On a recent trip a friend of mine suggested that, "Affordable housing is whatever I am willing to pay for it."

I have to admit I laughed when he said it. Call me cold. But the idea that government can or should successfully dictate housing costs in any particular market goes against my ideology. However, as a planning commissioner I am in the middle of the affordable housing debate all the time. And since the other leaders in my city don’t hold my philosophy, I am usually trying to improve the plans and programs rather than block them.

So whenever someone who I respect comes up with a cogent commentary on affordable housing I read it with interest. Diane Harkey is a Dana Point city councilwoman and financial whiz and one of the few elected officials I know that has a command of how our economy really works. Here are her thoughts on the subject: The Affordable Housing Dilemma…or the problem with living in paradise…

We love to read about how… Read More

What blogs do you visit to keep up on political issues in California politics? Obviously there is the FlashReport blog. But there are many others out there, and we want to make sure that we have them all. We’re getting ready to revamp the way that this website keeps track of the other blogs that cover California politics, to make it easier for our readers to monitor the ‘blogosphere’ for what else is going on, with the idea that the main page of the site right now keeps a pretty good eye on the main-stream-media, but not on political blogging. So please drop the FR a note, or post up a comment sharing any and all political blogs you visit that write on California politics. Thanks! We are pleased to let you know that while we are still working out a few bugs, the FlashReport development team has largely finished retooling the site to make it much easier to visit using a PDA. So whether you are on a Treo or a Blackberry, please surf the site and give us your feedback. We limited the fixes to the main page, the blog page, and the commentary page. But it should be much, much easier to navigate than it was before! Are you signed… Read More

What blogs do you visit to keep up on political issues in California politics? Obviously there is the FlashReport blog. But there are many others out there, and we want to make sure that we have them all. We’re getting ready to revamp the way that this website keeps track of the other blogs that cover California politics, to make it easier for our readers to monitor the ‘blogosphere’ for what else is going on, with the idea that the main page of the site right now keeps a pretty good eye on the main-stream-media, but not on political blogging. So please drop the FR a note, or post up a comment sharing any and all political blogs you visit that write on California politics. Thanks! We are pleased to let you know that while we are still working out a few bugs, the FlashReport development team has largely finished retooling the site to make it much easier to visit using a PDA. So whether you are on a Treo or a Blackberry, please surf the site and give us your feedback. We limited the fixes to the main page, the blog page, and the commentary page. But it should be much, much easier to navigate than it was before! Are you signed… Read More

One of the reasons why I think that everyone reading the FR should help Tom McClintock in his campaign for Liuetenant Governor of California is McClintock’s strong, decisive leadership on policy issues both in the legislature, and before Californians on the ballot.

Back in early August, Senator McClintock took positions on every matter on the November election and listed all of his positions (along with explanations for them) on his campaign website.

I took the opportunity to take a look at the website of Tom McClintock’s opponent, John Garamendi, to see where he stands on the statewide ballot measures — and there was nothing there. You can’t even tell from his site if he has a position on Proposition 83, the Jessica’s Law measure!

But Garamendi is in good company as I meandered through the websites of… Read More

I receivedinfo from Secretary of State McPherson‘s office that the final report of the United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC) on disgraced former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley‘s abuse of power and misuse of funds has been delivered.The report marks the end of two years of state and federal audits to uncover the extent ofShelley’s transgressions. (The audits began with an investigation by the California Bureau of State Audits (BSA), which was conducted at the direction of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC). Based on the results of the BSA audit, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission began its own federal audit in the summer of 2005.)

The EAC has ruled that California must repay $2,917,583 from the state’s General Fund to replace the funds that were misspent by… Read More

Over the weekend a late independent expenditure (IE) report (attached below) was released showing the Peace Officers Reseach Association of California (PORAC) union and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU, aka "The Purple Shirts") dropped $50,000 to conduct a poll on Democrat Controller candidate John Chiang’s behalf. Chiang is in a tight race against Republican tax fighter and former Assemblyman Tony Strickland. There’s no doubt the unions are poking around all the down ballot races, especially the closely contested races, to see where their millions might best be spent. Every election cycle in California is the same: the unions kick in big in the final weeks to install their sock puppet candidates and causes.

PORAC and SEIU’s contributions are a drop in the bucket of what they’re capable of delivering. At the end of September, PORAC’s candidate political action committee reported over half a… Read More

Over the weekend a late independent expenditure (IE) report (attached below) was released showing the Peace Officers Reseach Association of California (PORAC) union and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU, aka "The Purple Shirts") dropped $50,000 to conduct a poll on Democrat Controller candidate John Chiang’s behalf. Chiang is in a tight race against Republican tax fighter and former Assemblyman Tony Strickland. There’s no doubt the unions are poking around all the down ballot races, especially the closely contested races, to see where their millions might best be spent. Every election cycle in California is the same: the unions kick in big in the final weeks to install their sock puppet candidates and causes.

PORAC and SEIU’s contributions are a drop in the bucket of what they’re capable of delivering. At the end of September, PORAC’s candidate political action committee reported over half a… Read More

Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up. Did I miss this in the FlashReport before, or did we all miss it?

I’ll let Riverside FR Correspondent Barry Nestande weigh in with an analysis of the impact, if any, on the AD 80 race, but we can’t ignore it in the meantime.The Desert Sun runs a piece today alleging that Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia told a class of high schoolers that she wouldn’t kick the Governor out of bed.

Hey, I’m the first to hold off on something before I hear the other side, but it looks as if Bonnie isn’t denying the quote, just accusing those making hay out of it as trying to smear her (see follow-up article).

OK, I know that if she really said it she was only joking…with a group of underagers, but perhaps Arnold’s previous hot-blooded comments about her were on… Read More