Yesterday we carried a column on the FlashReport from longtime FR friend Villa Park Councilwoman Deb Pauly that was extremely critical of GOP Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman on the issue of paycheck protection.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of attention to detail on the part of the team here, that piece did not indicate that it was submitted to the FlashReport by the Poizner for Governor campaign, or that Deb was a backer of Poizner.

We here at the FlashReport take our business very seriously, and felt that this oversight needed to be corrected (the column if you go back to it is now correctly annotated) and a formal statement placed here on the blog.

Look for plenty of more pieces on this website that are hard hitting, that’s the nature of politics. But look for us to do a better job of letting you know from where the hit is coming.

Our apologies.

Jon Fleischman Publisher, The FlashReport… Read More

Usually when I take the time to write a more in-depth piece about someone, I put up their photo so that you can see what he or she looks like. Except in the case of Robert Stryk I couldn’t find a photo anywhere online. So instead of looking at Stryk’s photo, you have to allow me to paint you a picture of a young, single 34 year old Washington, D.C., lobbyist with a transient and questionable background, who one day decided he would throw his hat into the ring to be the next Mayor of the small Napa County town of Yountville, population approximately 3,000.

Those who have spent time reading my columns over the years know that second to politics, my second passion in life is wine. I’ve been a “wine enthusiast” for many years, and love when I can to visit the Bay Area wine regions, and often times stay at a favorite… Read More

On July 2nd, 2009 in a special session of the Legislature dealing with the budget, abill was introduced to mandate new reporting and filing requirements for tens of thousands of California businesses thatpreviously never had to deal with the Board of Equalization.The bill passedand was chaptered on July 28 without any of the usualpublic outreach or amnesty period.

Forbes.com has the story this morning. http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/11/california-internet-sales-tax-personal-finance-small-business-delay.html… Read More

Usually when I take the time to write a more in-depth piece about someone, I put up their photo so that you can see what he or she looks like. Except in the case of Robert Stryk I couldn’t find a photo anywhere online. So instead of looking at Stryk’s photo, you have to allow me to paint you a picture of a young, single 34 year old Washington, D.C., lobbyist with a transient and questionable background, who one day decided he would throw his hat into the ring to be the next Mayor of the small Napa County town of Yountville, population approximately 3,000.

Those who have spent time reading my columns over the years know that second to politics, my second passion in life is wine. I’ve been a “wine enthusiast” for many years, and love when I can to visit the Bay Area wine regions, and often times stay at a favorite… Read More

… Read More

[Cross-posted from RedCounty.com]

Readers may recall that a few months ago we had to toss one of our contributors, Aaron Park, who used this blog to continually flack for the Steve Poizner for Governor campaign, but refused to disclose to readers that he was being paid to do so by the Poizner campaign. Even when given the option of continuing to blog for Red County — with the proviso that he disclose that he worked for the Poizner campaign when writing about Poizner — Aaron refused because disclosure would cause the Poizner to cut off their payments.

Recently, Aaron has been trying to rehabilitate himself by waging a dishonest campaign of personal attacks against myself and Chip Hanlon. Lately, he’s trying to equate Whitman buying blogads on Red County with his acting as a paid Poizner advocate on Red County without the knowledge of red County or its readers. It’s an absurd and untrue comparison…which is why I was surprised that Calbuzz but down hard on Park’s bait.

Calbuzz is a blog run by Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine, who consider themselves to be veteran journalist and… Read More

FR friend Bob Loewen of the Orange County Lincoln Club has blogged over at Red County something that is worth statewide attention. The Lincoln Club has decided to draw a bright line in the sand against the corrupting influence of public employee unions on public policy. The Lincoln Club has said that in order to receive a coveted endorsement from their organization, a candidate has to sign a written pledge that they will not accept political contributions from public employee unions.

This action follows after, and shows support for the strong call from Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh that candidates, whether seeking partisan or non-partisan office, who want support from the county party, must decline the endorsement of and contributions from public employee unions.

It is clear that these action are taking place because there is no logical reason for public officials to be voting to establish such unrealistic and unsustainable retirement benefits for public employees.… Read More

Earlier in the week I blogged that 11 GOP State Senators oppose Proposition 14, the "Top-Two" ballot system measure. Advocates say that the measure "opens" primaries but it actually closes General Elections, no longer guaranteeing that every party will have a candidate on the ballot each November. Well I got a revised letter just now, and that number is now 12 Senators — with Senator Dave Cogdill being on this letter as well (didn’t announce him before).

By the way, nothing emphasizes the nefarious legislative "blackmail" of Senator Maldonado of last February more than Senator Cogdill’s oppositions to Proposition 14, who was one of the primary architects of last February’s budget deal.… Read More