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

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

Update on 50th, or "Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated"… As a follow up to my post the other day about the rumors floating that Alan Uke has stopped spending his hard earned cash, and that conservatives are encouraging Bill Morrow out so as to not split the vote … I can say confidently that neither are true, just the expected trash floated in a race like this. Uke has no intention of being in this thing any way but big until the end, and — in fact — paid a sizable media buy within the last few days. As for Morrow, when asked about the swirl, hegavea genuine laugh and said, “If I’m being pressured to bow out, nobody’s talked to me yet."

Just WHEN did the U.S. Attorney’s office know about Cunningham?… The San Diego Reader’s Matt Potterhas picked up on the Roll Call story about then-U.S. Attorney Gregory Vega knowing… Read More

There is no doubt that the New Majority organization has been a major financial supporter to Arnold Schwarzenegger — to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. The NM is a Republican fundraising group made up primary of GOPers that are moderate on fiscal and social issues. I’ve gotten to know many of the leaders of this group and found them to be primarily corporate executives with a yearning to give back through their support of pro-business candidates. This website actually got off of the ground, in part, with support from some NM folks.

Anyways, Michael Blood is an ‘ace’ writer for the Associated Press, and he has penned a profile on the group, and its close relationship with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’ll print the first part below, and a link to the rest at the bottom:

… Read More