Just heard from Jim Nygren the consultant for the Alliance for California’s Tomorrow, the Sacramento insider crowd that is ponying up big-time to try and elect Linda Ackerman in AD 72.

Their latest expenditure comes in the form of individualized letters to voters (all voters, not just Republicans — presumably those with some propensity to vote). These letters are from a well known local elected official to people in their area or city. Tucked in with each letter is a brochure/puff piece on Ackerman.

Below is an example It is a letter from longtime Fullerton Councilman Don Bankhead. First is a letter to Republicans, and below that a letter to non-Republicans. They are virtually identical. Below that is the brochure in the mailings.

… Read More

"Circulation fell 10.1% to 212,293 at the Orange County Register and dropped 10% to 242,705 at the San Diego Union-Tribune. In the Bay Area, the circulation of the San Francisco Chronicle fell 26% to 251,782, while the Oakland Tribune recorded a 7.3% increase in subscribers to 68,067 — one of the biggest percentage gains among the handful of dailies that reported increases."

Read more in the Los Angeles Times.… Read More

Yesterday FR blogger Jim Lacy put up on this blog page the results of a survey he commissioned in AD 72. FR blogger (and Linda Ackerman’s pollster) Adam Probolsky offered a critique of Lacy here.

Below are some thoughts on the Lacy survey from State Senator John Lewis (Ret’d) who is the lead consultant for the campaign of Supervisor Chris Norby…

LATEST 72nd AD POLL – AWFUL NEWS FOR LINDA ACKERMAN COULD NORBY WIN IT ALL ON NOVEMBER 17TH? By John Lewis… Read More

Since I have left politics to try to earn an honest living, and become a profit center for the state, rather than a cost of doing business (that is, actually paying more taxes than I get paid), I have not gotten to involved in many campaigns. However, when Linda Ackerman called, I said I would do what I could to help.

I didn’t know Dick Ackerman when he ran for office in 1994. It goes without saying that I didn’t know Linda either. For the twelve years that I served with Dick, I got to know Linda, and spent more than a few hours talking with the both of them about politics, the Legislature, and the California Republican Party. During that time, on more than one occasion, I came to believe that Linda should have been the candidate in 1994, not Dick (only kidding, Dick). But it is true, Linda knew and understood policy, the Legislature and politics. Quite frankly, there are few people more suited to serve in the Legislature than Linda Ackerman.

First, she knows the right policy solutions, and knows how to work those solutions in the Legislature. Life is difficult for a Republican in the Legislature, and especially difficult for a… Read More

Did you hear the one about dogs causing more damage to our environment than a Ford F-250 crew cab? If you are waiting for a punchline, keep waiting. Because this claim is true in a new book, "Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to sustainable living."

Brenda and Robert Vale, Victoria University professors who preach sustainable living, say pet owners should swap cats and dogs for creatures they can eat, such as chickens or rabbits.

By "swap" they mean…?

Another question is: How long will it take before the Liberal block of the California Legislature introduces a bill that outlaws dogs? OK, on a more serious note, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of my Liberal colleagues authors a bill that requires dog owners (and cat owners for that matter) to pay for a carbon off-set fee. Now I’m not kidding.… Read More

You can’t make this up. But FlashReport readers are going to want to check out this blog post over on the San Francisco Bay Guardian website.

The Governor vetoed a seemingly innocuous piece of legislation by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano. But a careful look at the veto letter (as done by the SFBG) reveals that the first letter in each line of the letter spells…

The response from the Governor’s Press Secretary Aaron McLear when questioned about it: "My goodness, what a strange coincidence. I suppose when u do so many vetoes something like this is bound to happen"

A tip ‘o the hat to the Sac Bee’s Kevin Yamamura on this one!… Read More

The same unelected enviro-ideologues at the California Air Resources Board that earlier this year were intent on shutting down California’s gas stations have come up with yet another off-the-way crazy idea as they seek to come up with the screwiest schemes to lower carbon emissions in California to comply with the state’s draconian AB 32 guidelines…

It seems like lately California, which I remind readers is in the same recession as the rest of the country (actually worse) has been drawing a lot curious looks at state government churns out dumb ideas from banning big screen televisions to looking at how the state can directly control air conditioning use in new homes. The latest remarkably dumb idea has caught the attention of none-other than America’s most widely listened-to radio talk show host – Rush Limbaugh.

So take a guess as to what he talked about earlier this week, since our state has no shortage of interesting topics to dive into? It wasn’t our budget woes, prison overcrowding or even the proposed new NFL stadium in the City of Industry.

This week, Limbaugh gave… Read More

Chris Norby has a strong lead on Linda Ackerman in a new scientific poll of Republicans in the 72nd Assembly District special election. Norby beats Ackerman among Republicans 27.7% to 17%. Most Republican voters, 51.3%, remain undecided.However, Norby has very good positive/negatives at 38.4/13% (a ratio of 3 to 1 positive);while Ackerman has bad positive/negatives at 19.3/15.7% (a statistical ratio of 1 to 1) with 65% no opinion, never heard of her. In contrast, Norby is known by over a majority of the voters in the district, according to the poll. The poll, which surveyed 300 representative Republican voters in the district this last weekend from October 22 to 25th, was conducted for my company, Landslide Communications, by Salt Lake City-based NSON Opinion Research. NSON is a well-respected consumer, political and marketing research company that has been in business since 1992 and was founded by its President, Ronald T. Nielson. The poll focused only on a representative sampling of Republican voters in the district. Republican party registration is dominant in the 72nd Assembly District, at over… Read More