A New Beginning For Republicans in Los Angeles County By Nicole Ingram

Today I write to the FlashReport community as a proud Young Republican from Los Angeles. Last night in the county in America with the most Republicans, we elected a new Republican Party executive board. Over the past six months there has been a lot of worry, a lot of confusion, and a lot of division about the direction of what we the party should be doing next. Glen Forsch, who had been elected Chairman earlier this year, honorably stepped down as did his executive board, and I want to thank them for their courage and poise. It is not always easy facing a crowd of people who disagree with your politics and they can not be commended enough.

Being a native Angeleno and life long republican, it means the world to me that we elected a board that represents all Republicans throughout the county. Our board represents the diversity of… Read More

Sam Blakeslee, the leader of Assembly Republicans(he formally assumes the job in a couple of weeks, but for our purposes, he’s the top dog…), on the May Revisions: “Whether we are facing a $15 billion or $21 billion problem, the Governor’s May Revise clearly shows that both parties must approach this budget crisis with a clear sense of purpose and urgency. Now is the time for us to lead with the resolve that Californians are demanding and get our state back on the right track. Assembly Republicans have already begun working to find responsible ways to balance the budget while instituting reforms to help our economy recover from this recession as rapidly as possible. “We know these tough choices will cause great hardship for many Californians who are already hurting and have great empathy for those who will be impacted. But embracing the status quo will only produce greater pain and deeper cuts in the long run. A budget that addresses only cuts without fundamentally reforming the way state government operates will leave… Read More

There are always two challenges with my attempting to opine on complex policy proposals too quickly — the first is that as someone who spends some time looking at policy, but is decidedly NOT a policy expert, it is risky to weigh in to substantively too early. What if I totally misread or don’t understand a key point or proposal? The other challenge is that I also miss the chance to see what other people say first — yikes!

That said, I want to make some broad observations.

I may be the only pundit out there who will say this — but here it goes: I’m excited! While the circumstances of how we got to this point, such as years of overspending and the current economic, recession, are tragic – they say that, "adverse situations create unique opportunities for change."

In all of the years that I have been involved in fighting against the ever-growing size of the state government, and working hard to protect the freedom and liberty of state taxpayers, it has been a losing battle. It is true what they say — is it much easier to increase state spending than it is to reduce it. These proposed,… Read More

In the interest of getting into out to readers quickly, I will throw this information from the Governor’s Offce without comment for now…

STATE BUDGET MAY REVISION 2009-10: TWO BUDGET SCENARIOS FACED WITH TWO POTENTIAL DEFICIT NUMBERS THE GOVERNOR IS PREPARED TO TACKLE BOTH

“Californians have a right to know the truth about the problems our state is facing and the steps we would have to take to solve our deficit.” (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 5/14/09)

The global recession has caused California’s revenues to continue their plummet, leaving our state with a $15.4 billion shortfall that could get worse in a matter of days. If the $5.8 billion in February budget solutions are rejected on the May 19 ballot, our budget deficit will increase to $21.3 billion – forcing unprecedented actions that will affect every Californian.

Today, the Governor is releasing two May Revision proposals because he believes the people deserve to know what steps must be taken to balance our budget in both scenarios. While both will be painful, if Propositions 1A-1F fail, California will be faced… Read More

EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS! Everyone has to be from somewhere, and the worldwide headquarters of the FlashReport is located here in Orange County, California. So I am exceptionally pleased to share with our readers that Orange County’s top two elected law enforcement leaders, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, have both come out publicly agains the entire slate of meaures before voters on May 19, Propositions 1A-1F.

I am proud that these two are showing statewide leadership, and looking out for the interests of taxpayers, by opposing this terrible package of ballot measures.

Here is what they had to say:

District Attorney Tony RackauckasI categorically oppose these measures because they increase our taxes by $16 billion on top of the $12 billion dollar tax increase that the Legislature dumped on us just two months ago. This is all being done so that over all spending… Read More

(This item is cross-posted from RedCounty.com–please bear in mind when reading the RC references below)

The political and legal troubles facing San Bernardino County offer valuable lessons including some that touch directly on RedCounty.com and our readers, writers and those who post comments.

At the top of the list: electronic memory is forever. San Bernardino County computers were seized, data analyzed, and data corroborated with interviews. While interviews and testimony can be discredited and refuted; electronic data is impersonally objective.

So what does it mean for RedCounty? Be careful what you post because it might not be so "anonymous."

How do I know? Because in a brief moment of curiosity back in 2007 I learned (in 30 seconds of work on a public internet registry database) that a blog reply critical of me had been posted using a IP address registered to the County of San Bernardino. I did not publicly reveal who the commenter was,… Read More

Native Californian and Editorial Board Member of the Wall Street Journal John Fund participated in an interview on California’s financial crisis that is worth four minutes of your time… … Read More

That may be where we are headed. Almost-billionaire Meg Whitman will apparently be at the Irvine Hyatt for an event with a big price tag — a "suggestion donation of $10" — nice.

Perhaps almost-billionaire Steve Poizner will up her one, and hold events where he pays you $10 to come and listen to his pitch.

Tom Campbell? Peter Foy? How much will you pay me to come hear you?… Read More