San Bernardino County will once again see an array of hard-fought contests on the primary ballot in both parties, as well as for a non-partisan county post. The non-partisan post of which I speak is the race for county assessor. We previously reported on these pages incumbent Assessor Don Williamson’s intention to retire in the wake of Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus’ (picturedleft)announcement for the post. However, at the close of filing Friday, the situation changed as the incumbent Williamson filed for reelection. In this race,Williamson (who has almost no money) has serious problems. (Full disclosure: I’m Postmus’ chief of staff.) San Bernardino County taxpayers had to pay $65,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by a county employee who repeatedly had to rebuff Williamson’s advances. The San Bernardino County Sun newspaper once said Williamson "long ago carried politics to a new level of buffoonery," and that… Read More

Last Friday in the mid-afternoon, things went a little crazy as I received a call from a close source letting me know that 10-term Republican Congressman Elton Gallegly (pictured to the left) was retiring. Of course this is big news because Members of Congress tend to serve for a long time, and since almost all are in non-competitive districts, they serve as long as they want. One of them retiring is big news, but we actually have two, with Congressman Bill Thomas of Bakersfield also leaving at the end of this year. However, it would be unfair to compare the retirement of Gallegly with that of Thomas. While I am no fan of Thomas, he is retiring the right way, and Gallegly… Well, here is the tale as best as I’ve been able to reconstruct it by talking to various sources and contacts…

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There are discussions taking place right now in Sacramento about how the state is going to pay for infrastructure investment. Assembly Republicans have all come together, unified behind the idea that California does not have an income shortage – but a spending problem. Golden State taxpayers already pay enough to have a lean, effective state government AND a healthy investment of current general fund dollars into basic infrasctructure investment. Assemblyman Bob Huff, a fine conservative, makes the case for pay-as-you-go in this outstanding column, and after reading it, you will agree that any responsible infrastructure plan should have this kind of component…

The governor, the Senate and the Assembly are all talking about fixing infrastructure. This is… Read More

Former Yugoslav President and war criminal Slobodan Milosevic has died.

That means career public defender and Democrat Teresa Snodgrass-Bennett — recently appointed to the San Bernardino County Superior Court by Governor Schwarzenegger — will never have the opportunity to defend him at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

You see, according to her bio, Ms. Snodgrass-Bennett takes particularly pride in being qualified to defend war criminals:

I’m curious how Judge Snodgrass would have defended Milosevic. Last Year, she claimed that her client,… Read More

This is the first post that I’ve made up…I copped out and did a google looking for a song title that said what I wanted to say about my friend Roy Ashburn and his decision not to seek a… Read More

This just came across my e-mail from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association – all FR readers should know that this group is the single most effective organization watching out for the rights of taxpayers in Sacramento. A ‘must read’ memo… (if you want to get their e-mails, subscribe here…) FROM THE HOWARD JARVIS TAXPAYERS ASSOCIATION EMERGENCY NOTICE!!! BOND DEAL CHOCK FULL OF PORK!!! PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR!!! … Read More

In a previous commentary, I went into a lot of detail about unprecedented growth that we have seen in the size and scope of the federal government SINCE Republicans recaptured control of Congress in 1994 — SINCE we replaced Bill Clinton with George W. Bush. The article I have chosen to highlight as the main link on today’s issue of the FlashReport is from the San Francisco Chronicle, and it is titled, "GOP is in a ‘deep funk’ over Bush spending" – and the article is definitely worth a read. A lot of times, I toss away articles from the main stream media (MSM) that try to tell a story of Republicans upset with Republicans, taking it as yet another opportunity for those in the media to divide Republicans. But this article is on point. I know that Republicans are upset and frustrated about ‘comfort’ and ‘enthusiasm’ that our GOP leaders seem to have… Read More

In a previous commentary, I went into a lot of detail about unprecedented growth that we have seen in the size and scope of the federal government SINCE Republicans recaptured control of Congress in 1994 — SINCE we replaced Bill Clinton with George W. Bush. The article I have chosen to highlight as the main link on today’s issue of the FlashReport is from the San Francisco Chronicle, and it is titled, "GOP is in a ‘deep funk’ over Bush spending" – and the article is definitely worth a read. A lot of times, I toss away articles from the main stream media (MSM) that try to tell a story of Republicans upset with Republicans, taking it as yet another opportunity for those in the media to divide Republicans. But this article is on point. I know that Republicans are upset and frustrated about ‘comfort’ and ‘enthusiasm’ that our GOP leaders seem to have in… Read More