Ask any Orange County political insider or elected official what reporter they talk to at the LA Times and they will shrug and say no one. It is painfully clear that the LA Times has abandoned any hope of having a viable Orange County operation. They canceled their Orange County section years ago and rarely print oped submissions regarding OC public policy.

I did a poll in the city of Garden Grove a couple years back that showed the LA Times was the fourth most popular local news source among resident after the OC Register, the local Garden Grove Journal, and even the local Channel 3. The rest of Orange County would probably show similar results.

The Times’ last respected OC-based journalist left several months ago. Jean Pasco was the dean of the OC press corps when she packed it in to join the staff of the Orange County Clerk-Recorder.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

Ask any Orange County political insider or elected official what reporter they talk to at the LA Times and they will shrug and say no one. It is painfully clear that the LA Times has abandoned any hope of having a viable Orange County operation. They canceled their Orange County section years ago and rarely print oped submissions regarding OC public policy.

I did a poll in the city of Garden Grove a couple years back that showed the LA Times was the fourth most popular local news source among resident after the OC Register, the local Garden Grove Journal, and even the local Channel 3. The rest of Orange County would probably show similar results.

The Times’ last respected OC-based journalist left several months ago. Jean Pasco was the dean of the OC press corps when she packed it in to join the staff of the Orange County Clerk-Recorder.

The LA Times is so out of touch with Orange County that controversy surrounding the paper itself is about the only thing that gets them any attention.

Both the OC Sheriff and District Attorney’s offices and have had black-out policies on and off with the Times and specific reporters for years. I… Read More

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night I hate to go and leave this pretty site

Blogging on the FlashReport has been great fun the past few months and has provided a useful forum for my political observations, passions and general rantings.

Jon Fleischman has really established an impressive conservative website that carries a great deal of political influence in California. The Democrats have yet to measure up to the standard he set or provide an ideological alternative that is as current or newsworthy.

That said, I’m passing the baton to the growing list of new bloggers Jon has brought on board in order to begin a new project with the ABC affiliate in Sacramento at News10.net.

The new blog I’m writing for is called “Behind the Ballot” and features myself and Robin Swanson, a Democratic strategist who, like me, appears regularly on the Fox News Channel. I encourage you to check our new venturewhich will go live later tonight. Tomorrow morning, Robin and I will appear on News 10’s morning show (at the ghastly hour of 6 AM) to promo… Read More

San Bernardino County Republican Party Chairman Bill Postmus today announced the Republican Central Committee’s endorsements for 62 candidates and measures on the November 7 ballot.

Click here to see the list.

"We received requests from more than 80 candidates, an unprecedented number," Postmus said. "Every year our party is getting more and more successful at helping Republicans get elected to local office, and the demand for our support has grown every election."

Those candidates endorsed by the county party are included in its voter contact programs, including direct mail, telephone calls, and precinct walks. Since 2000, 85% of GOP-endorsed candidates have won their respective races. Thanks in part to the GOP’s voter contact programs and heavy Get-Out-The-Vote efforts, cities such as Fontana and Ontario, traditionally Democrat strongholds, have been swung to the Republican column.… Read More

Democrat elected officials and candidates just slay me sometimes. They consider themselves intellectually and morally superior than all of society, yet their political strategies are just idiotic. Now Phil Angelides, probably the worst Statewide candidate ever fielded by the Democrats, has finally found his issue – the Iraq war! Yes! That will do it! What genius!

Memo to Democrats: you ran on the Iraq war in 2004 and lost. You are running on the Iraq war in 2006 and aregoing to lose again.

The President’s poll numbers, in my judgment, are not about any one issue. His 9-11 tribute speeches, falling gas prices, and hysterical rhetoric from the left are all important, but not the main reason his approval ratings are up. Here’s the reason:

He’s on OFFENSE. Republicans are so desperate to see their elected officials on offense, rather than the usual backpedaling, that the base gets very fired up when we go on the attack. If we stay on offense through election day, the election cycle will go well.

GOP prospects across the country rise and fall beginning with what is… Read More

According to the Department of Insurance’s website, since 2002, when Garamendi was re-elected, the average insurance premium for homeowners has risen thirty-two percent. Today, California’s homeowners are paying nearly a $1000 ($919), when in 2002 they paid an average of $698. Meanwhile, the number of homes insured has increased by 200,000 every year. This isn’t due to Garamendi, it’s due to the burgeoning economy, particularly the growth in the housing market. But that’s not the whole story. Since 2002, more than fifty homeowners insurance companies have been driven out of the California market (from 166 in 2002 to 113 today).

The fact is John Garamendi has reigned over an inflexible market that is burdened by regulatory abuse. According to an Orange County Register editorial and Garamendi’s own website, he says he’s had “insurance companies in the crosshairs.” Yet, privately, Garamendi’s acted as insurance companies’… Read More

According to the Department of Insurance’s website, since 2002, when Garamendi was re-elected, the average insurance premium for homeowners has risen thirty-two percent. Today, California’s homeowners are paying nearly a $1000 ($919), when in 2002 they paid an average of $698. Meanwhile, the number of homes insured has increased by 200,000 every year. This isn’t due to Garamendi, it’s due to the burgeoning economy, particularly the growth in the housing market. But that’s not the whole story. Since 2002, more than fifty homeowners insurance companies have been driven out of the California market (from 166 in 2002 to 113 today). I have attached a .pdf file at the bottom that provides statistics.

The fact is John Garamendi has reigned over an inflexible market that is burdened by regulatory abuse. According to an Orange County Register editorial and Garamendi’s own website, he says he’s had “insurance companies in the… Read More

I usually don’t read Bill Bradley, and frankly neither of us could pick each other out of a line-up. Up until the last 10 minutes or so, I had no idea what his background was.

But I happened to check in on www.rtumble.com and noticed Bradley’s comments about the decline of partisan registration and partisanship in general. In short, he states the real fact that Decline to State Voters have increased in number, and then attributes to them a series of ideological beliefs.

Here is the problem: it’s actually much, much more complicated than that.

Here’s what I’ve gathered from my polling and voter identification of DTS and American Independent voters (they don’t think George Wallace… they think they are ‘independent voters’): there are distinct subgroups you can’t ‘average’ together unless you want to screw up voter contact.

In short, and I’m looking at data (both polling and voter ID and this is average) from 5 Assembly Districts, a Congressional District, and several cities, about 1/3 of this Independent bloc are closet Republicans who pretty much vote the ticket.… Read More