CLUB FOR GROWTH SLATE The California Club for Growth is a non-partisan organization that is focused on educating the public about the importance of a limited role for government, and letting voters know which candidates will promote a liberty-based agenda in office, with a particular emphasis on free-market-oriented economic principles.

For the first time, the California Club for Growth has produced a statewide mailing to voters in advance of an election. There is a page of it that advocates for various positions on the election (these various measures undoubtedly financed the mail). But I am pleased that the vast majority of the piece is educational, talking about the very principles that the group espouses.

I was extremely pleased when I was approached by representatives of CCfG to ask if I would author an article in the piece talking about the need to streamline California government and ‘blow up the boxes’ (as Governor Schwarzenegger put it). They also let me put in some verbiage about the FlashReport.… Read More

This is a big FLASHREPORT THANK YOU to the California Club for Growth. The organization pumped out a half a million pieces of mail around California, which is hitting voters in the mail this week. This mail piece has four 8.5 x 11 panels, and one of those panels (inside, right page) is a column from yours truly, as Publisher of the FlashReport, on the importance of streamlining state government. There are several plugs for the FlashReport on the page!

The big reason for the THANK YOU is that the Club for Growth folks reached out to us, and made the offer. And while there were some trade-offs for being featured on the piece, they were totally reasonable. There is no doubt that the leadership of California Club for Growth, Tony Strickland and Shawn Steel, want to promote this website, and we appreciate it!

So, want to see this mail piece? It is at the bottom of my… Read More

There are only two types of candidates for legislative and local offices that print their names on things other than direct mail and donor envelopes. 1) losers who get some sense of satisfaction from handing out a campaign-logo imprinted key chain to a neighbor who isn’t even registered to vote and 2) candidates that are so far ahead in the race and have so much money to spend that their consultants are reaching for ways to spend it, even though the race is all but decided.

The later is the case with the "Note Pad Mailer of 2005", the brain child of Sacramento based and OC legislative/Congressional/supervisorial consultant of choice Dave Gilliard. The note pad was sent in a regular #10 envelope with a letter I didn’t read because I was so excited to see the note pad. It was only the third one I had gotten on Monday (the other two were from Realtors who had dropped them on my front porch).

The note pad expressly reminds Republicans to vote for John Campbell in the Dec. 6 Special Election to replace Rep. Cox. A generally good idea since it will be the THIRD Special Election in as many months. But the note pad… Read More

The U.C. Berkeley Californian newspaper today is carrying a story on the visit, yesterday, by State GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim to a Political Science class on campus:

In his remarks, Sundheim talked about the importance of passing Propostion 75, the Paycheck Protection measure. He compared the power of employee unions to the power of another interest back in the early 1900’s, "They have the same degree of power in Sacramento that the railroad’s had in 1911."

Duf gets props for going into the heart of liberalism. A glance at the front page of the very same Daily Californian shows what ELSE was going on the same day he was there:

Tucked away at the very bottom of the latest FIELD POLL was a section testing the re-election numbers for Senator Dianne Feinstein. Needless to say, Feinstein is currently sitting on a commanding lead, bolstered by the fact that nearly one in four REPUBLICANS is inclined to support her re-election. Feinstein continues to enjoy a ‘perception’ out there that she is significantly more centrist than her colleague, Barbara Boxer. The reality is that their differences are must more stylistic than ideological. The two of them agree on just about everything. But I think it would be fair to characterize Boxer as being more ‘strident’ and ‘flambouyant’. Feinstein’s measured demeaner belays her extremely liberal positions on virtually all issues.

I would add that this perception of Feinstein was advanced in the last election cycle when GOP officials would go on the stump, attacking Boxer, and claiming that she is ‘far more liberal’ than Feinstein. Shame on them.… Read More

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Phil Kurzner’s use of “Dr. Phil” in his campaign missives makes him sound less like a highly-qualified M.D. running for Insurance Commissioner than a daytime TV personality made famous by dishing out touchy-feely psycho-babble on the Oprah Winfrey Show? I know…this must have been gauged by some consultant (what, to reach out to the Oprah voting bloc?), but no one is actually gonna think he’s that Dr. Phil, are they?

Actually, looking at the two Dr. Phils, there is a striking resemblance.

Note to voters: Vote for the one with the hair.

Realistically, though, there may be strand of brilliance here. In the Republican primary, how many voters will actually know the difference between Phil Kurzner and Steve… Read More

Great news! You can run red lights in the city of Los Angeles without getting caught by those pesky civil rights violating cameras. A big thank you goes out to Republican Councilman Dennis Zine for letting the public know that a yellow lightmeans step on it. See the latest story here.

Two observations are in order. One is that it is wonderful that the LA City bureaucracy moves so slowly. Imagine how bad it would be in LA if the city were too effective?

Second is Councilman Weiss. Give me a break with his "If one person decides not to run a red light, and if one life is saved because of the deterrent effect of the cameras, that’s a good thing,"

Yes Dennis Zine wants people to die. If Weiss wanted to save… Read More

RICO OLLER LOOKS AT TREASURER BID? Ever since last week’s bomb shell news that Bill Simon was dropping his bid for the GOP nomination for Treasurer, the FlashReport has been receiving a steady stream of e-mails and ‘anonymous tips’ on potential candidates to replace him in that primary. There is wide-spread disatisfaction with the remaining candidates in the field. Claude Parrish, a Board of Equalization Member from Southern California (and quite an odd fellow) has failed to ignite any enthusiasm for his campaign with six years to work a district covering a quarter of California’s voters. The other candidate in the primary, Keith Richman, is so far outside of the mainstream of Republican thought that he might almost be dismissed out of hand. His opposition to the Governor’s last budget because it didn’t raise taxes, his opposition to the parental notification initiative, and his strong support for the recent open primary measure are just a few of his extreme positions…

… Read More