SURVEY ON CALIFORNIANS AND THE FUTURE

WHAT ELECTION? CANDIDATES SKIRT THE ISSUES, VOTERS TUNE OUT Voters remain skeptical about cost of bond measures; Majority want Democrats to control Congress, but also want third party

Over the next couple of weeks, the FlashReport will be profiling a few campaign MVP’s for our readers… When looking at all of the campaign operatives on the GOP side of the isle this cycle, a small group of notables rose to the surface, the first of which we are happy to recognize as our pick for Team Arnold MVP — and the winner is… Katie Levinson, the Communications Director for Californians for Schwarzenegger! Congratulations, Katie!

You can actually probably tell the day that Katie Levinson started with her important and central position with the Governor’s re-election campaign — that would be the day that someone turned "on" the power switch, and the Schwarzenegger Public Relations Machine has been operating at full speed ever since. Levinson is rather famously an import into the California political scene as a part of "Team Schmidt" — the young and energetic group of folks that worked with Schwarzenegger Campaign Manager Steve Schmidt… Read More

If you have been around the Capitol, you know Brian Johnston. He is the Western Director of the National Right to Life Committee and Executive Director of the California ProLife Council.

The last two days have been wild in Tennessee. And Brian was caught on film as one of the two Pro-lifers trying to attract attention to Democrat Harold Ford’s abortion position. Ford has a bad record but is portraying himself as pro-life. Controversy erupted when some people thought that Ford’s father called Brian and the director of Tennessee Right to Life a "cracker". It went nationwide. They claim now it was "tracker". You can see the story here and check out the video here.… Read More

The wave of taxpayer groups and fiscally conservative leaders urging a sweeping NO on all five bond measures continues to grow. Lew Uhler’s influential National Tax Limitation Committee PAC has posted its ballot recommendations, and they oppose all nine spending measures, including recommending a NO on 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 84 — the five big bad bonds packages.… Read More

The California Voter Foundation has been around since 1994 and is most well known for its online voter guide. It’s founder, Kim Alexander, and I go way back — to before we were both bit by the political bug.

Anyways, Kim and several of her friends can be seen singing the "The Proposition Song" – a musical tribute to the wacky 13-issue long ballot. Hear the song and see it being sung by going here.

I was trying to figure out how to hijack the You Tube video so that I could have the song display the FR’s recommended ballot picks as each was referenced during the song. No such luck.

Besides, I am fairly certain the the Jon Fleischman ballot and the Kim Alexander ballot are NOT the same… OK, very sure. Check out the song – it’s great!… Read More

There are very few absolutes in politics, but let’s be clear about this November’s election – a vote for any of the proposed bonds, Propositions 1B – 1E and Prop 84, is a vote for the same type of fiscal recklessness that led to the recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003.

Think about it. Since 2003, tax revenues have exploded in California – up $20 billion annually. The Governor’s Workers’ Compensation reforms are an underappreciated reason for this increase and the economic activity associated with this increase. Unfortunately, the Legislature, Democrats and some Republicans, and the Governor, have spent the entire increased baseline in revenues and then some, and the State is still running structural deficits between $4 – $6 billion annually.

Almost none of this increased spending has been allocated to increased infrastructure spending, and instead gone to education and other issues, such as health care. So our roads, schools, levees and other long deferred infrastructure have not been funded – despite the obvious needs in each area.

So now, despite the massive and unprecedented increase in State tax revenues, and despite the… Read More

Proposition 90, the Protect Our Homes initiative, has earned the endorsement of the Redding Record-Searchlight, one of the largest newspapers north of the Sac Bee. The opening thought in their endorsement editorial said,

"Should a city be able to seize property through eminent domain simply because a rich developer has a nifty idea for the land? Most freedom loving Americans would answer no…. Despite all the deceptive ‘sky is falling’ rhetoric about taxpayer traps and not being able to build any infrastructure in California, Prop 90 still soldiers on strongly in polling and in the hearts and minds of regular folks. Of course, the goal of Prop 90 is tolimit eminent domain takings as a last resort to appropriate uses, such as infrastructure projects that the public truly benefits from, not eliminate it entirely.

Of course that isn’t what you hear from the land grabbers or the folks in local governments that are… Read More

There are very few absolutes in politics, but let’s be clear about this November’s election – a vote for any of the proposed bonds, Propositions 1B – 1E and Prop 84, is a vote for the same type of fiscal recklessness that led to the recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003.

Think about it. Since 2003, tax revenues have exploded in California – up $20 billion annually. The Governor’s Workers’ Compensation reforms are an underappreciated reason for this increase and the economic activity associated with this increase. Unfortunately, the Legislature, Democrats and some Republicans, and the Governor, have spent the entire increased baseline in revenues and then some, and the State is still running structural deficits between $4 – $6 billion annually.

Almost none of this increased spending has been allocated to increased infrastructure spending, and instead gone to education and other issues, such as health care. So our roads, schools, levees and other long deferred infrastructure have not been funded – despite the obvious needs in each area.

**There is more… Read More