Thanks to FR friend Karen Hanretty for tipping us off this morning to a great post on the KQED Capitol Notes Blog site authored by John Myers that previews a in-depth article on former California Finance Director Donna Arduin. You can read Myers intro post right here, or skip it and read about Arduin in Duke Magazine here. (Arduin is a Duke University graduate).

We here at the FlashReport are big fans of Donna’s. She has written for this site, and was a Director of Finance that was undeniably focused on rooting waste and largesse out of state government spending.

Arduin was Governor Schwarzenegger’s first Finance Director, and now is in consulting firm with reknowed economist Arthur Laffer.… Read More

As avid readers of this blog know, I am not a big fan of reproducing canned press releases up onto this site (though I personally receive over 100 press releases each and every day from various candidates and causes).

Every once in a while, though, I get one that is noteworthy. Usually it is NOT because of the "content" of the release, but because it represents something novel in political tactics. So I am passing this one along which happens to be from the Schwarzenegger campaign and it is about Phil Angelides making claims that don’t bear out when you check the facts.

Check it out — kudos to whomever at TeamArnold thought up this one!

Of course, while you are reading it, you may as well wonder what other lies Angelides is out there spinning. This at a time when he Angelides is trying to say that his opponent is a liar — right. Look in the mirror, Phil! (Sorry for the awkward formatting on some of the links below — moving the release to the FR format was not flawless.)… Read More

We will devote quite a bit of space in the FlashReport in the coming weeks to articulating why the five "big bonds" measures on the November ballot — Propositions 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 84 — should all be rejected by California voters. You’ve heard me make the case over and over if you are a regular reader, but if you are new to this site, I can sum up the main over-arching reasons to reject all of this borrowing in just a few paragraphs: For decades, the liberals who control the state legislature, along with a string of Governors who aided them with budget signatures, have neglected infrastructure investment in California. Instead, these liberals have taken the state budget (which is now well over $100 billion annually) and have put much of that money into their lefty social engineering programs and into fattening the state bureaucracy. Lack of proper funding for infrastructure has also been exacerbated because of initiative and ballot measures that have been passed by voters over the years that create ‘locked in’ formulas for spending – usually because the voters are taking into their own hands… Read More

The Pasadena School District has been a mess in recent months. With budget shortages due to declining enrollment (Who knew? When schools are bad, parents opt to find other options for their kids’ education). The Superintendent recently left. There have been ongoing talks of numerous school site closings.

With all that, and the general union/lefty tilt of the town, it was pleasantly surprising to read that they’re considering Charter Schools as part of their solution.… Read More

Steve Poizner, the Republican nominee andfrontrunner inthe statewide race for Insurance Commissioner, warmed up for today’s debate with Democrat Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante during a campaign swing through Southern California Tuesday. He met with several groups of fellow business leaders before returning north for today’s debate on the Bay Area’s CBS5 TV.

One of Poizner’sstopswas at aluncheon hosted by San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus in Victorville. The high desert town is part of a booming valleywith a population approaching 400,000 that’s known as one of the state’s last so-called affordable housing markets near a major urban center. It’s an area where employers struggle with automobile, homeowners and workers’ compensation insurance rates to protect their margins in what’s considered a business-friendly region within a business-hostile state. Many in the audience were either in the… Read More

We will devote quite a bit of space in the FlashReport in the coming weeks to articulating why the five "big bonds" measures on the November ballot — Propositions 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 84 — should all be rejected by California voters. You’ve heard me make the case over and over if you are a regular reader, but if you are new to this site, I can sum up the main over-arching reasons to reject all of this borrowing in just a few paragraphs: For decades, the liberals who control the state legislature, along with a string of Governors who aided them with budget signatures, have neglected infrastructure investment in California. Instead, these liberals have taken the state budget (which is now well over $100 billion annually) and have put much of that money into their lefty social engineering programs and into fattening the state bureaucracy. Lack of proper funding for infrastructure has also been exacerbated because of initiative and ballot measures that have been passed by voters over the years that create ‘locked in’ formulas for spending – usually because the voters are taking into their own hands… Read More

The Lincoln Club of Fresno County goes up on KMJ 580 tomorrow with one of the more significant ad buys of the campaign season. Our goal is to drive turnout and traffic to our web page, where voters can download our ballot recommendations, listen to our ad campaign or request a membership application.

In the first ad, we urge voter participation for the sake of electing Chuck Poochigian Attorney General, Tom McClintock Lt. Governor, Cal Minor for Fresno County Sheriff and Scott Miller for Fresno City Council District 1. We also mention our opposition to the tax increases on the ballot.

The second ad, to air starting next week, will highlight our opposition to the bonds, and will feature Assemblyman Mike Villines. We haven’t worked out the third ad yet.

All of this is due to our loyal, dues paying membership and our webmaster, Fresno City Councilman Jerry Duncan, whom we greatly appreciate. I hope you get a chance to visit our simple website and take a look.

With the down ballot races… Read More

If you don’t already, you should pay frequent visits over to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Politics Blog. There is often times good intel to be gathered there. I was just on the site and was reading the latest post by ace reporter Carla Marinucci, Schwarzenegger ducks web cast of his meeting with Chronicle editorial board.

The reason for my bringing attention to Marinucci’s post isn’t really about the main thrust of her piece (which in essence is that Schwarzenegger doesn’t want his pending editorial board meeting video or audio-taped – the Chronicle is taping them and then putting them up for the public to see). I was actually more intregued by something that Marinucci mentions at the very bottom of the post:

Only the race… Read More