It seems to me like Senate and House Republicans in Washington, D.C., have a tremendous challenge ahead of them. If I had to give it a title, I would call it, "Mending the Credibility Gap." When you are the party in power, you have to govern. This means that you move beyond the world of rhetoric, and you actually have to enact policy. I believe that a large part of the reason why Republicans their majorities in the Senate and the House in this last election was because a lot of core Republican voters had finally stopped mustering up the support to re-elect Republicans who were long in rhetoric about limited government, but who presided over unprecedented growth in the size and scope of the federal government. According to Ed Fuelner, the President of the Heritage Foundation:

From today’s San Bernardino County Sun (missed this on the news roundup):

Discouraging words aimed at Lewis George Watson, Staff Writer Though he won re-election, November has not been kind to Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands. First, his party lost control of the House of Representatives. That meant Lewis will lose his chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee, which made him one of the most powerful lawmakers in the nation. And now, already facing a federal… Read More

* Conservative Republican Bill Simon, Jr., who ran unsucessfully for Governor in 2002, was in NYC for an exclusive meeting of supporters of Rudy Giuliani’s bid for the Presidency.

* Milton Friedman was a noted economist and an ardent libertarian. I attended a dinner once where his talk centered around his opposition to the war on drugs and the need to decriminalize prostitution. Nice.

* Margita Thompson, who is departing as the Governor’s Press Secretary, is rumored to be leaving for Nepal, to trek up to the top of Mount Everest – time for her to take it easy.

* Clearly conservative Simon wouldn’t be attracted to Giuliani’s mold of East Coast liberal Republicanism. But Simon used to work for Giuliani as a prosecutor… They are close personal friends I am told…

* Former Schwarzenegger Campaign Deputy Communications Director Matt David is rumored to be in consideration to replace Thompson. That would be a great pick. I give Matt my strongest recommendation (sorry, Matt, I may have sunk your chances).

* Success or failure for legislative leaders, under this redistricting plan, must be… Read More

Since we are short a Central Coast correspondent, and I’ve spent some time over the last several months working races there, I thought I’d pick up some of the slack. In Ventura County ‘The Mother of All Supervisorial Battles’ between Republican Peter Foy (disclosure: Coronado Communications client) and Democrat Jim Dantona appears to be coming to close as the remaining absentee votes are counted. On Election Eve Dantona led by a 300 vote margin… a lead which has deteriorated into a 700 vote deficit with about 40,000 votes counted and a couple thousand left to count.

Mike Osborn/Ventura County Republican Party were significant winners in this brawl. As long as I can remember the Ventura County Republican Party has been at best useless. Several weeks before the November Election Mike Osborn was elected Chairman and immediately took steps to make the organization relevant. In short, he actually raised and spent money to help elect his local candidates. Chairman Osborn’s biggest victory was clearly Peter Foy, where the Party spent tens of thousands of dollars making sure the seat would be held by a Republican as opposed to a partisan… Read More

The Legislative Analyst, Elizabeth Hill, has once again issued a report where she is VERY concerned about the structural deficit of the State of California. Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines (pictured) responded to her alarming report by saying:

The Legislative Analyst, Elizabeth Hill, has once again issued a report where she is VERY concerned about the structural deficit of the State of California. Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines (pictured) responded to her alarming report by saying:

Though California has made progress in reducing the size and severity of our state’s fiscal problems, today’s report shows that much work remains to be done if we are to truly eliminate the deficit once and for all. With a… Read More

You will never look at a pencil the same way again. Milton, we will miss you. … Read More

Thanks to HJTA for providing the text and links……

A Great Man Passes

Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman has passed at the age of 94.

Many know him as a great advocate for the virtues of the free-market economy, but fewer may recall that he was an enthusiastic supporter of Proposition 13. In 1978 he appeared in television spots saying, "Don’t let politicians fool you. Proposition 13 will work. It will not force schools to close. It will not cause policemen or firemen to disappear. It will not require increases in other taxes."

Professor Friedman and his wisdom will be sorely missed.

Links to news stories:

The Financial Times Los Angeles Times… Read More