A few random thoughts on the California political scene… (The hashtag version…)

Governor Brown’s so-called “pension reform” plan does virtually nothing to make public employee pensions affordable, and does not address the massive unfunded liability to state and local governments. #WHATSTHE POINT This week State Senator Doug LaMalfa introduced legislation on a state income tax form a box for a Californian to donate funds to their state government. Are Democrats willing to let those who want to do so to voluntarily "chip in" to solve the budget shortfall? #GIVEITATRY Local Redevelopment Agencies need to be abolished. Many conservative Assemblymembers held off providing the final needed vote because of the politics of staying unified against a June special election. Well, the June ballot is off the table… #NOTHINGSTOPPINGYOUNOW A recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle thought it newsworthy that after the election the State GOP Finance Chairman stepped down. The inconvenient truth is that after every election the State GOP Finance Chairman steps down. … Read More

Longtime FR friends Conan Nolan of KNBC television in Los Angeles and State Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) spent just over ten minutes chatting about the state budget situation on the KNBC LA Public Affairs Program “NewsConference with Warren Olney."

It’s worth a few minutes of your time to watch. And a shout-out to Conan, for managing to work the FlashReport into the interview!

The interview…

… Read More

Longtime FR friends Conan Nolan of KNBC television in Los Angeles and State Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) spent just over ten minutes chatting about the state budget situation on the KNBC LA Public Affairs Program “NewsConference with Warren Olney."

It’s worth a few minutes of your time to watch. And a shout-out to Conan, for managing to work the FlashReport into the interview!

The interview…

… Read More

Longtime FlashReport contributor Matt Rexroad is a pretty accomplished guy. If you ask him, he’ll tell you he is most humbled by his experiences as a husband and a father — and serving our nation’s military. But beyond that he serves in elected office as a Yolo County Supervisor, and is one of California’s most accomplished political consultants. He might choose to blah blah blah about the University of Southern California — but FR readers know that doesn’t impress me (it’s a negative, actually). Oh yeah, Matt’s an attorney, and he has dived head-first into redistricting issues — both at the partisan level (BOE, Congress, State Senate, State Assembly) and also in many localities.

We’ve benefited from Matt’s delving into what new lines might bring as he has posted up some theoretical seats for us that have caused people to really understand how some legislative districts might drastically change.

Earlier Matt sent over a Matt to me… Read More

Longtime FlashReport contributor Matt Rexroad is a pretty accomplished guy. If you ask him, he’ll tell you he is most humbled by his experiences as a husband and a father — and serving our nation’s military. But beyond that he serves in elected office as a Yolo County Supervisor, and is one of California’s most accomplished political consultants. He might choose to blah blah blah about the University of Southern California — but FR readers know that doesn’t impress me (it’s a negative, actually). Oh yeah, Matt’s an attorney, and he has dived head-first into redistricting issues — both at the partisan level (BOE, Congress, State Senate, State Assembly) and also in many localities.

We’ve benefited from Matt’s delving into what new lines might bring as he has posted up some theoretical seats for us that have caused people to really understand how some legislative districts might drastically change.

Earlier Matt sent over a Matt to me… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail… Two California Items..

Facing Fiscal Reality Two well-off communities in the San Francisco Bay area have come up with an imaginative way of cutting spending to cope with the increasing burden of public employee health and pension costs. They are dissolving their police forces and contracting their responsibilities out to the local sheriff’s department. San Carlos, a city of 28,000 in San Mateo County, was the first to try the unorthodox approach last year. It’s been rated a success. The city’s police officers shifted over to become sheriff’s deputies, and felony arrests went up 92 percent in the first three months. Greg Rothaus, the former San Carlos police chief who is now a sheriff’s captain, says the response to emergency calls has been comparable to what they… Read More

If you are driving distance from downtown San Francisco or the South Coast Metro area of Orange County on April 14th or April 15 (respectively), then you have a unique opportunity to share in the grand opening of what promises to be one of the greatest movies ever — Atlas Shrugged, Part I. The event in Orange Our friends at the Pacific Research Institute are holding events in conjunction with the opening of this giant of a movie. The reason you want to attend one of these events if you can is that PRI is holding receptions where you will be able to talk about the film with other like-minded folks!

If you haven’t read the novel Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, I would commend you to immediately order a copy of it online. I actually listened to the unabridged version of it back in my college days as an up and coming leader in California Young Americans for Freedom (thanks again to Ken Royal for loaning it to me – all forty cassette tapes!). There is certainly no… Read More

A core of conservative communities was cut up by redistricting plan in 2001. A district that is much more conservative than Bonnie Lowenthal or Betsy Butler exists in the area around Torrance south of Marina Del Rey. This district does not split any cities except for the City of Los Angeles which will be split many ways as a result of size.

A district like this would elect a Republican under the right circumstances.

I hope that the beach communities are out there registering voters. Bumping this seat up to 38% GOP would make all the difference in the world.

See map here.… Read More