Below is a policy briefing prepared for Senator Benoit who, as Vice Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, drives the Republican agenda on Energy matters. AB 32, rushed through the legislature by Fabian Nunez and Governor Schwarzenneger, sets virtually unattainable goals for California’s use of renewable energy. (Compare to Federal Cap and Trade policy… on steriods!) Senator Benoit for the past year has been seeking more reasonable timelines for implementation, and the inclusion of already in use renewable energy sources such as hydro and nuclear generation. The bottom line compromise sought? A reasonable, attainable policy that won’t stick taxpayers with soaring utility bills.

Introduction – A Lesson From History On both page and screen, “A Bridge Too Far” is the heartbreaking story of Operation Market Garden, the Allies’ courageous but failed attempt to crack the German lines in the occupied Netherlands during World War II.

Tens of thousands of paratroopers were dropped deep behind German lines to secure a series of bridges over which… Read More

Republican turned Democrat Long Beach City Councilman Robert Garcia is happy to tell you what to do. After his election to the city council he immediately got down to business to squash all those scofflaws smoking at bus stops.

Now Garcia has a new personal crusade. According to LBReport.com, he wants Long Beach to coerce businesses doing business with the city to give benefits to domestic partnerships. Garcia, who is gay, not that there is anything wrong with that, believes that this is more important the contracting with the qualified lowest bidder.

Of course, taxpayers will pay for the benefits as companies that do business with the city charge more to cover their costs. Other cities that have done this like San Francisco and LA aren’t shining examples of fiscal responsibility.

These ordinances aren’t about the money, they are about forcing their view about homosexuality on business OR making sure people of faith don’t have opportunity to bid on government contracts.

The Long Beach Chamber of Commerce is neutral. They have to be or else. If the issue was forcing businesses to… Read More

Question: What do Republican Assembly candidate Andy Pugno and a Mucielago Lamborghini racing car have in common? Answer: Both have set records for speed.

Pugno’s campaign announced today that in just three weeks between the date he announced his candidacy for Assembly in the Sacramento-based 5th District in the second week in June, and the end of the month which was the cut-off for the reporting period, Pugno raised a staggered quarter-million dollars. Especially impressive was that he raised over $60,000 of that through online contributions!

We don’t have video of Pugno’s lighting fast fundraising efforts, but we do have a video of the impressive Mucielago Lamborghini going from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3.3 seconds! … Read More

What if I told you that there is an effect underway by Democrats inside of the State Capitol to make it more difficult and expensive to qualify ballot measures? Would you be shocked? Would it really surprise you that a legislature that has its own ability to place measures on the ballot (like the taxes that were rejected by voters last May) doesn’t want the people to have that same power?

Senate Bill 34 actually makes it a crime to hire signature gatherers to circulate petitions and pay those gatherers for every signature that they obtain. That is very poor public policy. Understand that what petition gatherers do is create opportunities to sign petitions if they want to… Of course voters can elect not to sign a petition. Make no bones about it — there is only one reason why the Democrats have pushed this legislation out the Senate on a party-line vote, and into the Assembly where they will likely try to do the same — to stifle citizen-qualified ballot measures.

Longtime FlashReport friend Paul Jacob, President of Citizens In Charge, and one of the signors on a letter (below) to the State Legislature, had this to say:… Read More

The budget impasse has now become a full-fledged capitol circus. Even the Drudge Report had a link to a story reporting the situation has devolved into a “food fight,” metaphorically and somewhat literally after Governor Schwarzenegger criticized lawmakers for advancing legislation relating to blueberry commissions and pomegranate juice standards amidst the budget crisis.

Responsible legislators have been calling for the legislature to set aside non-budget related legislation until the state solves its $26 billion deficit. Considering the severity of the problem—the governor has declared a state of emergency—that would be the reasonable thing to do. Instead, Democrats are irresponsibly continuing with committee hearings and floor sessions, voting on bills that will further regulate citizens and spend their tax dollars. This leaves one wondering whether leadership truly understands just how precarious the situation is. As they debate whether to establish Harvey Milk Day, California’s… Read More

Team Poizner scored another point yesterday against Jerry Brown in the already hot campaign for Governor in 2010.

A month ago, when press reports surfaced that Brown had accepted campaign contributions from two men that his office was investigating, Steve Poizner stepped up and called Brown out on his questionable ethical compass. Poizner immediately called for Brown to do the responsible thing and return the campaign contributions.

In classic Jerry Brown fashion, Brown blatantly refused to return the money and even characterized Poizner’s suggestion that he do so as “the silliest thing I’ve ever heard” and “pathetic.” Yesterday, when Brown dropped the news that he would, in fact, return the money, Team Poizner was quick to make sure that Brown ate his words. The campaign’s rapid response operation sent around this YouTube of Brown refusing to return the money a month ago and noted that, “Jerry Brown seems to have changed his mind on… Read More

It’s amazing to me that it has been over fifteen years since I along with hundreds of conservative Republican activists left the internecine battles of California Young Republicans, and formed an activist-based organization for young Republicans, the Young Republican Federation of the California.

Since leaving the CYRs all of those years ago, I never regretted the decision. For many years now, the YRFC has continually proven themselves as a conservative group focused on sending Republicans into local, state and federal office that understand the principles of our founding fathers. I can’t keep track of the scores of YRFC activists who have gone on to public office or taken on other prominent leadership roles in state or national politics.

Occasional glances through the looking glass have quickly confirmed and reconfirmed to me that the CYR’s as an organization continues to be diminutive and fraught with inner-organizational battles that always end the same way – which is that the organization of former Congressman and Bill Thomas and his protégé-now-Congressman Kevin McCarthy, under the iron fist of Bakersfield political consultant Mark Abernathy,… Read More

There is something particularly offensive about charitable foundations established by those who made billions of dollars through their success in the private sector, when they then use that money to fund efforts to make it harder and harder for other people to own or use lands. In essence, they fund efforts to either expand government ownership or restrictions on land, or to create quasi-governmental “land trusts” for the purpose of taking lands and place them out of the realm of private ownership. When you look at a map of the United States, it’s stunning the percentage of raw land in our nation that is government owned, or is partially or totally restricted in its use by… people.

This background is important because it puts into context a power-play by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation to advance their agenda of restricting people-use of lands – or in this case, actually, the ocean. The Packard Foundation has invested countless millions of dollars into promoting the creation of “marine reserves” off the California coastline. The Packard Foundation… Read More