Yesterday, the Governor took a stand and demanded that the Democratic controlled legislature pull back all the bills on his desk until they get their act together and work with Republicans on key issues like water. The Democrats response: use Vietnam Veterans as a trial balloon to test the Governor. "I dare the governor to veto this bill," Assembly Democratic Majority Leader Albert Torrico childishly stated before the close of Tuesday’s session.

Everyone knows there are several issues where I don’t see eye to eye with the Governor, but I support his decision to veto this commemorative resolution 100% and Republicans should not even entertain the idea of an override for two key reasons.

First, we must use every piece of leverage available to force Democrats to give Republicans a seat at the table on major issues. What the Governor did yesterday was to send a powerful signal to Democrats – “Give us a seat at the table for a water package or expect all your bills to come back with a fat veto stamp.” (Frankly, I would love it if the Governor vetoed every single bill regardless.)

Second, we cannot allow Democrats to use a Veterans… Read More

***BREAKING NEWS*** (UPDATED – WE WILL ADD LINKS AS MORE ARE AVAILABLE)

KCAL/KCBS television just ran a story live on the 10pm news that 2nd term Assemblyman Mike Duvall (pictured) a Republican from Orange County, has been having extra-marital affairs with two women, one of them a lobbyist for a major utility — Duvall is the Vice Chairman of the influential Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee. The report appears on KCBS/KCAL, and also featured on the Orange County Weekly website contains a startling video and audio that appears to be from a legislative committee room, where the Assemblyman was caught on a live microphone that he was not aware was on…

Here is the link to the KCBS/KCAL story… Here is the … Read More

If you feel like someone has hit the fast forward button on the DVR, you aren’t alone. I just got a call from Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby saying that we here at the FlashReport were the first to get the news — he is "all in" in the pending special election to fill out the unexpired term of Assemblyman Mike Duvall in the 72nd Assembly District, encompassing most of North Orange County.

Norby is in his 7th year on the Board of Supervisors and faces term limits next year. Norby rather famously won his Supervisor seat by taking out a sitting incumbent (Cynthia Coad) who was seeking reelection. Before that, Norby served for years on the Fullerton Cityu Council, and was a high school teacher.

And for those interested in such things, Norby’s campaign will be handled by the Lewis Consulting Group.

Will Norby clear the field for this run? It’s hit or miss in the OC where some primaries are non-events, and others are spectacularly rancorous. We’ll see how this develops…… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: This post went up a 9:09 on 9/9/9!] The Capitol Resource Institute, one of the state’s leading pro-family organizations, just released a very strong statement from their President, Karen England, concerning the revelations surrounding Assemblyman Mike Duvall. The CRI’s "100%" rating of Duvall was highlighted in the KCBS story exposing the Assemblyman bragging about multiple affairs near a legislative microphone that he was unaware was turned on…

Granting prisoners early release credits for “continuous incarceration” is a win-win policy according to proponents of SB18XXX who claim the proposal will save money while improving the morale of lazy inmates. The idea of rewarding prisoners for doing nothing is not new and has long been advocated by the same legislators who support social promotion for public school students with failing grades. In fact the failing student population and the prison inmate population substantially overlap.

In fact, SB 18XXX, strikes the following words from the existing law: “Worktime credits shall apply for performance in work assignments and performance in elementary, Under current law, a convicted felon can earn early release credits as follows: “For every six months of full-time performance in a credit qualifying program, as designated by the director, a prisoner shall be awarded work time credit reductions from his or her term of confinement of six months.”

Accordingly, a felon newly convicted of carrying a loaded… Read More

Duvall scandal makes Drudge Report… This means MILLIONS of readers… Drudge Report has had 24, 448, 564 hits in the last 24 hours…

… Read More

At some point this morning a short statement from Assemblyman Mike Duvall appeared on his campaign website, and we reprint it for FR readers below: "I made a mistake and I sincerely apologize. I deeply regret the comments I made in what I believed to be a private conversation. This is a private matter and I ask that everyone respect the privacy of all involved." — Assemblyman Mike Duvall … Read More

A few weeks ago, the organization California Forward sent a letter to the Governor and members of the State Legislature outlining what they believe to be a series of reforms that, if passed, would improve the condition of government here in California. You can see that letter here (h/t KQED).

Many of the reforms have merit, a few are more questionable — all deserve closer examination.

But for the purposes of this commentary, I am focused on what would be, for me, a "deal killer" when it comes to "reforms" — and that is a proposal to severely weaken California’s legislative term limits, placed into the State Constitution back in 1990. Three times now, most recently with Proposition 93, the political-class have sought to undo in some part what the voters put into place — and all three times their efforts have been rejected.

Under the "reform" proposed by California Forward, while an individual currently is limited, in their lifetime, to serving three terms in the State Assembly and two terms in the State Senate,… Read More