Last week 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 we had the handy FlashReport digital recorder along, we’ll be able to bring you some direct excerpts from the interview. THIS IS THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF THIS INTERVIEW. YOU CAN READ PART ONE (ON THE ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL WARMING, AND AB 32) CLICK HERE… Read More

Dan Walters, columnist for the Sacramento Bee,wrote on Monday about California’s crumbling roads, highways and streets. Anyone with a car and a driver’s license knows Walters is right; our roads are a mess! And when compared to other states (which Walters did, having just returned from a road trip in the Northwestern states) the condition of our roads is inexcusable.

But I disagree with Walters’ assertion that our transportation infrastructure is in shambles because drivers don’t pay enough gas taxes.

With heavy use, the system needs, but is not getting, an extremely high level of maintenance to stave off deterioration. The gasoline tax, levied on gallonage, hasn’t been changed for many years. And because of greater fuel efficiency, the amount of gas being consumed has increased very little even as travel has increased sharply. Moreover, this flat revenue is being eroded by inflation.

Also on Monday, the California Taxpayers’ Association reported that the Board of Equalization released a report showing… Read More

According to our friends over at Capitol Weekly, today’s "Big 5" meeting (The Governor and the four Legislative Leaders) "blew up" with tensions high. Republicans are unhappy because legislation they were promised would make it to the Governor’s desk did not. Democrats are unhappy because legislation they want on the Governor’s desk hasn’t gotten there (these particular bills require a 2/3 vote). In the balance is a potential deal on the state’s water crisis, among other things.

In the balance, so they say, are over 700 pieces of legislation that legislative Democrats have put onto the Governor’s desk. If the Governor does not act on these bills by Sunday, apparently they all become law. But the word is that without any legislation on his desk to resolve the water crisis, the Governor will be spending all of his time focused on this goal, without the necessary time to review all of those bills — and that he would, in theory, veto them all rather than allow these bills to become law… Read More

The Meg Whitman for Governor campaign, just moments ago, released a list of local grassroots leaders from all around the state. Congratulations to the great many FR friends on the list. A special shout out to my good friend Sara Catalan, who in addition to being Deputy Chief of Staff to Congressman Ed Royce, and head of the CWLA Orange County Chapter, is now the Orange County Regional Chair for Meg Whitman’s campaign. Sara is actually quoted in the Whitman release saying, "Meg Whitman is the only gubernatorial candidate who has what it takes to rescue California," said Sara Catalan, the Orange Region Chair. "She is a proven leader with strong values and a sensible plan to restore California’s economy and improve our state government."

Here’s the list…

County Chairs (By Region)

North • North Region Co-Chairs – Bill Brunetti / Cindi Sherrod • Sacramento County Co-Chairs – Roberta MacGlashan / Tom Scott • El Dorado County Chair – Myrlys… Read More

A FlashReport reader recently suggested that I simply let the Whitman and Poizner campaigns blog directly onto the website, and sit back and enjoy the fun. That’s actually a temping idea. What might be a better idea is for me to get into the video production business! Here’s the latest from Team Poizner:

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To look outside you would swear Summer is in transition to the Fall. But to follow the California Republican Gubernatorial primary between Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman — it’s definately Spring time! The Whitman campaign has just released a video (below) accusing Poizner of being the "perfect politician" because of Poizner’s attempt to "explain away" his writing large checks to the Gore Recount Committee and the DNC as being donations on behalf of his wife, a liberal Democrat — with Poizner saying that he signs family checks as more of an administrative function of their household. We’ll visit the whole issue of Poizner and contributions to Democrats at some point (it’s impossible for anyone to keep up with all of this), but I want to pass along this video… Fun times for all those engaged in the spectator sport of mud-wrestling candidates… I guess we’ll need to keep an eye out for a Poizner video highlighting Whitman’s past financial and political support of Barbara Boxer… … Read More

With Labor Day now well behind us, we are now officially in the 2010 primary season, and as such, we here at the FlashReport will start to take a closer look at the legislative primaries shaping up in both safe GOP and competitive Congressional, Senate and Assembly Districts.

Where to start first on such an endeavor is always a challenge – so I picked the 33rd State Assembly District, which stretches up and down the California coast, from Hearst Castle on the Northern almost to Santa Barbara to the South (map). This seat has been considered a “safe” GOP seat for many years, though voter registration trends ensure that this year, with an open seat, it will be in play next November. The current incumbent, Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee (pictured), will retire at the end of next year due to term limits, and is expected to run for State Senate in 2012.

In making my… Read More

The word "unbelievable" comes to mind as we look at the "cover story" on Politico.com’s website this morning. There is a reason why the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal has dubbed Rep. Jerry Lewis ("R"-CA) the "Minority Maker" — and is because when Republicans had the majority in Congress, Lewis rather prolifically used his roll as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee NOT to shrink the size and scope of the federal government, but to lord over a pork barrel spending process that saw Republicans embrace and even increase the amount of egregious earmarks from what the Democrats did when they were in power. Even now, the "Minority Maker" continues to give his party bad press with his slipping in an egregious $3 million public subsidy for a well funded Goldmach Sachs venture mining project.

There are clearly a few reasons why Republicans do not enjoy a majority in Congress today. But there is… Read More