Round trip from DC to SF at $120,000

It is really getting challenging to show patience given the tone-deaf nature of the Democrats who control the State Legislature. State Senate Democrats just unveiled their new "jobs package" (read it and weap here) that supposedly is going to create six-figures worth of new jobs here in the once-Golden state.

It is really not rocket science to figure out how the Governor and State Legislature can best act to foster an economic environment for job creation in California. I would like it if every Democrat legislator and staff reading this would put down their coffee, and stop multitasking with Tweetdeck, and pay attention to this SIMPLE TWO STEP plan that would be a huge boon to California’s economy… STEP ONE: UNDO DAMAGING TAXES AND OVER-REGULATION That’s right, we should operate under the theory that the state government should get out of the business of actually doing harm to the business climate, and restricting the growth of private sector jobs. Whether it is reducing taxation on income to stimulate spending,… Read More

Dave Gilliard, consultant for Congressional candidate State Senator Jeff Denham, fired off a note to an unknown number of recipients in which he lays out how particular "hits" on another candidate, former Congressman Richard Pombo, really drag him down in popularity. Gilliard attached to his note a memo from longtime FR friend Steve Kinney, with more summary details on a poll that Public Opinion Strategies conducted in CD 19. Below is the text of Gilliard’s note, and linked below is the Kinney memo… And who ever said politics wasn’t a contact sport?

2/10/2010 TO: Interested Parties FR: Dave Gilliard Public Opinion Strategies just completed a poll in CA 19. A memo from… Read More

FlashReport is pleased to present this week’s cartoon from our in-house cartoonist Eric Eisenhammer. In this piece, entitled No Free Parking, Eisenhammer lampoons legislation introduced by State Senator Alan Lowenthal that would actually create incentives for local government to start to phase out… free parking. Seriously. You can read more about it here.

Lowenthal told the LA Times, "Free parking has significant social, economic and environmental costs. It increases congestion and greenhouse gas emissions."

You can’t make this stuff up.… Read More

This morning I read an article in the Riverside Press Enterprise that looked at voter registration figures, and it showed the despite growing unpopularity with this President, Democrat registration in the state is slightly up, and in several key areas of the state, Republican registration is going down. The part that I found to be most interesting was some of the places that were specifically mentioned in the article where GOP registration is dropping, and DTS registration is going up — Stanislaus County, Monterey County and San Bernardino County. There were big Democrat gains in Fresno County.

These are areas of the state represented in the legislature by Republicans who in a very high profile manner violated their voluntary, written pledges not to raise taxes last year — and in fact voter for higher taxes on income, sales and automobiles — and voter to place the doubling (in length) of these taxes before voters. Needless to say it was controversial and generated a lot of attention in those areas especially.

Now there many be a lot of different factors that effect voter registration in those specific areas (localized paid efforts, etc.)… Read More

FR friend Eric Reslock put together this video highlighting some of the more "fun" moments of the Maldonado Lt. Governor confirmation hearing in the Assembly Rules Committee yesterday.

The Assembly Rules Committee voted to allow the full Assembly to vote on the matter, but without recommending his approval.

We here at FR recommend the rejection of his nomination. It was bad enough last year when Maldonado rather boldly withheld his vote on the February budget deal only until he forced the legislature to place the so-called open primary measure on the ballot. We add insult to injury if we now "promote" him and give him this high office from which to campaign for that measure the next four months. If you vote to confirm Maldonado, that is de facto support for Proposition 14.

… Read More

Just got this sent over from the CRA — a letter they just faxed around to all California legislators:

February 9, 2010 Re: Opposition to the Confirmation of Senator Maldonado Dear Senator/Assemblyman: The California Republican Assembly is strongly OPPOSED to the confirmation of Senator Abel Maldonado for the position of Lieutenant Governor of California. On behalf of the California Republican Assembly, the California Republican Party, and all the citizens of… Read More

Republican State Senator Abel Maldonado’s appointment by the Governor to the position of Lt. Governor has now been approved by the Senate Rules committee and "forwarded without recommendation" by the appropriate Assembly committee. Votes on the Senate and Assembly floors could occur any time now up to about February 22. If the houses do not act, Maldo will be confirmed.

The press seems to think that Maldo will be approved by the Senate but will have a rougher time in the Assembly, which could reject the nomination. If Maldo is rejected, what will happen?

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Matier and Ross column today has an insight on what will happen: they say that the Governor may very well appoint former Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg to the position, and the Legislature will need to go through the whole process again. Because the Maldo nomination will be at its end before filing for statewide office closes in early March, Hertzberg would be well-situated to open a political committee to run for the office as well.

Hertzberg was… Read More