Condi bows out (again) The contributors to the FlashReport can breath a sigh of relief. As you know, our primary focus on this sight is California politics. Well, a Californian running for President would pretty much make us a national website! That said, the only Californian who has seriously been discussed as a candidate for the Presidency is Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice. (As a matter of fact, Dick Morris has written an entire book on her candidacy – oops.) Dr. Rice, in a speech yesterday, made it very clear that she does NOT want to seek the Presidency, or Vice Presidency for that matter. Rice was on the faculty and in the administration at Stanford University for years before being tapped first as W’s National Security Advisor, and then as SoS. BIG BOND Cattle Call … Read More

Fontana City Councilwoman Acquanetta Warren is the new Inland Regional Vice-Chair of the California Republican party. Warren was tapped by CRP Chairman Duf Sundheim to fill the vacancy created by the recent resignation of Ed Laning. The appointment was ratified unanimously by the full Board of Directors, which met Mondayin San Diego.

Warren, who is also 2nd Vice Chair of the San Bernardino County GOP, received key support from County Chairman Bill Postmus, Senator Bob Dutton of Rancho Cucamonga, former Sen.Jim Brulte, Assemblyman Bill Emmersonof Redlands, and past CRP Chair Shawn Steel. Also seeking the appointment was Thaddeus Taylor of Bishop,past chairman of the Inyo County Republican Party.

Keeping a representative of the state’s largest and fourth most populous county in the Inland seat was important to the leadership team of Postmus and his 1st Vice Chair, Paul Biane. The pair also serves as Chairman and Vice-Chairman, respectively, of… Read More

Okay, this has nothing to do with California other than the fact that it is one of Rep. Darrell Issa’s opponents for Policy Chairman. But this letter to the GOP Conference from Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan is too entertaining not to share.

Darrell Issa is seeking the fifth highest spot in the House GOP leadership, Policy Chairman. The Policy Committee helps formulate policy for the Republican Majority and until June of last year, it was led by Californian Chris Cox. When President Bush nominated Cox to serve as SEC Chairman, California lost a powerful seat in the GOP leadership.

With John Shadegg resigning as Policy Chairman to seek the post of Majority Leader, Issa, a member of the committee, has thrown his hat in the ring. Here’s a look at his opposition:

Adam Putnam, Florida. Putnam, a member of the Rules Committee, and in his third term, is one of the youngest members of Congress. Putnam was elected to the state legislature in his early twenties and is one of the smartest members of the Florida delegation and highly respected. He is very close to the Speaker and aside from the occasional trade vote, rarely bucks the leadership. ACU rating: 95%.… Read More

Taking the wrong message from the November election results The top story of the day is not usually a column – it’s usually a hard news story. But I think that this column IS news because in reading it, it really hammers home a point. And that is that the Governor’s policy decisions this year have significant political ramifications. He is on a complete 180 degree course from last year, and instead of attacking spending as the problem, is now embracing spending as a solution. My colleague and fellow FlashReport contributor Dan Schnur says today in the San Diego Union Tribune, "Arnold is not moving substantively very far at all, but he is dramatically changing his emphasis. Almost every policy proposal that’s come out of the Governor’s Office over the last week or two is not significantly different from things he’s talked about in the past. But he’s making a much greater effort to emphasize a more moderate and conciliatory approach." It may be the case… Read More

When Ernie Dronenburg announced his resignation from the San Diego County Board of Education on December 14 during the regular board meeting, the resultingnews reports were nowhere to be found. Curious, considering that only a few years ago when Susen Fay and Jim Kelly served on the board, neither of them could breathe without a Union-Tribune headline or editorial.

Nowadays, without anyone serving on the board that the media would define as "right-wing," apparently the U-T doesn’t even cover the meetings, so the paper knew nothing about Dronenburg’s resignation. It should be noted that before serving on the County Board of Ed, Dronenburg served a mere 20 years as a Republican on the State Board of Equalization, among many other things authoring the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. See his bio here.

Yet, still no news reports or even announcements from the board’s County… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger trumpeting the age of borrowing with his proposal to place a $68,000,000,000.00 (that’s how $68 billion would look on a calculator, except calculators don’t have enough digits!). You would think that he rang the cow bell — because here come the Democrats. Their voracious appetite to spend money has the entire herd cramming into the feed barn at once!

The only good news, if you can call it that, is that the Democrats can’t really propose borrowing more than the Governor (since he pretty much maxes out the state credit card). Maybe when the Governor sees how enthusiast all of these liberals are about the Bondinator, he will come to his senses, and scale back this massive proposal. No one is saying there are not major infrastructure investments needed, but a plan that includes no reforms so that we, starting… Read More

OC Attorney Power Broker John Ramirez (pictured to the right) and Rutan & Tucker law partner Joel Kuperberg had a huge victory on Friday. The pair defended the Orange County Water District (OCWD) in a lawsuit v. the Yorba Linda Water District (YLWD).

Sadly this was a dispute that has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds.

I will forgo the legal stuff and focus on the amusing facet of the case. After making accusations in court that OCWD had engaged in "deceit" by hiding a 1970 agreement from Yorba Linda Water District (note that the agreement was recorded, and is a public record), OC Water District attorney’s found evidence that OCWD in fact sent the agreement to YLWD in 1988. YLWD then switched its story to admitting that OCWD sent the agreement, but accusing OCWD of not telling YLWD… Read More