A fellow alumna of my high school in Mt. Vernon, Illinois passed away last night. Jeane Kirkpatrick was a Democrat when President Ronald Reagan appointed her as the U.S. ambassador to the UN, but she became a Republican in 1985 and embraced Reagan’s brand of conservatism wholeheartedly.

She was a force to be reckoned with on issues of moral import. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick was the first woman appointed to serve as permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations and as a member of Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet and National Security Council.She served as a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1985-1990) and the Defense Policy Review Board (1985-1993), and she also chaired the Secretary of Defense Commission on Fail Safe and Risk Reduction of the Nuclear Command and Control System (1992).Dr. Kirkpatrick headed the U.S. delegation to the Human Rights Commission in 2003. For this and related government service, Dr. Kirkpatrick was awarded the Medal of Freedom–the nation’s highest civilian honor–in May 1985 and received her second Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal–the highest… Read More

Good news for San Bernardino County – Brad Mitzelfelt, a combat veteran and dedicated public servant to the people of the Inland Empire, has formally applied to fill the upcoming vacancy in the county’s First Supervisorial District – an open seat due to incumbent Supervisor Bill Postmus’ election as County Assessor. Brad Mitzelfelt, in many of his roles, was my predecessor as San Bernardino County correspondent for the Flashreport and we both served together in the office of Supervisor Bill Postmus, where Mitzelfelt served as Chief-of-Staff.

(In addition to numerous voices of support from within Mitzelfelt’s prospective constituency, the Flashreport has endorsed Brad’s bid for this important appointment.)

By county provision, San Bernardino County superivors select a successor when a vacancy occurs on the Board. Brad Mitzelfelt is encouraged by the early community support he has received so far.

I will keep you posted as developments occur…Bill Postmus’ swearing-in as County Assessor will be at noon on January 8,… Read More

The other day I posted how hard it was to believe it had been four years since Shirley Horton was elected in AD 78, and that things should quickly be heating up for that seat’s 2008 triple-donnybrook.

I guess the four days between swearing-in on Monday and first official candidate on Friday is quick enough. Auday Arabo, presidentand CEO of California Independent Grocers & Convenience Stores, is throwing his hat in the ring…as a Democrat, which may come as asurprise to some that have otherwise assumed — or never asked — his Party registration.

Before we get to Auday, let me touch on my reason for calling the ’08 contest a "triple-donnybrook." As background, this seat was drawn a relatively safe Dem seat, with Vince Hall being that Party’s standard-bearer in 2002. When the smoke cleared, Republican Shirley Hortonhad won (one of two supposedly safe Dem assembly seats in the state, the other taken by Bonnie Garcia), due to Horton’s serviceas mayor in the area’s largest city (Chula Vista), the… Read More

Today the Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District upheld a preliminary injunction granted by a trial court, striking down FPPC regulations that imposed limits on contributions toballot measure committees that are controlled by candidates. The decision in this case, Citizens to Save California v. FPPC, can be read by clicking on the link below.

You might recall that after the recall of Governor Davis, which included a proliferation of unlimited contributions to issue-oriented political committees that were controlled by candidates for state-wide office, the FPPC promulgated a regulation (2 Cal. Code Regs sec. 18530.9) that imposed the contribution limit applicable to state candidates (e.g., Governor or state Legislature) on the issue-oriented committees controlled by the candidate.

The problem as noted by the Court of Appeal, is that this regulation flatly contradicts established law under the Political Reform Act in Government Code section 85303and, of no small level of significance, also violated established US Supreme Court precedent in Citizens Against Rent Control v. Berkeley (1981) 454 U.S. 290.

This case is a good… Read More

Assemblywoman Mimi Walters plays a strong hand, with support from the outgoing Senator as well as fellow nested Assemblymen Todd Spitzer and Chuck DeVore. Can you say frontrunner?

“Mimi Walters is a strong conservative who understands the proper role of government and who is committed to improving our business climate and keeping taxes down,” said Ackerman. “I am confident that she will be an outstanding representative for the 33rd Senate District.”… Read More

Though a major decision at an important juncture for the immediate, if not long-term future of our Party, relatively little was made public of the deliberations of the Senate GOP Caucus’ pick to keep Senator Ackerman as Leader.

I’ll leave the arguments for and against to others, but found this article especially worth noting.

“Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, who cast the swing vote for Ackerman, is expected to be rewarded with a chairmanship.”

If true, we find ourselves in a situation where the Democrat Senate President is hand-picking those in charge of our Republican Caucus through bribes of Chairmanships or other goodies.

Whoever the 15 of our guys in the Senate Caucus feel is best to lead them, so be it. At least it was a decision made for Republicans, by Republicans.… Read More

Lessons of Pearl Harbor Applied to CRP

In the early 90’s, I was a legal officer in the Navy, stationed at the Fleet Training Center, San Diego. When there was a shortage of criminals, malcontents and sailors who couldn’t keep their noses clean, I had spare time. During that spare time, I qualified as a high risk instructor to teach Shipboard Damage Control – a class that taught sailors how to survive and keep their ship afloat if it got hit, started flooding and caught on fire. During the second day of the class, we took sailors into the “wet trainer”, a 2-story building with four compartments where we could simulate fire, floods, evacuations through flooded compartments, etc. It was a dangerous class. In fact, one day when I was the lead instructor, one of our sailors nearly drowned, but another instructor and I pulled him to safety, and training resumed.

One of the most important lessons of the course had nothing to do with what action to take once the ship is flooding. Instead, it was a lesson… Read More

Chris Cox’s nomination in June, 2005 to head the Security & Exchange Commission, launched the first in a series of special elections here in Orange County that continue to this day. Combined with the regularly scheduled

First, of course, was the special election primary and general elections to fill Cox’s congressional seat, which concluded in December of 2005.

Concurrent with that campaign was an bitter fight over a county initiative on the statewide special election ballot — an expensive battle between the firefighters and deputy sheriffs unions over how to divvy up Prop. 172 revenues (the deputies won).

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More