With Tom McClintock’s decision this morning to focus his aim on Capitol Hill, it leaves a very big vacuum in the race for who will succeed Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard, who is in his second and final term on the BOE (his current term ends in 2010). With McClintock in the race, he had pretty much cleared the field. BOE districts are vast, each of them encompassing one quarter of the state’s voters. Thus they are very difficult in which to campaign. The amount of money and resources required to communicate your message, as a candidate, to Republican voters is staggering. McClintock’s high state-wide name I.D. made him a shoo-in, and now… There is no longer a presumptive front-runner to replace Leonard. Or is there?

I am sure that a significant number of current and former legislators, among others, will now be seriously looking at a run for this safe, Republican BOE seat. One person whom you can figure is very likely to announce her candidacy sooner than later is… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, the delegates to the California Republican Party Convention adopted a strong, bold platform to serve as the ideological and policy document for the State GOP for the next four years.

Along with many others, I was proud to serve as a member of the Platform Committee that adopted this platform. It represents a lot of work by a lot of people, and I encourage all FlashReport readers to take a few minutes to peruse it. It is broken down into sections and is quite easy to digest. A lot of CRP members took a leadership role in the drafting of this document, certainly worthy of specific mention would be Mike Schroeder, Mike Spence, Mark Pruner, and Laura Gadke, with whom I worked closely in the process. But the overall effort included dozens of great Republicans, and the final version that you have here before you represents an additional five hours of work by the Platform Committee at the convention, with many different additions and revisions. CRP Chairman Ron Nehring and Committee… Read More

With Tom McClintock’s announcement this morning that he is running for the GOP nomination in the 4th Congressional District, already two of the three other candidates that had been in the race have dropped out and endorsed the popular conservative State Senator. Veteran Eric Egland and former State Senator Rico Oller both are now solidly in the McClintock camp.

So now all eyes will be on former Congressman, moderate Doug Ose. Ose, a super-wealthy businessman, has to now huddle with his advisors and make a big decision — whether any amount of money can boost him past a very popular and formidable McClintock. Especially since McClintock will be able to raise quite a bit of money himself, and stands to benefit from big efforts from groups such as the Club for Growth.

From talking to folks, Ose’s genetic makeup is never to "back down" from a fight. Then again, you are successful in business by understanding where you take advantage of opportunities, and when to commit, or in some cases, not commit resources.

Anyways, below is text of a letter that Rico Oller just sent out to his supporters. Rico’s a great guy who… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, the delegates to the California Republican Party Convention adopted a strong, bold platform to serve as the ideological and policy document for the State GOP for the next four years.

Along with many others, I was proud to serve as a member of the Platform Committee that adopted this platform. It represents a lot of work by a lot of people, and I encourage all FlashReport readers to take a few minutes to peruse it. It is broken down into sections and is quite easy to digest. A lot of CRP members took a leadership role in the drafting of this document, certainly worthy of specific mention would be Mike Schroeder, Mike Spence, Mark Pruner, and Laura Gadke, with whom I worked closely in the process. But the overall effort included dozens of great Republicans, and the final version that you have here before you represents an additional five hours of work by the Platform Committee at the convention, with many different additions and revisions. CRP Chairman Ron Nehring and Committee… Read More

I just got off of the phone with State Senator George Runner who called to confirm that he is, in fact, going to run for the State Board of Equalization seat currently occupied by Bill Leonard, who faces term limits in 2010.

Runner told me that it is extremely important to have a proven friend of taxpayers in that seat…

"The Board of Equalization is on the front-lines of setting tax collection policy, and is a place where an advocate of the taxpayer can truly make a difference," Runner told me. "It goes to the basic philosophy about whether you see yourself as being there to protect taxpayers — which I have been doing in the State Legislature, and would continue to do on the Board of Equalization."

Runner said that he is in the process of opening up a campaign committee, and is already putting together the beginnings of a campaign, including contacting slate mail vendors (a key strategy for building name I.D. in such a vast district).

So now there are three… Read More

“When it rains, it pours,” as they say. Today it is “raining” Republican candidates for the State Board of Equalization.

Earlier today I blogged on how Tom McClintock’s decision to run for Congress would immediately set up a GOP donnybrook for Bill Leonard’s BOE seat (which is up in 2010).

See my post below for the field so far – Alby, Runner (George), Nakanishi…

Well, add another name to the list. Apparently for a few months, term limited State Senator Roy Ashburn has been running for this seat, with a brief break when it looked like McClintock was running for BOE (Ashburn would have backed him).

Ashburn is busy making fundraising calls, with an Ashburn for BOE event this Monday. Very busy making calls.

I learned about Asbhurn’s activities when the Senator called me a few minutes ago. He also told me, “The Board of Equalization is California’s tax board. This key position gives taxpayers a voice and an advocate in the process.”

So, now add Ashburn to the mix. Oh, I should add that I heard from the Nakanishi campaign that he has been… Read More

As we start out a new week, the 120 members of the California legislature are back at work, as is Governor Schwarzenegger. I think that it is important to start off this Monday morning, frankly, right where we left off before the weekend. This year’s budget debate started out on such a positive note. Well, as positive as a budget could be if you consider that without any changes, it would be over $15 BILLION in the red.

When I say starting out on a positive note, I mean that the Governor charged hard out of the gate with a very important, and very accurate message: we have an over-spending problem. The Governor was unequivocal — that he would not raise taxes and make California taxpayers shoulder the burden for over-spending in the Capitol. He then proposed a budget that would have shaved off 10% from what might otherwise have been introduced. From our perspective, given the spending increases, this is actually a modest proposal. Yet, the yells and screams from lefties in the Capitol could be heard by dairy cows in Yolo County. Here at the FlashReport, we devoted some serious editorial space to praising our Republican Governor… Read More

I’m not sure whether to dub this "Who’s on First?" or the "Chicken or the Egg," but I see where it’s going.

Steve Francis: "Those were my ideas, thanks for using them."

Jerry Sanders: "I was working on them before you announced them as part of your plan."

Francis: "No you weren’t, you stole them from me."

Sanders: "No I didn’t."

Francis: "Yes you did."

Sanders: "Did not."

Francis: "Did too."

Whatever….here’s the Francis press release:

Steve Francis Pleased Mayor Sanders Adopts his Taxpayer Protection Plan San Diego — Steve Francis, candidate for Mayor, released the following statement today in response to Mayor Jerry Sanders’ press conference today announcing his support of Steve’s Taxpayer Protection Plan:

"I was pleased to learn that Jerry Sanders held a press conference today and announced his public support for two components… Read More