In a little over two weeks voters will go to the polls to elect a new Congressman for the 37th Congressional District. The area is most of Long Beach, Compton, Carson and Signal Hill. It is the 4th most Democratic district in California. In 2006, the GOP did not field a candidate. This special election, due to the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald has brought out 17 candidates. Four of them are Republicans. While the Democratic field is dominated by Assembly member Laura Richardson and State Senator Jenny Oropeza, the GOP side has been controversial in the LA GOP circles. There have been two failed attempts by factions within the Los Angeles County GOP to endorse a candidate in the race. The candidates are: LEROY JOSEPH "L.J." GUILLORY also know as Bishop Guillory. He is the most controversial and colorful. He served 8 ½ years for kidnapping and extortion. Time he says was … Read More

This just in…..

Assembly Republicans Call for Defeat of Immigration Law 22 Sign letter to Congress & Presidential Candidates Sacramento, CA – Today, 22 California Republican Assembly members have sent a letter to the United States Senate and Congressional leadership, as well as presidential candidates expressing opposition to the pending Federal immigration legislation.

“The proposed Federal immigration legislation would be disastrous for California and the Country,” said Assemblyman Joel Anderson, who gathered the signatures from his fellow legislators. “We have a responsibility to inform our Federal representatives and presidential candidates, who will be seeking California’s votes, that this thinly veiled amnesty bill should be killed,” said Anderson.

The letter states:

We opposed this ill-conceived and dangerous legislation for the following reasons:

-It is veiled amnesty for 11 million law-breaking immigrants, people who have violated the law by entering this country illegally.

-It will allow 11 million… Read More

Republican political consultant Jack Orr died Saturday morning of a heart attack.

Inhis saladdays, Jack had been a member of the Reagan, Nixon, and Ford campaigns or administrations in Sacramento and Washington D.C.. Often when I meet one of the bigwigs from the 1970’s or 1980’s and they find out I’m from San Diego, they ask about Jack, and relay stories about his bulldog like campaigning for the tops of the ticket in years past.

Later,Jack made his home in San Diego’s North County and built a stable of medium sized city clients while he lobbied county government. He founded a unique North County institution, the Albondigas Club, a social order of local politicians and other interested folks in politics. With any luck, Encinitas Councilman Jerome Stocks will pick up the reigns of this organization.

Jack was a true rough and tumble campaigner. No mercy given or asked. He didn’t always win, and he didn’t always lose, but he always got his knuckles bloody. And at the ripe age of (I believe) 68 or 69 he was still working daily on new innovations, including ‘auto-dial polling’.

Jack Orr spent a… Read More

The FlashReport has learned that within the next day or so there will be an announcement of state legislative support for a still-possible Fred Thompson candidacy for the presidency of the United States. On the final day of session this past week, Republican legislators were circulating a letter of "encouragement" for Thompson to join the race for the White House. All but one of these aren’t endorsements — yet — but the FR presumes they would become endorsements when/if Thompson makes an official announcement (the exception is Assemblyman Chuck DeVore who was the first to figuratively endorse the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee publicly last Thursday).

The list of those legislative Republicans "encouraging" Thompson are:

Senator Sam Aanestad… Read More

Enjoy your weekend. I am. Look for more insights and commentary tomorrow in this space.

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

Wishin’ for Wi-Fi in San Diego… The prospects for SD going the wireless way of some other big U.S. cities have been seemingly slim, yet Matt Potter provides some hope in the Reader this past week. "It turns out," Potter writes, "that the City has been quietly negotiating for at least six months with EarthLink Municipal Networks, the Atlanta-based firm that is building systems in Philadelphia and San Francisco, among other cities."

Potter also indicates that the Earthlink system in Philly is"a lot cheaper than the rates offered by San Diego cable providers Cox Communications and Time Warner, who are said to be gearing up to fight any kind of similar arrangement that might emerge here. Verizon Wireless and other mobile carriers who offer data services equivalent to Wi-Fi can also be expected to lobby against free or low-priced service plans."

Unlike the Wal-Mart debate, where the SD City Council majority can’t see the point of providing lower prices to their constituents, this fight won’t be influenced by labor as much as it will be by long-time area… Read More

The 10 day shutdown of the Delta pumps of the State Water Project will end with a phased ramp uprestart of those same pumps. The Delta Smelt fish population being the latest "environmental concern"cited to shut down the pumps and curtail human activity via the Endangered Species Act.

"Urban thirst"is cited [look in today’s SacBee] as the reason to turn on the pumps, pretty much regardless of the fish situation [or a perceived one] East Bay users have drawn down their small reservoirs as far as they dare to replace pumped water, and their underground wells, which they rely upon as a supplyfor drought management, will soon feel the draw down of that aquifer. "Underground storage" is the big panacea to the opponents of above ground storage, i.e. dams.

Enviros also cite conservation, a noble thought although you don’t conserve your way out of drought [ask the East Bay and SoCal]+ 1 million new population growth each 2 years in this state.

Until we build or augment new water storage and water conveyance, most Californians will have their water tap flowing, or not, subject to the whim of enviro… Read More

As we go into a quiet weekend, with all of America comforted by the fact that Paris Hilton is back behind bars, we’re left to contemplate the aftermath of the so-far unsuccessful attempts by President Bush, Teddy Kennedy and others to push through the federal immigration amnesty package.

A couple of weeks ago, it looked like passage through the Senate, while a rocky road, was a likely one. But over the last couple of weeks, despite a barrage of misleading messaging from the White House and other sources, somehow trying to say that amnesty isn’t amnesty, enough GOP Senators came together (whether through enlightenment, impact from an intense grassroots lobbying effort, or a combination of the two) to prevent the matter from coming to a final vote in the Senate. Second only to the fact that this ill-advised bill was so strongly supported by a Republican President to whom I devoted the 2000 election cycle when I worked as Executive Director of the California Republican Party was the rhetoric coming from the otherwise reliable stable of conservative/libertarian thought over on the Wall Street Journal editorial board. This fine group… Read More