I just got an email from the Republican Party about the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee trying to divide Republicans from activists. The strategy is a real concern. The Republican challenge? How to respond to the concerns of activists without alienating them. Let’s be honest, many of the activists that are becoming engaged at this time have been alienated by both Republicans and Democrats. They are closer to the Republicans in their "Leave Me Alone" approach to government, but they don’t believe Republicans take them seriously. It is very easy to turn them off, and Republicans, in their attempt to curry the favor with the media and intelligentsia, are quick to diss the activists who would, on the natural, support them.

There is a way to deal with their issues without alienating them, and it is important that Republicans learn these ways. The activists are not hicks, they are not rubes, they are not unintelligent, no matter how much Democrats and the media wish to cast them in that light. They are natural allies of Republicans, if Republicans treat them with respect and dignity. Consultants will tell candidates to ignore or… Read More

[Cross-posted from RedCounty.com]

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner’s gubernatorial campaign spent much of last year rubbing up against conservative opinion leaders, trying to shed the skin of his earlier political incarnation as a center-left Republican and convince the rank-and-file that the metamorphosis is genuine.

And doing a pretty good job of it. For example, he’s put forward solid budget and economic proposals that would, if adopted, put California on a path to economic growth and stable, balanced budgets.

Unfortunately for Poizner, the past isn’t so easily banished: Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell is calling for passage of state Sen. Joe Simitian’s state constitutional amendment to lower the threshold for passing parcel taxes from two-thirds to just 55%.

This is exactly the same proposal Poizner pushed as a leader of Taxpayers for School… Read More

Miscellaneous (short) Ramblings: A lot is going in DC right now and a lot has gone on since I sent you my first missive of the year yesterday. Here is a quick rundown of my thoughts on many things in no particular order:

The way the Obama Administration has handled the so-called “underwear bomber” on Christmas Day is atrocious. This guy was a foreign national operating as part of an inter-connected worldwide organization with the intent to kill United States citizens and further a process of bringing down our government and destroying our way of life. He should have been immediately declared an enemy combatant, interrogated, and tried in a military tribunal, as has been done in similar incidents for more than a century. He was injured and his mission had failed. There was significant potential to garner intelligence about his network and connections in order to prevent future attacks, and save lives. Yet he has been treated as though he was caught smoking or tampering with the smoke detector in the airplane lavatory. He was read his Miranda rights, assigned an attorney, and told NOT to say anything. Unbelievable. This … Read More

Liberals like to discuss the unfairness of California’s so-called “three strikes” criminal law. Under “three strikes,” a third criminal conviction results in substantial added incarceration of a convicted offender. Liberals think that is unfair to the civil rights of the criminal.

Conservatives say the civil rights of the victims need more consideration in law, and reason that putting repeat offenders away for longer periods reduces crime.

The relatively new book by a couple of basically liberal economists, “Superfreakeconomics,” the sequel to their earlier “Freakeconomics,” gives factual support to conservatives’ view that keeping repeaters in jail is best for society. According to their research, whenever the American Civil Liberties Union wins a criminal case that gets a violent felon out of prison, crime goes up in that area by 10% in three years. The authors have tested this and it is not just a theory, it is a fact. Anybody who doubts that the three strikes law is a good thing, needs to read “Superfreakeconomics.”… Read More

In a report released today, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office called on the California Legislature to reject the Governor’s proposed constitutional amendment that would restrict the state’s spending decisions on universities and prisons.

The LAO nixed the proposal because:

1. (it) would unwisely constrain the state’s ability to allocate funding where it is most needed each year;

2. is unnecessary, as the state already had the ability to shift funding among programs without this constitutional amendment.

Read the LAO report here.

I agree with the LAO for the reasons stated and because the Governor conveniently omitted the billions of dollars California taxpayers spend on community colleges (read my blog post from Jan. 6) in an effort to skew the argument.

Even though the Legislature should reject the Governor’s proposal, that doesn’t mean we should walk away from our responsibility to trim unnecessary… Read More

Meg Whitman has apparently written her own book, published just in time for the election season (order it here). Her GOP primary opponent, Steve Poizner, also has a book due out shortly.

Poizner’s campaign has read Whitman’s book, and has put out their "review" in the form of the hard-hitting release below. We’ll look forward to publishing Whitman’s review of Poizner’s book when it is released.

The Poizner "critique" is fun reading for those who love the "contact sport" of politics…

MEG-A-TALES … Read More

If anyone out there had any confusion as to why we here at the FlashReport feel that labor union leaders are totally out of touch with reality, you need look no further than a recent blog post over at the ultra-leftist California Progress Report penned by Wille Pelote, Sr,, a big wheel with the California chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO. We would take the time to counter Pelote’s totally crazy assertions — but we couldn’t possibly do so in a more informed and articulate manner than longtime FR friend John Kabetack, Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business, California…

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT … Read More

This in from longtime FR friend Andrew Pugno, who serves as General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com… A Vigorous Defense for Traditional Marriage By Andy Pugno, General Counsel, ProtectMarriage.com

As lawyers for the plaintiffs challenging Prop 8 neared the conclusion of their arguments and prepared to “rest their case” today, the court next turned its attention to the defense case put on by the Prop 8 Legal Team.

But that doesn’t mean our legal defense team, while waiting our turn to present the official defense, hasn’t been vigorously fighting to uphold Prop 8 during the plaintiffs’ case-in-chief. In fact, when the courtroom came to order this morning the time clock tells me that while plaintiffs have logged 28 hours in presenting their case, the defense team… Read More