51 Steele

44 Duncan

34 Dawson

24 Anuzus

15 Blackwell… Read More

A Federal judge in Sacramento yesterday ruled against the Yes on 8 Committee’s motion to protect some of its later donors from public disclosure (due on February 2) because of a persistent, organized campaign of personal and business harassment of prior disclosed donors by supporters of gay marriage, who gleaned the names and addresses of those donors from government records.

The claims made by Yes on 8 are similar to constitutional arguments that won the day in prior cases involving communists and socialists, who claimed they would be harassed and their privacy rights violated if their names and addresses were publicly disclosed by the government in connection with the campaigns of their partys. The Federal Judge in the Yes on 8 case didn’t agree, even thoughthe claims of the Yes on 8 committee were stronger than the other established cases, and supported by real evidence of an organized boycott of businesses and personal harassment of donors who gave as little as $100.

Liberal election lawyers were happy with the result, but concerned that Yes on 8 might have some success by filing an emergency appeal to the Ninth… Read More

RNC Second ballot result:

Duncan 48. Steele 48. Dawson 29. Anuzis 24. Blackwell 19.

85 votes needed to win.

15 minute recess before next vote.… Read More

The members of the Republican National Committee are balloting to elect a new Chairman who may (unfortunately) be the old Chairman, Mike Duncan – former President Bush’s man.

After the first round of balloting, the first results are in: 52 for Duncan, 46 for Michael Steele, 28 for Katon Dawson, 22 for Saul Anuzus and 20 for Ken Blackwell.

So now deliberations will continue, and balloting will go on until some gets a majority of the votes… There will be another ballot soon. As to whether anyone drops out, it isn’t required but probable…… Read More

[Pub. Note – FlashReport readers will have to pardon my temporary and brief departure from writing about California’s overspending crisis, in order to write about something that really has me worked up… – Flash]

Washington’s bailouts are bad enough, but it adds insult to injury when bailout recipients use their money for stupid things. AIG thought it smart to hold a corporate retreat at the Ritz Carlton. Citi defied logic and tried to spend $50 million on a new corporate jet. Now, there is word that another bailout recipient is wasting its money, this time on a frivolous lawsuit.

Hollywoodʼs six major studios have filed a lawsuit to prevent consumers (like me!) from being able to buy RealDVD, a cool program that allows you to legally back up your DVDs to your personal computer just like you back up your CDs with iTunes.… Read More

[Pub. Note – FlashReport readers will have to pardon my temporary and brief departure from writing about California’s overspending crisis, in order to write about something that really has me worked up… – Flash] Washington’s bailouts are bad enough, but it adds insult to injury when bailout recipients use their money for stupid things. AIG thought it smart to hold a corporate retreat at the Ritz Carlton. Citi defied logic and tried to spend $50 million on a new corporate jet. Now, there is word that another bailout recipient is wasting its money, this time on a frivolous lawsuit.

Hollywoodʼs six major studios have filed a lawsuit to prevent consumers (like me!) from being able to buy RealDVD, a cool program that allows you to legally back up your DVDs to your personal computer just like you… Read More

<<Plug in introductory text here>>

Waste Watchers: Taxpayers Get Shortchanged by San Jose Employee Pension System’s Miscalculations

Taxpayers should be really frightened to know that it took the current market meltdown to discover costly errors with the city of San Jose’s employee pension system.

According to the Mercury News, (January 7, 2009), “…many retired city workers are still expecting bonus checks for high earnings reaped before the recent market crash.”

… Read More

Today, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette sided with Governor Schwarzenegger and taxpayers by ordering Controller John Chiang to implement the Governor’s furlough plan. The Governor’s plan to require state workers to furlough two days each month in order to save the state $1.3 billion is the right thing to do, given the amount of spending that the state needs to cut. In fact, the Governor’s plan, given the drastic problem created by chronic overspending going back years, is modest, and probably a precursor to more to come. Especially if Democrats in the legislature refuse to take a scalpel to state spending, and continue to seem content to spend like mad until literally the money runs out.

If you remember last week, I took the Controller, John Chiang to task for reversing his position on this issue and siding with the unions who filed a lawsuit to stop the furloughs. Taking a look at his political contributions and obvious political ambition, his decision to side with the same unions that had contributed tens of thousands of dollars to his campaign for Controller showed that he is nothing… Read More