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

Glendora has always been a pretty conservative town. Most of their school board elections haven’t been that exciting over the years.

This year a familiar Republican activist is running against three incumbents.

Former Three-term Los Angeles County Republican Party Chair Linda Boyd is running for a seat. Many know here and her husband CRP Regional Vice-Chair Doug Boyd as GOP activists.

But they are busier than that. Between them they have eleven children. They have a 3 year old daughter Reagan (a name stolen from the Spence’s) and adopted 2 year old twins Christian and Karleigh So they will soon have skin in the game . In what may be an instance of too full disclosure one board member is Mike Guatreau. Mike is a Republican and principal of West Covina High School. He also is one of two school board members (yes there are two, the other is Covina Valley’s Darrell Myrick) in the state that have had the high privilege of seeing me on a regular basis in a Speedo as my a high school swim coach.

The big issue is a proposed parcel tax. Glendora has been hit hard by declining enrollment and… 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

According to Capitol Weekly, Governor Schwarzenegger has all but said that without a comprehensive water deal coming together, he is prepared to nuke all of the hundreds of bills sitting on his desk.

We here at the FlashReport have said solving the state’s water problems in a fiscally responsible way should be a top priority of the legislature and Governor.

That said, I think that it would be tremendous bonus, at this point, if the process of reaching an accord on a solution to the water problems could take just long enough to allow the Governor to veto every bill on his desk.

This would save the taxpayers vast amounts of money, and kill tons of new fees and regulations that Capitol Democrats sent to his desk despite the sour state of the economy.

As former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown basically says in… Read More

Are you signed up yet for the upcoming Western Conservative Political Action Conference? Let me tell you that this is one event you will not want to miss. It will be held in Orange County on Friday, October 16 and Saturday, October 17. Rather than me trying to lobby you, as a Co-Chairman of the event, to attend — let me just direct you to the Western CPAC website where you can check out the fantastic agenda and pre-register for this must-attend conference.

For those following the GOP primary for Governor, it is of note that both Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman will be appearing at this event (while I know Western CPAC Chairman Jim Lacy will have tried to get them both into a mud pit, I think they are both scheduled to speak at a reception).… Read More

Today, longtime generally center-left columnist George Skelton at the Los Angeles Times penned a lengthy missive that was no less than a full-fletched smack-down of GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. Skelton’s major assault on Whitman comes from his belief that she is out of line in how she characterizes the massive size of state government and an ever-growing unsustainable state workforce. You can hear Skelton fuming as he types, “Whitman didn’t call them civil servants, of course. She used the time-tested conservative, red meat pejoratives ‘bureaucrats’ and bureaucracy.’”

Skelton assaults Whitman as if she is literally attacking every single state government employee as terrible and evil. The reality is that it is pretty clear, from reading Whitman’s remarks (the whole speech to which Skelton refers can be read here), that she is making a generalization about the vast size of the state’s work force, and when Whitman says, “…And a… Read More

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Our California political system makes party nominees and the party the focus of the November general election. However, for the June primary election the candidates are on their own. Although the state and local parties have the legal power they rarely intervene in a primary fight and should never do so without some overriding reason where the endorsement helps the party.

Never until a week ago when the Ventura County Republican Central Committee endorsed a candidate for my job, and I am told they did so with no candidate debate, and in fact only one candidate invited. I am termed-out of my position on the Board of Equalization and there are 4 candidates pursuing the campaign. There is no reason in the world that the Republican Party voters in the 2nd District should not be allowed to choose their own nominee without party interference. This is an insult to the Republican voters in the 2nd District.

Now Barbara Alby (whom I have endorsed), Alan Nakanishi, and Roy Ashburn will have no political choice but to go after county central committee endorsements. I… Read More