For the second time in two weeks, venerable Capitol insider and political columnist Bob Novak has penned something in his column about rumors that Congressman Jerry Lewis ("R"-California) is going to be retiring at the end of this term. We can only hope that the "King of Pork" will sail off into the sunset. That said, it is a source of supreme disappointment that he still continues to serve as the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, given that he used the Chairmanship of that Committee to lord (or is that "lard") over the doling out of so many thousands of horrible earmarks, including for the now-infamous multi-million dollar swimming pool in his own district. Minority Leader John Boehner needs to ask himself whether the GOP can really be expected to perform differently in the majority if even the more outstrageous Republican ‘spendaholics’ can’t be demoted after a loss like we suffered last year…

Need some reminders on Lewis? Check… Read More

FR readers will be happy to know that starting last Friday and going through early this week, the programming team over at Cloudspace (the folks who created this outstanding site for me) are working hard to retool every page of the site to significantly increase how quickly the site loads into your browser.

In addition, we’re changing the loading priority so that the site content comes up first, followed by our premium advertisements (across the top) and then our regular advertisers (down the right side of the page).

As I post this, the main page has been finished. Look for the blog, blogscan and the other pages to be ‘sped up’ in the next day or two…… Read More

It’s hard to keep up with the barrage of updates from Mike Spence (see the post below this one for the latest) on the GOP primary in Assembly District 60 (this seat straddles LA, San Bernardino and Orange Counties).

North Orange County is the largest piece of real estate in the 60th, and there is no member of Congress more popular in the area than U.S. Reprsentative Ed Royce, who just endorsed conservative candidate Larry Dick, who at this point is locked in battle for endorsements with San Bernardino County’s Curt Hagman.

Congressman Royce (a former employer of this humble website publisher) had this to say about Larry: “These tough times require conservative leaders like Larry Dick committed to lower taxes and to protecting taxpayers. Larry Dick has the courage and the experience to stand up to the liberals. He’s earned my trust, he deserves yours."

Since Mike keeps his updates short, I will close by saying that Royce’s endorsement is a great one to have because he works… Read More

From the onset, I always thought Tim Escobar was a front runner for this distirct. Very Popular with GOP folks. Name ID and fundraising experiencefrom taking on Linda Sanchez for Congress. He has great ties to the LA part of the disctrict, but also the OC part. Some tried to recruit him for the Dunn seat.Respected. Conservative. An awesome person and candidate.

I have confrimed he is not running. He recently returned from a 17 month tour of Iraq (he was called up) and places a premium on time withhis family. While I’m not completely shocked, he would have been my personal pick. I hope there isnext time.… Read More

The CRP held its annual fundraiser at Napa this weekend. Without question, one of the best ever (according to many long-time participants). As well as the remarkable castle dinner and the day of golf and spa experiences, the greatest part of the trip was the exceptional turnout by both legislative members and donors. Kudos to Vice-Chairman Tom Del Becarro, leaders Ackerman and Villines, and the great staff that helped make the whole experience both a success and a memorable experience.… Read More

California Republican Congressman David Dreier of the 26th Congressional district (Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties) recently hailed the accomplishments of the US House Republican Conference on Capitol Hill.According to Rep. Dreier – who is serving his 14th term in Congress and is the top Republican on the crucial House Committee on Rules – new-found Republican Party unity has inspired the House GOP to lead on implementing “lobbying reform legislation stronger than the bill introduced by Democrats, a clean supplemental spending bill for our troops in harms way, and the exposure of Democratic broken promises to run a more open and honest Congress.” Dreier has specifically highlighted the poor record of the Democratic Rules Committee on their promise of a delivering a more open debate. Members have repeatedly been turned away from the Rules Committee and prevented from even offering amendments for consideration, … Read More

California Republican Congressman David Dreier of the 26th Congressional district (Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties) recently hailed the accomplishments of the US House Republican Conference on Capitol Hill.According to Rep. Dreier – who is serving his 14th term in Congress and is the top Republican on the crucial House Committee on Rules – new-found Republican Party unity has inspired the House GOP to lead on implementing “lobbying reform legislation stronger than the bill introduced by Democrats, a clean supplemental spending bill for our troops in harms way, and the exposure of Democratic broken promises to run a more open and honest Congress.” Dreier has specifically highlighted the poor record of the Democratic Rules Committee on their promise of a delivering a more open debate. Members have repeatedly been turned away from the Rules Committee and prevented from even offering amendments for consideration, … Read More

Brian Jones, Casey Gwinn in CD 52 Fray?… If you missed it, Santee City Councilman Brian Jones has filed committee paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for an open Duncan Hunter seat (see Friday’s post).

Following the Jones news, Red County/San Diego reported that former San Diego City AttorneyCasey Gwinn is also looking at the seat. Casey moved to East County a few years back (having lived in San Carlos, pretty close already, as in a couple of blocks) and some at the time were anticipating he’d be running for Jay La Suer’s termed out 77th AD seat in 2006. That clearly didn’t happen. Has enough time elapsed since his SD days?

I consider Casey a friend and a stand-up guy. I have to urge caution here,in the extreme sense. East County is not the… Read More