TOM MCLINTOCK ON BONDS
Today’s lead commentary is from State Senator Tom McClintock, who at this point, is the presumptive Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor. McClintock is well respected for his acumen on state fiscal matters. In this ‘must read’ column, Tom looks at the prospects of a bond-measure roll-out, and gives his criteria for a responsible borrowing measure, as well as some important historic perspective. State government has been porking out since the days of Governor Pat Brown…
WHO IS ADAM MENDELSOHN?
The news broke yesterday in the Capitol Weekly (with a formal announcement today) that GOP communications pro Adam Mendelsohn will be taking the reigns of Communications Director for Governor Schwarzenegger – the current CD, Rob Stutzman, will be departing for the campaign trail as part of the Governor’s re-election team.
I will be talking more about Adam in the coming days, but I wanted to quickly share with you all my strong support for this pick. I have known Adam for many, many years. Actually, I met Adam when he first got involved in politics, and have seen him develop and grow into an extremely capable communications expert. Adam will do a great job for the Governor in a job that is truly one of the most difficult you can imagine (unless you relish the thought of being at the beck-and-call of 200 political news reporters every day). Adam has strong credentials and I look forward to sharing more about them with you. I’m going to try to track him down for a brief interview…though I am sure he is busy having to move back from DC (where he has been very successful in starting a flourishing communications network) – oh, and if you don’t think Adam has enough going on…he’s also a new proud father!
PROSPER SPEAKS WITH A SOFT VOICE
Pierre Prosper, Republican candidate for State Attorney General, finally released a statement on the Governor’s hiring of former Democrat Party Executive Director Susan Kennedy being hired by
the Governor as his new Chief of Staff. If, after reading the statement, you feel like I left out a part – really, I didn’t:
MARK JOHNSON NEW MAJORITY CO-FOUNDER, BUT NOT MEMBER
Yesterday, Mark Johnson was quoted in the Wall Street Journal being critical of the Governor’s hiring of Democrat Susan Kennedy. He was cited as being a founder of Orange County’s New Majority PAC. While he was, in fact, one of their founders, he is no longer affiliated with the group. A message that I received from a New Majority official says: "Mark Johnson does not speak for New Majority; he has not been a member four nearly four years…What Mr. Johnson says in this article does not represent the formal position of New Majority, New Majority Orange County, or New Majority Los Angeles."
I wonder if, whenever I am quoted as "former Executive Director of the California Republican Party," there is a string of e-mails in my wake…clarifying that this was five years ago…?
KAREN HANRETTY DEPARTS FROM THE STATE GOP
This morning it was announced that the 5-year veteran of the State GOP will be leaving her post as Communications Director to focus on her own public relations business. There is a link to her statement from the home page. I will be writing more about this in the coming days… I will share both my thoughts about Karen, as well as the political implications of her move…
Have a great day!
Jon