The Orange County Register posted a story on its website earlier today about Governor Schwarzenegger’s visit to part of the 241 completion alignment this past Saturday:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over the weekend quietly toured part of the path where the 16-mile extension of the Foothill (241) Toll Road would go, officials said today.

It was a “fact-finding tour,’’ said Sandy Cooney, a spokesman for the state’s Resources Agency.

“We are looking at the issue,’’ Cooney said. “We are talking to as many people as we can. We are going to maximize the 30 days that we’ve been granted.’’

You can read the whole story here.

No credit was given in the story to the FR Blog, where this story was broken yesterday. Come to think of it, we also scooped them on the Administration’s… Read More

The CATO Institute seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace. Toward that goal, the Institute strives to achieve greater involvement of the intelligent, concerned lay public in questions of policy and the proper role of government.

As CATO’s Director of Tax Policy Studies, Chris Edwards is a top expert on federal and state/local tax and budget issues. Edwards has penned a column entitled, "Busting the State Tax-Revenue Boom."

His piece is centered around the fact that when times are good, and state revenues are on the rise, state budgets grow. But then it becomes increasingly difficult for state’s to… Read More

OC Supervisor (and former Assembly Republican Leader) Bill Campbell spoke at the Orange County Public Affairs Association luncheon today, and gave an overview of major initiatives happening in the county. Bill is also a director of the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency, which operates the 241 tollway, and spent some time briefing attendees on my favorite topic.

Bill confirmed what I’ve been reporting here: that completing the 241 tollway has sparked an internal struggle within the Schwarzenegger Administration between no-growth/environmentalist types like State Parks Director Ruth Coleman and State Park and Recreation Commission Chairman Bobby Shriver, and reasonable people who’d rather not stand in the way of an extensively EIRed tollway that is absolutely in tune with the Governor’s "I Say Build It!" infrastructure war cry.

Bill expressed guarded optimism that the 30-day delay in approving… Read More

Congressman McKeonfrom Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County has been selected Chair of the Education and Workforce Committee. He replaces Boehner who was elected Majority Leader.

Press release below.

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: 202-225-2800

February 8, 2006 Ron Bonjean or Lisa C. Miller

Speaker Hastert Applauds Selection for Education and the Workforce Committee Chair

-Rep. McKeon (R-CA) named Chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee-

(Washington, D.C.) Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) today issued the following statement regarding the Steering Committee’s choice of Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) as the Chairman for the Education and the Workforce Committee:

“The Steering Committee has made a terrific choice in Buck McKeon to take up the gavel for the Education and Workforce Committee. I look forward to having the full House GOP Conference… Read More

The numbers in San Diego’s 5th Supervisorial District are in and thusfar it is brutal. Supervisor Bill Horn is showing around 195k cash on hand, and as reported last week former Assemblyman Bruce Thompson has around 14k cash on hand. Furthermore, it does not appear that Thompson has hired a professional firm to run his campaign but is rather paying a relative for campaign services. There are no payments from Thompson to a fundraiser – and from my calls I’m guessing there is not one on board. These are not the signs of a campaign which is serious about upsetting an entrenched Supervisor. Given the short time period between now and the June primary I don’t see Thompson having the capability of raising the money to be competitive. Instead, at this point, if he really wants to play he is going to have to rely on his own pocketbook, if he has the means, or independent expenditures, which is always a risky strategy.… Read More

I want to give a FlashReport ‘shout-out’ to my newly elected Congressman John Campbell. Campbell won the recent special election in the 47th District in Orange County. He replaced long-time Representative Chris Cox, who was tapped by the President as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Campbell will be a great Congressman, and he is off to a running start with the announcement that he has been appointed, as a freshman, to two key House Committees – the Budget Committee and the Financial Services Committee (and also to the lesser heralded Veterans’ Affairs Committee).

Of course, our first counsel to the newly minted Congressman would be to use his position on the budget committee to ferret our earmarks, pork projects, and seek to REDUCE entitlement spending, and shrink the size of the federal budget, returning control ($$$) back to the people. Well, this is preaching to the choir with Campbell. He’s a great conservative!… Read More

Yesterday the Governor made a few more key appointments that are worthy of being highlighted — two Republicans and a Democrat. Especially notable is first appointment listed below – that of Nicole Rice as a Deputy Appointments Secretary. The FR has heard great things about Rice, and, of course, these positions in the Appointments Unit have a lot of sway over many other future appointees into the administration.

Nicole Rice, 34, of Sacramento, has been appointed deputy appointments secretary for the Office of the Governor. Since 2004, she has served as public affairs representative for Southern California Edison. Prior to that, Rice was a legislative advocate for The Advocacy Group, now known as Strategic Council, from 2002 to 2004. She served as a consultant to the Assembly Republican Caucus from 2000 to 2002. Rice is a… Read More

The City of Salinas passed a sales tax increase in November (Measure V) that was supposed fix the revenue shortage for vital city services. The message of their campaign is that the increase would be the be-all, end-all solution to fund the city including, most famously, the public library system which had been all but closed. An article in this morning’s Monterey Herald stated that the increase will only give the City of Salinas $489 to spend per resident compared to $625 in Watsonville, $692 in Gilroy, and $1,454 in Monterey.

Last year, over $15 million worth of cuts were made to the city budget. Because Measure V funds only amount to approximately $10 million, this means the city can only selectively restore services. Hearings are being held throughout the city by the Measure V Citizen’s Oversight Committee to determine which services are a priority for residents.

Although the tax increase is helping to increase the per resident, baseline funding for the City of S… Read More