Statement of Jon Fleischman on the confirmation of Abel Maldonado to be California’s next Lieutenant Governor:

"The Republican Party in America and in here in California has been suffering greatly because of politicians like Abel Maldonado who campaign for office pledging to shrink the size and scope of government, and to oppose new taxes — but who then abuse their office of public trust by doing just the opposite.

The greater the prominence of Abel Maldonado, the more difficult the task of Republicans is in regaining a majority. The path to a Republican majority is not through embracing the policies of the Democrats.

The message sent to the public by his confirmation is that if you are a Republican who is willing to put special interests over the interests of taxpayers, you can, indeed, go far in Sacramento.

I will close by saying, as an officer of the California Republican Party, that Maldonado’s confirmation is especially disappointing since Maldonado is the author of Proposition 14, the purpose of which is to drive political parties, including his own, out of business." … Read More

FlashReport friend and contributor Adam Probolsky reports that FR friend John Eastman is leading the race for the Republican nomination for Attorney General, albeit narrowly and with "Undecided" actually leading the pack. According for the Probolsky Poll, Eastman sits at 16.2%, with LA District Attorney Steve Cooley at 12.2% and State Senator Tom Harman at 10.5%. This poll is the latest evidence that the conservative revival taking place across the country – in response to the Obama/Reid/Pelosi attempt to radically reinvent American in their image – is just as strong in California. Because perhaps no other candidate in California has captured the fancy of the "Tea Party" movement than John Eastman. Now as a California Republican Party official, I cannot endorse in the race, but I can observe. And I observe that if there was ever a year when a… Read More

When handicapping legislative campaigns seven weeks out there are several factors to consider. You look at how well a candidate is known in the community (name id), resources available to the campaign (fundraising and volunteers), where the candidates stand on issues important to the district.

In Assembly District 29, currently held by Mike Villines, we have three Republican candidates that would all claim to be the leading candidates in the race. Of those three Dr. Linda Halderman has everything breaking her way right now.

Halderman is a surgeon that spent most of her career treating breast cancer patients. This makes for a compelling story that she has told on local conservative radio station KMJ dozens of times over the past few years. She has some name ID and a compelling and memorable story to tell.

Halderman entered this race in late January and started behind the two other candidates that have been running for much longer. At the last report she had been running for six weeks and raised… Read More

The fine folks at the California Jobs Initiative, which seeks a vote of the people on whether to temporarily suspend the draconian regulations created by the passage of AB 32 until the economy improves, sent out a great Top Ten list earlier this week. I thought it worthy of sharing… Top Ten Reasons to Support the California Jobs Initiative (www.jobs2010ca.com) 10. AB 32 will put over a million California jobs at risk. With unemployment at 12.6% and 2.2 million already out of work, now is the worst possible time to knowingly endanger the jobs of a million more Californians. 9. According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) jobs created by AB 32 will total less than one percent of all California jobs by… Read More

As we hit our 1000th Twitter follower today, ask yourself if YOU are following the FlashReport on Twitter. Since we don’t "work it" that is a whole lot of people that have signed up on their own! Twitter is, hands down, the quickest way to get news from us on California politics. You can check out (and sign up to received) our Twitter feed here.… Read More

Steve Poizner has launched a new ad in his campaign for the GOP nomination for Governor. The ad is below and is part of a major statewide media buy. Below it is a link to the Whitman campaign’s "response" to the ad.

Whitman’s campaign responds here.… Read More

The Poizner for Governor campaign just released this memo from former Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte:

TO: Supporters FROM: Jim Brulte, Poizner Campaign Chair RE: Poizner Closing The Gap On Whitman DATE: April 23, 2010

*You Heard It Here First*

We are in the final stretch of the campaign and the polls are showing exactly what our campaign predicted.

We have said all along that as the voters begin to focus on the two candidates for Governor, the mile-wide and inch-deep support for Meg Whitman will begin to collapse and support for Conservative Republican Steve Poizner will begin to grow.

That is exactly what we see happening.You will recall the Whitman campaign recently touting public polls that showed Meg with a 49 point lead over Steve Poizner, but they have remained uncharacteristically silent about the recent SurveyUSA poll which shows that her lead has been slashed by more than 50%.

*The latest Survey*

USA public poll shows Meg Whitman's lead down to 22 points, while other private polls conducted throughout California show the race even closer.In reacting to the most recent Capitol Weekly poll, conducted… Read More

For principled conservatives out there who is scratching their heads, wondering why Republicans en masse in the State Assembly (Chuck DeVore’s opposing vote noted) provided votes to put someone as terrible as Abel Maldonado in the Lt. Governor’s office (his confirmation will now be taken up in the State Senate where it is very likely to pass), I want to share an e-mail I received to provide some perspective.

Let me preface the reprinting of this e-mail by first saying that the "political" argument of approving Maldonado so that Republicans could have the best possible chance of holding the seat as economically as possible in a smaller-turnout special election is no longer viable. While it is, of course, possible for the special election to be held on its own, the timing of this confirmation permits Governor Schwarzenegger to consolidate it with the November General election, saving big bucks for taxpayers. But that means that for the GOP to retain that seat, it will be very, very costly. And in a world of limited resources, the money to fight for that seat comes at the expense of resources to battle… Read More