I just hung up the phone with Chuck Devore who was the first Assemblyman, after George Plescia to endore Senator Bill Morrow for Congress. Devore’s endorsement is important in a variety of ways, but I’m not going to vomit the reasons to the readers of this august site. No way dude.

I would urge you to check out the ’80’s cult hit "Drivers Seat" by the obscure band Sniffin The Tears because not only is Bill Morrow now in the drivers seat, his opponents should be tearing up now that conservatives like Devore don’t have to choose between the two leading conservatives. Morrow’s now the consensus conservative.

Like most conservatives, I like Mark Wyland not only as the future State Senator from the seat currently held by Morrow, but as a… Read More

Firstoff, let me say how happy I am to participate on the FlashReport as its newly-coined "political law" correspondent. Look for my musings on the intersection of politics and the law; two fields I like to think I know a little about (though apparently not enough to make it on any of Adam’s "Top 10" lists). I am joining what is already an outstanding team of opinion leaders here in California. To share this blog page with the likes of Dan Schnur and my good friends Matt Cunningham, Adam Probolsky and yes, even Barry Jantz, is an honor. Of course, I would not be my lawyerly self if I failed to mention that nothing I post is or should be construed as legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by anything I post. With that caveat, off to the races . . .

As FlashReport publisher Jon Fleischman appropriately pointed out in his commentary today (link), the CRLA’s endorsement… Read More

Popular north San Diego Assemblyman Mark Wyland has opted NOT to run for the seat of retiring GOP Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Wyland, instead, will seek the open seat of termed-out State Senator Bill Morrow.

This is ‘hot off of the press’ from regular FlashReport San Diego Correspondent Duane Dichiara, who is Wyland’s Chief of Staff. Dichiara, who is having a busy day I am sure, called me long enough to say that Wyland has decided to run for State Senate. I’m sure we’ll hear more from Dichiara later on the FR blog.

As for instant analysis from me, here is something basic, leaving the rest Dichiara, and presumably FR blogger Joe Justin (who is running Morrow’s campaign)…

The field of candidates for the safe Republican Congressional seat is still a crowded one, including State Senator Bill Morrow and former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, who are generally considered the conservative candidates — and former Congressman Brian Bilbray and businessman Alan… Read More

On December 6, unless something extraordinary happens, Senator John Campbell will be elected the new congressman for California’s 48th District. But once he’s elected, half-way through the 109th Congress, what’s next?

First, he will immediately come to Washington to be sworn in by the Speaker as the 435th most powerful member of Congress and join the freshman class of the 109th Congress. He will assume Chris Cox’s spacious suite in 2402 Rayburn until the end of 2006 when he will select an office commensurate with his seniority which will likely bump him over to Longworth or Cannon (the usual first stop for freshman).

The House Republican Steering Committee (the committee on committees) will either be convened for a special meeting to determine Campbell’s committee assignments or it will be done more informally via email or phone to the 28 members of the Steering Committee who have a total of 33 votes (Speaker gets 5, Majority Leader has 2, one for each other).… Read More

District 3 San Diego Councilmember Toni Atkins on Fridayfiled a Form 501 Candidate Intention to raise money to run for the 4th District County Board of Supervisors, setting up what would be a significant showdown against incumbent Sup Ron Roberts next year.

Roberts no longer being in the hunt for an executive position at Centre City Development Corporation (see Duane Dichiara’s prior post) has scuttled Atkins’ hope for a vacancy on the Board of Sups. Yet, it is clear that her recent tenure as acting mayor in the wake of Dick Murphy’s resignation has bolstered her confidence in taking on Roberts.In recent days, Atkins indicated no interest in being city council presidentin favor of Scott Peters, thus ensuring the time needed for a campaign.

Add to this … the clear bet that… Read More

While reading OC Blog‘s indispensable daily news digest yesterday, I noticed a Daily Pilot item detailing how the City of Newport Beach had launched a blog to seek public input and reaction on a proposal to build resort on a city-owned parcel called Marinapark. According to the story, the blog was a flop because, at press time, it hadn’t generated a single comment nearly three weeks after launching:

[Assistant City Manager Dave] Kiff said the idea of the blog is to make sure people have plenty of opportunity for input on Marinapark ideas before the City Council discusses the suggestions early next year.

"Some of the criticism for the Sutherland proposal was that the public … didn’t get as many chances as they would have liked to see the other concepts that had come forward up to… Read More

ITS ALL ABOUT THE LAWYERS… Well, the new candidate on the block for State Attorney General on the GOP side, Pierre Prosper, is finding out that making his case to the GOP faithful will be a tough one. The front-runner for the Republican nomination, Chuck Poochigian, starts with a seemingly insurmountable advantage, whether you look at endorsements (Poochigian enjoys unanimous endorsements from all of the GOP legislators, and a host of others), he had a tremendous amount of grassroots support acquired from years of toiling in the vineyards for causes dear to the GOP faithful, he has raised over $3 million with around $2.5 million cash-on-hand, and has ace political guru Ken Khachigan to make sure those funds are spend wisely. All of that said, it is certainly the case that Poochigian’s substantial support was garnered in the vacuum of an unopposed… Read More

From the Californian Riverside County Sales Tax Revenues Rise

By: CHRIS BAGLEY – Staff Writer Retail sales have continued to grow in most local communities, but a number of new shopping centers have helped unincorporated areas such as Wildomar grow much faster than their city counterparts, according to a consultant’s report. Unincorporated areas of Riverside County generated $10.2 million in sales-tax revenue in the second quarter, a 34 percent gain from the second quarter of 2004, according to MBIA, a firm that does financial consulting for governments.

Yes the sound of hammers and nail guns are heard every day in Southwest Riverside County. Private capital comes in, business is created, consumers consume and wow, government has more money. Capitalism, more places should try it.

Now local government with more money is not always a good thing. The good news is that most of the local elected types here are of the conservative sort. They understand… Read More