Flashreport Blog

This piece was originally published at JohnHrabe.com.

Did Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin break the law? The City of Fresno is refusing to release the public records that could answer that question.

During the past few months, the mayor has participated in the search for a replacement for outgoing Fresno State president John Welty. On May 3, the five-member Trustees’ Selection Committee for President of CSU Fresno met in closed session at the LAX Marriot Hotel with a 13-member advisory committee that included Swearengin and other Central Valley leaders.

Local media have described the secretive nature of the presidential selection process. “So far, the search for Welty’s successor has been kept hush-hush,” the Fresno Bee’s Michael Krikorian pointed out on May 21. “There was one public meeting, on the Fresno State campus… Read More

Freshman State Senator Ricardo Lara and I don’t see eye to eye on much. Lara has praised the “comprehensive immigration reform” package being considered in Congress — I think it is a public policy disaster. Lara fights for the recognition of gay marriage — I think that the institution of marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman. Lara wants to speed along the implementation of Obamacare — I want to see it repealed. Lara is a Democrat — and I am a Republican. Kindred souls? Probably not.

That having been said, believe it or not the Senator and I do not disagree on everything. This week Lara published an OpEd in the Long Beach Press Telegram, Plastic Bag Ban Would Hurt California Workers. In the piece, Lara says:

I would like to have a responsible and smart conversation that balances the human, economic and environmental concerns surrounding plastic bags. We all care about the environment and want to reduce litter, but at a time when California is still recovering from a recession, we need to pursue policies that protect the environment and… Read More

So this is the best 11 minutes you will spend today — watching this video. LOVE Ted Cruz.

… Read More

Not long ago Associated Press discovered they are not immune from the tentacles Obama’s “Main Justice”. Not merely peeking at their emails, but now trolling their parents, AP reporters have a right to be nervous.

Locally, AP distributed a story which exposes the vulnerability of aggressive and greedy government unions domination over local California governments. Witness the LA mayoral elections. The key factor for liberal Eric Garcetti beating liberal Wendy Greuel was painting her as the government union controlled candidate. AP captured this story and distributed throughout the country.

It begins…

Garcetti Elected Mayor Of Los Angeles After Calling Opponent A Pawn Of Labor Bosses Michael Blood, Associated Press… Read More

When the November election gave the Democrats a supermajority in both houses of the legislature, press reports quickly focused on whether they would use this dominance to raise taxes. Trial balloons were floated, and the danger of tax increases has not passed, but those initial fears have so far proven unwarranted. The governor has engaged in some mostly responsible budgeting. I would make different choices in many respects – for example, our court system is being decimated and needs significant further funding. But some of the governor’s budget choices have been quite reasonable and he is proceeding on appropriately conservative assumptions.

Fortunately, the Democrats have not yet used their supermajority to spend wantonly. Unfortunately, though, spending money is only one of the things a legislature does. Another is the passing of even more laws to burden the public, and in that task, the supermajority has proven every bit as pernicious as Republicans feared right after the election.

Consider that, in just one week recently, two committees on which I serve passed the following… Read More

A little over a year ago (long before the election last year), I made the prediction that crime and tax rates would increase, and that Republicans should start simply campaigning on those two issues as quickly as possible. Since Republicans are in the minority and don’t have the governor’s office, the cacophony of events tend the drown out what small voice they have, and when crime and taxes started making headlines, having been consistent on the issues before there was a problem would pay off in rich political benefits. Good policy always makes for good politics.

Recently, Abel Maldonado started making an issue of crime. Whatever you may think of him, he should be lauded for this foresight. The Dems know it is going to be an issue, which is why they started attacking him as a racist. They want to strangle this political baby in the crib. My advice to Abel, do not fear. Show pictures of other criminals (of various ethnic backgrounds), released by Jerry Brown who have committed crimes (like the guy who killed four people in Northridge), but keep after the issue. It is only going to get worse (and, as further advice to Abel, figure out how to get right… Read More

As a result of his strong showing in yesterday’s special election in the 16th State Senate District in the Central Valley, conservative rancher Andy Vidak will soon be sworn in as the newest member of the California State Senate. Andy is a man of principle, courage and integrity, and will become a strong leader for Republicans in the State Capitol.

As much of a win as this is for Vidak and his campaign team, it is also a big boost for the California Republican Party, and its new Chairman, Jim Brulte. This was not a “safe” GOP seat — this was a highly contested seat. The State GOP put a large six figure IE into electing Vidak, which is now a pickup as the former occupant of the seat was a Democrat.

This certainly raises the stakes for 2014 — If Republicans can safely defend Senators Cannella and Vidak, and pick up the Republican leaning seat in Western and Central Orange County, they will surpass the 1/3 mark in the Senate, and Democrats will lose their super-majority (this math includes Republicans picking up what is a new “safe GOP” seat in the Inland Empire).

There are two write ups out already with more… Read More

[Publisher's Note: Last week all of us involved with politics lost a member of our "family" with the passing of Steven Kinney. A friend, an advisor, and one of the country's most accomplished political pollsters, Steve passed away last week after a battle with cancer. I will miss him greatly. I reached out to a mutual friend of Steve's and mine - Dora Kingsley Vertenten - to ask if she would pen a eulogy of Steve. Steve is survived by his wife, Cynthia. Information on a memorial service to be held in early June can be found here. If you have some thoughts or memories of Steve, feel free to comment below if you are a registered Facebook user. - Jon Fleischman]

Steve Kinney was a good man, honest pollster and wonderful friend. He understood two key concepts increasingly rare in partisan politics today: protocol and respect for position. More important than his great interest and expertise in politics, Steve was a man of deep faith who knew… Read More