Apparently, the Assembly Republican Caucus is on the verge of ousting leader Mike Villines — perhaps as soon as a few hours — a course of action I strongly support.

It is embarrassing for our Assembly Republican Caucus to be headed by an individual who is criss-crossing the state proudly championing the largest state tax increase in American, and eroding what’s left of Republican credibility. not the stuff of which the Republican Party will be re-built.

The bad news is Assembly Republicans are apparently poised to replace Villines with their most liberal member: Sam Blakeslee.

Here’s a run-down of Blakeslee’s philosophical profile:

• He is one of five Assembly GOPers who has refused to take a position on Prop. 1A — which has become the political demarcation between those favoring true government reform and those unwilling to do more than feed the beast until they are termed out. A real profile in courage.

• Blakeslee  earned a 43% rating from the left-wing, anti-property rights League of Conservation Voters — the highest of any Assembly Republican and not too far from tax-hiking Democratic Sen. Lou Correa.

• He has voted with the left-wing Sierra Club 60% of the time — the highest of any Republican in the Legislature.

• Blakeslee received a 2006 rating of 57% from Planned Parenthood.

I think you get the picture.

If Sam Blakeslee is chosen as the next Assembly Republican Leader, I have to seriously question the political judgement of its membership, and their commitment to rebuilding the party on the principles on which we have succeeded in the past. The GOP wins when it is able to win moderates, independents and right-of-center Democrats to a policy agenda predicated on free markets, individual liberty and limited government. History bears those out as the surest path to prosperity, opportunity and upward mobility.

Electing Blakeslee reverses that formula by electing a wishy-washy moderate whose disagreement with the prevailing Democratic statism appears to be of degre4es, not of kind.

That’s what we have now. That’s why we find ourselves with an Assembly GOP Leader actively working to convince voters to shrink their budgets, rather than the governments.

And if Sam Blakeslee can’t even take a position on Prop. 1A, can we honestly expect him to take a harder line than Villines in the coming budget battle?

The May 19 propositions are going down. I want to see Villines go, but if the alternative is a termed-out squish, that;s change rank-and-file Republicans cannot believe in. 

Republican activists around the state will be watching how their Assemblymembers vote. Don’t disappoint us.