Republican Kevin Faulconer won yesterday’s San Diego Mayoral special election because he was the better candidate, with a superior team, and a more compelling message.

When Democrat Bob Filner took the mayor’s office in 2012, he was the beneficiary of Barack Obama’s 22-point California landslide. In becoming mayor, he broke a long line of successive Republican mayors in America’s Finest City.

When Filner was forced to resign in the midst of scandal, electing a Republican successor was far from certain. After all, Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans within the city limits, and organized labor can access vast pools of campaign funding if the national unions chose to engage, which they did.

Yet it’s Republican Kevin Faulconer, not Democrat David Alvarez, who will be moving into the mayor’s office. How did it happen?

The Faulconer team recognized the need to build a broad and diverse coalition that went well beyond the traditional Republican base. With deep roots in the community, Faulconer succeeded in earning the support of prominent Democrats like former San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre. Faulconer succeeded in growing his… Read More

The economy is picking up steam. State, city and county employees have willingly accepted millions upon millions of dollars in cuts to their pensions. California’s largest pension fund has recouped every single investment penny it lost from the Great Recession.So I thought perhaps California police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other public employees could finally exhale. I hoped we could finally enjoy relief from daily attacks for the modest pensions we count on for retirement security. Buddy Magor, Peace Officers Research Association of California Public CEO, January 27, 2014, “Stop Blaming Public Employee Pensions for Problems”

Whether or not the economy is “picking up steam” at a rate sufficient to rescue California’s financially challenged public sector pension funds is a debate that is by no means over. But let’s consider Mr. Magor’s other point regarding the “modest pensions we count on for retirement security.”

By now everyone should be familiar with the so-called “three-at-fifty”… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: We are pleased to offer this commentary from Simi V Wilk, a cute little puppy, with some keen insights into California politics, that is the pride and joy of Assemblyman Scott and Vanessa Wilk – Flash]

Governor Jerry Brown in his State of the State address made an off-the-cuff remark about his dog, Sutter, stating “Bark if you don’t like deficits!” and passed out a playing card with a picture of Sutter Brown on the front and graph on the back showing how California has gone from budget deficits to… Read More

State Office Democrats Republicans Governor Jerry Brown (incumbent) Assemblyman Tim Donnelly and Neel Kashkari Treasurer John Chiang (now Controller) None Controller Board of Equalization Member Betty Yee None Attorney General Kamala Harris (incumbent) None

The deadline to file a candidate statement for a statewide office for the June 3, 2014… Read More

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[Publisher’s Note: We are pleased to offer this original commentary from longtime FR friend Doug Lasken — Flash]

My quest these days is to craft a theoretical platform for a Republican candidate for California Governor which, while embodying traditional Republican values, would ensure that the candidate could win. Achieving this goal requires a change in the current platform of the state and national GOP. Specifically, it requires a definitive and public moving away from what are known generally as “Tea Party” positions. As I’ve written for Flashreport (“The Tea Party” is not unified“), the Tea Party is not a party, has no platform and no official candidates. Nevertheless, its perceived core positions- e.g. condemnation of homosexuality, opposition to gun control and all abortion, and endorsement of fracking are supported by far less than 50% of the electorate and are opposed so vehemently by the majority that seeming acceptance of the Tea Party, by itself, was enough to sink Mitt… Read More

In the middle of California’s driest winter on record and following an active fire season, our state must provide the firefighting services Californians need and expect.

That’s why I recently sent a letter to Gov. Brown urging him to eliminate the controversial (and probably illegal) Fire Prevention Fee. I also asked him to restore full funding to Cal Fire in the revised version of his 2014-15 budget proposal. In this time of drought, Cal Firemust have the reliable funding it needs to fulfill a mission that benefits all Californians.

Remember, the fire fee doesn’t pay one cent toward fighting fires, but rather backfills budget cuts made to Cal Fireyears ago. The third set of bills is currently scheduled to go out in early March.

The fire fee is a bad tax, not just because of the unnecessary burden it places on taxpayers, but because it is horribly inefficient to collect. From the beginning, the process of collecting the Fire Prevention Fee has been lengthy and expensive, proving it is a poor method for funding Cal… Read More

A major California employer just announced that it will be moving 1,000 high-paying jobs out of state. Charles Schwab asserts that a major reason for the move is the sky-high housing costs in San Francisco. But the company is looking to move the operations to one or more of five states — NOT to another part of California where housing costs are (relatively) reasonable compared to crazy San Francisco.The candidates for the Schwab operations: Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Arizona and — of course — Texas.

Even if the company TOTALLY left the grossly misnamed “Golden State,” Schwab would not have one bad word to say about California. They have too many customers here who might take affront — especially the people managing the massive pension funds. Plus, the state agencies will go after ANY business that does ANY business in CA. Criticizing California could result in retaliation. If it did so, Schwab would always be at risk.… Read More

Nearly every member of the media in Sacramento is openly advocating for a new basketball arena to be built in downtown. And they are supportive of a massive public subsidy to offset the cost for the owners of the Sacramento Kings. Besides gross incompetence, this is also willful negligence.

A group of citizens and taxpayers known as STOP (Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork), and Voters for a Fair Arena Deal, are fighting the public subsidy of the proposed new arena. According to the lawsuit filed bySTOP, the city subsidy is actually $338 million — not the $258 million the city claims.

STOP has tried to get the details of the arena deal and purchase of the Sacramento Kings to be made public.

Beyond the legal challenge… Read More