This post was first attempted yesterday from an airport and didn’t quite work.

As I sit here at LAX reading the news of a new GOP poll showing Brian Bilbray losing to his liberal challenger I can only think one thing – good.

I’ve been warning of a GOP calamity since December, 2004, and its real simple: spending, immigration, lack of leadership on reforming entitlements, and a reactive rather than proactive approach to everything. This is the work product produced by "safe" seats where no one has to compete. Its called CRAP.

If Bilbray loses the only additional thing we need to create wholesale change in the GOP is a few bruising primary challenges to our own members. Then maybe we can dust off the pictures of Reagan, pull out the playbook from 1994 and start winning again on principle

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GOP Assemblyman Keith Richman wants to take on Democrat Attorney General Bill Lockyer for State Treasurer. Interesting, then, that on all of the bonds, he cast the same ‘aye’ votes that Lockyer would have cast. I thought I knew a lot of jargon, but Katie Levinson at the Schwarzenegger Campaign office has me beat. Do you know what it means to ‘run traps’? Now I do. Maybe we’ll need to ask her for a ‘jargon of the week’ column. Last week, I stood with Eric Roach outside of the big fancy doors to the now-vacant 50th Congressional District office on Capitol Hill. Eric didn’t walk into it on that trip. But I hope he walks into it in January. Speaking of Washington, D.C., Republican Congressman Richard Pombo gets a big TY for lining up White House Tour tix for my Aunt and Uncle. Their lame Democratic Congressman totally let them down. Pombo has a GOP challenger in June — who supporter Kerry for President. LOL. John Howard, the managing editor over … Read More

Like me, Karen Hanretty (who appeared on once, not twice not three times, but FOUR times this week on the FOX News Channel – way to go!) read a piece in the Los Angeles Times, Governer says Borders are Vulnerable, and got her hopes up. In the piece, the Governor says, "I think that all of this comes down to one thing: The federal government has failed the people of America in a terrible way, in a disastrous way, when it comes to this immigration situation."

Since the Governor has come out in support of a guest worker (read: amnesty) program to legitimize the residency of those who snuck/smuggled/crept/lied/broke the law to come into America, I am trying to figure out if the Governor thinks that the federal government has failed because all of these foreign nationals are here at all? Or does he mean that they have failed because they all should have been allowed to walk into this country ligitimately?

Where is the outrage and desire to deal with the lawbreakers? How can we be a country of laws if we advocate that we excuse citizens of… Read More

I was going to make this post a congratulations to Congressman John Campbell and Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa for joining the stable of FlashReport correspondents. Then, I realized. Before the addition of these two gentlemen to the FR ranks, Jon Fleischman’s 15 bloggers included only two elected legislative officials … Mike Spence and yours truly.

I hadn’t much thought about this prior, but of all the illustrious talent blog-posting on this site … names like Schnur and Whalen, Ross and Probolsky, the Professor and Maryanne … only two were held in such high esteem that we could be called HONORABLE. And, even though it was only two of us, no one was apparently clamoring for more "electeds" to post … were they? Mike and I were obviously more than adequate. Then, Jon goes off and "hires" two more.

Come on, what can a congressional representative and a state legislator add to the FlashReport that a councilmember and a school board member can’t? I mean, besides being one of only 435 and 80, in their respective houses, as representatives forthe most powerful nation in the world and arguably the… Read More

On this Saturday, I’ve decided to pen a very short column. I have a lot of thinking to do. As a conservative activist and voter in California, I am struggling to find my enthusiasm. Can you help me find it? As I reflect on where things are right now: I am struggling to show enthusiasm for the President. His embrace and seeming comfort with the growth in domestic spending is unnerving. Add to this my belief that trying to create a democracy in Iraq will end with us never being able to leave that place, else there will be a quick return to a religious hegemony. I will never forgive the President for signing the McCain-Feingold ‘attack on free speech’ campaign law. Thank goodness for those SCOTUS picks, but while that affirms I voted right, it doesn’t instill enthusiasm. I am struggling to show enthusiasm for our Republican Congress. With spending up in record amounts and the ‘conservative’ House Leadership passionately defending the status quo, it’s easy to get disappointed. I keep waiting for up and down votes on real reductions in the size and scope in government, to allow us all to focus… Read More

On this Saturday, I’ve decided to pen a very short column. I have a lot of thinking to do. As a conservative activist and voter in California, I am struggling to find my enthusiasm. Can you help me find it? As I reflect on where things are right now: I am struggling to show enthusiasm for the President. His embrace and seeming comfort with the growth in domestic spending is unnerving. Add to this my belief that trying to create a democracy in Iraq will end with us never being able to leave that place, else there will be a quick return to a religious hegemony. I will never forgive the President for signing the McCain-Feingold ‘attack on free speech’ campaign law. Thank goodness for those SCOTUS picks, but while that affirms I voted right, it doesn’t instill enthusiasm. I am struggling to show enthusiasm for our Republican Congress. With spending up in record amounts and the ‘conservative’ House Leadership passionately defending the status quo, it’s easy to get disappointed. I keep waiting for up and down votes on real reductions in the size and scope in government, to allow us all to focus… Read More

The FR got a hot tip that turned out to be very true.

I just got off of the phone with a staffer in the office of Democratic Assemblyman Juan Arambula (pictured) who confirmed that his boss has been told to pack his things — he is being moved to a new office, "5126", said the staffer. I asked him if he knew who occupied that office now, and he said, "Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee."

Have you been to Blakeslee’s office? It’s tiny.

Arambula last night had some very serious concerns about the Infrastructure Bond Package being forced through the legislature. (I hear there were issues surrounding unfairness to county governments, among other concerns). Anyways, he did not provide "aye" votes for ANY of the bond measures.

Sounds to me like the Speaker is punishing a member of his caucus for voting his conscience. I sure hope that all of his Democratic colleagues denounce this… Read More

Federal lobbyist and former Congressman Brian Bilbray, the Republican, is LOSING to liberal school teacher Francine Busby, the Democrat in a “safe” GOP seat as conservatives nationally, and in this coastal San Diego County district are fed up with ‘big government’ Republicanism.

I just got off of the phone with Bill Hauf. The overwhelming majority of FR readers will be unfamiliar with who that is – Hauf is one of the conservative candidates who ran in the large field to replace ‘Duke’ Cunningham in Congress. Hauf, who ran a principled campaign on the issues, didn’t fare as well as he would have liked. But he was proud that nearly 70% of the votes that went to Republicans were cast for conservative/reform candidates. Of course, Brian Bilbray who is a liberal-moderate Republican, who one with about 15% of the vote, now has to consolidate Republicans and decline-to-state voters behind him for the special election run-off on June 6th.

A lot of… Read More