This race was going to be a no brainer. Margaret Mims, Democrat, Assistant Sheriff, against retired CHP and gang task force leader Cal Minor, aRepublican. Republicans have a 25,000 voter registration advantage in the County. Minor is endorsed by the Fresno Bee, the Lincoln Club of Fresno County, Congressman Radanovich and Nunes, Senator Chuck Poochigian and Assemblyman Mike Villines, Fresno Chamber of Commerce,Deputy Sheriff’s Association and Fresno Police Officers Association, the Republican Central Committee, and countless others.

It appears as if Minor has lost the race – and Mims might have scored the biggest upset win in decades in Fresno County. How did she overcome all the assets of Cal Minor?

She mostly benefited from the GOP implosion.

Minor’s apparent loss, by 770 votes out of over 140,000 cast, was driven by several factors, as… Read More

Did I misunderstand him or did the governor just compare Mexican immigrants to children?

His point is exactly right–just because people yell for something doesn’t mean the rest of us have to give in. But I can’t imagine that Univision or La Opinion is going to be happy about his comparison of Mexican immigrants to his children. Probably about as happy as California Republicans are about his comments that it was time for "new blood" in Washington, D.C.

Here’s what the governor said, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle:

Asked what would be his message to the Mexican people, Schwarzenegger noted his visits to date from his movie and bodybuilding days… Read More

As a member of the leadership team for our caucus, I must honor that our internal workings and decisions of our caucus must remain internal with the outcome being the aspect that we may or may not go public with. Obviously, with the new term and our organizational meeting on the horizon, the discussions turned to the leadership of our caucus. Controversy surrounded as to how that discussion would be carried out and when. Our unity being one of our most important assets in my 4 years in the legislature, I had great concern as to how this was going toplay out.

Our leader, George Plescia, inherited a situation not to be envied in terms of the transition. He jumped into the fire during the bond ‘negotiations’ and counter to what some may say, was not twisting arms of members to vote for any bonds. Nor during the budget, when more than the usual 6 Republicans usually needed to pass a budget were there. Members complaining about these issues and voting for them, look in the mirror.

It was a 2nd year of the session, an election year, where the leader’s job is to protect our targets and wage the battle on new seats that we… Read More

Preamble The position of the Republican Party is that state government is too big, and spends too much. That taxes should be cut, and many government-funded programs be eliminated. Families should be able to keep more of their tax dollars, to spend as they would see fit, not shipping them to Sacramento through high taxes and onerous fees, to be redistributed by politicians to their various causes. If everyone would ingrain that into their thinking on policy debates, then there would a better understanding about why Republicans in the legislature are not hip on drinking the ‘bipartisan’ Kool-aid being poured by Governor Schwarzenegger, Senator Perata and Speaker Nunez right now. You see, the Democrats are only willing to jump on… Read More

In one week, House Republicans will hold internal elections to determine their new leadership, after the dismal results of last Tuesday’s elections. Because of so much interest by FR readers, I reached out to longtime FR friend Rick Dykema, who is Chief of Staff to California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and asked him if he would give us an overvue of the process, and a roundup of who is running for what. Also, look for something soon on these elections from FR’s Beltway Correspondent, Congressman John Campbell…

The Upcoming Republican Leadership Elections An overview penned by Rick Dykema The House Republican leadership elections scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, next Friday, November 17, are shaping up to be the most completely contested elections in history. The shift from majority to minority status has stirred the ambitions of several Republican… Read More

ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS RE-ORGANIZE; VILLINES OF FRESNO IS NEW LEADER It is traditional that within a couple of days of each General Election, the legislative caucuses in the State Assembly gather to formally elect their leadership for the coming session. The Democrats gathered and re-elected Speaker Fabian Nunez to lead the Assembly Democrats, and the institution as they are the majority Party. Assembly Republicans gathered yesterday afternoon for many hours, debating amongst themselves the future of California, and how to make Assembly Republicans most relevant in the process. Based on my understanding here is my 30,000 foot summary. Discussion centered around the best strategies to deal with the new paradigm in Sacramento, the change in political direction taken by Governor Schwarzenegger, and the challenges that Assembly Republicans had last year in being relevant… Read More

In California Political News, Steve Frank writes, "What wasn’t expected was the record low turnout of voters, mostly the GOP leaning counties. No wonder we lost so big. Where were the volunteers? How did we do so poorly in Republican Counties?" That question was preceded by Steve’s comment that Assembly Republicans were upset after being asked by leadership to "back a budget badly in deficit and bonds that were tributes to special interests." That just about answers the questions Steve poses.

I’ve never known deficit spending, big bonds and special interest commitments to be things that particularly excite the GOP base.… Read More

(Published November 9th, 2006 in Capitol Weekly) When I offered to write this column for Capitol Weekly, I must admit I was hoping for a much different outcome on this Election Day, which clearly was a big day for the party of Hilary Clinton–especially when you look at the results of the midterm elections around the country. The GOP loss of the House, and most likely the Senate, is bad news for all of those who believe that our federal government is too fat and spends too much. Republican leaders need to make the case to voters in 2008 as to why the GOP should be given back the reigns of leadership. The impact of the national GOP losses in Congress was given an emphatic exclamation point with the defeat of House Resources Committee Chairman Richard… Read More