Steven Gourley whoserved as Campaign Treasurer for Gray Davis. He was also fired as DMV Director the day Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn into office Gourley, a former councilman, is famous for using his DMV powers to check on motorists that cut him off in traffic or he didn’t think should be driving. He admitted to a State Senate Committee that he had one guy house put under surveillance to se what he was up to.

IF he wins, I wonder what the grade checks will be like?… Read More

Today we’re pleased to bring you this Guest Commentary from Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield)…

We’re Not Waiting Any Longer to Bring Common Sense Earmark Reform to the House By Congressman Kevin McCarthy Enough is enough. People are fed up with Washington spending their tax dollars to pay for wasteful earmarked spending, like:

One year before becoming Speaker, Nancy Pelosi promised the American people that under her leadership, the House would “bring transparency… Read More

The rosters seem to be set for both sides of the 60th AD Primary for next year, making it – so far as I can tell – the first competitive race with all sides having their teams in place. Within the last couple of weeks, both Curt Hagman and Larry Dick have brought on campaign managers to oversee the ground aspects of their races.

Hagman, a Chino Hills Councilman, snapped up Saulo Londondo to manage his race. Saulo had been working in Van Tran’s District Office. Previously, he ran Trung Nguyen’s OC Supervisor’s race, and before that was Deputy Manager on Lyn Daucher’s Senate race.

This adds another to Hagman’s impressive team, which includes lead consultant Jim Nygren, fundraiser Diane Stone, and Mike Richman lending a hand.

Dick, a Water Board member from OC, had to look a little farther for his ground guy, convincing Barrett Tetlow to move back down from Sacramento, where he had been working in Assemblyman Martin Garrick’s Capitol office. But OC certainly isn’t unfamiliar territory for Barrett. Before going up North, Barrettmanaged OC in it’s entirety asCounty Director for Victory ’06, and prior to that was VanTran’s… Read More

Dear Diary,

I wish I didn’t care so much about how other people spend my taxpayer dollars, but I do.

Yesterday, I read in the paper that the combination of saving Delta smelt fish and my efforts to conserve water, are going to result in a hike in my water rate.

Today, I read in the paper that $20 million taxpayer dollars have been spent to poison, bomb, and electrocute another kind of fish in California.

Can’t imagine what good could have come from spending the same amount of money on humans vs. killing/saving fish.

And then to top it all off, there is story about Mary Nichols, the Chairman of the Air Resources Board and darling of liberal environmentalist, selling off stocks from big oil and other polluters. The Sierra Club is reeling from the news that their hero will owe tens of thousands of dollars in capital gains taxes from the beaucoup bucks she made from companies on the Sierra Club’s hit list…much the same way the National Organization for Women reeled when their hero, President Clinton, was revealed to be a serial girl grabber. I’m sure they will all find a way to convince themselves that words speak louder than… Read More

I wonder if it is a coincidence that the Giuliani for President campaign has released a list of it’s California Finance Team leaders in the mist of a five-day California swing by one of his opponents, former Massachussetts Governor Mitt Romney. Below are the Giuliani money folks — FR readers should also mentally add Bill Simon, who is the State Chairman of Rudy’s California effort, and a rather wealthy man in his own regard… It is also worth remembering that the Deputy Campaign Manager for the campaign for Fundraising is none other than the Golden State’s own Ann Dunsmore…

I caught up with Dunsmore this morning to ask her about the list of folks below… Here’s what she said: "We’re really excited about this outstanding group of leaders that have stepped up to head our Finance Team in California."

"They are actually heading up a large and extensive fundraising network that is an integral part of our state and national finance efforts.… Read More

I wonder if it is a coincidence that the Giuliani for President campaign has released a list of it’s California Finance Team leaders in the mist of a five-day California swing by one of his opponents, former Massachussetts Governor Mitt Romney. Below are the Giuliani money folks — FR readers should also mentally ad Bill Simon, who is the State Chairman of Rudy’s California effort, and a rather wealthy man in his own regard… It is also worth remembering that the Deputy Campaign Manager for the campaign for Fundraising is none other than the Golden State’s own Ann Dunsmore…

I caught up with Dunsmore this morning to ask her about the list of folks below… Here’s what she said: "We’re really excited about this outstanding group of leaders that have stepped up to head our Finance Team in California."

"They are actually heading up a large and extensive fundraising network that is an integral part of our state and national finance efforts.… Read More

I would like to send a big “thank you very much” to all the Delta smelt lovers who are responsible for what looks to be an eminent rise in my water rates. When the state recently received a court order to change its pumping operations in the Delta to protect the endangered fish, state officials estimated that the order would result in reducing Delta water deliveries to the equivalent of 2 million homes. For homes in the East Bay served by the Zone 7 water agency, that meant that 80% of our usual water supply that comes from the Delta would be diminished tremendously, and that we would have to import water.

Residents and businesses responded to the crisis with excellent water conservation behavior…and now we’re going to pay for it.

Zone 7 is now looking at a 6% decline in their water demand for 2008, and instead of shaving off bureaucracy no longer needed to serve the needs of a population that did exactly what we were asked to do by conserving water, they are looking at raising our rates so their general fund can continue to hire the same number of people they needed for a greater water demand. The combination of saving fish and conserving our water… Read More

With over two decades of involvement in grassroots Republican involvement, I have had the opportunity to attend a slew of training classes. Some have been better than others, I admit. For the past few years, I have been consistently impressed with what I have heard about the Marian Berguson Excellence in Public Service Series. Established here in the Golden State in 2004, the program was started with the goal of inspiring, empowering, and advancing Republican women through education, training and experience.

I have to tell you — it works. I have had the chance to know and work with many Bergeson school graduates, both before they started the course, and afterwards. This program takes capable students new to politics, and gives them an excellent running start. It also consistantly takes more seasoned GOP women, and pushes them to new heights, giving them to training and tools to be effective in elective or appointed office, or to serve in government positions, or in political roles.

My good friend, Leisa Brug Kline, currently serves as Chief of Staff to Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. She is a great example of someone who was more seasoned when she… Read More