In case you hadn’t heard, we are getting closer to officially recognizing Ronald Reagan Day here in California. On April 8, by a vote of 34-0, the Senate approved SB 944, the Ronald Reagan Day bill proposed by Senator George Runner and me. SB 944 (Runner and Strickland) is the first – and so far only – Ronald Reagan Day bill in the nation to be passed by any legislative house. All other legislative efforts to recognize Ronald Reagan Day have been single-year resolutions or have not been approved by a legislative house. No one will get a day off under SB 944 (Runner and Strickland); instead, schools will be encouraged to teach about Ronald Reagan and his contributions. SB 944 (Runner and Strickland) was introduced in the Senate on February 3 and was approved by a 7-0 vote in the Senate Education Committee on March 24 before its unanimous passage in the Senate on April 8. We are expecting that SB 944 (Runner and Strickland) will be heard in the Assembly Education Committee in June. You can read the text of the bill at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_944&sess=CUR… Read More

This afternoon GOP legislators will have a start contrast available to them as they decide where to get their late afternoon munchies. You see, after his "inauguration" event this afternoon, Abel Maldonado is having a reception to celebrate his ascending to the state’s top most meaningless post. But at the very same time, the Lt. Governor campaign of conservative State Senator Sam Aanestad is having their own event.

FlashReport’s eyes and ears will be trolling about both events — and we’ll be interested to see who goes to which. Will legislators prioritize making an important statement about their primary choice? Or will they revert to what experts call "grazing" — where you go to all events, just to get as much food as possible.

Of course, if they attend the Maldonado inauguration, they may not have an appetite afterward so the "grazing" argument would be rendered moot.… Read More

Since we’re a website on California politics, I am not going to assume that all of our readers know that life-long Republican Charlie Crist, the Governor of Florida and a candidate for United States Senate, in recent days announced his departure from the GOP, choosing to re-register as an independent to guarantee his presence as a candidate for the Senate this November. Crist, you see, had been the prohibitive front-runner for the GOP nomination – but his strong embrace of President Obama and some of his most liberal policies (most famously the TARP plan) on top of years of embracing his own form of populism that demonstrated a severe lack of defining ideology – made him very unpopular with Florida’s Republican voters. His former primary opponent, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a strong conservative, had been an underdog against Crist, but then as Rubio’s message spread, and Crist’s embrace of Obama (literally) became well know, Rubio shot way ahead to the point where Crist was sure to lose the GOP nomination – hence his decision to bail on the Republican Party all… Read More

Since we’re a website on California politics, I am not going to assume that all of our readers know that life-long Republican Charlie Crist, the Governor of Florida and a candidate for United States Senate, in recent days announced his departure from the GOP, choosing to re-register as an independent to guarantee his presence as a candidate for the Senate this November. Crist, you see, had been the prohibitive front-runner for the GOP nomination – but his strong embrace of President Obama and some of his most liberal policies (most famously the TARP plan) on top of years of embracing his own form of populism that demonstrated a severe lack of defining ideology – made him very unpopular with Florida’s Republican voters. His former primary opponent, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a strong conservative, had been an underdog against Crist, but then as Rubio’s message spread, and Crist’s embrace of Obama (literally) became well know, Rubio shot way ahead to the point where Crist was sure to lose the GOP nomination – hence his decision to bail on the Republican Party all… Read More

This morning the California Pro-Life Council has released this statement exclusively to the FlashReport (well, for a few hours anyways) — it is an announcement concerning the United States Senate race taking place this year in California…

You have seen discussion of the CA Governor’s race in other places on this web site. Today we want to discuss the candidates and campaign for the U.S. Senate nomination to replace Barbara Boxer.. Months ago we were in an enviable position, both candidates were pro-life. Pro-life assemblyman Chuck Devore was running and Carly Fiorina, who had made public statements of being pro-life. What remained was assertaining just how real those commitments were. … Read More

Dear Editors of California Newspapers:

Many local and regional newspapers will be endorsing in Republican primary elections in the coming days. This is just a little advice that you can clearly take or leave. In the end it’s your newspaper and you will print what you want.

Republican primaries are closed under current law. This means that conservatives often make up the majority of primary voters. Thus, when you decide to support someone in your editorial — trying to write something that actually works with the Republican primary voter would be helpful.

Take this editorial from the San Luis Obispo Tribune. They endorse this local County Supervisor and then go on to tell their readers the reason is that he is more moderate than his opponents and won’t sign the tax pledge. Way to help a brother out.

Come on. I think if i was a Republican candidate in the primary that had the "honor" of earning this endorsement I would have encouraged them to support someone… Read More

My new 60-second radio ad for Board of Equalization is running across BOE District 2 starting today.

In the ad, Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (and fellow Flash Report blogger) says, "Senator Runner is identified as a taxpayer advocate on the ballot because that’s exactly what he is."

"Runner believes that when people are taxed too much, liberty islost,"Jon also says.

"This isn’t someone that’s ‘going along just to get along’ in Sacramento, and that’s why the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers AssociationPolitical Action Committee proudly supportsTaxpayer Advocate George Runner for the Board of Equalization," Jon continues.

The ad for my BOE race runs from today through Election Day (June 8) on conservative radio stations in Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Redding, Chico, Marysville, Merced, Grass Valley and Sonora.

I am proud to be the only candidate endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assocation in the race for Board of Equalization, District 2. Thanks to HJTA for their support (and thank you, Jon, for your help with the… Read More

The Associated Press Economic Stress Index just released its Top 20 most and least economically stressed counties in the nation. Guess which state had 12 of the Top 20 most economically stressed? Yup, California.

Imperial and Merced counties top the list, with San Benito, Sutter, Yuba, Stanislaus, and San Joaquin all making the top 10.No California counties appeared on the least economically stressed counties list.

No wonder unemployment is climbing and Californians are leaving for other states. This list is just another shameful reminder of the dismal state of California’s once stellar economy.