Apparently earlier today in Fresno, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger responded to a reporter about Denham and pressuring his budget vote: “He (Denham) should get a lot of heat.” The Governor also told those attending the meeting and listening over the web to call Senator Denham and tell him to vote for the budget.

To this, Denham issued the following response:

Governor, let me repeat myself again, since perhaps you are not listening yet. I will not be bullied, intimidated or pressured into voting for a budget with inflated revenues, unaccounted expenses or accounting gimmickry. Stop the theatrical performances, call the Legislature into session, balance the budget, put the cuts in writing and clean up the trailer bills. Governor, playing ‘Chicken Little’ and saying the ‘sky is falling’ is not productive – instead, you should endorse my ‘Denham… Read More

In the great profile piece on the FlashReport in the Contra Costa Times yesterday, there was a factual error. While we did cover extensively the unfortunate and ill-advised appointment by the Governor of former Democratic Party Executive Director Susan Kennedy to be his Chief of Staff, that story first broke a few hours before we reported on it over at New West Notes. I have been told that this error will be fixed in other NewsMedia papers that run the profile piece, and that a correction will run in the CC Times. My sincere apology to any offended parties.

Oh yes, this is a good time to ask again for the Governor replace his Chief of Staff with a Republican. Susan Kennedy is charming, smart, and witty — and a Democrat. We believe a Republican Governor should have a Republican Chief of Staff.… Read More

The e-mail below was forwarded on to me by two different State Senate staffers. It is the text of an "open" e-mail sent by Jim Kjol, Chief of Staff to State Senator Jeff Denham, to Mike Genest, the Governor’s Finance Director (it was cc’d to a plethora of others, including my two sources). I should note it was sent from Kjol’s personal e-mail. The e-mail speaks for itself…

Mike, I’ve got to tell you that your intentional support or unwitting assistance to the crackpots and deadbeats pushing a recall against Senator Jeff Denham is unconscionable. You walked precincts for Jeff in 2002 but now have crossed-over to join sore loser Wiley Nickel, liberal magpies Steven Maviglio and Bob Mullholland, and a washed-up Art Torres, in giving them fodder to try to remove Jeff from office . . . all because he won’t support a… Read More

We want to draw the attention of all FR readers to the great profile of our site by Mike Zapler of MediaNews. It tops the main news page today, and we penned some additional thoughts on it here. Today, Jon Coupal pens an outstanding piece for us on the state budget impasse. It is important for everyone to read, and to forward along. The liberals will try to spin the state budget holdup as being about "obstructionist Republicans" when this is really a battle for meaningful, structural reform in how California spends money. I spoke with State Senator Bob Margett last night, and he reminded me that it is about budget forecasts for future years, and the need to make important changes now to lower the projected deficits in outlying years. On that note, we’d like to commend State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman for standing tall, leading his caucus to a place of relevancy in state budget negotiations. Those who are advocates of maintaining the big-government, big-spending status quo in Sacramento … Read More

We want to draw the attention of all FR readers to the great profile of our site by Mike Zapler of MediaNews. It tops the main news page today, and we penned some additional thoughts on it here. Today, Jon Coupal pens an outstanding piece for us on the state budget impasse. It is important for everyone to read, and to forward along. The liberals will try to spin the state budget holdup as being about "obstructionist Republicans" when this is really a battle for meaningful, structural reform in how California spends money. I spoke with State Senator Bob Margett last night, and he reminded me that it is about budget forecasts for future years, and the need to make important changes now to lower the projected deficits in outlying years. On that note, we’d like to commend State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman for standing tall, leading his caucus to a place of relevancy in state budget negotiations. Those who are advocates of maintaining the big-government, big-spending status quo in Sacramento … Read More

John Fund in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary…

Merv and Ronnie

Ronald Reagan didn’t have many buddies in liberal Hollywood after he became president. Merv Griffin, who died yesterday at age 82, was perhaps his closest friend there. The former bandleader, talk show host and TV producer understood television as well as anyone in the medium’s history. He also knew that Ronald Reagan was an historic figure and worked hard to make sure he was remembered through his chairmanship of the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. In 2004, he was one of the honorary pallbearers at Reagan’s funeral.

But perhaps his greatest service to his… Read More

Last Wednesday, Mike Zapler, a reporter with the San Jose Mercury News in their Sacramento Bureau came down to Orange County to spend a day with me, which was fun. He’s a cool guy, and he wrote a pretty lengthy profile on the website and its influence, that actually appears in today’s Contra Costa Times. It will run in the Mercury News soon, I’m sure, since that is Zapler’s "home paper" — but the Mercury News, the Times and about fifty other papers are all under the umbrulla of Media News Corporation.

I would like to give a shout-out to United States Congressman John Campbell, who came over and shared an iced tea with us on Wednesday. Somehow he ended up on the cutting-room floor of this piece, though the Congressman did a great job of talking about the important role that our website plays "Inside the Beltway" and on what happens out that way.

I’d also like to thank Senator Dick Ackerman and Dan Schnur for their kind words. I’ll definitely give a shout-out to our vital FR advertisers, without whom this site would not be a reality. And last, but most significantly, thanks go to YOU, the FR… Read More

I am at a wedding reception and one of the other guests is State Senator Bob Margett (one of his staff members is the bride!). Anyways, I just took the opprtunity to commend Senator Margett for, along with his colleagues, voting against a bloated state budget in need of cuts and programmatic reforms.

Senator Margett pointed out that people need to be looking beyond just this year’s budget and the need to make changes now to cut projected major defecits for future budgets.

If you come across a Senate Republican, I urge you to praise them as well. Well, I guess every Senate Republican Abel Maldonado, who rather infamously voted with all of the Democrats for the bad budget. If you run into Abel, urge him to reconsider his vote, and stress the importance of standing tall with his fellow Republicans, for fiscal prudence.… Read More