Last month, I began a series of posts on how I believe Republicans, especially Republican officeholders, ought to talk to voters about where Republicans stand on issues. The theme has been that we stand on liberty, restoring the rights of the individual, whether those rights relate to political rights, that is, free speech and free press, economic rights, that is, the right to feed one’s family without interference from government, that is, without excessive taxation or interference with the free market (freedom of contract and private property rights) by regulatory excesses, or other personal freedoms, such as the right to own a gun. If Republicans start thinking and talking about liberty, in my opinion, it will bring a consistency to our approach to politics, a framework for intellectual honesty in our pursuit of public policy, and a means of connecting with voters in a way that helps them understand that a Republican controlled government will actually be better for them than the tax, spend and regulate Democrats.

My project got delayed a bit, because I had to do things that actually pay my bills, something my creditors truly appreciate, but it is time to… Read More

This week we are going to be compiling the top 100 California conservatives on Twitter. I know who I follow on Twitter. But FlashReport reader feedback is always important for this kind of feature. So, who are they? Politicians? Thinkers? Columnists? Policy wonks? Activists? Celebrities?

The requirement of anyone in consideration is that they must be from California, or have a legitimate nexus to California politics or policy. Other factors that will be weighed include originality of tweets, quality of RT’s, and number of… Read More

As long as I have followed politics closely — since Junior High school in the 1970′s — I’ve said political consultants will be the death of the Republican Party.

And now, finally, a political consultant finally agrees with me. “The way it works is this–ever since we centralized politics in Washington, the House campaign committee and the Senate campaign committee, they decide who they think should run,” Pat Cadell said at the CPAC conference. “You hire these people on the accredited list [they say to candidates] otherwise we won’t give you money. You hire my friend or else.”

“Pat Caddell, the Fox News Contributor and Democrat pollster who engineered Jimmy Carter’s 1976 Presidential victory, blew the lid off CPAC on Thursday with a… Read More

The Republican National Committee is finally going to catch up with the grass roots.

In a report to be released Monday, the RNC will declare that “the new political geographical center of the political infrastructure will be precinct organizations.”

Well, well, well – it’s about time.

This isn’t some minor tweak. It’s a tacit admission that the “preferred” method of voter contact, forced upon the grassroots of our party for a decade, has been a flop – a gigantic failure that has resulted in more defeats than we can calculate.

In 2004, my county party was pressured by an RNC employee to, in effect, dismantle the strong precinct organization we had built in San Diego County, and in effect turn all of our volunteers over to the RNC/Bush campaign so they could be pulled out of the precincts and herded into phone banks.

RNC staffers were being evaluated by the number – not the quality – of “voter contacts,” and a phone bank can generate a lot more contacts per hour than a precinct walk (the fact most of those contacts have zero impact on voter behavior was conveniently overlooked).

Apparently, no… Read More

There has been considerable discussion in GOP circles lately about the party’s problems with Latinos, Asians, gay people, single people, young people, secular people, and half a dozen other segments of the electorate. This is a discussion worth having, but there is a part of this conversation that is not yet part of the debate: what these segments of the electorate largely have in common is they live in urban areas*.

Within my political lifetime the GOP has been all but driven out of the major urban areas of California… mostly into the deep suburbs, x-urbs, or rural turf. Take maps of what party holds which seats of the State Assembly or Congress in California over the last decade and you can watch our retreat in slow motion. As urbanity expands, the GOP contracts. Urbanity is continuing to expand. Seats that were considered ‘safe Republican’ are now in the mix.

This week I had the opportunity to speak as some length with one of the last Republican partisan officeholders to represent a major city. He got it: the culture of people who live in urbanized areas is simply different than people who live in other types of communities. Republicans,… Read More

I attending my first Conservative Political Action Convention back in 1988. I’ve attending many since, off and on, over the last quarter-century. CPAC, as it is called, is the single largest conference where conservatives gather from all around the country. The agenda is jam-packed with some pretty amazing speaker. The strong majority of the speakers at this annual event, sponsored by the American Conservative Union, and held in the Washington, D.C., area — are very conservative. There are, of course, a few stand-out not-so-conservative speakers (Donald Trump?) — but by and large there is an impressive lineup of speakers over three days.

If you are… Read More

SACRAMENTO — California politicians have added more anti-gun laws, but have yet to offer any real violent crime solutions.

Anti-gun lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly have been busy with legislation aimed at guns and ‘gun violence,’ whatever that is.

Is ‘gun violence’ similar to ‘SUV violence, knife violence or drug violence?’ After all, SUV’s, knives and drugs are responsible for killing many people each year, according to lawmakers’ definitions.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks 16 ounce sodas kill.

Another ridiculous bill, SJR 1

The Senate passed a resolution Thursday by Senator Lois Wolk, D-Davis, urging Congress and President Barack Obama to enact a comprehensive gun violence prevention policy, including prohibiting the sale of military-style assault weapons, “high-capacity magazines,” and encouraged strengthening criminal background checks.

But mostly, the resolution is another silly California finger-wagging measure aimed at shaming the rest of the country into following the Golden State’s tarnished lead.

It is apparent Wolk and colleagues are feeling emboldened by President Barack Obama’s… Read More

Today the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association formally served the California State Board of Equalization, Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and Department of Justice with a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s “Fire Prevention Fee.”

The wheels of justice grind slowly, but I’m pleased that this vitally important lawsuit is moving forward. Recent revelations regarding the state’s misuse of fire fee dollars have only strengthened our case that the ‘fire fee’ is really an illegal tax.

I plan to formally join the lawsuit by filing an amicus brief on behalf of the California taxpayers I represent. I’ve opposed the fire fee both during my time in the Legislature and as an elected member of the State Board of Equalization. But I’ve also encouraged impacted Californians to pay it because it is current law.

So far most taxpayers are doing so. Between August and December last year, the state mailed more than 760,000 bills for fiscal year 2011-12. As of March 1, about 72% of bills have been paid in full and 6% paid… Read More