On the November Ballot, California voters are going to have a chance to make a loud statement about spending. On the ballot are nine different ballot measures that together would increase government spending in the Golden State by epic proportions. Today we are featuring the FlashReport’s 2006 General Election Ballot Proposition Voter Guide where we have tapped Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard (pictured to the right) to assist us in walking FR readers through our recommendations for the November ballot measures. Of course, we strongly recommend casting nine strong NO votes against the NINE SPENDING MEASURES on the ballot — Propositions 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 84, 86, 87, 88, and 89. If these measures are all rejected by California voters, and we send a strong team of Republicans, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom… Read More

The California League of Cities is hiring a "public affairs fund raiser" according to an ad they placed in this week’s Calpeek. You can see the job description here.

In general there is nothing wrong with special interests raising funds to promote their cause–their unique interests. However, so-called quasi-government organizations such as the League should perhaps be held to a different standard.

In fact, the League plays a major role in not just influencing government from the outside looking in like other lobby groups that represent doctors or labor, the League actually makes public policy and decides who is appointed to various major government bodies.

Take Orange County for example where it is the League of Cities chapter that selects what local elected officials will serve in many of our… Read More

Let’s say you buy a bank-auctionedpiece of property in a slightly remote area with a junker of a house sitting on it, a fixer-upper at best. You put a significant amount of money and personal physical labor into it so as to make it your home, not simply a house. After the County Assessor shows up and completes a re-assessment of the property, your tax bill goes up significantly. You pay it.As time goes by, you pay all your property taxes as they progressively increase based on the limiting provisions of Prop. 13.

Years go by and you lose the home in a terrible fire. Through your long re-building process it becomes apparent the County Assessor failed all that time ago in adequately measuring the square footage of your then-house, thus under-assessing you in property taxes all those years.

A typical bureaucratic mess, resulting in a nightmare for you. Should you have known the professional county appraisers couldn’t handle a tape measure or do simple math? Would you have known such a thing? Your property tax bill doesn’t show your square footage.After all, the county did increase your assessment based on a physical inspection. They are… Read More

Let’s say you buy a bank-auctionedpiece of property in a slightly remote area with a junker of a house sitting on it, a fixer-upper at best. You put a significant amount of money and personal physical labor into it so as to make it your home, not simply a house. After the County Assessor shows up and completes a re-assessment of the property, your tax bill goes up significantly. You pay it.As time goes by, you pay all your property taxes as they progressively increase based on the limiting provisions of Prop. 13.

Years go by and you lose the home in a terrible fire. Through your long re-building process it becomes apparent the County Assessor failed all that time ago in adequately measuring the square footage of your then-house, thus under-assessing you in property taxes all those years.

A typical bureaucratic mess, resulting in a nightmare for you. Should you have known the professional county appraisers couldn’t handle a tape measure or do simple math? Would you have known such a thing? Your property tax bill doesn’t show your square footage.After all, the county did increase your assessment based on a physical inspection. They are… Read More

**Update 11am Sunday: Turns out that after I posted this via blackberry that I quickly discovered that the outgoing DA, Grover Trask, was not on hand — which probably also explains why DA-Elect Pacheco was also not there. I did have a nice chat, though, with the County Assessor…**

I won’t steal the thunder of FR’s Riverside County Correspondent, Barry Nestande, by giving away too many details…okay maybe I might…

But Barry and I are both at the Cabazon Resort just west of Palm Springs where Riverside County GOP Chairman Jeff Miller is presiding over an amazing "Liberty Dinner" event for the county GOP.

The list of elected Republican officeholders tonight for this event that is a tribute to retiring legislators Russ Bogh, Ray Haynes and retiring District Attorney Grover Trask.

Besides Haynes and Bogh, present here tonight are their successors Kevin Jeffries and Paul Cook (the incoming DA Rod Pacheco is noticably absent), Congresswoman Mary… Read More

Should only lawyers and judges vote on judges? That is exactly what LA’s legal newspaper the Metropolitan New-Enterprise editorialized yesterday. The paper is really mad at CRA for opposing Joyce Kennard and the GOP folks that filed the lawsuit challenging Jerry Brown’s status as a candidate for Attorney General. Eventually the editorial does criticize Democrats for "partisanship." This is their conclusion.

"All of this points to the need to revamp judicial elections in California, removing themfrompartisan political influences by restricting voting to those “admitted to practice”—that is, judges and lawyers."

Yes, that would solve the problem; The Bar Associations has never rated conservatives poorly because of a partisan bias. We should let lawyers control the laws of the land. The unlearned in law just aren’t bright enough to make such weighty decisions. Those that are practicing ambulance chasers are much more qualified to decide who should sit on… Read More

There is a situation brewing in the theme-park centered City of Anaheim that really deserves much more attention than it has been getting on the FlashReport. We’ll try to rectify that in the coming week, but let’s give FR readers the 30,000 foot view. Anaheim is one of Orange County’s largest cities, and is on the national map because it is the home to Walt Disney’s original theme part, Disneyland. It’s home to the Angels, the Mighty Ducks, and to former Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle, who is the city’s Republican Mayor — coasting to re-election next month. Trying to follow the politics of the Anaheim City Council isn’t too easy, and I am not really going to delve into that in this short summary. Suffice it to say that there is one candidate who is running for City Council that is being talked about not only in the coffee shops and around the water coolers of Anaheim — candidate Bill Dalati is quickly becoming a topic of conversation nationally. Why would local Anaheim politics make the national scene? Well, Bill Dalati is a controversial figure, it turns out. A local… Read More

There is a situation brewing in the theme-park centered City of Anaheim that really deserves much more attention than it has been getting on the FlashReport. We’ll try to rectify that in the coming week, but let’s give FR readers the 30,000 foot view. Anaheim is one of Orange County’s largest cities, and is on the national map because it is the home to Walt Disney’s original theme part, Disneyland. It’s home to the Angels, the Mighty Ducks, and to former Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle, who is the city’s Republican Mayor — coasting to re-election next month. Trying to follow the politics of the Anaheim City Council isn’t too easy, and I am not really going to delve into that in this short summary. Suffice it to say that there is one candidate who is running for City Council that is being talked about not only in the coffee shops and around the water coolers of Anaheim — candidate Bill Dalati is quickly becoming a topic of conversation nationally. … Read More