Kudos to Jon Fleishman for his commentary on Joe Nunez. I had told him pre-Christmas that I was planning on posting about this appointment, but the holidays and President Ford’s passing away sidetracked me. Jon detailed the curious nature of this appointment. I just want to add a little more on reasons why my caucus needs to unanimously vote against this one.

As Jon reported, Joe Nunez is Chairman of the Alliance for a Better California (ABC), which ran the campaign to defeat the Governor’s initiatives in November 2005. ABC spent $80 million to kill the initiatives.

The LA Times reported (4/14/06): "Few people worked harder than Joe Nunez to sabotage Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s political fortunes. A high ranking teacher’s union official, he helped engineer the Governor’s embarrassing defeat in the special election last year"

ABC, under Nunez, also filed a complaint against the Governor’s campaign with the FPPC for campaign… Read More

Next month, at the California Republican Party Convention, the roughly 1600 members of the California Republican Party State Central Committee will be gathering for the biennial organizational convention for the Party — and electing a new State Chairman. The incumbent, Duf Sundheim, after four tireless years of hard work, is retiring (or as we say in the biz, is "termed out") and so that means that there is no incumbent. Well, not quite…

Two years ago, San Diego County Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring (and also then President of the Republican County Chairmens’ Association) ran for and was elected without opposition as the Vice Chairman of the Party. Since then, in addition to continuing to work hard as Chairman of his own County Party in San Diego, Ron has been working side by side with the other CRP Officers and Staff, and has been traveling all around the Golden State on behalf of our GOP candidates and endorsed causes.

All of Ron’s hard work has earned him the respect of the… Read More

Next month, at the California Republican Party Convention, the roughly 1600 members of the California Republican Party State Central Committee will be gathering for the biennial organizational convention for the Party — and electing a new State Chairman. The incumbent, Duf Sundheim, after four tireless years of hard work, is retiring (or as we say in the biz, is "termed out") and so that means that there is no incumbent. Well, not quite…

Two years ago, San Diego County Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring (and also then President of the Republican County Chairmens’ Association) ran for and was elected without opposition as the Vice Chairman of the Party. Since then, in addition to continuing to work hard as Chairman of his own County Party in San Diego, Ron has been working side by side with the other CRP Officers and Staff, and has been traveling all around the Golden State on behalf of our GOP candidates and endorsed causes.

All of Ron’s hard work has earned him the respect of the… Read More

The following is an exclusive piece from Joel Fox, President of the Small Business Action Committee, who shares some very important perspective in response to the main stream media’s blow out coverage of the recent poll conducted by Field, on behalf of their client, the New America Foundation, an organization that supports universal health care coverage, starting with all children. They promote this "shared responsibility" doctrine which is a shift away from individual responsibility towards some sort of collective group responsibility, where the government plays a significant role in providing for health insurance for the people. Scary stuff. – Flash

FROM JOEL FOX… … Read More

Today marks the official return of the State Legislators to Sacramento, as they prepare to start a new session, and prepare for the inauguration. This seems like a good opportunity for us to encourage unity of purpose within the Republican Caucuses in the Senate and in the Assembly, and our Republican Governor. You are literally all that stands between California taxpayers and massive growth in the size and scope of state government. We urge you to focus on the freedom and liberty of Californians — not on ways to use the government to take from some to give to others. The main stream media, the lobbyists, and Democrat leaders will all be trying hard to convince you to vote for more spending, more regulations, more rules, more mandates and more fees. Be strong, be resolute — and tell them all that enough is enough. California’s annual budget has reached staggering proportions — well over $100 billion annually. And this doesn’t count all of the bond spending on top of it. Enough is enough. We wish you all well in this challenge.

**Don’t miss the columns today… Read More

Today marks the official return of the State Legislators to Sacramento, as they prepare to start a new session, and prepare for the inauguration. This seems like a good opportunity for us to encourage unity of purpose within the Republican Caucuses in the Senate and in the Assembly, and our Republican Governor. You are literally all that stands between California taxpayers and massive growth in the size and scope of state government. We urge you to focus on the freedom and liberty of Californians — not on ways to use the government to take from some to give to others. The main stream media, the lobbyists, and Democrat leaders will all be trying hard to convince you to vote for more spending, more regulations, more rules, more mandates and more fees. Be strong, be resolute — and tell them all that enough is enough. California’s annual budget has reached staggering proportions — well over $100 billion annually. And this doesn’t count all of the bond spending on top of it. Enough is enough. We wish you all well in this challenge.

**Don’t miss the columns today… Read More

I’ve read some bizarre "Where are they now?" stories about the odd places that former notables in California politics end up, but this one takes the cake. With a h/t to Jordan Rau over at the Los Angeles Times Political Muscle Blog for finding the article that ran yesterday in the News Press of Southewest Florida has a story, From Poliitcs to Night Patrol: Former California Rising Star At Peace As Lee Deputy — all about Sheriff’s Deputy Chuck Quackenbush. Yes, the same Quackenbush who served in the California State Assembly, and for a time as California State Insurance Commissioner before scandal in his office caused him to resign from office. Apparently, after a sojourn with his family for some time to the Hawaiian Islands, Quackenbush has ended up in south Florida where he is, according to the… Read More

The latest Field Poll, paid for by the California Wellness Foundation, shows that 81 percent of California voters think government should be responsible for assuring all Californians get access to affordable health coverage. The issue of health insurance coverage is receiving more coverage in the papers these days since the governor announced that he will propose some major plan to deal with the state’s uninsured population.

Did the Field Poll or the California Wellness Foundation bother to ask the voters if they wanted to pay higher taxes in order to have government solve the affordable health care problem? Of course not! Schwarzenegger has been clear that he recognizes that Californians don’t want to pay higher taxes. Asking the voters if they wanted to pay higher taxes would have reduced the number of people who then wanted government to solve the problem, which, no doubt, the folks at the Wellness… Read More