For quite some time, this website tracked all of Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointments — with a careful eye on partisan registration. We ultimately stopped because it was too disappointing. As a Republican Governor, I expected Schwarzenegger (like Wilson, like Deukmejian) to fill his open positions in state government with like-minded Republicans. By setting this standard for the Governor, I found myself being consistenly disappointed. The number of Democrats who have been appointed to judgeships is downright appalling. And on the plethora of non-judicial appointments, it was often the case where barely 50% of any given list (appointments typically are announced in groupings of 10 to 15) were GOPers, with most of the rest being Democrats, and a smattering of appointees to registered as Decline-to-State (one appointee wasn’t registered to vote at all!). I had one FR reader who follows things closely tell me that the numbers are even more misleading as a significant number of the Republican appointments are to positions like local Fair Boards thus ‘inflating’ the GOP numbers… This week, the Governor released two lists… Read More

According to Google, there are 538 articles online talking about the situation with Congressman John Doolittle.

But I digress. I thought if you were stopping by the FR this weekend, you might enjoy this video from the Heritage Foundation, on the big deficits that exist in funding current Social Security and Medicare obligations. It’s about two minutes long. … Read More

I just saw this on Red County/San Bernardino:

BREAKING – Congressman Dreier Urges Presidential Action On Jailed Border Patrol Agents

Breaking news from Washington, DC:

Just posted on Congressman David Dreier’s official Congressional website, both a press release and official letter in which the Ranking House Rules Committee Member urges President Bush to consider granting an executive pardon to imrpisoned Border patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

The controversial case of Compean and Ramos has generated anger and disbelief among anti-illegal immigration advocates. Many activists, commentators and public officials have called for a Presidential pardon of the two officers, and… Read More

Its very possible that Congressman John Doolittle will resign because of circumstances relating to the ethical (and maybe legal) charges being brought against him.

With ethical issues being at the forefront at the national level, Doolittle’s next challenge may be from the leadership in the Republican party — asking him to step aside for “the good of the party”. It is also possible that a federal judge and/or US attorney forces this congressional seat open in a less subtle manner.

For those not familiar with the seat, this North Eastern California Congressional District is solid GOP territory that stretches from the Sacramento suburbs up to Lake Tahoe and all the way north to the Oregon border. The district has a 48% to 30% GOP registration advantage and Bush received 61% of the vote in 2004. If Democrat challenger Charlie Brown couldn’t win this district in the perfect storm last year, he sure wont win it in 2008 against a well qualified Republican… Read More

Spring Cleaning

House Republican leaders moved swiftly to pressure two of their conference members under federal investigation to step down from key committee posts this week. Yesterday saw Rep. John Doolittle of California step down from his Appropriations Committee assignment after word leaked that his Virginia home had been raided by FBI agents seeking documents linking him with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Similarly, Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona stepped down from the Intelligence Committee after it was revealed that the FBI had raided a business tied to his wife as part of an ongoing probe into his official actions.

House Republicans were often slow in the last Congress to… Read More

The San Gabriel Valley Lincoln club meeting this morning offered more intrigue than I could have imagined in the 60th AD GOP race. Two candidates showed up. Larry Dick and Curt Hagman. You can see my last post on this race here. I asked both to say a few words. At the end of the meeting, one of our Lincoln Club members told me he was a potential candidate, but hasn’t decided yet. NO, I’m not hearing voices in my head. See post here. It was none other than La Habra Heights Councilman Stan Carroll. I pretty sure he has been elected at least two times to the council. Stan is a professor at Rio Hondo College and a formerprosecutor in San Bernardino. Did I … Read More

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail on redistricting reform that I received from former State Senator Chuck Poochigian: I have been a strong supporter of redistricting reform. I prefer a judge model as was used in the 1990s and earlier. However, experience tells us that might not fly. But an element which I think is vital is "nesting." By having 2 Assembly seats per each of 40 Senate seats (vs. 5 or more as is the case in many districts now), a number of positive things occur, among them:

It imposes necessary discipline on whomever is charged with drawing the lines and limits opportunity for gaming to accommodate or give advantage to particular prospective candidates. It limits unhealthy behavior that is a natural consequence of poorly designed districts as votes are cast and relationships are forged within the legislative arena. While this may seem esoteric or inconsequential to some, where several current … Read More

Congressman John Doolittle held a conference call today with reporters to discuss the latest turn of events, with his home being searched by the FBI last Friday and his subsequent decision, yesterday, to temporarily step off of the House Appropriations Committee. Speculations was starting to arise (undoubtedly helped along with posts like Tom Ross’ today looking at the GOP "bench" in CD-4) that Doolittle might resign.

He was pretty clear, saying: "I have no intention of resigning from Congress and I have every intention of running for reelection again."

You can read the entire transcript of the call here.

As I have said before, and I will say again — I’ve known John Doolittle and his wife, Julie, for a long, long time. I have found him them both to be individuals possessing high level of integrity and strong moral principle. The fact that Julie was hired by someone who turned out to be a criminal does not make her one as well, nor does it mean the Congressman is either!

That… Read More