The well-respected Rasmussen public opinion research company today has released some new survey data on the California Governor’s race with some pretty significant results…

Joe Matthews reports today that the electronic petition signature of Mr. Michael Ni has been filed in San Mateo county, the first of its kind, (and on a marijuana initiative) setting up a legal battle on whether such a signature is a valid "affixation." If it is, Matthews says "efforts to reform California’s dysfunctional government could get an important boost."

Not too long ago our publisher asked if I’d consider writing something about the brewing issue of iPhone applications for California initiatives. I punted at the time. But Joe’s story today breathed some life into me. I disagree with the analysis that electronic signatures can help reform California in a positive way, and I want to spend a little effort here to parse this "iPhone" initiative distribution talk, because I think it is not legal, not a good idea, and will only create more dysfunction, because ultimately it will undermine and reduce the influence of initiative campaigns themselves. More on that near the end of this post.

First, I disagree with the underlying notion that the initiative system is the source of the… Read More

Peter Foy has endorsed Steve Poizner. Here’s a featured column from Foy, the Chairman of Americans for Prosperity, California…

Hmmm. The first radio spot put out by the union-backed effort to bash Meg Whitman contains… a fundraising appeal? Maybe this effort isn’t as flush as reported…… Read More

Controller John Chiang released a new actuarial report last week that shows California faces a $51.8 billion bill to pay for health and dental benefits for state retirees.

The unfunded obligation as of June 30, 2009, grew $3.6 billion from $48.2 billion in the prior year. Unlike state pensions, which are covered by pre-funding and investment returns, California pays for retiree health benefits on a pay-as-you-go basis as the costs come due each year.

The State would need to contribute $2.8 billion in 2009-10 to fully fund its obligation. But Controller Chiang did not go far enough. These are contractual obligations that legally are more important than regular legislative budget appropriations. Chiang should announce that he will prioritize what checks to write to make sure that contracts are honored.

The report can be found … Read More

On February 26, conservative Marco Rubio, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, will be in Southern California for a series of fundraisers in San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles.

Speaker Rubio has become a national cause for conservatives, as well as Tea Party activists, in what has been characterized as a battle for the future of the GOP. His Republican primary opponent is Governor Charlie Crist, who after leading in polls by as much as 37% after his announcement, now trails Rubio by 14%.

Rubio was written off early and his fundraising, as a candidate opposing a popular sitting governor, was shaky. However, Marco remained focused and started winning county GOP straw polls by wide margins and the MSM took notice that all was not well with Gov. Crist’s standing with the base of the party. Fundraising started to… Read More

Many FlashReport readers are no doubt aware of the fine work of longtime columnist and writer Dan Weintraub. Dan’s career has spanned multiple newspapers, most recently he left the Sacramento Bee and is doing some writing for the New York Times. While Dan is not an ideological right winger, per se, he often ends up sounding that way in many of his columns because conservative ideas, put into practice, work — and Dan’s figured that out. He’s thoughtful, thorough, and insightful. OK, he’s also my friend. All of that said, Dan is today launching a new endeavor. But rather than having me explain to you all about it — I reached out to Dan and he has penned this piece below, telling you what he is up to! Read on, and then check out his new website! — Flash

Saturday mid-day I sent an email out to fellow California Republican Party Central Committee Members, inquiring if they would like to see the GOP candidates for Governor, Attorney General, and U.S. Senate invited to debate at next month’s State GOP Convention in Santa Clara.

You can see the e-mail that I sent out here.

I have not sent out any follow up emails (not wanting to be a pest). Still, I’ve been impressed that over a holiday weekend I have heard back from around one out of every five Central Committee members.

In that e-mail, I said that I would keep folks up to speed on the results of my informal survey… Read More