A couple legislative races in California appear to be over before the filing deadline. On the other side of the aisle they have a couple races that fall into this category.

One of them is San Francisco County Supervisor Tom Ammiano. At the last reporting period he had $151,067 in the bank and most every major endorsement in the city he could want.

He is the only candidate to file a statement of intent to tun for the seat. The people in San Francisco tell me that some groups would like to find someone to run against him but they realize that it is a losing cause in the end.

This guy is the classic urban liberal that is active in every major issue in his city. With the voting history of this part of the state he is actually a good it for the district. Senator Migden and Assemblyman Leno don’t seem to agree on much lately — except that Ammiano should be in the Assembly.

You may not know him now but you will when he… Read More

Steve Maviglio, spokeshole for CA Assembly Speaker Fabian “Louis Vuitton” Nunez, must be auditioning for a new job. He knows his boss’ career is dying with Prop 93’s February defeat, which is why he unleashed this attack on the California Nurses Association for contributing to my wife’s campaign. Once again, Democrats attack hardworking, middle-class Californians and demonstrate how out-of-touch they are with their own union constituency. (You can read Jon’s excellent commentary this morning for the complete rundown on Nunez’s problems.)

Nunez is targeting the California Nurses Association because they had the audacity to question the Speaker’s rich and famous lifestyle paid for with their campaign contributions. Last month, the LA Times (hardly a member of the vast right-wing conspiracy), uncovered that Nunez was scamming campaign contributions from union members to pay for his… Read More

Los Angeles County has elections for school boards, city councils and water districts coming up on Tuesday, November 6. These are really important elections, especially mine. LA County has made some endorsements, including me. See the complete list here.… Read More

The London Telegraph has been running an interesting rundown over the last several days of the Top-100 most influential liberals and conservativesin America.

There was theusual rundown of names on our side of the ideological divide, even if some popped up in surprising spots:

Former Reagan Scribe Peggy Noonan – #83 Frequent Golden Pen Recipient Thomas Sowell – #64 Justice Antonin Scalia – #62 Writer PJ O’Rourke – #60 National Review Founder William F. Buckley – #49 Former Bush Brain Karl Rove – #42 Fox News Leader Roger Ailes – #23 President Bush – #21 (How relevant is the President when he can’t crack the top 20) Chief Justice John Roberts – #8 Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh – #5 Web News King (Sorry Jon) – Matt Drudge – #3 Former New York Mayor Rudy G (He’s a Conservative?) – #1

I list all of these out for a reason… stick with me.

On the Lefty side, the list starts with a who’s who in Clinton-land of… Read More

Welcome to the first-ever FlashReport Podcast — a one-on-one interview with Presidential candidate Fred Thompson!

Our plan was to kick-off our new podscasting feature after the first of the year with a new weekly podcast, where we would bring you interviews with many of the opinion leaders here in California that impact the politics and policy for the Golden State — and we still plan on doing that.

But when I had an opportunity to chat over the phone with GOP Presidential candidate Fred Thompson, I asked if we could go ahead and record the call to put up on the site, I quickly called my developers and said, "I know this is short notice, but can we scramble to get our first podcast up tomorrow??"

Fortunately they were able to pull it off, and below you can access my first interview — with Senator Thompson.… Read More

Welcome to the first-ever FlashReport Podcast — a one-on-one interview with Presidential candidate Fred Thompson!

Our plan was to kick-off our new podscasting feature after the first of the year with a new weekly podcast, where we would bring you interviews with many of the opinion leaders here in California that impact the politics and policy for the Golden State — and we still plan on doing that.

But when I had an opportunity to chat over the phone with GOP Presidential candidate Fred Thompson, I asked if we could go ahead and record the call to put up on the site, I quickly called my developers and said, "I know this is short notice, but can we scramble to get our first podcast up tomorrow??"

Fortunately they were able to pull it off, and below you can access my first interview — with Senator Thompson.… Read More

Axium: When I fly to or from Sacramento, I always run into at least one person I know, or know of…

Today I’m flying up to Sacramento to participate in a meeting of the California Chamber of Commerce’s Business Advocacy Council. They are looking at what to do on Proposition 93 (the Nunez-Parata “Career Politician” Term-Limits Weakening Act). I am sitting second chair to Kevin Spillane as we explain why businesses in California lose if 93 passes. I believe that the “Yes on 93 ” presentation will be made by Fabian Nunez’ Chief of Staff, Dan Eaton.

Back to that axium. On the flight up from Orange County, I’ve been enjoying a nice chat with former GOP Assemblyman Tom Mays, now a big wheel for Pacific Life. Also flying up on this Southwest flight is Jen Johnson, a leader in the CWLA. She’s headed for the Chamber event as well.

We’ll see if the axium holds up for the flight home later today…… Read More

The read of the afternoon is over at Capitol Weekly (www.capitolweekly.net) where ace political writer Anthony York has written about the potential role that GOP Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner may be taking in opposition to Prop. 93, the Fabian Nunez Career Politician Term Limits Weakening Initiative.

Not only has Poizner signed the official argument against 93 on the ballot, but word is swirling far and wide that Poizner’s opposition to 93 may come with access to the Commish’s VERY deep pockets. Literally almost a billionaire, Poizner could deliver a fatal blow to Nunez’ Christmas present to himself without breaking a sweat.

Taking on the liberal legislative leaders in Sacramento is a courageous act, and we know that Poizner is up for the challenge. We sure hope that this "swirling rumor" becomes a reality. Poizner would be doing a huge favor to the people of California. Go for it!… Read More