Only two full days into the BART worker strike, it appears the 400,000 people who usually rely on the train system to get around the San Francisco Bay Area are resourceful. And, they’ve turned to a free market solution.

While Bay Area Rapid Transit employees strike for higher pay and “safer” working conditions, their unions, the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, duke it out with government officials.

But not everyone in the Bay Area is stranded.

Avego, one of the clever startup rideshare companies, jumped into action just in time for the strike Monday morning.

Avego marketed their services “with gusto” to commuters coming from the East Bay to San Francisco. “Avego was going beyond offering an easy way to share a ride with a stranger. The… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: As part of an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at the FlashReport, we present this column from Republican Senator Jim Nielsen – Flash]

In the year since Governor Brown’s prison realignment plan was signed into law, murder rates increased by 10.5 percent, rapes by 6.4 percent and property crimes by 9.7 percent in California cities with a population of 100,000 or more according to the FBI’s 2012 crime statistics

These increases for California are well above the national average. Murder rates, for example, increased by nearly five times the rate of increase for the rest of the nation. The rate of increase for rapes is more than ten times that for the rest of the nation. Property thefts increased in our state by 10 percent, while they decreased by two percent for the rest of the nation. Car thefts increased by 15 percent in California, although it decreased by nearly three percent for the… Read More

MIMI WALTERS FORMALLY ANNOUNCES; RELEASES SLEW OF ENDORSEMENTS

[1]" src="http://www.flashreport.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MimiWalters1-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="270" srcset="https://www.flashreport.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MimiWalters1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.flashreport.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MimiWalters1-682x1024.jpg 682w, https://www.flashreport.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MimiWalters1.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px" />[/caption]After the surprise announcement last Thursday by Congressman John Campbell that he would not be seeking re-election in the heavily GOP 45th Congressional District, in the heart of Orange County, I quickly pulled together an early analysis on the political landscape in that seat which I published on Friday. In it I shared that State Senator Mimi Walters had told me that she was “all in” in a campaign to succeed Campbell. Well I have been keeping in touch with the Senator and her campaign team over the past few days. Today she makes her entry into the Congressional campaign official, with… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: We are pleased to offer this original column submitted to the FlashReport by State Senator Mimi Walters, announcing her candidates for Congress in California’s 45th District – Flash]

WHY I AM RUNNING FOR CONGRESS Senator Mimi Walters

I am very honored to be able to announce my candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives. John Campbell has served the people of Orange… Read More

[Publisher’s Note – We are pleased to offer this polling information from retired State Senator John Lewis, of the Lewis Consulting Group. Lewis is one of California’s most well respected political strategists – Flash]

45TH CONGRESSIONAL RACE UP FOR GRABS

In a poll released this morning, 3 prominent Orange County political figures County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, U.S. Representative Ed Royce and State Senator Mimi Walters emerge as early frontrunners to succeed retiring Congressman John Campbell. So far, only Walters has declared her candidacy for this overwhelmingly Republican seat.

The survey was conducted June 28-30. With a 300 sample of likely voters for the June 2014 election, the survey yields a margin of error of +/- 4.75%.

You can see all of the questions asked… Read More

SACRAMENTO — After sitting through several recent marathon sessions in the Assembly, it was shocking to witness the powerful California environmental lobby lose its attempt to ban oil and gas hydraulic fracturing.

For this, Californians can be thankful.

That got me thinking. What if California’s powerful environmental lobby had been as powerful during the 1849 Gold Rush as it is today? Back then, they would have harassed gold pioneer James Marshall so much he would have quit. California never would have become the Golden State.

Hydrolic fracking for oil and gas has the potential to become the next Gold Rush — this time of black gold, Texas tea. But will the environmentalists stop it? Not yet — but maybe in the future.

A University of Southern California study, “Powering California: The Monterey Shale & California’s Economic Future,” looked at the development of the vast energy resource beneath the San Joaquin Valley known as the Monterey Shale. It found that hydraulic fracturing could create 512,000 to 2.8 million new jobs, personal income growth of $40.6 billion to $222.3… Read More

I hate to write columns like this because I am an optimist to my core. But the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Proposition 8 has destroyed the last vestige of hope for Republicans in the state of California. If you felt we were in the hinterlands before then you would have to conclude we are now on the dark side of the moon.

First, let me say I am not commenting here on fact that gay marriage has become the law of California by this ruling. I am also not pointing fingers at the U. S. Supreme Court for taking the position that the plaintiffs in the case did not have standing to make the argument, though I am surprised they took the case in the first place if they felt the plaintiffs had no right to argue the case. I will also state that I am exceedingly unhappy that the vote of the people on something that you have to contrive to conceive as an equal rights matter was overturned. If the people in support of gay marriage wanted to overturn the will of the people on this matter, they should have taken it back to them and pled their case. Once again a few people who think they know better than the average resident of California have told us how to live our… Read More

The United States Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case of Proposition 8 could lead to the effective dismantling of the initiative power vested in the people of California. The decision will encourage state officials to abstain from defending ballot measures they don’t like.

The state’s initiative and referendum process was established in California in 1911 to enable the people to act as the lawmakers of last resort when their representatives proved to be indolent, incompetent or corrupt. For those interested in history, the reform was a direct response to the overwhelming special interest power being exercised in Sacramento by the Southern Pacific Railroad.

If not for the people’s initiative power, we would never have had such important – and diverse – reforms such as Proposition 13, the Political Reform Act, several environmental laws, the death penalty and medical marijuana. Regardless of one’s personal views on these issues, these are matters on which voters, responding to inaction by elected representatives, have had the final say.

Last week’s refusal by the United States Supreme Court to hear the Proposition 8 case,… Read More