The most important measure on this year’s statewide ballot is Proposition 98, the anti-eminent domain protection measure, sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Please vote "Yes" on Prop. 98, and "No" on Prop. 99, the phony alternative supported by the California Democratic Party.

That said, I received a "slate mailer" from an obscure outfit called the "California Taxpayer Protection Committee" out of Gold River, California. The mailer has some local candidates on it and explains the group is made up of volunteers and unnamed "affiliated groups" that oppose"out of control spending," claim"taxes are too high" and that "new borrowing" is "not the answer."

Now of course, I am biased here, because I represent the slate mail industry in court, havewon two Federal cases enjoining campaign restrictions against slate mail, and have a few I produce myself. I think slate mail is effective, and it is an important enough medium to have its own sections of the Political Reform Act.

But not all the Republican… Read More

There was an impressive turnout of volunteers this morning at the Modesto headquarters of Senator Jeff Denham’s campaign against the recall.Almost 100activists heard words of encouragement from Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill, California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, Assemblyman Tom Berryhill and congressional candidate Dean Andal (see them all, along with Senator Denham, in the photo below to the right, taken by Bob Phelan).Despite the noteworthy presence of several of the state’s top GOP leaders, a number of the volunteers were local Democrats outraged at Don Perata’s abuse of the recall process.

Senator Denhamtold the assembled precinct walkersthat even thoughSenate President Pro Tem Perata has publicly declaredhe is no longer funding the pro-recall campaign, voters need to be reminded that the issue remains on the June 3rd ballot, particularly given the expected low turn-out on… Read More

This just in from the Secretary of State via the Bee Capitol Alert, that the over 1.2 million signatures turned in for an initiative for November have been verified by random sample.In an affirmation of parent’s rights, It wouldrequire parental notification before their child canobtain an abortion. It is the 4th item to qualify for November [it would probably be known as Prop 103] Previously, a similar Prop 73 tried and came close on the 2005 special election, it being the highest performing of all the initiatives that failed. Prop 85 lostby a couple more percentage points in 2006.

This is a positive for conservatives. It can link up on the same ballot with the likely Protection Of Marriage initiative that has a similar number of signatures being verified right now and should soon receive certification by the Secretary. Soon after that, we could see the Save Our Kids initiative turned in. That effort is gathering signatures right now. There is about 2 months left for that project, which is the repeal of the content of SB 777, passed last fall, that requires school curriculum and school… Read More

One of the most frequent e-mail queries that we get here at the FlashReport is from loyal readers wanting to know who are the "good candidates" to vote for when it comes to judges. Alas, it is often that our message back is that we just don’t know. Well, we are pleased to share with you that this election cycle, the California Republican Lawyers Association has worked hard an put together recommendations in many of the judicial races in counties around California… CRLA President Steve Baric penned this piece to introduce his organization’s recommendations (this piece first appeared on FR friend Steve Frank’s California Political News & Views website)… LINK… Read More

Gang violence permeates urban life. Hollywoodencourages sympathetictreatment; teenage fashion moguls emulate gangster attire; left wing writers extol gangster revolutionary ideals.

It’s quite telling how urban politicianstalk about gang violence. A Supervisor’s race in Orange County reveals serious gang involvement with a major candidate. Gangs are as old as… Read More

“Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book.” No. That is not the words of an angry Republican talking about Scott McClellan. Those are the words straight from the horses mouth—Scott himself on March 22, 2004 talking about the book of former homeland security advisor Richard Clarke. Seems Scott has a different take now that he is the one on a book tour. I have known Scott for a decade, since the late 90s when I was the campaign Press Secretary for then-Governor Bush in Texas where Scott was running the campaign of his mother – Carol Keeton Rylander (aka “one tough grandma”) to be State Comptroller. She won and Scott came to work in the Governor’s state press office for Karen Hughes. He later joined us at the presidential… Read More

One of the most frequent e-mail queries that we get here at the FlashReport is from loyal readers wanting to know who are the "good candidates" to vote for when it comes to judges. Alas, it is often that our message back is that we just don’t know. Well, we are pleased to share with you that this election cycle, the California Republican Lawyers Association has worked hard an put together recommendations in many of the judicial races in counties around California… CRLA President Steve Baric penned this piece to introduce his organization’s recommendations (this piece first appeared on FR friend Steve Frank’s California Political News & Views website)… LINK… Read More

We join with our lefty counterpart Steve Maviglio in lamenting the decision by the Stockton Record to close its Sacramento Bureau, issuing a pink-slip to veteran Capitol reporter Hank Shaw. (See Steve’s blog post.)

Shaw is a superior reporter — who is thorough, objective, and passionate about his coverage. Hopefully he will "land" somewhere that will enable him to continue to write about California politics.

In the meantime, this trend is disturbing. As Maviglio points out, this is just the latest in a trend as newspapers try to figure out how to remain profitable in a changing economic scene.

Imagine a world where the only people covering politics are Maviglio and me. Ooohhh… A nightmare scenario.

P.S. One upshot is that we’re bound to see more great post’s on Hank’s personal blog — Hunter, Angler, Gardner, Cook.… Read More