When we lament about the ‘Blue Wave’ that swept Republicans out of control of Congress, and arguably washed out the close elections of Tom McClintock, Tony Strickland, and Bruce McPherson, it is frustrating to feel like the GOPers in Congress truly don’t understand that a big piece of the blame goes to the Republican embrace of federal spending (up 44% since 2001!).

Check this out from FR friend Stephen Moore in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary:

Wake-Up Call…or Snooze Button?

The political finger-pointing and recriminations are beginning in earnest among Capitol Hill Republicans, and it’s not a pretty picture. In the few days… Read More

So far, most of the reporting on my Assemblyman, Mike Villines (R) Clovis, has been a joke. The new Assembly Minority leader, described by some in the media as some kind of over the top conservative, is a Pete Wilson alumnus with a keen eye toward fixing California’s budget catastrophe. It is not hard to see this mess coming – $73 billion in bonds, mixed with a structural (and illegal) state budget deficit of $4-6 billion, and a Governor who wants to insure 6 million Californians without cutting any other programs – is a roiling recipe for the biggest fiscal train wreck in California history.

There are only 46 people in California that can stop this mess from happening – 32 Assembly Republicans and 14 Senate Republicans. It is Villines job to literally save California from this financial meltdown – and keep his Assembly caucus unified.

There are only two conservative principles at work here – and they both have the coveted "centrist" appeal. First is a balanced budget, and second is a firm line against tax increases. Villines and most other elected Republican leaders rightfully understand that… Read More

Welcome aboard to these 2 legislators… from the far North Californialegislator. [2ndAssy. district Jon, not 4th] Ray’s comments and insight are always welcome and interesting, especially since we’ll be missing those floor speeches, such as speech #2 on Spending, or the Partridge in A Pear Tree speech about all bills creatingthe:5 new commissions, 4 new task forces, 3 new studies, 2 new agencies, and yes, Ray isstill a legislator til Nov 30 at midnight. [did you know that there is NO Assembly and only half a Senate from then until Dec 4 at noon? Go do something that hasn’t been legislated or regulatedagainst during that 3 1/2 days!!!]

And Anthony, don’t worry about putting foot in mouth on the FR, or on the floor. Since you’re a freshman, I as a senior am just looking for an excuse to do a Toby Keith with my size 12 boots…it’s the American Way. I’m just most disturbed that my picture is moving lower and lower down the blog author list….Jon?

Welcome guys, it’s a lot of fun and will be more so with you on board.… Read More

NEW LEGISLATIVE BLOGGER Next week, there will be about a dozen new Republicans sworn into terms in the California State Assembly. We are very pleased to announce that one of these incoming GOP freshmen, Anthony Adams (pictured to the right), has agreed to come onboard as a new State Capitol Correspondent for the FlashReport Blog! Anthony was elected as the new legislator representing the 59th Assembly District, which has been represented the past six years by Dennis Mountjoy. The 59th District is a large on that is split roughly in half — with one part being the far east end of Los Angeles County, and the other part going into San Bernardino County, shooting up into the high desert. I’ve known Anthony for some time, and he has just the right mix to be a great addition to our team — he is conservative, he is smart, and he is technologically savvy — thus… Read More

NEW LEGISLATIVE BLOGGER Next week, there will be about a dozen new Republicans sworn into terms in the California State Assembly. We are very pleased to announce that one of these incoming GOP freshmen, Anthony Adams (pictured to the right), has agreed to come onboard as a new State Capitol Correspondent for the FlashReport Blog! Anthony was elected as the new legislator representing the 59th Assembly District, which has been represented the past six years by Dennis Mountjoy. The 59th District is a large on that is split roughly in half — with one part being the far east end of Los Angeles County, and the other part going into San Bernardino County, shooting up into the high desert. I’ve known Anthony for some time, and he has just the right mix to be a great addition to our team — he is conservative, he is smart, and he is technologically savvy — thus… Read More

Check out the Contra Costa Time’s interesting article on the California Teacher Association’s efforts to get the courts to allow the union to use teacher mailboxes at school for campaign literature. The CTA argues that the school administrators are violating their right to free speech in limiting the material the union can distribute through the school mailboxes. CTA’s lawyer tells the CoCo Times, “It’s our soapbox and we maintain that we can say anything on that soapbox."

In the past, districts have argued that the union is not allowed to circulate election material through the mailboxes, only union-related information. However, the union cleverly points out that the schools have used the mailboxes to campaign for local school bond measures. In the past the courts have sided with school district officials, but it appears that the tide may be turning. While I agree with district officials that the mailboxes… Read More

Good news, it seems, sometimes lasts only…well, one short paragraph.

Last Monday, the SDUT reported the following:

Consumer advocate Michael Shames is close to a legal settlement with the city of San Diego that would give small refunds to about 225,000 single-family sewer customers for subsidizing the bills of business customers for a decade. It was the next paragraph that was the "bad news," in this version ofwhich-do-you-want-to-hear-first:

The credit likely would be consumed by a larger rate increase.

The next day, Tuesday, as if on cue, Mayor Jerry Sanders proposed huge increases in water and sewer rates, 29% and 35% respectively, while vowing certain safeguards.

On Wednesday, the SDUT editorialized on the… Read More

Tomorrow we will see more changes taking place in the Blog Roll here at the FlashReport. One of FR’s original blogging team will be retiring, to be replaced by another outstanding local correspondent…and we will be introducing another member of the California State Legislature who will join Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa in bringing us insights from under the Capitol Dome. NO PAY RAISE FOR ME — OK, MAYBE A PAY RAISE FOR ME Unlike the last few days, where reading on California politics has been quite anemic, there is a lot of interesting reading to take in on FR’s main page. "Above the fold" we have an expose from the Sacramento Bee where they reveal that of the large group of State Legislators that publicly declined a $12,000 pay raise, seven of them later decided to go ahead and take the salary bump. It’s my opinion that if you are going to define the job of a State Legislator as full-time, the raise was probably appropriate. The newsworthyness comes from the fact that in many instances, these… Read More