It has been a long standing tradition of this column, going back to 2001, to publish the "Winners and Losers of the CRP Convention" column the week after the California Republican Party Convention. If you are going to be going to the convention, this is a reminder that as a FR reader, you can make your own suggestions on who should be recognized with high (or low) honors.

There are two ways to make suggestions — the first is to simply send in e-mail to me, or send an anonymous tip (the link is above to the right). The other is to let me, or any of the other FR bloggers that you see at the convention, know of your suggestions.

I will be conferring with my colleagues before publishing the column!

So, keep an eye out! Remember that there is a lot that happens at these events, and more eyes and ears help us to identify more notable ‘people and events’ at the convention… Read More

Yesterday, Sacramento County became the first county in the state to ban the sale of sex items within 1,000 feet of a school, child care center, library, church community center, park, bus stop or recreation center.

Besides protecting the kids in Orangevale, the ordinance had some political impacts as well. It was sponsored by Chairwoman Roberta MacGlashan — a client of fellow Flashreport correspondent Tab Berg and potential candidate in Assembly District 10. The district is safe for Republicans and moves like these help position her for a Republican primary where the most conservative candidate usually wins.… Read More

I am thrilled to report that today the Governor signed my SB 41 – The California Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification Act of 2006.

It was a bitter-sweet event.

It was wonderful that all obstacles have been removed, so the families of the five firefighters that lost their lives fighting the Esperanza Fire will now be able to receive the $1.3 million that the community spontaneously donated to the Central County United Way for them. It was great that the governor made a special trip to Riverside County to sign the bill and express his sympathy for the families and gratitude on behalf of the state to the heroes that lost their lives.

It was terribly sadwe had to do this at all.

Last October,an arsonist started the Esperanza fire that destroyed 34 homes, caused nearly $10 million dollars in damage and claimed the lives of… Read More

When Van Tran first ran for assembly in 2004 he invested huge energy and moneyinto registering Vietnamese voters into the Republican party. Some have estimated he registered over 10,000 new Vietnamese voters. Predictably, during his mud wrestling primary, his opponent accused Van of being "Vietnamese". It was an ugly primary, appealing to left over red neck feelings of a by-gone era. Van’sopponent using Vietnamese national colors to "show" that Van Tran wasn’t a regular Republican backfired. Van won the primary in central Orange County going away. But he did need the 10,000 new Vietnamese voters.

Just 3 years later, Republican Vietnamese voters astound all political pundits.

Experienced pols assumed with 7 Republicans running in a 10 person field for 1st District Supervisor, and, worst than that, 3 Vietnamese Republicans were going to "divide" the fledgling Vietnamese vote. In other words,it would be Supervisor Umberg.

The results in this winner take all Special election yesterday, is that he two top candidates areJanet and TrungNguyen . No relation. Janet now has the lead, but as of this morning… Read More

Our Folsom Prison Tour went smoothly, they let all us legislators go free…no bus ticket or $200 though. [We did fire up the Johnny Cash CD on the way out] What we in the Assembly Republican Caucus were hoping to accomplish was the first hand viewing of the overcrowding that will soon cause a Federal judge, in June or so to take over the system due to overcrowding. When you watch how the current prison system Special Master is running through our state Treasury, you should be scared for your wallet.

Our other goal of this visit was to spotlight this situation and underscore just how dire is the need to build prison space. Early release for these characters we saw in there isn’t going to cut it…maybe it does in Democrat districts, where their legislators seem comfortable with that idea, as they run out the clock towards the June deadline the Fed Courts have set, with little action taken. More later….. [See the FR … Read More

Tonight I attended the monthly meeting of the San Joaquin County Republican Central Committee. The atmosphere in the room is a marked change from the last few years and is directly attributable to the new Chairman Dale Fritchen.

Fritchen, a local school board member, has been able to be a bridge builder and has been going about the hard work of rebuilding the committee’s infrastructure and finances.… Read More

Later today, FR friend Nathan Fletcher will announce his bid to replace termed-out Assemblyman George Plescia in the 75th AD. This is a safe Republican seat that takes in the northern portions of the City of San Diego, Poway, and a portion of Escondido.

Fletcher is a long-time Republican activist and business owner who does more than simply ‘talk the talk’ about patriotism and values…he’s a United States Marine who recently returned from combat tours in Iraq and Northeast Africa. This will work strongly to his advantage in a very military-friendly district, whichlies between the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. AD 75 communities are packed with active duty and retired military members.

I’ve known Nathan for some time, and I canfairly dub him a “Conservative Reagan Republican." Since his return to civilian life, he has not been shy about his disappointment (or disgust) with the lack of ethics and wholly irresponsible fiscal behavior of… Read More

War Resolutions: This week will contain much debate in the Senate, and perhaps some in the House, about the various Iraq war resolutions being offered. There are at least five such resolutions being offered in one house or the other that contain a spectrum of opinions on how the war should be prosecuted from this point forward. Why am I writing to tell you about them before they even come up for a vote? Because none of them will lead to any policy changes, these resolutions do not have the force of law. They are basically an expression of the opinion of Congress. Expressing such an opinion may have some value in countries where their legislative bodies only have the power to make suggestions. But Congress is not powerless relative to the Iraq war. There are at least two votes that will actually dictate policy direction in Iraq, rather than just make a political statement. One of these votes has already occurred. Ten days ago, the United States Senate voted unanimously to confirm General George Petraeus to be the commander of our forces in the Middle East. General Petraeus is basically the architect of the new strategy for and … Read More