UPDATE: 12:24 A.M. — WITH ALL OF THE VOTES COUNTED, MIKE WAS THE TOP VOTE GETTER…

UPDATE: 10:00 P.M. – WE’RE CALLING THIS RACE FOR SPENCE, AS THE TOP VOTE GETTER. WITH 10 OF 16 PRINCINCTS REPORTING, IT IS VERY UNLIKELY THAT THIS OUTCOME WILL CHANGE. CONGRATULATIONS, MIKE! – FLASH

Fellow FR Correspondent Mike Spence, who perhaps received more statewide and national attention on conservative blogs than anyone running for re-election to a local school board in the history of mankind — no doubt because of his popularity on these pages and his status as CRA president — appears to easily be outdistancing the field in early West Covina Unified returns….

Vote for no more than three Candidate Votes Percent MIKE SPENCE 965 28.01… Read More

Senator Bob Dutton drafted this piece exclusively for FR readers, where he brings up a good point — the Governor has the power, and the responsibility to declare a state of fiscal emergency — now! Time is “NOW” for Governor and Legislature to Deal with Budget Crisis State Senator Bob Dutton I applaud Governor Schwarzenegger for his recognition that the State of California is in the midst of a financial crisis. According to the LA Times, Governor Schwarzenegger ordered all state departments to identify cuts of at least 10%. California’s… Read More

This morning at a conference room across the street from the State Capitol, advocates in the campaign against Proposition 93 (the Nunez-Perata Term Limits Weakening Measure) will hold a press conference — the star attraction? California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. While nothing "official" has been announced, we are just hours away from a likely formal commitment from Poizner that he has not only signed the official ballot argument against Proposition 93, but that he will be playing a key role in opposing 93, including a starring role for Poizner’s checkbook. For those who are unaware, before his entry into politics, the soft-spoken Poizner was very successful as an entrepreneur and inventor in the Silicon Valley. His company developed some technology that has been incorporated into virtually every cell phone on the planet, and in selling this technology to one of the largest communications firms in the world, Poizner came away with a net worth approaching a billion (with a "b") dollars. Poizner has already shown a willingness in the past, separate from his own campaign for office, to donate from… Read More

The Sacramento Bee, which is not generally friendly to Republicans, did a recent profile of County Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan and her husband, County GOP Chair Craig MacGlashan. (Disclaimer: Roberta is a client)

Roberta recently came under fire from left-leaning columnist Marcus Breton for daring to suggest that the County of Sacramento should not be providing free healthcare for residents of other countries (read her opinion attached to this post) has become the conservative conscience of the Board of Supervisors.

She’s earned kudos from conservatives and taxpayers — and criticism from liberals — for standing up to… Read More

File this one under boring but important: There are no more absentee voters in California.

According to the finest Registrar of Voters in the state, Neal Kelley of Orange County, AB 1242 (Karnette) amended Section 300 of the CA Elections Code to eliminate the terms "absentee voter" and "permanent absentee voter" and prescribes that hence forth we call them :"Vote-by-Mail voters".

My guess is that consultants and pollsters will continue to use the old language but the State’s 58 Registrar’s don’t have that luxury. Neal Kelley and the other fifty-seven have until January of 2008 to clean up all the printed materials they plan to use and make sure "absentee" doesn’t appear anywhere on them.

I can’t say that I have strong feelings one way or another about this legislation and name change, although, it is costing the taxpayers money for reprinting and retooling.… Read More

As California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring is fond of saying, in order for Republicans to take back our majority, we need to present a positive, contrasting message to that espoused by the other party. There is no part of the GOP’s message that is more important to that ‘contrast’ than the idea that Republicans stand for fiscal prudence, and sanity when it comes to spending. Unlike our Democrat counterparts, whose unfettered and free-spending ways are consistent with their view of a massive role for the United States government, Republicans should be able to coalesce around the idea of cutting federal spending, which happens to be consistent with our party’s long-time view that the federal government is too big, and spends too much. We’ve made no bones about it here on this page that we wish that President George W. Bush had made significantly more use of his veto pen since his first election to the White House in 2000. Some significant and important vetoes during his first term would have really put the brakes on a lot of the increases in spending that ultimately played a significant role of the GOP’s loss of the… Read More

As California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring is fond of saying, in order for Republicans to take back our majority, we need to present a positive, contrasting message to that espoused by the other party. There is no part of the GOP’s message that is more important to that ‘contrast’ than the idea that Republicans stand for fiscal prudence, and sanity when it comes to spending. Unlike our Democrat counterparts, whose unfettered and free-spending ways are consistent with their view of a massive role for the United States government, Republicans should be able to coalesce around the idea of cutting federal spending, which happens to be consistent with our party’s long-time view that the federal government is too big, and spends too much. We’ve made no bones about it here on this page that we wish that President George W. Bush had made significantly more use of his veto pen since his first election to the White House in 2000. Some significant and important vetoes during his first term would have really put the brakes on a lot of the increases in spending that ultimately played a significant role of the GOP’s loss of the… Read More

Most of you are familiar with Norman Hsu. Youve seen the news reports. Ponzi schemes, bundled contributions for Hillary Clinton, his suicide attempt and run from the law. See his Wikipedia entry here.

On November 6, 2007 voters in the Hacienda-La Puente School District will get their chance to vote on Norman Hsu. Well, not the same one. Norman Hsu is a long time board member and a Republican on the ballot.

Is all news good new as long as they spell your name right? Check back… Read More