Flashreport Blog

This native Californian was all bundled up to keep warm on a chilly Washington morning on Monday to witness the 57th United States Presidential Inaugural and hear President Obama’s second inaugural address.

To be honest, I was inspired by the address….. ….but, not in the way the president might have wanted.

I’m a big football fan. There’s nothing to bring you to your feet quite like the big touchdown pass. And, that is usually what brings accolades in the annals of football lore. But, just as important, and many times more important, is that tenacious defense. When you don’t have the ball, you count on those 11 defensemen to keep you in the game. Oh sure, they can sometimes get a “pick-6″ and score a touchdown. But usually, they just hold the line and keep bad things from happening. The undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins were led by what was dubbed the “no name defense”. They held the line and they were a big part of the only undefeated season in NFL history. As Republicans, we don’t have the ball right now. We may control the House, but we are the minority party in Washington since everything… Read More

I’m really trying. But I just can’t keep up with dumb ideas from the other party.

On the campaign trail, I’ve told the story of a meeting last year with some plaintiffs’ lawyers who specialize in employment law. I mentioned the idiotic and counterproductive Labor Code requirement that bars ten hour work days, even if the employee wants them. In a flight of what I thought was hyperbole, I added that Democrats act as if, without that law, “there would be 12 year old urchins in basements sewing garments again.”

“Oh, no, Mr. Wagner,” one of the lawyers earnestly replied, “that’s exactly what would happen.”

What I took as an obvious exaggeration, she took as a very good argument for a very bad law.

A couple of weeks ago, Democrats on the Assembly Education Committee complained about the narrow scope of a bill by State Senator Bob Huff. They objected to it because it didn’t completely fix a big problem (ironically, a big problem of Democrats’ own making with faulty legislation they passed a few years ago – but I digress). Instead, the bill dealt only with a small piece of the larger problem, and supposedly was objectionable for… Read More

On Friday, the Legislature passed the state budget and, while I don’t want to sound like a crank, I have to ask: Really? This is how we do things in Sacramento? This is how we govern the nation’s most populous state? This is how we pass the budget – the single most important piece of legislation we’ll consider all year?

I serve on the Budget Committee and thought we had scraped the bottom of the procedural barrel last year. The committee hearing on that final budget lasted only about 45 minutes before the committee chairman cut off questioning to take a vote so that Democratic members of the committee could “catch airplanes.”

But we hadn’t hit bottom. This year, incredibly, the process was worse.

For example, the Budget Committee never even held a hearing and vote on the budget we passed on Friday, so I guess last year’s 45 minutes wasn’t bad. Instead, we had an “informational” presentation of a budget “framework.” In some news reports, Sacramento’s ruling Democrats called it a “concept” for the budget. In any event, there was no vote, even on the “concept” for this year’s budget. Moreover, the language of the budget… Read More

As an addendum to my “Fix It” episodes, I thought I’d share an op-ed I wrote that was published in the Orange County Register last Friday.

The Orange County Register: Opinion CAMPBELL: Biggest National Security Threat is Debt

Conservatives should not oppose attempts to makes cuts to defense, homeland security.

By Congressman John Campbell

As conservatives, we are always trying to reduce federal spending because there is a lot of waste and inefficiency in government, because more government spending often does not result in better outcomes, and because there are many things the federal government simply should leave to “the States respectively or to the people,” as the 10th Amendment instructs.

Clearly, spending for the “common defense,” enumerated in the preamble to the Constitution, is one of the unassailed responsibilities of the federal government. No argument there.

But, why is it conservative orthodoxy to assume that defense spending is immune from waste and inefficiency or that more spending in this area alone is… Read More

Camp Carl DeMaio must be doing a jig.

Earlier this week, the councilman signed highly-respected pollster John Nienstedt of Competitive Edge Research & Communication.

So far, the polling for the San Diego mayoral race ain’t been what most of us race watchers would consider legit.

This move signifies a tipping point in the race that will no doubt lead to some substantive research providing supporters, donors and voters alike a clearer view of the field.

The most recent poll, conducted by SurveyUSA from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3 for KGTV, Channel 10, showed DeMaio in the top spot with 25 percent of the vote followed closely by long-time Democrat Congressman Bob Filner with 24 percent.

Trailing behind the pair were Republicans, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis with 14 percent and state Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher at 13 percent.

Respondents in the… Read More

It’s true.

I am no longer the Communications Director for the California Republican Party, having stepped down earlier this month to start playing in the Political Consultant’s sandbox. It’s a career that is only slightly more stable than my two previous jobs, radio show host and acting.

The first call I received after the announcement was released was from Jon Fleischman, who immediately offered some prime real estate as an official FlashReport blogger. I said “Yes” before he finished the word “blogg—”.

I look forward to writing about all kinds of political news in this space (Lord knows in California alone, there’s plenty to write about) and I’m especially looking forward to offering my perspective on Jerry’s shiny pony tax hike plan as it moves toward November like the political equivalent of the Bataan Death March.

And I’ve been overwhelmed by the kind words and encouragement that friends and peers have sent, and humbled at compliments from the press corps. I’m sure you’re all deranged, or that you owe me dinner.

Meanwhile, I need to keep my CFO happy. So…time to… Read More

As columns go, this will be one will be fairly short — and very direct. Until now, the Presidential candidacy of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been more of a sideshow than anything serious. Actually, his performances in the never-ending stream of debates have been downright enjoyable. Now the latest national poll of ever-shifting sentiments of Republican voters on who Republicans want as their Presidential nominee has Gingrich on top with 28% support.

Because Gingrich has catapulted into the fore, let me make it very clear that I cannot and will not support his candidacy for the Republican nomination because there is no way for me to be convinced that Gingrich is of sufficient moral character to hold the highest elective office in the United States. Because of this, there really is no reason to assess his candidacy on any other level. The policies and politics of a candidate do not matter if one cannot trust them.

Let me take the liberty of reprinting two paragraphs from… Read More

The Family Action PAC is one of California’s most prominent conservative donor organizations. Founded years ago in Orange County as a ideologically conservative counter-point to the New Majority, the FAP has long worked hard to elect conservatives to office at the state and local levels.

FR readers know that during this latest state budget debate, there was a lot of controversy within GOP ranks over whether to support legislation that would abolish RDA’s — this legislation was tied to other legislation that would allow RDA’s to continue to exist if they paid money from their plush bank accounts into the state’s needy coffers.

It was clear to me and many other conservatives that any solid legislation that would impair, hamper, or abolish RDAs — is a welcome idea. As I have said, Redevelopment Agencies may have started with a good idea in mind, but they have become a good old boys network of redistributing money through taxes into local development projects, typically being awarded to friends and political contributors of local city council members (who conveniently are the members of the city redevelopment… Read More