I’m in a rush this morning — so I will just draw attention to a few important items on today’s main page:
The lead story today is right out of the Wall Street Journal. You’ve all heard me go on (and on) about the spending problems that we have in Congress. Since the GOP majority was elected in 1994 in the House, federal spending is UP over 33%. Conservative Republicans in the House, understanding that our majority is at stake, have become more aggressive in trying to curb our spending. The leadership of the Republican Study Committee (the conservatives in the House) started some very real negotiations with GOP leaders about spending cuts. As these negotiations have become more ‘real’ — there is squeeling coming out of the House Appropriations Committee (one of the "pork" committees of Congress) where apparently Representative Jerry Lewis, a California Congressman who chairs the committee, has a problem with House Republicans negotiating cuts in spending without going through…HIS committee.
In no uncertain terms, Jerry Lewis should applaud any effort to cut spending, whether these discussions happen in "his" committee or not. The reality is that spending problem wouldn’t be there is Lewis’ committee had been showing leadership by reducing spending. Instead, spending is up, up, up!
FR friend Brian Bennett has been a Long Beach civic activist for some time. A solid Republican, Bennett has been toiling away for months on the candidacy of Bob Foster for Long Beach Mayor. Only recently did it cross my radar that Foster…is a Democrat. With Foster’s near-outright victory on election day Tuesday (he missed a run-off by 1.5 percent), I asked Bennett to pen a column for you on that race. Please be sure to check it out.
Finally, my good friend Joe Justin, who has been working as a campaign professional for a very long time, has penned a piece on the FlashReport Weblog that is worthy of your attention. In addition to being a regular contributor to the FR, Joe has been working as State Senator Bill Morrow’s campaign manager in the recent special election for Congress. As those who follow that race know, Morrow did not perform as well as many would have liked. Joe talks ‘from the heart’ about that race from his perspective in his thoughtful post.
I have to run!
Jon
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