In a decision that has dark implications for all advocacy groups that distribute information about Congressional votes to the public, last week the Federal Election Commission voted in favor of an enforcement action resulting in a $28,000 fine to the Sierra Club, to settle charges regarding a voter guide distributed in Florida in 2004 by the Club. The voter guide purported to inform the public of the comparative environmental records of President Bushand Senator John Kerry in the Presidential race, and also the candidates for U.S. Senate in Florida.

The voter guide predictablywas slantedin favor of Kerry, but it stuck to specific Congressional legislation and the actual position of the candidates on such legislation. It did not contain the traditional words of "express advocacy" as defined by the historic Buckley v. Valeo case, such as "vote for," "vote against," or "support," which generally mark the difference between acceptable "issue advocacy," and regulated "express advocacy" during a campaign. Instead, the voter guides reported on the issues, depicted natural scenes, and then… Read More

There is virtually no quieter week in political news coverage, barring a major incident, than the week of Thanksgiving right after a general election. While some political reporters take some deserved time off right after the election, virtually every one of them takes this week completely off. There are some exceptions, and there will be some special interest stories that show up that were penned last week — but expect to see a lot of very short news summaries from us this week. Of course, the FlashReport will be published throughout the holiday week, including Thanksgiving Day. One advantage to slow news days is that it takes less time to pull together them main page. Actually, we are using this quiet holiday week to work with a group of new contributors who will be joining our FR Blog — spicing up things for the upcoming year! This is a great opportunity for us to ask for FR reader feedback. It was a great election season for the website — our first election year as a website. By all accounts, we seemed to have a notable impact on California politics. Is there anything that you would see changed on the… Read More

Some of you will probably recall that I entertained a hypothetical notion weeks before Election Day. I asked, ‘What Happens in The 19th District When McClintock Wins?‘ At the time, it looked as if the highly-respected conservative Senator from the Central Coast would be our next Lieutenant Governor and vacate his State Senate seat prompting an open primary election in the early months of 2007. I also presumed my friend and former Assemblyman Tony Stickland would be our next Controller, as he was outpacing Democrat BOE member John Chiang both in fundraising and the polls. Those predictions proved faulty after the unions noticed Angelides was a lost cause and began reinvesting massive amounts of money in IEs for the down ticket Democrats. However, the Republicans’ demise on Election Day only slightly augments and temporarily postpones the question I asked back on October 14th.

What happens in the 19th and 24th Districts When McClintock and Gallegly retire?

Yes, rumors out of the Central Coast are that State… Read More

Some of you will probably recall that I entertained a hypothetical notion weeks before Election Day. I asked, ‘What Happens in The 19th District When McClintock Wins?‘ At the time, it looked as if the highly-respected conservative Senator from the Central Coast would be our next Lieutenant Governor and vacate his State Senate seat prompting an open primary election in the early months of 2007. I also presumed my friend and former Assemblyman Tony Stickland would be our next Controller, as he was outpacing Democrat BOE member John Chiang both in fundraising and the polls. Those predictions proved faulty after the unions noticed Angelides was a lost cause and began reinvesting massive amounts of money in IEs for the down ticket Democrats. However, the Republicans’ demise on Election Day only slightly augments and temporarily postpones the question I asked back on October 14th.

What happens in the 19th and 24th Districts When McClintock and Gallegly retire?

Yes, rumors out of the Central Coast are that State… Read More

Where the heck is McGonigle Canyon?… Not many in SD had heard of this spot a couple of weeks ago, until reports that hundreds of illegals had turned it into a shanty-town, complete with no running water, basic toilet facilities (read: the ground), and even visiting prostitutes. Apparently, local officials have been ignoring it for some time, and the owners of the property have been turning a blind eye as well. A local official was even heard to say, "It’s private property, there’s nothing we can do about it."

Excuse me? Local government can’t do anything about health and safety violations, probable vermin, illegal encampments, sub-standard "housing," prostitution…need I say more? Since when did local bureaucrats become Libertarians?

Apparently, in a politically correct world, anything goes.

Well,… Read More

According to the Sec of State website, the SD 34 was updated Saturday at 5:15 to show that Lou Correa added a few more votes to his lead over Lynn Daucher. Up from 783 to, now, 821.

Lou 55234 Lynn 54413 lead821

Otto Bade 899… Read More

I’m in San Francisco for the weekend. I ran into FR friend Jim Dimartini from Stanislaus County (he’s on the Board of Supervisors there) in front of the Ghiraradelli Chocolate Ice Cream Parlor in Fishermens Wharf.

He shared with me that everyone “back home” is waiting on remaining ballots to be counted to see who will win a seat on the Board of Supervisors there – two Republicans battled it out and less than 30 votes separate the candidates…

With the growing numbers of absentee voters, unless Registrars of Voters around the state significantly beef up operations, this kind of waiting in close races will be the norm…… Read More

Opportunity knocks for the “Reborn Conservatism” touted by Minority Leader John Boehner and his Whip Roy Blunt. There are huge appropriations bills coming up in a lame-duck session before the majority transitions into the minority.

Here’s a grading scale: A: The Appropriations are weeded through, eliminating programs that reflect a fat, bloaded bureaucracy – and all 12,000 or so earmarks are removed.

GRADE: B minus — 12,000 or so earmarks removed, but much fat still in Appropriations bills.

GRADE: D — Republicans pass the buck, pass resolutions to keep the government open, and let the new Democrat Majority deal with it. This would mean failing to use the opportunity to prove their new rhetoric.

GRADE: F — Republicans are all talk and approve the massive spending packages that include the earmarks.

The significance of an A grade, or even the B- are important. You see, one of the major underlying factors that has led the GOP to growing government has been the influnce of the lobbyists (called “K Street” because so many lobbyist have offices there). Each of those thousands of… Read More