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Jon Fleischman

McClintock’s McPickle

What conservative in California has a higher profile than State Senator Tom McClintock? He has been arguably the most articulate, principled conservative in the legislature. Twice he carried the statewide conservative banner as the GOP nominee for State Controller (the last go-around losing to Steve Westly by less than one vote per precinct). Of course, he ran as the conservative candidate in the 2003 recall election, and won praise from not only conservatives but from across the political spectrum for the statesmanlike approach he took to campaigning in that race. Unless Governor Schwarzenegger leaves the GOP, he has a virtual lock on the Republican nomination for Governor in his re-election. McClintock is facing a clear field in his bid to be Arnold’s running mate. (Hmmm… “Schwarzenegger / McClintock” – that makes for a long bumper sticker…) It is clear from all of the news stories offering a prelude to the Governor’s State of the State speech tonight that Schwarzenegger is tacking hard to the political center, and some of his proposals (massive spending, wage hike mandates, etc.) are anathema to a rock-solid intellectual libertarian like… Read More

Jon Fleischman

Live from the State of the State

Well, almost at the State of the State. From a big tent outside on the capitol lawn. But you need a cool pin and have to be on a list to get in here. So, I feel important.

The Governor started his remarks by apologizing to Californians for the special election. Almost as if to say that what he was trying to achieve it wrong. I maintain that he absolutely did the right thing with the special election. It was the overwhelming dollars spent by the unions that caused the measures to fair.

Well, it isn’t too practical to blog throughout this speech (I will post mid-speech again if there is anything worth blogging). When it is over, I will post a longer message.

Jon… Read More

Mike Spence

Rosemead, Wal-Mart Recall back off

First the pro-Wal-Mart council majority call off a recall election using a recent liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the Voting Rights Act. (BTW: Thisruling creates lots of possible problems forcitizen democracy in the future.) See it here.Then one of the majority’s members changes sides and votes to have the recall election. See it here.Now one of those being recalled went to federal court and successfully got an order stopping the recall process— for now. See the local story here.

If Wal-Mart can only get the bulldozers started.… Read More

Jon Fleischman

First Blush Analysis on State of the State Address

The State of the State Address is just about over, and so now is a chance to share some initial thoughts. There are other places to get the gist of the policy proposals in the Governor’s speech, although for your perusal I am attaching a summary (though it was prepared byproponents of the proposals, so take that into account when reading it). The way the system works is that the print and televised media have a briefing from the Governor’s staff hours before the actual speech. There is a practice called "embargoing" where the media folks understand that theyRead More

Mike Spence

Where did Arnold go?

Rather than recount the sell out of small government Republicans by the Gov. in his State of the State speech. I want to ask some questions about a different speech I heard Aug. 31, 2004. In it he describes what it is to be a Republican and what traits he like in Pres. Bush. You can read the whole thing here.

First he starts out describing the Soviet threat and about his coming to America. then he leads into why is a Republican. Some are about foreign policy, but here is a really good one

"If you believe your family knows how to spend your money better than the government does, then you are a Republican!" Please, someone tell me how the Arnold $222 billion dolllar plan fits that statement.

And what about this from the RNC Speech "Now they say India and China are overtaking us. Don’t you believe it! We may hit a few bumps — but America always moves ahead! That’s what Americans do!" What has changed Governor, now we are to emulate Red China’s optimism.

Then on Pres. Bush.… Read More

Jon Fleischman

FlashReport meets with Gov’s Senior Staff just before State of the State Address

Arnold Schwarzenegger is showman. He likes to thing big. REALLY BIG. (Think T1, T2, and T3). Running in a controversial recall election — big. In California – big. A complete overhaul of California – big. "Blowing up boxes" – big. A special election to take on the special interests – big. Now, "Mr. Hollywood" has come up with his BIGGEST idea yet…Massive spending (including bonds) to finance BIG state infrastructure needs. His proposal is SO BIG that we really should make the word big into like 50 point font. We’ll get to the big "strategic growth plan" in a moment. The point of talking about Schwarzenegger’s fascination with big things is that it might go a long way towards explaining why he is introducing such a BIG proposal… Jon and Barry met withRead More

Dan Schnur

Steve Schmidt and the Class of ’98

When I met Steve Schmidt in 1998, he was one of three very smart young Republican communications specialists working in California politics, all of whom were far too talented for their work environments. Like Rob Stutzman in Dan Lungren’s office and Nicolle Devenish at the Assembly Republican Caucus, Steve’s job on the Matt Fong for Senate campaign made him a rare bright spot in a tragically flawed political operation.

All three staffers had such superior political and messaging instincts to their colleagues that it was almost painful to watch them struggle to implement an inept strategic plan on a daily basis. Lungren and Fong were the frontmen for two of the worst-run and most strategicaly incoherent statewide campaigns in California history: both were political juggernauts when measured against the paralysis that had taken over the Assembly Republicans at that point in time. But the three young operatives not only survived their mediocre surroundings, but they all developed talents for political communications that have allowed them to achieve extraordinary successful careers in a field that has not historically been an area of Republican… Read More

More, More, More

Some observations on the Governor’s State of the State speech:

The Governor said we need, "More, more, more." Those are three of the scariest words any elected official with the ability to spend our tax dollars can string together.

He compared California’s economy to China’s suggesting we could be more like them. He failed to mention anything about their pesky communist system of government.

He said to, "Think of California as a mutual fund." If CA was truly a publicly traded company, even I would encourage Elliot Spitzer to investigate that stock.

Note to Assemblyman Chuck DeVore: I noticed you not clapping at the Governor’s new proposal for $70 million dollar in bonded indebtedness. Way to stand your ground. I hope you didn’t eat the little spinach hors devours at the reception out of protest too.

Watch out. The Governor wants space to house another 83,000 criminals in prison. I am not sure who he has in mind for taking up residency, but my advise is to lay low, avoid eye contact and pay your taxes on time.… Read More