This time of the political season, we are all following the late-contribution reports to see where the money is flowing — and a lot of it has been moving around — millions.

Nary lost amongst the other activity was this transfer of $110,000 from "Leadership California" (Lame-Duck Senate President Don Perata’s PAC) to the "We Deserve Better; Yes on the Recall of Jeff Denham" PAC.

Given Perata’s public pronouncements recently that he was pulling the plug on any attempt to recall Denham, this transfer raises serious questions. In addition, the pro-recall committee still has yet to return several six figure contributions sent in by labor unions in recent days.

So it begs the question – is the recall back on?

Senator Denham, of course, hasn’t let up from campaigning against this petty political recall instigated by Perata in one of his frequent "I am four years old"… Read More

John Fund in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

One More Time, Liberals Overplay Their Hand on Gay Marriage

… Read More

San Bernardino County Supervisor (and former FR Blogger) Brad Mitzelfelt seems to be well on track to being re-elected.

Just one little comparison to show how the race is going.

Brad hasbeen all over ABC tv, appearing on World News Tonight and on Good Morning America touting his efforts to keep sex offenders from stalking children behind the wheel of an ice cream truck. Pretty nice opportunity – being able to appear on network tv, talking about a popularissue just before anelection.

By contrast, Brad’s opponent – a woman who decided to base her campaign on the surefire-winning issue of campaign finance reform – hasn’t been able to keep from repeatedly tripping over herself. From failing to and lying about filing her Campaign Finance documents, to now questions arising of whether she hid assets on her Statement of Economic Interest forms, Rita Vogler has been her own biggest obstacle to competitiveness.

But as we sit here two and a half weeks from Election Day – Brad is looking awfully good.… Read More

Just off the transom from uber-consultant Tim Clark on behalf of the Robert Rao campaign in AD 15 (this is what we call an “oops memo”) —

In a statement released earlier today, the Rao for Assembly campaign announced that the Contra Costa Chapter of the California Republican Assembly had endorsed Robert Rao for Assembly in the 15th district. Although Rao won the “straw vote” taken, CRA bylaws do not permit a local CRA chapter to formally endorse except at the district endorsement meeting held earlier in the year.

“We appreciate the wonderful work of the California Republican Assembly and would love to have their formal endorsement,” said Rao Spokesman Mike Caporusso, “but no candidate was endorsed at the Spring meeting, and that’s the official vote, so we respect that.”… Read More

I’m not the Bay Area blogger, but I just got an odd email over the wire that relates to that region. 15th Assembly District Republican candidate Richard Rao just sent me a release claiming the endorsement of the Contra Costa CRA (California Republican Assembly) Chapter. It’s odd because, and I could be wrong, I believe that a CRA endorsement requires a formal convention with all the chapters in a given legislative district. I do not believe such a convention has been held. I don’t believe individual chapters can endorse on their own.

All these complicated rules confuse me a bit, and I’m not expert on the CRA, so maybe someone with a little more insight can clear this one up?

(Disclosure: Duane Dichiara is a partner at Coronado Communications, which has been hired to run the race of Judy Lloyd, another Republican in the race)… Read More

Every two years, I’ve heard about how the GOP is reaching out to Hispanic Voters. Some years that means Viva! Fill in the blank candidate bumper stickers. Other years it means a nice conference at an expensive hotel.

Now the liberals on the State Supreme Court have given Republicans an opportunity to connect in a real way on an issue that matters. The family.

Survey USA results show that Hispanics support the proposed ProtectMarriage.com initiative more than any other ethnic group.

So will the GOP and other groups that want to reach out to more Californians (New Majority, CRAFT) actually reach out on this issue or will they hide?… Read More

We have some big challenges facing the Republican Party in Congress right now. The GOP lost our majority 2006 in a large part because our party became that which we opposed – the party of big spending. When the 2006 elections were over, the Club for Growth conducted surveys in 15 competitive House seats (where neither candidate was tainted with scandal) and guess what they found out? The GOP had completely lost its fiscal conservative branding. The most startling results was when those polled asked which political party in Washington was “The Party of Big Government” – the results? Republicans 39.3% and Democrats 27.9% – shocking, and sad. (Read more about the CfG survey here).

Yesterday, the lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal was all about how the Republicans, now in the minority in Congress, still don’t get it (in terms of the need for fiscal restraint).… Read More

…but I told you so.

In 1998, I was appointed Chair of the Republican Party’s Judicial Evaluation Committee. Specifically, the committe was asked to evaluate the Justices and Judges up for election in 1998. The most public individual up for election that year was Chief Justice Ron George, who, through a set of very ugly legal maneuverings, was able to reverse the decision of the California Supreme Court prohibiting abortions for minors without parental consent. George was not content to allow the decision of the then Lucas Court affirming the law requiring parental consent to stand. In his first act as the Chief Justice, right after the retirement of Chief Justice Lucas, George, abusing his power as the new Chief Justice, went about acting to reverse the decision. He had no scruples about ignoring the tradition of the court, stare decisis, or judicial restraint to promote his own version of how society should be organized.

Then Republican Party Chair MikeSchroederstacked committee to support Chief Justice George (after he appointed me chair), but I made my case to the committee. Iargued that a… Read More