There are a few election law cases of interest to Californians going on nowthat deserve some mention in this blog spot.

The first is a lawsuit filed late last year in federal court in Washington, D.C. by the California Republican Party and the Republican Party of San Diego County, along with the Republican National Committee, the goal of which is to challenge the constitutionality of the "soft money" restrictions of the McCain-Feingold law, also known as "BCRA" (Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act). The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges therestrictions of Federal law are overly broad and unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Expedited review has been requested by the Plaintiffs. The case number is: 1:08CV01953.

Under McCain-Feingold, national parties are restricted from collecting contributions other than those subject to the rigorous Federal disclosure and contribution limits. National parties may not collect corporate contributions, even if the activity is intended to build up a state party, because corporate money is banned for Federal… Read More

Let’s not say that the rumors of local San Diego political talk radio’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Let’s just say that the patient is not nearly as healthy as in the past. Let’s also note that there is some hope for the future.

A quick rundown of some recent changes…

Conservative friend-of-all Mark Larson is off the air. Liberal Stacy Taylor, gone. Longtime local powerhouse Roger Hedgecock, although still broadcasting from KOGO, now has a national show, with no focus on San Diego politics. Jimmy Valentine, Hedgecock’s producer since the mid-1990s, was dismissed in the transition.

Oh, and in case anyone forgot – or never cared – KLSD 1360’s Air America died in 2007. KLSD actually stood for K-Liberal San Diego…no joke.

Media watchers blame the “death" of local talk radio on the economy and high cost of staffing local programs, as compared to the efficiency of nationally syndicated shows. The significantly… Read More

For some weekend reading, I am pleased to present this commentary from freshman Republican Assemblyman Dan Logue…

AB 32 – Kills Jobs, Harmful to the Environment

As a new Member of the California State Assembly I have introduce my first bill to suspend AB 32 the so-called California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. In 2006, on a party-line vote, Legislative Democrats passed AB 32 over the objections of the Republicans. Authored by then Assembly Speaker Fabien Núñez, ostensibly to combat the effects of global warming, AB 32 forces businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. Appealing to the politically correct crowd of 2006, AB 32 was hailed far and wide by left leaning political elites. They could not have envisioned our economic downturn or the… Read More

For some weekend reading, I am pleased to present this commentary from freshman Republican Assemblyman Dan Logue…

AB 32 – Kills Jobs, Harmful to the Environment As a new Member of the California State Assembly I have introduce my first bill to suspend AB 32 the so-called California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. In 2006, on a party-line vote, Legislative Democrats passed AB 32 over the objections of the Republicans. Authored by then Assembly Speaker Fabien Núñez, ostensibly to combat the effects of global warming, AB 32 forces businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. Appealing to the politically correct crowd of 2006, AB 32 was hailed far and wide by left leaning political elites. They could not have envisioned our economic downturn or the devastating effects of AB 32 on… Read More

There is a saying popular among Republicans "There is an evil party and a stupid party, and it isn’t hard to tell which is which."

Recent comments by Republican legislators prove this saying. Some Republican legislators have indicated they would be willing to vote for taxes. The fight is over, the left has won.

Of course, these Legislators will say "I have conditions. I will not vote for a tax increase until I receive (insert Democrat concession here)." Democrats will not concede, and in about two weeks, those legislators will vote for the tax increase demanded by the Democrats, without program cuts, without a spending cap, without whatever concession they demanded as a concession for their vote because "I got the best deal I could get, and I have to be responsible."

Democrats know this. It happens every time. This is 1991 and 2001 all over again. Of course, except for Maldonado, who desperately wanted to be a Senator and vote for the 2001 tax increase, but knew that the two were incompatible, the other Legislators who made this week’s "reasonable" pronouncements were not there in those two… Read More

In case you missed it, there was another reminder of what our state’s top priority should be – putting people back to work.

Today, the California Employment Development Department made a startling announcement—California has lost 166,000 jobs in the last month. That is the equivalent of the entire population of the City of Escondido losing their jobs in one month. It brings our state unemployment rate to 9.3%–one of the highest in the nation.

This is real and is affecting people we all know. My neighbor recently lost his job and last week asked when things are going to get better. One of my best friends from college is looking for a second job because of cut backs at his current employer. They want to know what we are going to do to put people back to work. What are we going to do to help create jobs?

This is why job creation has to be our top priority in California.

It’s no secret that California’s budget crisis is severe—but a key to helping solve the budget problem is to create private sector jobs, bring employers back to our state and… Read More

Rep. McClintock gave the following floor speech in support of H.J.Res. 3, which was a Republican measure to deny the authorization of the remaining portion of the $350 billion in bailout funds.

Mr. Speaker:

This resolution presents the House with its last chance to admit that the Bush bailout has not worked. And it will not work because of a simple and self-evident truth:

Government cannot inject a single dollar into the economy that it has not first taken out of the economy.

It’s true that if I take a dollar from Peter and give it to Paul, Paul has one more dollar to spend and that dollar will ripple through the economy.

But we forget the other half of the equation: Peter now has one less dollar to spend, meaning one less dollar to ripple through the economy. In short, it nets to zero.… Read More

It isn’t really news to long-term FlashReport readers that the record of "Republican" Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in terms of appointing fellow Republicans to be judges is… well… deplorable.

Yesterday, in the midst of a lot of political goings-on, the Governor’s office issued forth a small stream of press releases announcing more appointments to the bench. As always, whenever the Governor is announcing appointments, I cringed instinctively because to say that Schwarzenegger appoints a lot of people that are members of the party of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would be an understatement.

Just to see if MAYBE there had been a change in his thinking on the appointment of Democrats as judges, I opened the first release — an announcement of SEVEN new judges being appointed in populous Los Angeles County. If EVER there was a place that needs to have people of a more conservative bent on the court, LA’s the place.

Well, guess what? There were SIX Democrats appointed in Los Angeles County, and ONE lone Republican. This has been a consistent pattern with the Governor’s appointments in Los Angeles… Read More