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

Watching the Alberto Gonzales hearings yesterday was sickening. How much RNC, NRSC and other money went in to saving Senator Arlen Spector’s political life against GOP primary challenger Pat Toomey? We pour millions into races to save the likes of Lincoln Chafee and Jim Jeffords.

I have pasted below a piece I just had published in the Valley Conservative here in the Central Valley. Enjoy.

IS CONSERVATISM DEAD

Over the past twelve years, conservatism for me has become hollow words, empty promises, and abandoned principles.I know that most of you agree. How many times do we have to bear the unbearable – the sight of a Republican candidate or elected official talking about “less government, lower taxes, school choice, less regulation, energy independence, reforming Medicare and Social Security” – knowing full well that these issues will not ever see solutions?In fact, the vast majority of our elected officials have continued to cast votes making these problems worse, not better.Do Medicare Part D and … 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

Will Secretary of State Debra Bowen weigh in on the Trung Nguyen appeal?

On May 2, 2007, the Court of Appeals in Orange County will decide whether to take up the writ filed by ersatz Orange County Supervisor Trung Nguyen. The issue at hand — do the paper ballots created by electronic voting machines have to be recounted as part of an overall recount?

In the 2006 election, then State Senator Debra Bowen ran on the issue of electronic voting. She sponsored a bill, Senate Bill 370, which among other things, mandated that paper ballots created by electronic voting machines “shall” be counted “for any full recount”.

A recent Orange County election for Supervisor was decided by seven votes on election day. The candidate who lost, then-Garden Grove Councilwoman Janet Nguyen, requested a recount, as I certainly would have done. As part of her recount strategy, Janet Nguyen had the paper ballots recounted manually looking for errors. Then, mid-recount, seeing that she had picked up enough votes to probably be in the lead, her campaign made a tactical decision to switch counting methods and requested that the remaining ballots — the… Read More

From today’s WSJ Political Diary E-mail:

Corruption and the House GOP

During last year’s GOP House leadership elections, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx pointedly asked a question of every candidate: Would a Member be allowed to hold a position of trust if he or she was under criminal investigation? John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who eventually became Minority Leader, answered that it would be unwise to prejudge such cases. His message, according to one source who was present: "We have to be careful… Read More