Longtime Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub will soon be departing the payroll of the Bee… While he will still have columns there, he is also going to be a regular columnist for the Left Coast edition of the New York Times (well, until they figure out Dan is not a lefty) and he will work on other various projects. We wish Dan well, and hope that much of his focus remains on California policy and politics. When he does, we'll link it on our main page!… Read More

The Wall Street Journal reports today, on page one, about investigations into allegations of a pay-for-play at the Calpers.

"The California Public Employees’ Retirement System said it is launching a "special review" into payments by money managers — including billionaire Leon Black’s Apollo Management LP — to firms including Arvco Financial Ventures LLC. Arvco is headed by Al Villalobos, who served on Calpers’s board from 1993 to 1995."

A link is here. (Subscription may be required)… Read More

Two weeks ago, I had a chance to sit down with Gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman for the better part of an hour. Our interview covered a number of policy areas, including global warming/AB32, eminent domain, gun control, abortion, and overall philosophy about government. Because I brought a digital recorder along, Flash Report readers can enjoy these direct excerpts from the interview.

THIS IS THE THIRD INSTALLMENT OF THIS INTERVIEW. YOU CAN READ PART ONE (ON THE ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL WARMING, AND AB 32) CLICK HERE. YOU CAN READ PART TWO (ON PROPERTY RIGHTS) … Read More

Two weeks ago I had a chance to sit down with Gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman for the better part of an hour. Our interview covered a number of policy areas including global warming/AB32, eminent domain, gun control, abortion, and philosophy about government. Because I had a digital recorder along, are able to bring you some direct excerpts from the interview. THIS IS THE THIRD INSTALLMENT OF THIS INTERVIEW. YOU CAN READ PART ONE (ON THE ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL WARMING, AND AB 32) CLICK HERE. YOU CAN READ PART… Read More

Two weeks ago, I had a chance to sit down with Gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman for the better part of an hour. Our interview covered a number of policy areas, including global warming/AB32, eminent domain, gun control, abortion, and overall philosophy about government. Because I brought a digital recorder along, Flash Report readers can enjoy these direct excerpts from the interview. THIS IS THE THIRD INSTALLMENT OF THIS INTERVIEW. YOU CAN READ PART ONE (ON THE ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL WARMING, AND AB 32) CLICK HERE… Read More

I am not even going to waste a lot of time on this blog post. Lisa V. over at the Contra Costa Times Blog reports that earlier today it was announced that the Bay Area Council is going to dump $2 million into qualifying the measures to create a Constitutional Convention for California, if approved by the voters.

Let me make this crystal clear for the Bay Area Council and all others out there who think this might be a good idea.

Are you holding on to your chair? Here comes the truth…

California’s Public Employee Unions will try to coopt and control the convention process. If unsuccessful, they will use their vast resources to obliterate whatever that convention brings back to the voters for approval.

Instead of sinking millions into this fool’s errand, the Bay Area Council should join with those already looking at a paycheck protection measure. Until the pervasive financial influence of the public employee unions is terminated, the road to comprehensive reform of California government is impassable.… Read More

Much has been whispered about and written about in passing about the fact that Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby had a sexual harassment complaint filed against him by a county employee. The matter went to court where a lot of — explicit — testimony was made on the record. The very abbreviated version is that a trial court judge found that there was some merit to the allegations however an appellate court disagreed. Ultimately the matter was settled, and as Norby is quick to point out, with no payments of taxpayer funds being paid out.

That said, expect to see a lot about this matter given the circumstances that led to the vacancy in this Assembly seat.

In what is a harbinger of what will be one of the most negative and entertaining special elections in recent memory, Linda Ackerman has dropped a mail piece that hit today hitting Norby on this issue.

In an earlier post I indicated that it was likely that the negative attacks on Norby would come from independent expenditures (rumors abound that Sacramento third-house folks are working on one). But I was wrong. This is probably an indicator that if such an independent effort is… Read More

Today is the debut of the California Republican Party’s new weekly podcast program, which has the catchy title, "The Right News from the Left Coast."

This week’s episode is hosted by California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring with guests CRP Treasurer Keith Carlson and Assemblywoman Diane Harkey.

"Everyone who cares about politics and policy in their neighborhood, in Sacramento or in Washington, D.C. should be tuning into the CRP’s new weekly podcast," said Carlson when I caught up to him. "I was thrilled to be a part of the inaugural edition of the show, and I think you’ll enjoy listening to it." The Right News from the Left Coast is a 30 minute podcast available free on iTunes (here),… Read More