I was really convinced that Dan Lungren would beat Gray Davis. Thus, I now know that predictions are not my forte. But here are five"no brainers", at least in my mind:

1. The State’s budget problems will be far worse under the current Administration than under the Davis administration, unless the Governor finds a blue pen somewhere;

2. Assembly Republican Leader Villines is damn determined to keep his caucus united on spending and taxation, and may save California from even more fiscal ruin with his focused, CENTRIST leadership – he’ll be successful if he engagesfiscally conservative activistsaround the state to help him.;

3. Republican voters are still very, very pissed about the direction of the Party and 2007 will be a very, very slow healing time – we may not even be ready for 2008 unless we get some "red meat" issues somewhere;

4. Ron Nehring and Tom Del Beccaro will be the new leadership tandem at the top of the State’s GOP… Read More

Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner today set June 4, 2007 as the opening day of the anticipated trial against the Capistrano Unified School District for claims of multiple violations of the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act.

Under the tenure of former Superintendent James Fleming, the scandal-ridden Capistrano school district has seen a number of legal problems that have led to the resignation of Fleming, including a District Attorney investigation, an ABC 20/20 investigative story on district finances, a lawsuit involving use of racial preferences in school decisions, and the open meeting lawsuit.

Plaintiff Ron Lackey of Dana Point brought the Brown Act lawsuit to address claims that the district Trustees illegally met with Fleming in closed session on June 30, 2005 and conspired to limit Lackey’s right to participate in public session meetings, which are guaranteed under the Brown Act. Lackey’s lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against the district to enforce the provisions of the open meeting law and restrain the district from future violations. Former district press spokesman David Smollar has already… Read More

George Andrews will be the next executive director of the Republican Party of Orange County.

Andrews is the former deputy campaign manager for Diane Harkey’s campaign for State Senate. There he served under and learned from Jimmy Camp who most would agree is the best campaign ground game operator in the business.

Andrews most recently ran the California Republican Party/Schwarzenegger re-elect effort in the none-to-GOP-friendly Bay Area.

He will officially start in the position as of Jan. 1, 2007 but he is unofficially starting today. He will replace Erik Weigand who has worked for the OCGOP in different stints for nearly ten years. Weigand is moving on to run newly elected Assemblyman Jim Silva’s district office.… Read More

Every week, some unknown and wildly uncourageous penman over at the Capitol Weekly writes the "Ask Big Daddy" column — throwing around advice like it is going out of sale. His column this week was proof of one thing: Big Daddy Loves Big Government. The column is just one more nasty column aimed at those darned conservatives, by those who don’t understand that state government has grown too much, and is too large. The anonymous penman suggests a number of punative measures that should be taken against Republican legislators who don’t swallow the grow-government kool-aid. So, I would offer this:

It is really not hard to figure out why virtually every Republican legislator is opposed to the type of ‘bipartisan progress’ being offered up by liberal Democrats Fabian Nunez and Don Perata — because they do not represent any kind of compromise on the part of liberal… Read More

I know we are still a long way from the 2008 election, but there is a noticeable dearth of conservative candidates for President.

In the 2000 cycle, there were several candidates that could make a credible case for conservative support. Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, even George Bush, had solid conservative credentials, and could make a case for conservative support. Forbes and Bauer had no governmental record, but had solid backgrounds in the movement, Bush governed Texas as a conservative, and conservatives in Texas said great things about his time as Governor. While his record as President hasn’t been perfect (hedid not reign in the free spending Republican Congress, and he has been horrible on illegal immigration), he has, by and large, governed as a conservative. Tax cuts, judges, solid on life and guns, all commend his conservative credentials. Now if he would only veto those Democrat spending bills, he might restore the public’s confidence in the Republican Party as the party of small government.

Now some may complain that I am not the perfect measure of a conservative that only supports conservatives (although I can make my case in… Read More

Every week, some unknown and wildly uncourageous penman over at the Capitol Weekly writes the "Ask Big Daddy" column — throwing around advice like it is going out of sale. His column this week was proof of one thing: Big Daddy Loves Big Government. The column is just one more nasty column aimed at those darned conservatives, by those who don’t understand that state government has grown too much, and is too large. The anonymous penman suggests a number of punative measures that should be taken against Republican legislators who don’t swallow the grow-government kool-aid. So, I would offer this:

It is really not hard to figure out why virtually every Republican legislator is opposed to the type of ‘bipartisan progress’ being offered up by liberal Democrats Fabian Nunez and Don Perata — because they do not represent any kind of compromise on the part of liberal… Read More

Tonight, FR’s former State Capitol Correspondent, Karen Hanretty, with be guest-hosting for Sean Hannity on the Hannity and Colmes political show. You won’t want to miss this! The details: Foxs News Channel, 6 p.m. California time. If you miss it, or want to watch Karen twice, it will play again at 11 p.m. Karen has appeared on the program before, but this is a pretty big deal, to guest host a show. Congratulations Karen!

Before her ‘starring role’ with us here on the FR, Karen worked on Governor Schwarzenegger’s campaign in the recall election in ’03 and also served as Communications Director for the California Republican Party.

Actually, you can Tivo the show, and mass produce it onto video-tapes as stocking-stuffers for all of your friends.… Read More

This column by Governor Schwarzenegger ran today in the L.A. Daily News:

TIME FOR A CHANGE ON HEALTH COVERAGE By Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger One of the most serious problems facing California and our nation is the large number of people without medical insurance. In California, 6.5 million people – more than any other state – have no medical insurance for all or part of the year. Nationally the number is a staggering 47 million. But this is not just a problem for the… Read More