If Governor Schwarzenegger is wondering how he has once again ended up staring down the barrel of an important piece of legislation that he really wants to sign, that was voted for by EVERY DEMOCRAT in the Assembly, and had the votes of NO REPUBLICANS, he really only needs to look in the mirror. You see, if I were in the position of the Democrats who control the majority in both chambers of the legislature, I wouldn’t bother to work with the Republicans given the Governor’s willingness to sign legislation opposed by any, or in some cases, all Republicans in the legislature. So how does legislation suffer when the Governor sends the message that he will sign bills that reach his desk with no GOP support? Well, let’s look at the bill in question, which is legislation to move the date of the California Presidential primary from June to February. This proposal has been talked about quite a bit, and, in fact, the Governor is on record stating his support for the idea. That said, what is not in the bill? Republicans wanted language making it clear that the State would reimburse the counties for the cost of administering another… Read More

Left Coast No Longer Left Behind

The last time California figured prominently in a presidential primary cycle was in 1972 when George McGovern beat out Hubert Humphrey and captured the Democratic nomination. That marked the end of a series of dramatic California primaries, which included Bobby Kennedy’s victory over Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and Barry Goldwater’s upset of Nelson Rockefeller in 1964.

More recently, however, California’s primary has lost much of its former relevance. Owing to the primary’s late June date, both parties’ nominees have usually been decided before Californians vote. Which is one reason why the state legislature just approved a measure to move the primary up to Feb. 5, only… Read More

It is being reporting in the Washington Times today by FR friend and veteran reporter Ralph Hallow that the McCain for President Campaign, through former California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim, is advocating (behind the scenes) for the California Republican Party to change its existing Rules, which currently require that you must be a registered Republican to vote in the upcoming Presidential primary. According to the Times’ story, Sundheim supports allowing non-GOPers (specifically independent voters) to be able to cast ballots in the GOP primary.

Such a change is not supported by Sundheim’s successor, newly elected California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, who told me this morning, “We just completed our last state convention before the RNC’s June deadline for states to submit their delegate selection rules. Those rules are set as far as I’m concerned. Candidates should focus their efforts on persuading California Republicans they are the most qualified to provide the vision and leadership to carry the party’s banner in 2008.”

This morning I had a chat with a senior official with the McCain campaign back East,… Read More

GOP strategist Patrick Ruffini (a Giuliani partisan), blogging Monday on Hugh Hewitt’s TownHall site, labeled the FlashReport one of the best places to go for an ’08 Presidential fix. In fact, he called it THE state website for California:

At the state level, Iowa leads the way with Caucus Cooler and Krusty Konservative. South Carolina has the Daily Chaser. In the critical GigaTuesday state of California, CRP vice chairman Jon Fleischman’s Flash Report does a great job of carpet-bombing Left coast liberalism. Read the entire post here.… Read More

It is being reporting in the Washington Times today by FR friend and veteran reporter Ralph Hallow that the McCain for President Campaign, through former California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim, is advocating (behind the scenes) for the California Republican Party to change its existing Rules, which currently require that you must be a registered Republican to vote in the upcoming Presidential primary. According to the Times’ story, Sundheim supports allowing non-GOPers (specifically independent voters) to be able to cast ballots in the GOP primary.

Such a change is not supported by Sundheim’s successor, newly elected California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, who told me this morning, “We just completed our last state convention before the RNC’s June deadline for states to submit their delegate selection rules. Those rules are set as far as I’m concerned. Candidates should focus their efforts on persuading California Republicans they are the most qualified to provide the vision and leadership to carry the party’s banner in 2008.”

This morning I had a chat with a senior official with the McCain campaign back East,… Read More

Yesterday, Covina voters elected well-known Republican and former Schwarzenegger appointee to head the California Youth Authority Walt Allen to the Cit Council. Walt had served before his appointment and is 1st Vice Chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party.

In Very Big News Voters also rejected the utility tax. What is interesting here is that this tax has been in place since 1992. When it was first voted in, the entire city council was recalled. (I was a consultant on that campaign) Then the new guys kept the tax and it was later approved in a city vote.

So Congrats Walt, now you get to make some budget cuts! See article here… Read More

Jason Roe, formerly the Washington, D.C. "Beltway" Correspondent for this website, has just shared with me that he has taken on a new challenge in life — he is leaving his position of Chief of Staff to Florida Congressman Tom Feeney (one of the most articulate, conservative leaders among House GOPers) to assume new responsibilities as the Deputy Campaign Manager for the Mitt Romney for President campaign.

This is great news for Jason, of course, as it represents yet another opportunity (his career has been full of them) to expand his horizons, and learn new things. It is also great news for Governor Romney. I have known Jason for a lot of years now, and seldom do you meet someone who is able to blend strong moral character, commitment to principle, and political sophistication the way that he does.

The other winner in this process is… California! Jason spent many years out here, and, in fact, is a former Executive Director of the San Diego County Republican Party. He also served, for… Read More

Congressman Kevin McCarthy, who is quoted towards the end of this story from the Politico website, is 100% correct. I’ve bolded his quotes.

Redistricting and Blade Running By David Mark, The Politico In a move aimed at cementing House Democrats’ newly minted majority, California politicians are walking a tightrope on the volatile topic of redistricting. Under pressure from Washington, they are trying to keep their power to draw congressional district lines, while appearing to support good-government efforts to move redistricting out of politics. … Read More