State Senator Tom McClintock is so popular with California Republicans that a lot of people, joking around, say that he could win a primary for any Republican office anywhere in the Golden State. Well, if we needed some proof that this very well may be the case, you need look no further than a survey, released today, that shows Tom McClintock RUNNING AWAY with the GOP nomination for Congress in the 4th District, where incumbent John Doolittle is retiring. The survey, commissioned by Ted Costa and long-time McClintock confidant John Stoos over at Constitutional Advocates, and conducted by the very reputable Moore Information public opinion research firm, shows some pretty powerful numbers for the termed-out State Senator. The survey of 300 registered Republicans in this conservative Republican district that is east and north of Sacramento was conducted Monday and Tuesday, and showed that McClintock with 43% of the primary vote followed distantly by Doug Ose at 11% and Rico Oller with 6%. [The memo on the survey results, and the questions asked, are attached… Read More

When government agencies or programs provide help or services to children, for some unexplained reason, they are magically bestowed extra credence and autonomy.As a result, those programs are often given unrestrained freedom in spending money and running their programs. Generally, the programs have very little oversight. However, some agencies have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars in funding programs that have benefited children very little…and may have even endangered them. This situation below provides a chilling example.

According to the Los Angeles Times (February 7, 2008), “More than 50 people have been charged in a massive childcare fraud ring operated in part by a federal prison inmate and his wife….”The prisoner-led group was able to do major damage as it “bilked taxpayers out of at least $3 million.”

The clever couple… Read More

[Update: How is this for bizarre? Given Mike Der Manouel’s post below, and the "Steel Watch 3" anonymous e-mail he has reprinted… I just got an email from the Steel campaign, with a cascade of Congressional endorsements… among them… JERRY LEWIS. You seriously can’t make this stuff up – Flash]

I have not endorsed either Tim Morgan or Shawn Steel in the race for California National Committeeman for the Republican National Committee, but whoever is putting out Steelwatch is actually hurting the Morgan Campaign. Here is the latest Steelwatch":

SHAWN STEEL – BIG GAME HUNTER

Shawn Steel wants to be California’s Republican National Committeeman.

But there’s one problem (ok – there’s more than one problem – but we’re only going to talk about one… Read More

Incumbent Members of Congress don’t lose, right? Certainly not their own party’s nomination, right? Well Rep. Wayne Gilchrist of Maryland, who was registered to vote as a Republican, liked to vote with House Democrats so much that he garnered a primary opponent in Andy Harris, a strong conservative. This primary challenge to Erlich was backed by, among others, former Maryland Governor Bob Erlich. The conservative Club for Growth weighed in heavily as well (to the tune of over $500,000!) — check out the ad below. Well to make a long story short, last night Maryland Republicans in Gilchrist’s district spoke loud and clear — tossing the liberal Republican out on his ear, and handing the GOP nomination to Harris.

This is a very positive thing because it shows that at the local level, Republicans want to send Representatives back to Washington who will stop the liberal agenda of Nancy Pelosi and her cohorts, not ones who will seek to work with her towards her goals.

For the most part, we have lived in a "weak party" system here in America. After all, take a country… Read More

Incumbent Members of Congress don’t lose, right? Certainly not their own party’s nomination, right? Well Rep. Wayne Gilchrist of Maryland, who was registered to vote as a Republican, liked to vote with House Democrats so much that he garnered a primary opponent in Andy Harris, a strong conservative. This primary challenge to Erlich was backed by, among others, former Maryland Governor Bob Erlich. The conservative Club for Growth weighed in heavily as well — check out the ad below. Well to make a long story short, last night Maryland Republicans in Gilchrist’s district spoke loud and clear — tossing the liberal Republican out on his ear, and handing the GOP nomination to Harris.

This is a very positive thing because it shows that at the local level, Republicans want to send Representatives back to Washington who will stop the liberal agenda of Nancy Pelosi and her cohorts, not ones who will seek to work with her towards her goals.

For the most part, we have lived in a "weak party" system here in America. After all, take a country like Great Britain. There,… Read More

Since I have been writing about the goings-on in the State Capitol, I have had a policy of NOT writing about the internal politics of our legislative caucuses. It just tends to be a loser all around.

This is significant now because I have received a good number of e-mails from readers asking me to handicap the race to succeed Dick Ackerman as Senate Republican Leader. I got even more of them with Senator George Runner’s announcement that he was not going to pursue the post any longer.

That said, I wanted to share with you that my absence of coverage on this is actually on purpose.

Of course, there are many other bloggers on this site, any perhaps they might weigh in.

I will only say that it is clear that a change will take place well before the budget debate comes to a head.

We look forward to working with the next Senate Republican Leader, as we currently do with Dick Ackerman (and Assembly GOP Leader Mike Villines), towards the advancement of a limited government agenda.… Read More

Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries has introduced legislation (ACR 93) that has the goal of developing a uniform sign law governing campaign sign placement throughout California.

The League of Cities is a club for dues paying members–the legislation (actually a resolution) would request that the League along with the CA Association of Counties the FPPC to come up with the policy.

I find the premise to be an example of the arrogance in government. It can be frustrating for candidates and sign posting companies to have to learn and adhere to a myriad of of local sign ordinances. However, the heavy hand of state government should not interfere with this most fundamental demonstration of political speech.

I’ve suggested to Assemblyman Jeffries that representatives from both the Republican and Democratic parties (perhaps representatives from other parties as well) should at the very least be included in the decision making process. In my experience, elected officials who are actively engaged in leadership within the League and CA Assoc. of Counties are bureaucratic- and favor big… Read More

Charitable foundations and nonprofits across the nation are aligning themselves against AB 624 (Coto). The Orwellian measure would require all private, corporate or public operating foundations and nonprofits, with assets over $250 million, to collect gender, ethnic and sexual orientation data on their board, members, staff and grant recipients. Yes, you read correctly: sexual orientation.

So if you’re looking to receive a grant from a California-based nonprofit, be prepared for that awkward questionnaire: Do you perceive yourself as male or female? Which ethnic prefix best describes you as an American (i.e., African-, Asian-, etc.)? And what is the perceived gender of the person with whom you are now sleeping?

You can see why philanthropic organization may decide to relocate out of our politically-correct, regulatory-friendly state.

As Pacific Research Institute’s Lloyd Billingsley points out, AB 624 is an attempt to undermine Proposition 209, the historic measure that ended discriminatory affirmative action programs for state contracts, employment… Read More