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

Congressman Brian Bilbray (disclosure: Bilbray is a Coronado Communications client) announced that he is succeeding Congressman Tom Tancredo as chairman of the 91 memberImmigration Reform Caucus in the House of Representatives.

"The federal government’s refusal to act has only exacerbated the problems associated with illegal immigration," Bilbray said. "As Chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus, I am calling on both the House and Senate to take action now. Republicans, Democrats, and the White House can agree that we need real employer enforcement and border security. Let’s at least take action on the things we agree on."

Building the fence would be a good start.… Read More

This past weekend, 1500 Republican leaders from all around the Golden State gathered for the biennial organization convention of the California Republican Party. Despite the rainy weather outside of the Capitol Hyatt Hotel and the Convention Center, inside Republicans were excited to be able to elect new Party leaders, and they selected some great ones. Lots has been and will be written about the weekend, and frankly I am ready to take some time off after spending months on the campaign trail myself. But I will take a few minutes to pen some brief observations from the weekend. My first one — our Republican Party remains 100% committed to our core Republican values. It was clear our new Chairman, Ron Nehring, and our new Vice Chairman, Tom Del Becarro, are committed to seeing the GOP win in elected by pushing our winning issues with the voters, not capitulating and adopting the positions of the liberal Democrat Party. As a matter of fact, there was a strong, vibrant campaign for Vice Chairman waged all weekend long at the convention, and both of the candidates were equally as conservative, both emphasizing the need for our Party to strike a… Read More

This past weekend, 1500 Republican leaders from all around the Golden State gathered for the biennial organization convention of the California Republican Party. Despite the rainy weather outside of the Capitol Hyatt Hotel and the Convention Center, inside Republicans were excited to be able to elect new Party leaders, and they selected some great ones. Lots has been and will be written about the weekend, and frankly I am ready to take some time off after spending months on the campaign trail myself. But I will take a few minutes to pen some brief observations from the weekend. My first one — our Republican Party remains 100% committed to our core Republican values. It was clear our new Chairman, Ron Nehring, and our new Vice Chairman, Tom Del Becarro, are committed to seeing the GOP win in elected by pushing our winning issues with the voters, not capitulating and adopting the positions of the liberal Democrat Party. As a matter of fact, there was a strong, vibrant campaign for Vice Chairman waged all weekend long at the convention, and both of the candidates were equally as conservative, both emphasizing the need for our Party to strike a… Read More