The statutory remedy for most common “Brown Act” open meeting violations is a simple “do-over” of the meeting in public. But if the government agency won’t acknowledge a violation, another feature of the Brown Act is that if you have to take them to court to prove the violation, and you win, a judge can order the “do-over” and you can get an award of attorneys fees for your trouble of having to bring the case. Or the DA can self-institute a criminal proceeding. I know a little about the Brown Act – I won a two-day trial against the Mission Viejo City Council years ago for clients for Brown Act violations the City would not acknowledge, and I won a contested attorney fee award, too. I also sued the Capistrano Unified School District a few years ago for a client on a Brown Act violation claim, held a deposition and did other discovery to prove the case, and was able to settle the case out of court, winning a court-approved stipulation agreement that Capo would record closed session meetings for a certain time period. I also was awarded attorney fees in that case. In those two cases, if the government agency had just… Read More

Speaker John Perez is on a jihad to obliterate the City of Vernon, home of the world famous Dodger Dog, quite literally. His legislation to literally abolish the city has garnered much attention, and has already passed out of the Assembly. While some serious legal questions have been raised about whether Vernon can be obliterated in such a manner, the underlying question is should Vernon be a city at all? In my mind, there are really three issues at hand here.

The first is whether it is appropriate to have a city whose only real function is to serve as an incubator for its local business community. At less than a hundred residents in an area of roughly five square miles, that is home to businesses that collectively have more than 50,000 employees, you can kind of get the picture. Vernon was not started as a residential community. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Vernon has been a magnet over the decades for every kind of gross, smelly and loud business that you could think of – incinerators, slaughterhouses, and the like. Frankly, I’m surprised it has even the few residents that it does. Vernon has no parks, no libraries, and no infrastructure… Read More

In aneffort to push for greater transparency in Congress, my colleagues and I aregoing head-to-headin a New Media Competition. Thanks to your support, I have advanced to the Top Eight and this week I am fighting for a spot in the Final Four.

By “liking” my Facebook page, “following” me on Twitter, and viewing my latestYouTube videos, you can help my online communications efforts in a meaningful way.

I am constantly striving to find new and improved ways to connect with all of my constituents. I am here to serve you and hope to provide you with the greatest transparency to my work in Congress.

With the strong emergence of New Media, I am able to give you a more personal look into my work days in the 25th District of California and in Washington, D.C. By “liking” my… Read More

The message that we at the FlashReport have for the small band of GOP legislators who think that it’s “cool” to go “rogue” on their party, and usurp the process of permitting the Republican Leaders in each chamber to be responsible for negotiating on a budget, is to just STOP.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Democrats outnumber Republicans in Sacramento by a considerable margin. If you look back at policy-making in the Capitol over a great many years, history is replete with GOP legislators who couldn’t play team ball. It is these specific legislators who have done two things well, collectively, over time. The first is to render moot the 2/3rds vote requirements on many issues that would allow the GOP to stop the big government agenda of the liberals who run the Capitol – in its tracks. The second is to put a Republican patina (or worse) on all of the terrible things that have been done to this state by unholy alliance of the elitist left at the state’s public employee unions.

We all know that the allure of being the decision makers is great — and “negotiating a deal” would fill anyone… Read More

With apologies to Mark Twain and his definition of golf as “a good walk spoiled,” last Thursday, Assembly Republicans took a highly routine walk off the floor of the Legislature, only to have it spoiled by the heavy hand of the ruling party. Several newspaper articles have offered explanations for this; all of them that I have seen got it wrong. Here’s what happened.

By way of background, keep in mind that both parties have left the floor before during debate. It’s called a caucus and, typically, the parties have afforded each other the privilege of caucusing whenever they want. In fact, caucus requests, in the memory of those currently serving in the Legislature, have always been granted unanimously. But not last Thursday. The Speaker of the Assembly himself, in a highly unusual move, took the gavel and objected to a routine request by Republicans to caucus.

Unanimous consent denied, GOP leader, Connie Conway, then made a motion under the Assembly’s rules to recess for a caucus. Those rules provide that a caucus can be called on a simple 41 vote majority. Now, Republicans have only 27 votes in the Assembly, and thus needed 14 of our Democratic… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

California’s New Normal: Budget Stalemate In keeping with longstanding state custom, California finds itself in the midst of a budgetary stalemate. Gov. Jerry Brown has maintained his position that he will neither raise nor extend taxes without the voters’ consent, but a new poll suggests that his referendum plan might just backfire.

On the surface, things look good for the Democrat. According to a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 62% favor holding a special election, and an identical 62% approve of Mr. Brown’s budget solution in concept. But the problem arises when voters take a closer look. When asked about extending certain taxes — a vital part of the Brown plan — just 46% still say yes.

With the notable exception of the governor himself, few players in Sacramento are keen on the idea of a special election anyway. Legislative Democrats and their union allies fear that attempts to increase taxes would be roundly… Read More

Yes, I know…it just doesn’t flow as nicely as “Sunday San Diego,” but what do you want for free?

This week marks the start of much-anticipated City of San Diego Mayoral contest (incumbent Jerry Sanders will term out), and a truckload of contenders start a long drive towards the June 2012 — and possibly November — finish line. A small truckload or a large one remains to be seen, but we can certainly count on some deep tire tracks before this one is over. At least someone will be able tosay they had their fun.

Today’s FlashReport mainpage features a focus on the race, with analysis by San Diegans Ryan Purdy and Erica Holloway. Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, who announced his campaign on Monday, also pens a guest piece,… Read More

[With incumbent Republican Councilman Carl DeMaio running for Mayor, another Republican, Mark Kersey, has emerged as the early front runner to replace DeMaio on the Council. I know Mark through GenNext, a group to which we both belong – a great guy. Below is a column Mark has penned concerning his candidacy – Flash]

Let’s Fix San Diego Now By Mark Kersey

I love San Diego. There is an entrepreneurial spirit here not seen in many cities of our size. We have tremendous natural beauty, enviable economic resources and I am fortunate to be among the lucky few who have the privilege of living here.

That said, we have endured a second-rate government for far too long. Our city government has been dominated by interest groups whose first concern is not the taxpayers or the city. We are teetering on the verge of insolvency and the city has been unable to provide basic neighborhood services such as paved roads and fully operating fire stations.

To be blunt, this is… Read More