With just over five weeks to go, Bob Watkins is out a consultant and a fundraiser in the GOP race to replace Congressman Duncan Hunter.Both Sacramento-based JohnsonClark Associates and a local fundraiser confirmed with me that they ended their respective relationships with the Watkins campaign earlier in the month.

Media consultant Jennifer Kerns issued a statement in response to my resulting inquiry:

Bob Watkins’ campaign has confirmed they have concluded their contract with JohnsonClark Associates. Over the last seven months, JohnsonClark has created a strategic framework for the Congressional campaign; now during the final five weeks of the campaign, their execution plan will be carried out on the grassroots level. JohnsonClark remains available to the Watkins campaign as consultants, and will be assisting the campaign for the general election.What this means for the Watkins effort may be open to some conjecture. Yet, it won’t be lost on political watchers that the loss of one of the state’s most capable consulting firms at such a late date is significant.

Watkins, currently the… Read More

Late last month, a federal judge ordered the state’s largest public employee union, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, to repay as many as 28,000 non-union state workers, who were not given a change to challenge the union’s 2005 dues increase to fight the Governor’s slate of reform measures (the unions were not excited by the measures which, if they had passed, would have averted the fiscal crisis we find ourselves in today).

It’s a bit convoluted, the process by which non-union members can get stiffed with a union fee, but the real issue here is that this decision by Judge Morrisson England, is so after-the-fact so as to be almost laughable if it wasn’t tragic. Yeah, it’s morally right that the SEIU thug-bosses have to go back (under the Judge’s orders) and ask these state employees if they object to the assessment, and if so, refund them each around $135 plus interest.

But the point is that the damage is done.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

Late last month, a federal judge ordered the state’s largest public employee union, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, to repay as many as 28,000 non-union state workers, who were not given a change to challenge the union’s 2005 dues increase to fight the Governor’s slate of reform measures (the unions were not excited by the measures which, if they had passed, would have averted the fiscal crisis we find ourselves in today).

It’s a bit convoluted, the process by which non-union members can get stiffed with a union fee, but the real issue here is that this decision by Judge Morrisson England, is so after-the-fact so as to be almost laughable if it wasn’t tragic. Yeah, it’s morally right that the SEIU thug-bosses have to go back (under the Judge’s orders) and ask these state employees if they object to the assessment, and if so, refund them each around $135 plus interest.

But the point is that the damage is done.

We caught up with Lew Uhler, President of the National Tax Limitation Committee. We sought… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:

The Pope of California

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It would appear that San Diego Major Jerry Sanders has reached his boiling point when it comes to dealing with challenger Steve Francis. At a recent gathering, Francis apparently reached out to shake the Mayor’s hand, and instead Sanders dropped the "F" Bomb on his opponent. I guess when you buy as much television time as Francis has done, it has gotten "under the skin" of Sanders. Check out the San Diego U-T’s blog post on this here.

I can’t figure out Steve Francis, by the way. I was pretty excited by his candidacy early on. But he keeps campaigning like an Arnold, Jr. For Earth Day, he sent out an e-mail in which he embraced the whole global warming alarmist agenda, leading one to wonder what new types of regulatory burdens he would place on the people of San Diego.

To be honest, I was pretty displeased with the way that the San Diego County GOP endorsed the incumbent, Sanders, with no notice and opportunity for Francis to make his… Read More

Longtime FR friend Frank Schubert writes a weekly column on his website, Frank’s Rants. When I read his latest one, I thought it was a perspective definitely worth sharing, and Frank gave me a green light to reprint it, in full, here. A "must read" for every Republican legislator in the Capitol — especially those in the State Assembly – Flash

Caution Assembly Republicans: Following Governor Schwarzenegger Could Be Fatal To Your Career By Frank Schubert

Governor Schwarzenegger is barnstorming the state telling anyone who will… Read More

Longtime FR friend Frank Schubert writes a weekly column on his website, Frank’s Rants. When I read his latest one, I thought it was a perspective definitely worth sharing, and Frank gave me a green light to reprint it, in full, here. A "must read" for every Republican legislator in the Capitol — especially those in the State Assembly – Flash

Caution Assembly Republicans: Following Governor Schwarzenegger Could Be Fatal To Your Career By Frank Schubert

Governor Schwarzenegger is barnstorming the state telling anyone who will… Read More

The California Republican Party has graciously helped Senator Oropeza and Sacramento Democrats properly index their “Appetite For Higher Taxes.”

In honor of Senator Jenny Oropeza’s SB 1443, which tells caterers what they must do with their leftover food we proudly bring you: Aunt Jenny’s Catering Menu. (See the full size version here.)

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