This morning Southern California was awakened by a 4.4 magnitude earthquake. In light of the recent Haitian and Chilean earthquakes, even a minor earth rumble causes jittery nerves. Experts keep warning that it’s only a matter of time before California has another major earthquake. One of the articles I read about this morning’s earthquake mentioned California’s last destructive earthquake, the 1994 Northridge quake, a 6.7 magnitude quake that killed 72 people. The Northridge quake caused $20 billion in damage.

As I read that number, I couldn’t help but think of the current $20 billion budget deficit California is facing. Emergency preparedness is yet another reason it’s so important for the state’s government to balance its books and have emergency funds set aside. We know it’s just a matter of time before another big quake strikes, or we have another devastating fire season. Legislators are violating their fiduciary duty to their constituents by spending and wasting taxpayer money. The state’s deficit isn’t just about wasteful spending—it also means that when we need funds to deal with a disaster, the money won’t be there to help victims and… Read More

Last night the two Republican candidates for Governor of California squared off in what we would call a much-overdue first debate. First and foremost, I would like to thank New Majority California for generously arranging to broadcast the debate live via streaming video so that FlashReport readers could catch the debate live! You can read more about the New Majority here. If you didn’t get a chance to see the debate, or for some reason want to see it again, here it is…

The debate was held in the posh Samueli Theater which… Read More

Last night the two Republican candidates for Governor of California squared off in what we would call a much-overdue first debate. First and foremost, I would like to thank New Majority California for generously arranging to broadcast the debate live via streaming video so that FlashReport readers could catch the debate live! You can read more about the New Majority here. If you didn’t get a chance to see the debate, or for some reason want to see it again, here it is…

The debate was held in the posh Samueli Theater which… Read More

One of our debate coverage videoes — #2 (The pro-Poizner spin team) — had been set for private, not public viewing on You Tube. If go check it out now, you can see a lot of great interviews.… Read More

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may be in his last year of office, but he seems more than willing to keep scrapping it out with the Legislature.

Yesterday the Governor issued a verbal slap-down to liberal Democrat legislative leaders Steinberg and Perez, calling them out for their recent parliamentary games and demanding that they send him clean bills that will cut spending and create jobs. And he made clear that he stands by his promise to oppose any tax increases in 2010 .

The supposedly historic cuts to spending Perez and company have been boasting about? Just a drop out of the bucket, explained the Governor. Indeed, the bills the Legislature spent the last nine weeks of special sessions coming up with address just $200 million out of a projected $20 billion budget deficit—one percent. “California is still spending approximately $600 million more per month than we have in revenue,” the Governor wrote. “The two-month delay in dealing with the budget shortfall will require up to $2.2 billion in deeper spending cuts.”

Schwarzenegger and GOP legislative leaders blew the whistle on a sneaky gasoline tax maneuver Sacramento Democrats tried… Read More

I about hit the floor ten minutes ago. Assemblyman Michael Villines (R – Tax Collector) has a facebook post touting his new "Profiles in Courage" Award for raising taxes last year in the worst economy in 60 years. Here was the quote from Caroline Kennedy:

"Faced with the most difficult choices and a budget crisis of unprecedented magnitude, these legislative leaders had the courage to negotiate a compromise that they felt was in the public’s best interest,” said Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. “They did so knowing they would suffer the wrath of their constituents, powerful interest groups, and their own party members. The members of the Profile in Courage Award Committee chose to herald this story of political courage and bi-partisan compromise with the hope that it will inspire other elected officials facing similar challenges to stand up with courage, to cross party lines, and to do whatever is necessary to better serve the public interest.”

Yes, according to… Read More

We’ll be posting up all kinds of fun "goodies" from this last weekend’s State GOP convention, but this one we put on the top of our list. Photo credit goes to Republican National Committeeman Shawn Steel for this picture of U.S. Senate Candidate Carly Fiorina’s top consultant, Marty Wilson. In case anyone was wondering whether Marty is willing to take on any task necessary for the campaign, we note here that Marty is carrying Mrs. Fiorina’s purse. Marty, we think it’s your color!… Read More

This last weekend at the California Republican Party Convention, State Senator Tony Strickland formally announced his candidacy for State Controller. We had the FlashReport FlipVideo camera on hand… This video below starts with Strickland’s actual announcement, followed by a statement made by Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, announcing the endorsement of HJTA PAC for Strickland — and then Strickland, Coupal and I sit down for a few minutes to talk about the campaign. I’d like to extend an FR shout-out to Strickland’s campaign consultant (and former FR contributor) Joe Justin, who helped to set this up…

… Read More