I don’t know about you, but to me, it seems like sometime in the last couple of weeks, it seems like someone flipped a switch and the 2008 Presidential primary has begun! Here in California, Democratic Presidential contender Barack Obama and GOP Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani are both making multi-day swings. Of course the other front-runners – Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain and Mitt Romney – have all been out campaigning in the Golden State, and all have plans to return here again soon. Of course, with the high likelihood of Californian’s Presidential primary moving up to next February (the bill has already passed the State Senate on the fast-track and is now awaiting action in the Assembly), these visits will increase even more as all of theses candidates will need to visit not only to raise money from our donor-rich state, but suddenly our delegates become more meaningful in the quest for each Party’s respective nomination. Looking at the GOP… Read More

11 days ago, I posted that Mike Vallante, the chief operating officer of the California Republican Party, would be leaving to join the Rudy Giuliani for President campaign. The "rumor" was labeled as untrue.

Today, according to my sources, Vallante told the CRP staff he would be leaving to join the Rudy Giuliani for President campaign.

I’m shocked!… Read More

Border Patrol Agents: My office gets many calls about what action are being taken in Congress to secure the pardon or relocation of the two border patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. They were convicted last year and sentenced to 11 and 12 years in jail for acts they committed while shooting a drug smuggling illegal alien. This case has become symbolic of our twisted immigration enforcement system, which allows thousands of illegal alien felons to roam our streets and millions of other aliens to be here illegally while enforcement agents have the proverbial book thrown at them for "violations of policy" while trying to apprehend one of those felons. Pardons are being sought, but at the very least the sentence received is way out of proportion to any crime committed. Here is a list of the actions I have been taking to help resolve this miscarriage of justice: •September 14, 2006 – Along with 22 colleagues, I sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting that he investigate the questionable tactics used to prosecute Agents Ramos and Compean. •December 1, 2006 – Along with 15 colleagues,… Read More

According to The Hill newspaper, right now California Congressman Duncan Hunter has more Congressional endorsements in his bid for the Presidency than former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Of course, maybe that actually helps The Mayor, since Congress isn’t so popular these days. Congratulations to Hoover Institution Fellow and FR friend Williamson "Bill" Evers who was tapped by W. to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. Perhaps while there he can advise that "federalizing" education through programs like No Child Left Behind is a bad thing. In his Silicon Valley appearance yesterday, GOP Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani talked a lot about global warming. I don’t remember it being a big part of his talk to Republican leaders at the State GOP Convention last weekend… If Joel Stein’s column today in the Los Angeles Times where he describes the cloistered work of fellows at the Hoover Institute at Stanford is even close to accurate, we should all be lining up to spend time there. If you buy into the argument that all … Read More

SB 113, the bill to move up California’s Presidential Primary from June to February, flies through the Senate today, 31-5.All "no" votes were by Republicans. The billwasthen hurried to the Assembly Rules Committee today, where they met off our floor during session. It then passed out of the Rules Committee[over Republican objections on process, the bill hasn’t been in print 30 days] I half-expected a bunch of rule waivers to bring it to our floor today but that didn’t happen, it would take 60 floor votes to waive the "30 days in print" rule. We’ll see what they try Friday. Amazing how quick a bill can move sometimes, when the Legislature is "motivated"….… Read More

Ron Nehring having been elected to the Chairmanship of the California Republican Party, the Chairman’s seat for the San Diego Republican Party has opened. In past weeks in various meetings and over the weekend at the GOP Convention, the whispers and commitments began in full force between potential candidates, committeemembers, and elected officials.

As of yesterday there were two strong candidates: Tony Krvaric (pictured to the left) and Mike McSweeney. Both are Party stalwarts with a commitment to the organization that has been built over the last several years. Both have the confidence of donors, officials, and activists.

At last night’s committee meeting (like the weekend wasn’t enough) however, Mr. McSweeney… Read More

According to The Hill newspaper, right now California Congressman Duncan Hunter has more Congressional endorsements in his bid for the Presidency than former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Of course, maybe that actually helps The Mayor, since Congress isn’t so popular these days. Congratulations to Hoover Institution Fellow and FR friend Williamson "Bill" Evers who was tapped by W. to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. Perhaps while there he can advise that "federalizing" education through programs like No Child Left Behind is a bad thing. In his Silicon Valley appearance yesterday, GOP Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani talked a lot about global warming. I don’t remember it being a big part of his talk to Republican leaders at the State GOP Convention last weekend… If Joel Stein’s column today in the Los Angeles Times where he describes the cloistered work of fellows at the Hoover Institute at Stanford is even close to accurate, we should all be lining up to spend time there. If you buy into the argument that all … Read More

I just received my California Republican Assembly Newspaper, and this is the issue that contains the CRA’s annual ranking of State Legislators. CRA President Mike Spence says the info on this will be online soon, but this is a good chance to give a ‘shout out’ to the legislators who scored a perfect 100% on the rating: Chuck DeVore, Bob Huff, Doug LaMalfa, Dennis Mountjoy, and Mimi Walters! Congratulations!

We’ll delve more into these ratings in the coming weeks. Some of the scores will surprise you!

It should come as a surprise, and a foreshadowing of the 2007 rated CRA bills, that all four of the major bond measures last year (1B, 1C, 1D, 1E) and the bloated state budget were all scored.… Read More