There’s plenty not to like in the largest slate of bond measures in the history of the state, coming this November to a ballot near you, with a total price tag of $37 billion. That’s a done deal whether we like it or not.

Knowing this was coming, one GOP state senator, Bob Dutton of Rancho Cucamonga, went into legislative negotiations over the bonds knowing he would take some flak for voting for them. He did so in hopes of getting some provisions to make the bonds more favorable to taxpayers should they pass. In fact, when the process started, the bonds were all lumped together, which would have forced the voters to vote for something like $2.8 billion for subsidized housing in order to get something they actuallywant, like transportation ($19.9 billion). In the end, after the negotiations, the bonds were split into four different questions, so voters could say "yes" to roads (1B) and "no" to subsidized housing (1C).

I say better to let Dutton and a few other Republican leaders negotiate a few taxpayer… Read More

Remember the Reagan Years. They were some good times. Republican tried to appoint fellow Republicans to make a difference. Lynne Cheney was appointed chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The left went crazy. She wanted the endowment not to focus on politicallly correct junk.

California has a California Council for the Humanities. Their mission is much different. They want to "foster understanding" and "Breakdown barriers". in other words: Dont waste time on English, philosophy, language, artand literature we got to connect people and make everything inclusive.

Since that’s the mission maybe the Governor’s appointment makes sense. He announce that he was appointing Democrat Curtis Shepard as a board member. Mr. Shepard who I think I met one at UCLA, was a writer for the The Parent ‘Hood TV series. But most likely he was appointed because of these parts of his bio.

"He currently serves as director of government relations for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center"… Shepard previously…… Read More

As demonstrated by opinion poll after opinion poll, Americans believe that economic mobility – presumably upward – is not simply possible for themselves and their children but also probable. I believe that this firmly held belief is one of the key cultural cords that gives most Americans ‘buy in’ into the system and thus a strong tool for holding a very diverse population together.

In years past, and now, the Democrat Party has attempted to use class warfare as a wedge against the GOP. This strategy ignores one of the basic truths in this nation: if you walk down the street of most places and ask people what class they are, they will invariably say ‘middle class". These are the folks for whom the American Dream is alive and well. These are the folks with a positive outlook on life – who believe with hard work and luck they can get ahead. These are generally not folks who are going to be susceptible to economic or class demagoguery – they want to get rich themselves. And as for the much smaller percentages who identify themselves as upper class or lower class, they already tend to loath the middle class and are fairly… Read More

CRAVictoryTeam.com is place that activists can go to to get materials and data to communicate with GOP voters. They can download ten names in their area and call or walk them. The site has one page flyers on issues and candidates that can be downloaded for use.

After launching the site, we have received great feedback from activists. We’ve also got negative feedback from people that work for or with the Governor’s campaign. They all ask. Why are you doing this?

The answer is the Governor made us do it!

We have to be honest about this. The Governor’s camapign while emphasizing no new taxes is built around billions of bond debt and signing bills that appeal to tree huggers,crossdressers and the nanny staters.

This isn’t exactly agreat wayto recruit GOP volunteers. The State GOP fired their church outreach person and appears to reassigned others involved. Their church outreach can only be described as pray only.

Add to that the Governor’s lack of committment to the entire GOP ticket. First the Governor refused to support Dick Mountjoy, the US Senate candidate. And according to my sources Dick Mountjoy will… Read More

Bonnie Garcia’s campaign is defining Democrat opponent Steve Clute – in their image.

There has been a massive radio and tv/cable buy saturating the district in both english and spanish. Reports put the buy, made through the Riverside County Republican Party, at over $300,000 for the next two weeks or so. That’s a lot of jack.

The ads are rotating positive/negative and are really well done. By all reports, there are a LOT of them, on a LOT of stations.

We’ll see how serious the Dems. are here, as Steve has struggled to raise any significant money. Do they invest now, for absentees, later and miss absentees (dumb), or not really support him at all?

This race may be quickly over, probably is, as Bonnie has done a great job, as always, of totally outflanking her opponent.… Read More

Lots of Things: Last week, I went over the 4 "big things" that will be addressed in Congress this month. This week, I’ll give you a brief rundown on "lots of things" both large and small that have been going on here in Washington during an active period: Border Fence: Yesterday, the House passed a bill to construct 700 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico, by a vote of 283-138. This bill, which I cosponsored, is the first in a series of proposals the House will take up this as part of a substantial border security package. Now we will see if this approach is acceptable to the Senate and the president. … Read More

FlashReport readers can enjoy watching Karen Hanretty, one of our State Capitol Correspondents for the FlashReport, tonight on Hannity and Colmes on the Fox News Channel, which airs tonight at 6 p.m. P.S.T.

Tonight Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes and Karen will be talking about the flap in the news as United States Senator John McCain is taking on the President, and how Colin Powell has jumped into things, weighing in on McCain’s side! (Future "ticket" in the making?)

The issue is the interregation and questioning and prosecution of suspected terrorists. Join me in cheering on our own Karen Hanretty!… Read More

I grew up in Arcadia – GO APACHES (for notable alums, see third row-middle – and see third row, second from left)! Anyways, Arcadia has proven fertile ground for the need for some sort of post-Kelo, eminent domain reform.

Last year, Rusnak (a Mercedes dealer) put a methophorical tax revenue gun to the City’s head, demanding that either the City find them more land, or they’d take their dealership elsewhere. Ignoring for a moment the fact that if their existing lot wasn’t sufficient, perhaps Rusnak shouldn’t have moved there in the first place, the City’s response was to very openly go to neighboring properties – a longtime restaurant, an Elks Lodge, etc – and threaten eminent domain action.

Now, a public outcry, a Council election which resulted in the seating of more property rights favoring Councilmembers, and a backing down by the City later, and… Read More