I’ve heard from a lot of FR readers, who are upset at the legislature’s passage of the largest tax increase in the history of any state, and a good number of them ask me why Assemblyman Roger Niello should be treated any differently, in terms of culpability, than Senators Ashburn, Cogdill and Maldonado, and Assemblymembers Adams and Villines.

These readers bring up a good and valid point. While it is true that unlike the other five, Niello did not sign the Americans for Tax Reform No New Taxes pledge, that doesn’t let him off the hook for being a deciding vote to slam Californian’s with two years of higher taxes (to the tune of an estimated $16 billion or more!).

The reality is that just like the others, Roger Niello used plenty of anti-tax rhetoric in his campaigns and in his speechifying — he’ll tell you right now, to your face, how terrible it is to raise taxes.

So, relative to the "non-pledge taker," one has to say … Read More

Well have more coverage tomorrow morning — but this afternoon, taxpayers from all around Southern California swarmed to a rally hosted by KFI Radio talk show hosts John & Ken in downtown Fullerton, in Orange County.

The crowds were massive, with the Fullerton Police Department saying that there were over 15,000 people on hand. Streets were closed, and freeway offramps to get to the location were clogged, stopping traffic on the 91 freeway. Crowds near the stage where John & Ken broadcast live were fired up to the point where at times the police had to move in to calm people.

The outrage? Higher taxes! Specifically, the target of the tax revolt rally where Republicans who were elected to office pledging to oppose tax increases, who either then came out and voted for the taxes (Senators Dave Cogdill, Abel Maldonado, and Roy Ashburn, and Assemblymen Mike Villines, Anthony Adams and Roger Niello in the Assembly), signed them into law (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and a great deal of ire was focused on all of the Assembly Republicans. Last week, Assemblyman Anthony Adams appearing on a public radio program asserted that all of his colleagues were… Read More

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I am pleased this morning to share a guest commentary from a very esteemed reader of the FlashReport, Bruce Herschensohn. Herschensohn, who is a senior fellow at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy, was for many, many years a commentator on KABC television in Los Angeles. In 1992, he was the Republican nominee for United States Senate. Herschensohn is widely considered to be one of the country’s leading experts on foreign policy issues — and a great mentor and friend to this website publisher.

By Bruce Herschensohn

Chuck DeVore is not merely qualified for to be California’s next U.S. Senator; he has performed service for… Read More

I am pleased this morning to share a guest commentary from a very esteemed reader of the FlashReport, Bruce Herschensohn. Herschenshon, who is a senior fellow at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy, was for many, many years a commentator on KABC television in Los Angeles. In 1992, he was the Republican nominee for United States Senate. Herschensohn is widely considered to be one of the country’s leading experts on foreign policy issues — and a great mentor and friend to this website publisher.

By Bruce Herschensohn

Chuck DeVore is not merely qualified for to be California’s next U.S. Senator; he has performed service for… Read More

I admit – I’ve been lax in my FR posting. Life after term limits has been fun, rewarding and most of all very busy. I mostly apologize to Jon – it’s a… Read More

The "endorsement battles" continue to the GOP primary battle for Governor. Earlier this week Meg Whitman announced endorsements from former Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman and Assemblywoman Connie Conway.

Poizner has responded with a pretty big name in California Republican politics — today rolling out an endorsement from venerable GOP strategist Ken Khachigian. Khachigian has been engaged in the political scene for a longtime, playing key roles in the elections of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George Deukmejian, and Pete Wilson.

I have known Khachigian for over twenty years now, and he has served as a personal mentor to me, and played a critical role in the establishment of the FlashReport (you can read that here)!

Khachigian’s endorsement is a big one — and to the extent that the advice and input he offers to the Poizner campaign is thoughtfully considered, he can really be of assistance in the campaign.… Read More

Our continuing Republican circular firing squad has gained some powerful new gunmen as KFI’s "John and Ken" Show hasseen the commercial value of Republicans picking on Republicans rather than Democrats, in their development of a political "lottery" system to dole out venom against the likes of freshman Assemblyman Jeff Miller, who is both a good and decent guy and a conservative star, who doesn’t deserve the abuse.

Miller’s heresy, according to John and Ken, is that he was one of 28 (of atotal of 29)other Republican members of the Assembly who didn’t support a motion to axe the Republican Leader after the budget deal was made in Sacramento. Miller himself voted against the budget. But that doesn’t matter to John and Ken, they want him recalled, as a result of randomly picking his name out of a hat. The result has been a verbal Jihad against Miller over the airways, (inter-spiced with commercial announcements) and for what I (with due respect for the showmanship of John and Ken) think is a crime Millerhas not committed:being a liberal.

Is all this recall talk of… Read More