Fellow FR correspondent Adam Probolsky seemed quite concerned when I told him I might post about our trip to the Big Newport theater to see… The Transformers. Now, to be honest, this flick wasn’t Adam’s or my idea – but that of our “host” Mike Schroeder (yes, the former State GOP Chairman) who went so far as to buy tickets on Fandango for the two of us, and for Steve Baric, President of the California Republican Lawyers Association.

I think Adam’s hesitancy is because he thought it wasn’t “cool” to be seeing the Transformers movie. But there must be more to the Transformers than meets the eye. We are in the theater with hundreds of others.

Adam seemed a little more comfortable when we ran into yet another FR contributor, Congressman John Campbell, here with his wife.

Schroeder topped that, though, by pointing out that Kobe Bryant is here, too!

Ohh, the movie’s starting now – time to stop blogging!… Read More

Conservative Republican Assembly Candidate Bob Smith is cruising in his race to replace popular termed-out GOP legislator Bill Maze in the sprawling four-county 34th Assembly District. According to a press release from the Smith campaign, Bob Smith raised over $215,000 in his bid to succeed his former boss, Bill Maze. Bob Smith – who has earned the endorsements of influential Republican Party leaders such as former Senate Minority leader Jim Brulte, Board of Equalization Member Michelle Steele and several state assemblymembers – is equaling his impressive line-up of statewide GOP stalwarts with a wide array of key local supporters as well, with formal backing from every region of the massive constituency. An added bonus for Bob … Read More

Read this, and then ponder why our Governor, who is a vastly wealthy man and has raised millions for his own group, can’t seem to help the state GOP with $4.6 million in debt it incurred on his behalf? See here.I guess Bloomberg keeps his promises.… Read More

Here’s a great video – check it out…

HANG IN THERE As the weather heats up, undoubtedly so will pressure on legislative Republicans to provide needed votes to approve the massive record-setting state budget. It is fair, and reasonable for legislators to throw out a simple line in the sand on budget spending — we will not vote for a budget that spends more money than last year. True, revenues may be up because we cannot get a tax cut through the Democrat-controlled legislature. Well, let’s use any increase in funds to go ahead and end the deficit spending. After that, we can use additional revenues to pay off state borrowing. While I know our state is burdened with Proposition 98 which arbitrarily requires that a portion of revenue increases must go to education, we should work hard to figure out how to move money around in a way that allows us to achieve the goal of spending the increase in state revenues to pay our bills. If Republicans can keep this ‘line in the sand’ then we can make sure that it is very clear that we are opposed to largesse and out-of-control spending. THEY’RE… Read More

HANG IN THERE As the weather heats up, undoubtedly so will pressure on legislative Republicans to provide needed votes to approve the massive record-setting state budget. It is fair, and reasonable for legislators to throw out a simple line in the sand on budget spending — we will not vote for a budget that spends more money than last year. True, revenues may be up because we cannot get a tax cut through the Democrat-controlled legislature. Well, let’s use any increase in funds to go ahead and end the deficit spending. After that, we can use additional revenues to pay off state borrowing. While I know our state is burdened with Proposition 98 which arbitrarily requires that a portion of revenue increases must go to education, we should work hard to figure out how to move money around in a way that allows us to achieve the goal of spending the increase in state revenues to pay our bills. If Republicans can keep this ‘line in the sand’ then we can make sure that it is very clear that we are opposed to largesse and out-of-control spending. THEY’RE… Read More

Our company helped the Lincoln Club elect Cheryl Cox to Mayor of Chula Vista. This post from Red County San Diego’s Hiram Johnsonshows her standing strong against labor bosses who are trying to force a major coastal development to use only union labor… GO GET EM MAYOR COX!

Cheers to Chula Vista Mayor Cox for Standing Up to Union THUGSby Hiram Johnson, Red County San Diego

Talk about UNION THUGS – local union leaders are threatening to kill the development of Chula Vista’s coastline by using their pull with GOVERNMENT regulatory authorities unless the project is made entirely union. Isn’t that called blackmail here in the real world?

But Chula Vista’s Republican elected officials are not taking the union threats quietly. They are standing up and loudly exposing the union’s shady and ham-handed attempt to twist arms. Which is just what this situation needs: the light of day.

From the Union Tribune:

Cox’s voice was tight with emotion as she spoke into an echoing microphone. She said that if this deal fails, the unions will be to blame.

“The No. 1 opportunity to… Read More

Yeah I know ‘why we fight’ was the tagline on a series of world war era propaganda pieces, but it’s also an applicable tagline for this great Union Tribune editorial savaging big labor…

UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL

Labor union greed may kill convention center

July 5, 2007

Suppose a company was willing to:

Pour $850 million of its own money into a local project (an amount sufficient to build a football stadium).

Hire 6,500 construction workers and pay them union-level wages.

Hire 2,000 permanent service-industry employees and allow them to join labor unions, if they choose.

Build the largest hotel and a second convention center in a region that depends upon tourism as its third-largest industry.

Yet, suppose that one labor union wanted even more, to the point that the company said “Goodbye, San Diego” and “Let’s talk, Seattle.”

That pretty much describes the current scenario here. Gaylord Entertainment of Nashville is building a national convention business network and would like to establish a West Coast presence on the Chula Vista bayfront.… Read More