This morning’s Commentary from Mike Spence concerning the California Republican Party has already spurred a few e-mails to me — so I just wanted to let any stakeholders in the CRP know that if you would like to weigh in with your thoughts about the CRP, feel free to contact me. I’m happy to arrange to post your thoughts up on the site!… Read More

I’m running for Vice Chairman, South, of the State GOP. Here are some thoughts from some prominent supporters:

"Jon Fleischman is a leader in the California Republican Party. Please join me in supporting him for Vice Chairman, South" – Tony Strickland, GOP Nominee for State Controller

"As State Chairman of the California Republican National Hispanic Assembly I feel that it is paramount that we have a strong… Read More

In the late nineties some GOP leaders pushed to take over the CRP and local GOP county committees with a simple mantra: Ideology doesn’t matter, what matters is the "nuts and bolts" of party building. Basically, the goods they sold said the party should focus on registering voters, GOTV etc…. Of course most were moderates (who would lose campaigns if ideology was a factor) and their successful campaign culminated in the much-heralded CRP Parsky Commission reforms of 2001. … Read More

BOE Member Bill Leonard has twice mentioned in his weekly newsletter questions as the effectiveness of the CRP’s 20 million GOTV effort. He calls for a "performance audit". See here.

Coincidentally, the CRP Board of Directors will meet face to face at their Sacramento Headquarters this Friday. Just added to the agenda will be a full and frank discussion of the effectiveness of the GOTV program.

Steve Kinney will present a detailed post election analysis, which would show that our down ticket candidates [Mc Clintock and Strickland] won the absentee votes but lost dramatically with election day voters. [ See Brandon Powers blog Dec 6 here]. More interesting is that the majority of voters were white, older, married and home owners. What gives?

In the meanwhile, who raised the 20 million and how did it get spent?

Board members are promised they will see all direct mail that was issued by the CRP and review all scripts used at the telephone… Read More

In the late nineties some GOP leaders pushed to take over the CRP and local GOP county committees with a simple mantra: Ideology doesn’t matter, what matters is the “nuts and bolts” of party building. Basically, the goods they sold said the party should focus on registering voters, GOTV etc…. Of course most were moderates (who would lose part campaigns if ideology was a factor) and their successful campaign culminated in the much-heralded CRP Parsky Commission reforms of 2001. Below are some thoughts I have about improving the CRP. I never bought the complete abandonment of ideology from the party machinery. That’s how we get GOP endorsements of bonds and other follies I come to them though my 20+ years of GOP involvement in politics, my 15 on the CRP Executive committee, including six years on the CRP Board. I also come from the perspective that 2006 was not a good year for the CA GOP. The Governor won and so did Steve Poizner. McPherson, McClintock and Strickland didn’t. … Read More

A quick up-and-back for me yesterday for the swearing-in.

Shirley Horton was gracious enough to let me hitch a ride from the airport to the capitol. It’s hard to believe she is starting her last term in the assembly. Time flies. I guess the competitive AD 78 will now be heating up for ’08.

I caught up with our new SD legislators. "It’s been a long time coming," Joel Anderson told me, slightly taken aback that his college roommate was now putting him on the record for the FlashReport. "We’ve been working on this for two years — it’s great to be able to celebrate with family and friends."

Yadda, yadda. Okay, Joel, now say something that I don’t expect every other freshman up here to regurgitate. Like, what’s your first piece of legislation?

OK, that did it, then he gets the twinkle in his eye. Anderson wants to pursue adequate funding for San Diego’s traffic management system, which apparently doesn’t address traffic congestion on a 7-24 basis, unlike four other SoCal counties. I wouldn’t necessarily call that meat and potatoes legislation, but it… Read More

As many FR readers already know, I am a candidate for Vice-Chairman, South, of the California Republican Party. The election will be on February 12th in Sacramento, and I will be campaigning hard all of the way until ‘election day’ at the GOP Convention. I am humbled to enjoy a tremendous amount of support from throughout the Southern Region (Riverside, Orange, San Diego, and Imperial Counties). I thought I would highlight three prominent endorsers of my campaign who are more ‘statewide’ than regional figures in California Republican politics:

"Jon’s acumen and understanding of the business of politics makes him my choice for Vice Chairman, South, of the California Republican Party." – State Senator Tom McClintock… Read More

If you are wondering what the difference will be between the official Christmas Tree outside of the State Capitol this year, versus the tree from last year (pictured) — the office of First Lady Maria Shriver has announced that this year’s white fir tree will be the, "First-Ever Energy-Efficient Christmas Tree is Powered by Hydrogen Fuel Cell."

According to the release from Shriver’s office, "The 55-foot white fir tree donated by the U.S. Forest Service, Institute of Forest Genetics features more than 6,500 LED lights. The one-kilowatt fuel cell system has been provided by the California Stationary Fuel Cell Collaborative and was manufactured by Altergy Systems of Folsom. Fuel cell technology was originally invented for NASA to power Gemini space craft."

For any Capitol denizens who are not already planning to run out to the tree lighting ceremony to see the fuel cell system in action (it’s in… Read More