When former Chairman Mike Schroeder, decided that serving for only two years was not enough, he changed the Bylaws allowing the Chair man to extend their term another two years, if approved by the delegates. Duf Sundheim was the first Chairman to serve 4 continuous years. As we know it’s a full time job that offers no salary.

Ron Nehring was just elected as Chairman to his first term without opposition. He did this before when he was elected as Vice Chairman. No opposition. In the CRP, it is rare for a someone to reach the top spot with out having a contest, for Vice Chairman or for Chairman. Ron is someone to watch.

Tom Del Beccaro won his Vice Chairmanship spending relatively little money. Usually such contests have gone for over $100,000 per candidate. Del Beccaro instead made over 250 speaking appearances last year and earned a huge grass roots following.

The moderate vs conservative factions had very few contests. Tom Bordonaro and Tom Del Beccaro are both good guys and movement… Read More

At the CRP Convention, I gave a 90 minute session on the title of this commentary. My background in environmental issues stems from my concern as a mother of three about the condition of the world I leave my children. In 2002, I wrote the Go Green Initiative, a conservative conservation program requiring no taxes, nor legislation, which is now the largest and fastest growing comprehensive environmental education program in the nation- operating in 30 states, the UK, and in Cameroon, Africa. For more information, see: www.gogreeninitiative.org.

I am also proud to be a lifelong Republican, and Republicans have historically led the environmental movement. President Theodore Roosevelt partnered with John Muir to create our National Parks system. President Nixon signed the Clean Air, Endangered Species, and National Environmental Protection Acts, and he created the federal EPA. When Ronald Reagan was our Governor, he signed CEQA into law. And when Christie Todd Whitman was Secretary of the Interior she created a model of voluntary and creative solutions programs that allowed businesses in all sectors to determine the most… Read More

I have decided to endorse Tom Bordonaro for CRP Vice Chairman.

A couple weeks ago I noted that none of the then-three candidates for CRP vice chairman had been running aggressive campaigns including whip operations. I have since seen Bordonaro’s campaign in action and I have decided to support hm.

My support is based on two factors.

1) How a candidate campaigns for party office can portend how he or she will organize and run the state party. Bordonaro has stepped up his campaigning efforts and run a dynamic convention vote-getting effort.

2) State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman is a strong supporter of Tom Bordonaro, I trust Senator Ackerman’s judgment.

My endorsement and support of Tom Bordonaro does not represent an endorsement from the Flash Report or any other contributor to this site.… Read More

When I met Duf Sundheim in the fall of 2002, it was not a difficult decision to endorse him for Chairman in the upcoming GOP organizing election. I knew I would be a major conservative "defection" and would enable him to more easily seek conservative support, and am pleased to this day with my decision, and proud to have been a small part of his victory in 2003.

All Chairman, whether they serve two or four years, draw the ire of at least 40% of the Party delegates at some point or another. Every Chairman I have ever observed has been accused by somebody of being a liar, game player, weak, untrustworthy or some other name. Everyone has a story about being "screwed" by the Chair. Duf himself has not been immune from these criticisms.

Very few people understand the sacrifice a Party Chairman makes. It is essentially a full time position and in California, where it is nearly impossible to achieve statewide victories, thankless at best.

In his organizational process, he immediately enlisted a fair mix of moderate and conservative leaders to select Party Committees – the best process I have ever seen. As a result, these… Read More

Ode to Fleischman… I mistakenly believed that at some point in life I would become old enough (perhaps even responsible enough) to actually pass a night at a Republican Party convention with a good night’s sleep. Some things never change.

It is with firsthand experience that I can now tell you the down-side of staying in Jon Fleischman’s hotel suite at a California Republican Party convention. Not that Jon will always have a suite of rooms, but in this case he did, so I accepted his gracious offer to stake a claim. The disadvantage is that regardless of the hour in the morning I had planned to arise by my own volition via a front desk wake up call, I instead was awakened at 5 a.m. by the soft but persistent tap-tap-tap of the notebook keyboard as Saturday’s FlashReport was being compiled. The show, apparently, must go on…regardless of my needs.

As has already been posted, a big congratulations to Jon for handily winning the California Republican Party’s vice chairman south position… Read More

For those following such things, congratulations to Tom Del Becarro on being elected Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party. He bested his opponent, former Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro, Jr., by a couple hundred votes.

He will lead the Party with Ron Nehring, who was unanimously elected Chairman.… Read More

On Friday Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian rejected in its entirety a lawsuit brought by GOP volunteers to have Jerry Brown’s election as Attorney General overturned on the highly technical grounds that his bar dues status was inactive for a few years while he was Mayor of Oakland.

I have written on this issue before a few times in this space. As I have said before, I am no fan of Jerry Brown, however, this lawsuit againstBrown was unfair from the start.First, thePlaintiffs filed the action too late (they filed it after the Secretary of State had already certified Brown as a candidate and after he had won the election for the Democrat nomination, and just a few weeks before the general election. The proper time, and best time legally for Plaintiffs to have a chance to win, would have been to file the action right afterBrown filed as a candidate and before he was certified or before he won the Democrat primary). But by letting time pass andfiling the action late in the electoral process, the Plaintiffs assured they would lose their case, because a judge would clearly view the prejudice to the voters of California in turning outa… Read More

Having had to deal with it before, I can assure you that it is no easy feat to "move" a candidate through a Republican Party convention. When I say "move" — I am referring to the scheduling nightmare of a candidate who has a major speaking engagement (usually at a meal function) and then wants to maximize his or her time by scheduling meetings with various individuals and groups.

Such would be the challenge for Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who spoke at the luncheon at the CRP Convention today. The Mayor actually arrived in Sacramento last night, and leaves the hotel in a bit. And he has had many, many meetings with folks (I have spoken with many of them).

Well, this afternoon, he was originally scheduled to speak to the Board of Directors and members of the influential, conservative California Republican Assembly at 2:30 p.m. (this group is a major influence within the State GOP — Governor Mitt Romney spoke to them at the CRP Convention last August). Apparently that 2:30 p.m. time didn’t work for Giuliani, and CRA President Mike Spence graciously asked his membership to come back for a 4:00 p.m. meeting.

Well, at around… Read More