In case you want a public forum to comment on my Winners and Losers of the GOP Convention column, this is the place to do it. Click through to the link, then let us know what you think!… Read More

PLESCIA SET TO TAKE REINS FROM MCCARTHY Thanks to a number of conversations with members of the Assembly Republican Caucus yesterday, the FlashReport is pleased to congratulation San Diego Assemblyman George Plescia on becoming the new Assembly Republican Leader! Over a week ago, the FR reported that AR Leader Kevin McCarthy was making ‘what if’ phone calls to members of the caucus, engaging them in ‘theoretical’ discussions about how long he might stay on as leader if he were to run for Congress. These calls, of course, were our first real hint that 14-term incumbent Congressman Bill Thomas of Bakersfield was seriously considering retiring from the House. This set into motion a behind-the-scenes scramble between various GOP legislators to see who would become the leader whenever McCarthy moved on, whether in days or months. By my reckoning,… Read More

PLESCIA SET TO TAKE REINS FROM MCCARTHY Thanks to a number of conversations with members of the Assembly Republican Caucus yesterday, the FlashReport is pleased to congratulation San Diego Assemblyman George Plescia on becoming the new Assembly Republican Leader! Over a week ago, the FR reported that AR Leader Kevin McCarthy was making ‘what if’ phone calls to members of the caucus, engaging them in ‘theoretical’ discussions about how long he might stay on as leader if he were to run for Congress. These calls, of course, were our first real hint that 14-term incumbent Congressman Bill Thomas of Bakersfield was seriously considering retiring from the House. This set into motion a behind-the-scenes scramble between various GOP legislators to see who would become the leader whenever McCarthy moved on, whether in days or months. By my reckoning,… Read More

Democrat Santa Ana City Councilwoman and OC Deputy District Attorney Claudia Alvarez is running for the 69th Assembly District. Her campaign just released the results of a new poll conducted Feb. 22-26 among 402 likely Democratic Primary voters. The survey conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research shows Alvarez leading opponent (council colleague) Jose Solorio by a margin of 50% to 25%. The other potential rival de la Libertad fails to break the 10% mark according to the poll.

The poll memo says: Alvarez’s support in the district is broad-based. Her support transcends geographic and ethnic lines as she leads among every ethnic group, and she attracts solid support throughout the district. In fact she is even in a statistical tie with Solorio in his own city council district (Santa Ana’s 1st City Council District).

BALLOT TEST

Jon Fleischman, FR’s publisher, has asked me to do a recap of some of the goings on at the CRA convention. The first thing one notices about the CRA Convention in Bakersfield was how successful it was. We had a great turnout out all three days. The Salute to Don Rogers, the McClintock Lunch and the Tom Tancredo Dinner all required more tables to be put up. The Bakersfield Republican Assembly did a great job. The funniest thing to me was the a news report in the Bakersfield area talking about the convention, then shifted to Kern County/ Bill Thomas political consultant Cathy Abernathy talking about how the CRA was irrelevant. I had to laugh. Every local official from State Senator Ashburn, Assemblyman Bill Maize, The Sheriff, the Mayor, Several City council members, Former Assemblyman Wyman and Harvey all came by. As did…drum roll please..Assembly GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy. Not too bad … Read More

This just in courtesy of FR friend Chris Reed who is on the editorial team down at the San Diego Union-Tribune — Reed spoke today with the esteemed Nathan Barankin (another friend), Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s spokesman, who confirmed that the Attorney General has punted the investigation into Rob Reiner (you know, where he used his official state commission post to launch a multi-million dollar spending spree on pro-preschool ads at the same time that he was collecting signatures for a universal preschool ballot measure).

Where did he punt it to? That’s the GOOD NEWS. He has referred the case over to his colleague,… Read More

We’ve been following attempts by federal lobbyist, and former Member of Congress Brian Bilbray (pictured) to characterize himself as something other than a lobbyist in his ballot title. Bilbray, who has taken in hundreds of thousands of dollars in feels over the last six plus years lobbying for many interest filed a ballot title of Immigration Reform Advocate because one of his client (about 1/3 of his business) is a federal immigration reform group. The Secretary of State balked at this, and settled on Immigration Reform Consultant.

The matter has been taken to court by a voter in the district who believes that this settled-upon language still hides Bilbray’s profession as a lobbyist… Read More

The leaders and delegates of the state’s most influential conservative Republican volunteer organization, the California Republican Assembly, met in Bakersfield over the weekend. Bakersfield, of course, is in the center of Bill Thomas’ Congressional District.

In light of the news late last week that the Congressman was going to hold a press conference this morning to announce plans for his future (which have turned out to be welcome news of his retirement), the delegates to the CRA’s annual convention passed a resolution concerning Bill Thomas which is attached for your perusal.

** An an important note – disdain and dislike for Bill Thomas is widespread. It is notable that this particular resolution was authored by Brandon Powers, who in… Read More