Assemblywoman Mimi Walters has been a true heroine in the never-ending battle between the property rights that form the bedrock of our liberties, and the unfathomable enchantment of local governments with usiong eminent domain as an economic development tool.

Mimi has taken leadership of the Protect Our Homes eminent domain initiative, which already has $1.5 million in the bank. The paid signatures are being collected right now to place Protect Our Homes on the November 2006 ballot.

Here’s the message from Mimi:

Dear Friend,

I have some fantastic… Read More

A few weeks ago I gave the 65th Assembly candidate Brenda Salas some unsolicited advice right here on the Flash Blog. My advice to the former Democrat and Rep. Joe Baca staff member was to increase her credentials in the issue of illegal immigration. When she worked for Baca she was tied to one of the most pro illegal immigrant rights members of the Congress. That issue alone was doing damage to her campaign from an insider Republican perspective. The issue of illegal immigration is going to be the major one in the June primary. I don’t know if Salas took my advice directly, but she did increase her anti illegal immigration and conservative credentials with the endorsements of former State Senator and now U.S. Senate candidate Dick Mountjoy and conservative stalwart State Senator and Lt. Gov Candidate Tom McClintock. As most recall Mountjoy was the original author of Prop 187 in the mid 90’s If theses two well know figures have given Salas their blessing, she may have overcome her Baca days. However, I am sure her opponent Jim Ayres will not let the issue go.

… Read More

In Los Angeles, many newspaper weeklies have great stories about issues and candidates. While many take a leftist slant, they can be insightful and useful. LA’s City Beat has an article about the four challengers that filed against Sheriff Lee Baca. See article here. Some of the insights on Baca’s problems are discussed well. Again the real question is will there be enough money to bring Baca down? See my previous posts on this race here.… Read More

It seems like there are an inordinate number of Sheriff’s races in California this year — many sheriffs choosing to retire, others being challenged for one reason or another. Just off the top of my head, I can think of Fresno, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Orange, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, Yuba, San Joaquin and Amador.

In Sacramento County, it looked like Under-sheriff John McGinness was going to have no opposition in replacing his current boss Lou Blanas. I admire a person who wants to take on this job because it wont be easy. Newly incorporated cities that have been contracting with the Sheriff’s department are starting to build their own police departments so the next Sheriff will likely have to cut patrols during his tenure and the county has come under fire by the Sacramento Bee for it’s handling of the jail.

McGinness will square off against Bret Daniels, the former Mayor of Citrus Height and former sheriff’s deputy who stepped down in November to rebuild his career in law enforcement. It seems that while on vacation in Arizona he flashed a badge in order t get a police officer to look up a friend’s… Read More

Every now and then, one of my readers asks me how I manage my time. How do I do all of the things that are required to get the FlashReport up and running each day, and also work at a full time job? (For those readers who have not tuned up by biography page, I work as a Public Information Officer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.)

This seems like as good a time as any to tell you about how it all works. First and foremost, it simply wouldn’t be possible to do the FR each day if it were not for the fine website development team at Cloudspace, the firm that helped me to "stand-up" this website.

There are really two aspects to updating the FR. The first happens each and every morning. I am up at the wee hours (well, 5:45ish or so) and that is when I sift through over 60 webpages looking for relevant items on California politics. As I do this, thanks to the innovative software designed by Cloudspace,… Read More

Every now and then, one of my readers asks me how I manage my time. How do I do all of the things that are required to get the FlashReport up and running each day, and also work at a full time job? (For those readers who have not tuned up by biography page, I work as a Public Information Officer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.)

This seems like as good a time as any to tell you about how it all works. First and foremost, it simply wouldn’t be possible to do the FR each day if it were not for the fine website development team at Cloudspace, the firm that helped me to "stand-up" this website.

There are really two aspects to updating the FR. The first happens each and every morning. I am up at the wee hours (well, 5:45ish or so) and that is when I sift through over 60 webpages looking for relevant items on California politics. As I do this, thanks to the innovative software designed by Cloudspace,… Read More

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the efforts of GOP councilwoman Ginny Lambert in the Democratic city of Hawthorne. See it here. The LA Times got around to it today. See that here.

She has now successfully added Hawthorne to list of California Cities that have adopted a display featuring the National Motto "in God We Trust". See it here.This effort started in Bakersfield and has spread. Apparently, many "blue" cities don’t have a problem with these type of cultural issues. GOP take a lesson.… Read More

Today I encourage you to take a few minutes and read the columns of both of today’s Golden Pen award winning pieces — both from veteran political columnists at the Sacramento Bee. Dan Walters pens a piece where he compares the political challenges that face Arnold Schwarzenegger today with those that faces former Governor Pete Wilson back in 1994 when he was running for re-election, facing daunting poll numbers. Wilson was able to flip things around by taking a bold stand with the California electorate on the immigration issue. Walters theorizes that the ability is there for Governor Schwarzenegger to do the same. Walters’ colleague, Dan Weintraub (pictured), formalizes his thoughts, looking back on the attempt by the Governor to put together a massive bond package. He correctly points out the major flaw — which is that the Democrats in the legislature will work to… Read More