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

Buried in the business section of the Sacramento Bee (and again in the opinion page) was a story about what should be one of the biggest political scandals of the year: Sacramento Councilman Steve Cohn, in an brazen attempt to curry favor with labor unions, is secretly attempting to force a private company to unionize – even though employees already voted against unionizing.

One of the regions oldest businesses – the venerable Blue Diamond Growers, which is really a co-operative of 3500 small growers — learned of the move by the City of Sacramento when the item appeared on the agenda for this Friday’s council meeting.

Councilman Steve Cohn — who really wants to be mayor — is trying to eliminate the standard secret ballot, which would leave employees open to intimidation for their ballot choice (no matter which side they pick, they would be subject to possible intimidation).

Cohn once tried to block expansion of Sutter Hospital… Read More

Yesterday marked the beginning of the 2007-2008 legislative session. The Assembly once again installed Assembly member Fabian Nunez as Speaker of the Assembly yesterday and the Senate re-elected Senator Don Perata as Senate Majority Leader. Most of the action was in the Assembly, as the governor sat through the whole swearing-in ceremony and got up to saw a few words when Nunez introduced him.

Nunez gave a speech about wanting to work with members of both parties on issues such as health care, education and the environment. When Assembly member Mike Villines was elected as Republican leader in November, Nunez issued a statement saying, “I congratulate Assembly member Mike Villines on his election today as Republican leader. If there is any lesson to be learned from the election, it is that California voters want us to be partners, not partisans…I look forward to working with him to continue the bipartisan progress we made with Governor Schwarzenegger.”… Read More

Yesterday marked the beginning of the 2007-2008 legislative session. The Assembly once again installed Assembly member Fabian Nunez as Speaker of the Assembly yesterday and the Senate re-elected Senator Don Perata as Senate Majority Leader. Most of the action was in the Assembly, as the governor sat through the whole swearing-in ceremony and got up to saw a few words when Nunez introduced him.

Nunez gave a speech about wanting to work with members of both parties on issues such as health care, education and the environment. When Assembly member Mike Villines was elected as Republican leader in November, Nunez issued a statement saying, “I congratulate Assembly member Mike Villines on his election today as Republican leader. If there is any lesson to be learned from the election, it is that California voters want us to be partners, not partisans…I look forward to working with him to continue the bipartisan progress we made with Governor Schwarzenegger.”… 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