FR readers know that in my role as a columnist and blogger on this site I have been quite critical of the system of Congressional "earmarking" that takes place in Washington, D.C.

That said, the party is clearly not monolithic on this subject since most GOP Members of Congress aren’t just earmarking proponents, but spend a lot of time and energy towards the end of "bringing home the bacon" in the form of federal funds for projects in their districts.

Today on the FlashReport I am pleased that we are offering a "pro-con" debate on this issue, in the form of two featured columns. The first, by businessmen David Ellis and Buck Johns, makes the case in support of Congressional earmarking. You can read their column here. The second is the case against the practice of earmarking, penned by our own FR blogging Congressman John Campbell. You can read his column here.

I hope that you enjoy reading to very different views on this… Read More

With all due deference to FR friend Bill Leonard who makes a convincing case about the overall effectiveness of furloughs, the Governor and his legal team are on a roll. Today, Judge Marlette issued a tentative ruling in their favor on the case that the Governor launched to force Chiang to implement furloughs to constitutional officers. This is just off the heels of the tentative ruling in the Governor’s favor on the minimum wage case that I wrote about two weeks ago. Chiang, following union orders, first refused to implement the Governor’s executive order to furlough state employees at all and was smacked down by Judge Marlette. He then refused to furlough constitutional officers offices at their request and the Governor promised to take legal action to force him to comply.

The Governor is poised to get another important victory for taxpayers. The… Read More

It seems appropriate on a day when the FlashReport is looking at the issue of earmarking to note that California Congressman Darrell Issa has announced that he is no longer going to be requesting earmarks.

Issa joins four other California Republicans, and 28 other Members of Congress nationally.

The other California Representatives who are on a diet of "no pork" include John Campbell, Duncan D. Hunter, Tom McClintock and Devin Nunes.… Read More

I am not one to reprint press releases — but this missive from the Poizner campaign was awesome…

Does Jerry Brown Oppose Both the Budget Deal and Proposition 1A Over Taxes?

Political chameleon Jerry Brown is at it again. This week he's claiming to be a born-again taxpayer advocate who'll oppose new taxes.

Brown made his claims in a lengthy interview with the San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci that she posted on the newspaper's politics blog on Tuesday. The column states at one point:

The California governor's job this time around could be a no-win situation, he acknowledged. It's an era when just the state deficit is out of control and budget battles are bloody. There's no one easy answer, “there's just pain,” he said.Still, “I would not be advocating new taxes, I'll tell you that,” he said. Already, California is “one of the highest tax states around,” he said. “So we've got to be competitive. We can't drive all the jobs out and tax the few people who stay.”

It's a given that this is ironic coming from… Read More

Last evening a group of Bay Area Republicans gathered in Oakland to meet and listen to Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. This informal group plans on meeting with the other two gubernatorial candidates in the next two months as well.

Poizner was a good sport for even attending a meeting of Bay Area Republicans (believe it or not, there were more than six of us there). Poizner’s speech was a basic stump speech underscoring his opposition to the latest budget deal and explaining his commitment to low taxes, job growth and innovation. Oh, and his commitment to public schools, via charter schools. (School choice, he said, was politically dead in this state.) He also eloquently addressed the problem the state faces with the expense of retirees’ health care.

The most interesting part of his appearance was his response to a question (mine) about the spending cap voters will be considering in May. He had already stated his opposition to the spending cap because it extends the tax… Read More

I noticed on this March 9 late contribution report that the COO of the "Stupid Fan Club" have $5,000 to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s "Dream Team" campaign account.

I’d say that is a perfect match.… Read More

There is no doubt that there are a lot of changes happening in the newspaper business – or perhaps I should say in the business of newspapers. For years now, we have been watching newspapers all around the country experience a decline in readership. What is the cause of this? Some, especially readers of this website, would like to say that it is exclusively due to the left-wing dogma of most newspaper editorial pages, along with the left-of-center bias that appears to come from most newspaper news rooms (see the most recent example of that here).

The reality is that while some people have stopped subscribing to newspapers for ideological reasons, the most likely suspect for the precipitous drop in readership is due primary to the way that people choose to get their news (I guess there could also be less people interested in getting the news, but I… Read More

There is no doubt that there are a lot of changes happening in the newspaper business – or perhaps I should say in the business of newspapers. For years now, we have been watching newspapers all around the country experience a decline in readership. What is the cause of this? Some, especially readers of this website, would like to say that it is exclusively due to the left-wing dogma of most newspaper editorial pages, along with the left-of-center bias that appears to come from most newspaper news rooms (see the most recent example of that here).

The reality is that while some people have stopped subscribing to newspapers for ideological reasons, the most likely suspect for the precipitous drop in readership is due primary to the way that people choose to get their news (I guess there could also be less people interested in getting the news, but I… Read More