Just moments ago, Mike Villines was unanimously re-elected Leader by his fellow Assembly Republicans. Congratulations, Mike!!… Read More

Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines of Fresno today issued the following statement in response to Governor Schwarzenegger's proclamation calling a special session of the Legislature to address California's budget crisis and economic woes:

“Governor Schwarzenegger acted prudently in calling the Legislature back into session to focus on solving California's budget crisis and turning our lagging economy around. However, Republicans are very disappointed to see that his budget plan includes higher taxes. We need to open up state government ledgers to ensure tax dollars are being spent as effectively as possible, on necessary programs and projects that truly benefit Californians.Raising taxes is the worst thing we could do right now, it will devastate an economy that is hanging on by a thread, threaten jobs and hurt working families.

Instead of raising taxes so the Legislature can spend even more on bigger government, Republicans believe that our priority in the special session should be putting California jobs first and encouraging more companies to invest in our state and… Read More

I hate to disappoint those of you who think it already costs too much to spend a day at the Magic Kingdom. But apparently Governor Schwarzenegger has included applying sales and use taxes to amusement park tickets as part of a huge tax increase proposal that, frankly, makes his original mammoth sales tax proposal look “Mickey Mouse” by comparison.

In order to save me time, and ensure accuracy, I will actually paste below the exact language from the Governor summary of taxes that he would increase.

Before you start to send me an e-mail outraged that our Republican Governor, who campaigned for re-election against Phil Angelides by declaring in all corners of this state that he would vigorously oppose all tax increases, don’t. I already agree with you that this is outrageous, and a total breach of the trust that we placed in the Governor. We elected him to safeguard Californians against just this kind of attempt to increase… Read More

[Cross-posted from Red County/National Politics]

What is the difference between rats deserting a sinking ship, and anonymous McCain campaign leakers?

Rats can’t talk.

And another factor in the rats’ favor is they don’t point fingers and shift blame — they just bug out without a word.

The anonymous McCain staffers trying to blame their campaign’s failure on Sarah Palin could learn a thing or two from the rats.

The McCain campaign has no one to blame but itself, and the anonymous shanking of Gov. Palin dishonors Sen. McCain.

These leakers are behaving more like Daily Kos bloggers, not professionals, and they to face a few facts:

1) From the perspective of the Republican rank-and-file, the choice of Sarah Palin turned a funeral march into a real campaign. The grass roots were energized in a way they hadn’t been in years. Here in Orange County — the GOP heartland — volunteer headquarters were… Read More

New York’s NBC affiliate reports, and is also linked on Drudge, that Gov. Schwarzenegger rounds out what it calls a "star studded" cabinet list that rivals The Last Waltz in depth of celebrity well-knowns.

The NY Times had earlier blogged about it, here. Here is the same from another. Politico echoes it here.

yikes.

more later.… Read More

Over lunch today, the "incoming" Assembly Republican class (which will apparently number 30) will gather over lunch to hold their biennial organizational meeting. Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines will be re-elected to lead his caucus — a strong statement from the GOPers that their resolve against raising taxes in Californians is still strong. In fact, according to our sources, Villines has made a rock-solid opposition to new taxes a cornerstone to his re-election pitch to his colleagues.

So the biggest question that may be resolved at lunchtime today will not be who will lead Assembly Republicans — but rather who will be Villines’ top Lieutenant going into the new legislative session. Since Villines ascended to his perch, his Caucus Chairman was Bob Huff, who has now been elected to the State Senate.

Unlike the post of Leader, which is elected by the caucus, the position of Caucus Chairman is "named" by the Leader. Who will Villines pick? Well, we here at the FlashReport have a pretty good idea… But, we make it a point, whenever possible, to NOT mettle into the specifics of intra-caucus politics.… Read More

Last Tuesday’s election was a terrible one for the Republican Party nationally. By a wide electoral vote margin, and a sizable chunk of the popular vote, liberal Democrat Barack Obama was elected President. In the U.S. Senate, Republicans lost at least five seats. House Republicans saw their number shrink by 20 seats. Clearly the message being delivered by Obama and Democrats across the country is resonating with a majority of American voters. And it is equally clear that the message of Republicans is clearly not attracting enough votes to translate to electoral victories.

As of today, the Grand Old Party stands at a crossroads. Why is the GOP losing “market share” amongst voters? Have we lost our way? What do we do now? What must the GOP do to once again be the majority party?

These are all critical questions, and must be the central theme for a serious discussion about where the GOP needs to go from… Read More

U.S. Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the elected leader of House Republicans, according to every Member of Congress to whom I have spoken, is one of the nicest gentlemen in Congress. He is affable, he is pleasant, he is considerate, and unlike former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, he doesn’t push from the “top down” (Gingrich famously relied on his Lieutenants Tom “The Hammer” Delay and Dick Armey to push for party discipline). Boehner doesn’t insist the GOP legislators form up as a cohesive group – I can’t even think of one instance where a ranking Republican member of a committee was removed because they went counter to the course charter by Boehner and his team. I can see why as a House Republican, I there is good reason to keep Boehner around. There is no pressure on you to be part of a unified Republican Team – every GOPer can comfortably vote with the Democrats or their favorite third-house interest group, with none of the “inconvenience” of punitive results from your own party.

It is not… Read More