CLUB FOR GROWTH SLATE The California Club for Growth is a non-partisan organization that is focused on educating the public about the importance of a limited role for government, and letting voters know which candidates will promote a liberty-based agenda in office, with a particular emphasis on free-market-oriented economic principles.

For the first time, the California Club for Growth has produced a statewide mailing to voters in advance of an election. There is a page of it that advocates for various positions on the election (these various measures undoubtedly financed the mail). But I am pleased that the vast majority of the piece is educational, talking about the very principles that the group espouses.

I was extremely pleased when I was approached by representatives of CCfG to ask if I would author an article in the piece talking about the need to streamline California government and ‘blow up the boxes’ (as Governor Schwarzenegger put it). They also let me put in some verbiage about the FlashReport.… Read More

The first time I voted in an Oakland election, I had to choose between two mayoral candidates who both loudly declared their vegetarianism as a way to attract voters (Jerry Brown and Wilson Riles, Jr). Next year, I get to choose between a socialist and the father of a rapist for the city’s new mayor.

Last month, the ultra-liberal Ron Dellums announced that he intends to run for mayor in Oakland. Dellums, readers will remember, was elected to Congress in 1970 on an anti-Vietnam War agenda. When he arrived in DC, the former Berkeley City Council member set up a Vietnam War crimes exhibit outside his office which featured large posters of atrocities allegedly committed by American soldiers. Later,… Read More

Since taking office as Mayor of Anaheim, former Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle has ushered in what OC Register editorialist Steve Greenhut terms the "Velvet Revolution." Curt has led an unusual Republican-Democrat council coaliton in making the city freedom friendly: decriminalizing sign ordinances, insituting a months-long business tax and home improvement holidays, whereby fees and penalities associated with such transactions with the city are waived. When property owners appear before the city council, they can be confident the presumption is in their favor, not the regulators and NIMBYs.

[Full discolsure time: Curt Pringle is a long-time friend, for whom I worked during his tenure as Speaker. I also do some contract work with the City of Anaheim].

As a resident of Orange who lives a stone’s throw from the Anaheim city line, I have watched these developments with appreciation and envy. It is a gratifying to see, for once, a… Read More

Official Welcome to Three New Contributors!!

I have had such great feedback from readers all around California on the FR BLOG – especially when our contributors write stories from their area. Because of the interest from FR BLOG readers to get more "local" political blogging, we are expanding the regional correspondent ranks of the site, to try ensure plenty of content for all to devour.

The decision about whether and how to expand is a tough one. But in the end, this blog is visited frequently (multiple times a day) mby many, and so there is a responsibility on my part, as the Publisher, not have a measured amount of content. Up to this point, we’ve had great posts, but sometimes we’ll go half a day, or longer without ANY posts. So, here are the reinforcements thus far:

Barry Jantz joins Duane Dichiara as a second correspondent from San Diego. Barry is a long-time Councilman from the East County city of La Mesa. He has been involved heavily with Republican and… Read More

Great news! You can run red lights in the city of Los Angeles without getting caught by those pesky civil rights violating cameras. A big thank you goes out to Republican Councilman Dennis Zine for letting the public know that a yellow lightmeans step on it. See the latest story here.

Two observations are in order. One is that it is wonderful that the LA City bureaucracy moves so slowly. Imagine how bad it would be in LA if the city were too effective?

Second is Councilman Weiss. Give me a break with his "If one person decides not to run a red light, and if one life is saved because of the deterrent effect of the cameras, that’s a good thing,"

Yes Dennis Zine wants people to die. If Weiss wanted to save… Read More

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Phil Kurzner’s use of “Dr. Phil” in his campaign missives makes him sound less like a highly-qualified M.D. running for Insurance Commissioner than a daytime TV personality made famous by dishing out touchy-feely psycho-babble on the Oprah Winfrey Show? I know…this must have been gauged by some consultant (what, to reach out to the Oprah voting bloc?), but no one is actually gonna think he’s that Dr. Phil, are they?

Actually, looking at the two Dr. Phils, there is a striking resemblance.

Note to voters: Vote for the one with the hair.

Realistically, though, there may be strand of brilliance here. In the Republican primary, how many voters will actually know the difference between Phil Kurzner and Steve… Read More

RICO OLLER LOOKS AT TREASURER BID? Ever since last week’s bomb shell news that Bill Simon was dropping his bid for the GOP nomination for Treasurer, the FlashReport has been receiving a steady stream of e-mails and ‘anonymous tips’ on potential candidates to replace him in that primary. There is wide-spread disatisfaction with the remaining candidates in the field. Claude Parrish, a Board of Equalization Member from Southern California (and quite an odd fellow) has failed to ignite any enthusiasm for his campaign with six years to work a district covering a quarter of California’s voters. The other candidate in the primary, Keith Richman, is so far outside of the mainstream of Republican thought that he might almost be dismissed out of hand. His opposition to the Governor’s last budget because it didn’t raise taxes, his opposition to the parental notification initiative, and his strong support for the recent open primary measure are just a few of his extreme positions…

… Read More

I promised you a Big Boy Blog. Something sexier than levees and ranches…then I got emails asking whether I was going to post who is sleeping with who….nope…go to the other blogs for that crap. To be sure, I have fun with my silly titled posts…the goofy music thing…but writing this one has been anything but fun.

There’s nothing fun about adding your name to a growing list of political professionals who sense the next election may be 1994 in reverse. I write this piece from the perspective of having served as the designated “adult” on the ground during George Nethercutt’s victory over then Speaker Tom Foley. I was fortunate to have the mail contract too…but the real fun was being stationed at one of the hottest outposts of the ’94 Revolution.

The genesis of this piece starts with a Fred Barnes story detailing some of Frank Luntz’s latest analysis on voters’ emotions and their affect on vote behavior and also with a piece penned by… Read More