SENATE GOP LEADER ACKERMAN ON 34TH SD: "THE LIKELY CANDIDATE IS LYNN DAUCHER"
Yesterday it was announced that Assemblyman Van Tran (from north/central Orange County) would be forming an exploratory effort at a potential run for State Senate in the 34th District, currently held by Democrat Joe Dunn. This seat is in play because voter registration there has closed considerably (less than 2 points) thanks to the leadership of Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, and heavy financing from The New Majority, an elite GOP funding group. You can read about Tran’s efforts (along with who is helping him) here where I spoke with him, as well as more analysis from FR Orange County Correspondent Matt Cunningham.
Not mentioned in any big way in the stories of yesterday is the quiet and seemingly effective capitol campaign of Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher, who is also looking at the 34th Senate District primary. This morning, I spoke with State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman. I’ve known Dick since his days as a member of the Fullerton City Council (I was working as an aide to then-freshman Congressman Ed Royce at the time) – and he is top-notch.
Ackerman called me to inject some controversy into Tran’s announcement (the ‘politique’ Ackerman would probably say he is giving me ‘perspective’). The reason for his call was to tell me that, "The likely candidate is going to be Lynn Daucher, as far as we’re concerned," said the Senate GOP leader rather emphatically for a 7:15 a.m. call. Daucher has lined up a lot of endorsements."
I told Dick that I appreciated the call, and that I would make sure FR readers got the word. Of
course, Ackerman has really made no secret of the fact that he does not believe that Van Tran is the best candidate to carry the GOP banner into this Central Orange County District. Of interesting note here is the obviously ‘quiet’ effort on the part of Lynn Daucher to put her ducks in a row before making any kind of formal announcement (although apparently Ackerman has announced for her). Given Daucher’s persona as a moderate Republican (she was elected in the single-season of the ‘open primary’ before it was tossed as unconstitutional by the courts), and how conservative Ackerman is – it is a positive sign for Daucher to have such emphatic support from the Senate Republican Leader (like I said, he called me at 7:15 am, and while he didn’t technically say he had endorsed her…well, you re-read those verbatim quotes).
We’ll see how this comes together as this rolls into the new year…
SPECIAL INTERESTS WANT A TAX HIKE – SHOCKED? OF COURSE NOT.
The defeat of the Governor’s common-sense agenda by the unions, who spread so many lies and falsehoods about those measures in tens of millions of dollars worth of misleading ads are clearly emboldened. The latest demonstration of this is to publicly call for a 1/4 cent statewide sales tax increase. This in a state where the cost of living is already dramatically higher than the rest of the country (except for maybe Hawaii). But they don’t JUST want to raise the sales tax, they want to use this ‘revenue stream’ to actually get the state to borrow $30 – $40 BILLION dollars and invest it into construction projects that would benefit…that’s right…the very unions calling for the increase. Standing at their side (this will shock you) are leaders of the construction industry, who would also materially benefit from this massive borrowing and spending.
Look, there is no denying that there is a need for infrastructure investment in this state. But there is also no doubt that if the liberal agenda in Sacramento could be curtailed, and our massive spending on social programs could be reigned in, there is plenty of current revenue to be able to support the infrastructure needs of the state. Check out what Senator Tom McClintock and Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association have to say on infrastructure bonds.
Governor Schwarzenegger has said repeatedly that raising taxes is off of the table. Even if the special interests are excited that a friendly face in Susan Kennedy is now a key member of the Governor’s team, don’t expect to see him back off on this key commitment to the people.
Besides, even Democrat Treasurer (and candidate for Governor) Phil Angelides yesterday talked about the dangers of more bonded indebtedness here in California…
Take care,
Jon
PS: You can e-mail me here, or anonymously above.