People all across California (and America) are anxious for information about the McClintock/Brown race. Today, Tom’s lead increased to 889 votes.

I spent the entire day at the Placer County Registrar of Voters, observing the ballot counting. It’s a slow, tedious process and can certainly be boring. But I will say that I’ve never been prouder of my local election officials. They take every precaution to ensure every vote is counted. Even in races that aren’t closely contested, each vote is considered extremely important. Until today, I had no idea that every absentee signature is scrutinized, the integrity of the ballots makes them untouchable by anyone other than a select few, and voter intent is paramount. Some voters are actually called if their signature is slightly off, or if there is any suspicion of fraud.

While I’m proud of my local elections officials, there are some in other areas that have been less impressive. I’ve heard some horror stories from other areas in the 4th CD—and in a close election like this one, tensions are high. As Assemblyman LaMalfa mentioned last night, the Democrat lawyers have descended upon the 4th CD and they are… Read More

I know that this blog is generally supposed to focus on California politics but I wanted to pass along a column by John Kass, the right-of-center columnist for the Chicago Tribune. My mother grew up in Chicago and, for a time, I lived in Illinois and covered the statehouse for the Springfield Journal-Register. Chicago is my favorite city in the country, but there is no question that it is one of the most corrupt cities in the nation (althoughI won’t deny that it is cleaner, prettier and more pleasant to visit thanmost CA cities).Kass is constantly shining a light on the questionable ethics of Mayor Richard Daley, his family and other Chicago politicos. Here’s Kass’ take on President-elect Obama’s pick of Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff: Emanuel pick shows change is a state of mind.

… Read More

The following is a Guest Commentary just received from Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform…

Your Governor can beat up Sarah Palin, but Sarah Palin is smarter than your Governor By Grover Norquist

Only 6 months into the new fiscal year, the Democrats in the California State legislature have spent $11 billion more next year than they had planned to take from taxpayers. This, Governor Schwarzenegger explains is our problem. We have failed to pony up the $11 billion.

In fact, this is the state legislature’s own problem. They are spending too… Read More

We here at the FlashReport are pleased to present this Guest Commentary, submitted by the Governor’s office, authored by David Crane. Mr. Crane is a Special Advisor to the Governor for Jobs and the Ecomony. Governor Schwarzenegger has called a special session of the legislature to deal with an $11.2 billion shortfall in the current fiscal year budget. He has introduced a plan to deal with this problem that contains billions of dollars in both cuts and new taxes. Crane discusses the Governor’s proposal below. You can read the Governor’s proposal as it was presented here (you can even watch a video of the Governor presenting his plan).

$11.2 BILLION SHORTFALL REQUIRES A TOUGH… Read More

We here at the FlashReport are pleased to present this Guest Commentary, submitted by the Governor’s office, authored by David Crane. Mr. Crane is a Special Advisor to the Governor for Jobs and the Ecomony. Governor Schwarzenegger has called a special session of the legislature to deal with an $11.2 billion shortfall in the current fiscal year budget. He has introduced a plan to deal with this problem that contains billions of dollars in both cuts and new taxes. Crane discusses the Governor’s proposal below. You can read the Governor’s proposal as it was presented here (you can even watch a video of the Governor presenting his plan).

$11.2 BILLION SHORTFALL REQUIRES A TOUGH… Read More

In Congressional District 4, Tom’s lead edges up to 709 votes from 451 on election night. According to folks on the ground there, Rahm Emanual has his goon squad lawyers up there throwing their weight around with elections offices to try tohassle and intimidate the workers and election clerks processing the ballots still not handled.… Read More

Two days after the election, and the vote counting continues here in the 4th CD. As of today, Tom McClintock is up 709 votes over Charlie Brown. There are still several thousand absentee and provisional ballots to count and it’s going slowly—election officials want to make sure they count accurately. I’ll post more updates on the vote count as the numbers come in…… Read More

I've been up in Sacramento for a couple of days, doing the kind of networking that FR readers would expect in order to be able to bring you the insights and commentaries you've come to expect here on the FlashReport. As I sit in my hotel room at the Capitol Hyatt hotel, formatting some columns for tomorrow morning's FR, there is a roar coming from the nearby Capitol building. There is a crowd of protesters gathered there, I would say about 1500 people strong – all upset about the defeat of Proposition 8. They are all screaming, “We want it. Now.”… Read More