At some point today, John Garamendi will be sworn in as a new member of the United States House of Representatives. In doing so, he will step down from the office of Lt. Governor. Governor Schwarzenegger will be able to name his replacement, subject to a confirmation vote of both the State Senate and the State Assembly. In theory the Governor could tap Garamendi’s replacement as early as tomorrow afternoon – after all, he has already had over a month to think about it, with Garamendi the overwhelming favorite to win his election to Congress as the Democrat nominee in a House seat with an 18-point advantage for the party of Obama.

There has been a good deal of conjecture taking place already as to whom the Governor might appoint. Let me start off by saying that the names of a number of Democrats have been thrown around – the most plausible of which being that of his old friend, former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (pictured, who is currently trying to change the world as Co-Chairman of California Forward).… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger’s office just announced the appointment of State Senator John Benoit to fill a vacant seat on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

"I am humbled to receive this appointment from Governor Schwarzenegger," Benoit told me on the phone just a few minutes ago. "While I have spent nearly seven years representing a large portion of Riverside County in the State Legislature, I believe that there lot of challenges to be dealt with on a local level. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and working with my new colleagues on the Board of Supervisors."

I asked Benoit what he would miss the most about leaving the state legislature. Without missing a beat, he told me, "I have had the honor to serve with a lot of great people, from both sides of the political aisle. I have learned a lot from them, and will miss them — though I will work to apply much of what I have learned in my new position."

Benoit won a hotly contested race for the 37th State Senate seat last year (the incumbent, Jim Battin, retired due to term limits), and so will actually be leaving the Senate after less than one… Read More

Factoid of the day: President Barack Obama’s economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there.

– Quote from an Associated Press Report on overstating of stimulus job creation by the White House.

Pelosi Health Care Update: Last night at 10:07 PM Eastern time, Speaker Pelosi released the latest version of her health care plan. This version added 42 pages to make the total bill now a whopping 2,032 pages. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) had pledged to have the final bill in print for 72 hours before it is voted upon. That means that the soonest the bill could be brought to a vote on the House floor is 10:07 PM on Friday night.

But by all accounts, they have not yet cajoled the necessary 218 votes to ensure the bill’s passage. It also appears clear that they may make more changes to the bill in order to secure more votes before Friday night or Saturday. But they have… Read More

Watch Fiorina’s announcement for U.S. Senate live…

Live Broadcast by Ustream.TV… Read More

Today is going to be a big day for Carly Fiorina. The former Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett Packard from 1999 through 2005 will make it official that she is a candidate for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. Her goal is to retire the ultra-liberal and ineffective incumbent, Barbara Boxer, next November.

As I like to say here on the FlashReport, we are "fair and biased" — and so I don’t mind laying out for all that there is no one that I can think of in the United States who combines the qualities of liberalism and shrillness into an all-together nauseating toxic cocktail of a politician.

In advance of her official announcement today, I had a chance to sit down with Fiorina. While normally I would try to release a lengthy interview in more digestible segments, in order to help FR readers assess this new entrant into the U.S. Senate race I have… Read More

In conjunction with her official announcement of her candidacy for the United States Senate, Carly Fiorina will be laying out her official initial "campaign team" (I’m sure it will grow as her campaign gets into gear)… TEAM CARLY Campaign Manager: Marty Wilson of Wilson-Miller Communications (pictured) … Read More

Today is going to be a big day for Carly Fiorina. The former Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett Packard from 1999 through 2005 will make it official that she is a candidate for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. Her goal is to retire the ultra-liberal and ineffective incumbent, Barbara Boxer, next November.

As I like to say here on the FlashReport, we are "fair and biased" — and so I don’t mind laying out for all that there is no one that I can think of in the United States who combines the qualities of liberalism and shrillness into an all-together nauseating toxic cocktail of a politician.

In advance of her official announcement today, I had a chance to sit down with Fiorina. While normally I would try to release a lengthy interview in more digestible segments, in order to help FR readers assess this new entrant into the U.S. Senate race I have… Read More

James Freeman, a former staffer for then-Rep. Chris Cox (R-Newport Beach) is today an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal. In a book review in the paper’s "bookshelf" column, he has managed to succinctly summarize the root cause of financial turmoil impacting the government sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae et al) and the financial institutions that bet on their investments. This summary comes in the form of a review of a new book, "The Sellout" by CNBC correspondent Charles Gasparino.

Here’s the gist, in terms of market turmoil triggers: "For another, the government had made a series of horrendous policy decisions that, as Mr. Gasparino shows, encouraged financial firms to go long on housing in ways that would have once been unimaginable.

"In 1995, Henry Cisneros, the secretary of housing and urban development, directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac…to buy and guarantee mortgages of low- and moderate-income borrowers amounting to 42% of their annual business volume. His successor,… Read More