you’re a freshman, I as a senior am just looking for an excuse to do a Toby Keith with my size 12 boots…it’s the American Way. I’m just most disturbed that my picture is moving lower and lower down the blog author list….Jon?

Welcome guys, it’s a lot of fun and will be more so with you on board.… Read More

Check out the Contra Costa Time’s interesting article on the California Teacher Association’s efforts to get the courts to allow the union to use teacher mailboxes at school for campaign literature. The CTA argues that the school administrators are violating their right to free speech in limiting the material the union can distribute through the school mailboxes. CTA’s lawyer tells the CoCo Times, “It’s our soapbox and we maintain that we can say anything on that soapbox."

In the past, districts have argued that the union is not allowed to circulate election material through the mailboxes, only union-related information. However, the union cleverly points out that the schools have used the mailboxes to campaign for local school bond measures. In the past the courts have sided with school district officials, but it appears that the tide may be turning. While I agree with district officials that the mailboxes… Read More

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." – Douglas Adams.

I think you could safely substitute the word "Legislature" for "Universe" in the preceding quote and have an equally articulate description of most citizens’ sentiment. However one feels about the Legislature though, it is a reality; and I, for one, am thrilled to be a part of it.

When Jon asked me to join the FR team, I was a little hesitant because, as many of you will soon discover, I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth. THIS has been widely regarded asa reason to say as little as possible. But Jon assured me that my role, at least in the beginning, would be to simply relay my experiences asa member of the Freshmen class of the Legislature. Hopefully I will be able to do this while holding true to Burt Southard’s sagest of sage advice "Do No Harm".

I have much to say on the subject of the experiences of a new member. Even in the short amount of time that has occurred between the General Election and today, much of interest has… Read More

This being my first post as San Bernardino County correspondent for the FlashReport, I would like to thank our Publisher, Jon Fleishman, for the opportunity to report on matters pertaining to this growing Republican region. I would also like to acknowledge my predecessor, Brad Mitzelfelt, whose outstanding writing, thoughtful insight and well-researched analysis served this readership well for over a year.

Now to the point, which is that in San Bernardino County the local GOP is making significant inroads into traditional Democrat Party bastions. Consider the statewide results: San Bernardino County (which voted for Bill Clinton twice in the 1990s and was carried by Gray Davis in 1998) delivered 203,000 votes (61 %) for Arnold, while Tom McClintock, Tony Strickland, Steve Poizner and Bruce McPherson all won here.

Compared to a reliably Republican county like Orange, the new San Bernardino County clearly is demonstrating its conservative leanings with numbers like these. Much credit goes to my boss, San Bernardino County Republican Party Chairman Bill Postmus, along with his fantastic Headquarters staff, including Diane Fedele, who was regional director for… Read More