Should only lawyers and judges vote on judges? That is exactly what LA’s legal newspaper the Metropolitan New-Enterprise editorialized yesterday. The paper is really mad at CRA for opposing Joyce Kennard and the GOP folks that filed the lawsuit challenging Jerry Brown’s status as a candidate for Attorney General. Eventually the editorial does criticize Democrats for "partisanship." This is their conclusion.

"All of this points to the need to revamp judicial elections in California, removing themfrompartisan political influences by restricting voting to those “admitted to practice”—that is, judges and lawyers."

Yes, that would solve the problem; The Bar Associations has never rated conservatives poorly because of a partisan bias. We should let lawyers control the laws of the land. The unlearned in law just aren’t bright enough to make such weighty decisions. Those that are practicing ambulance chasers are much more qualified to decide who should sit on… Read More

There is a situation brewing in the theme-park centered City of Anaheim that really deserves much more attention than it has been getting on the FlashReport. We’ll try to rectify that in the coming week, but let’s give FR readers the 30,000 foot view. Anaheim is one of Orange County’s largest cities, and is on the national map because it is the home to Walt Disney’s original theme part, Disneyland. It’s home to the Angels, the Mighty Ducks, and to former Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle, who is the city’s Republican Mayor — coasting to re-election next month. Trying to follow the politics of the Anaheim City Council isn’t too easy, and I am not really going to delve into that in this short summary. Suffice it to say that there is one candidate who is running for City Council that is being talked about not only in the coffee shops and around the water coolers of Anaheim — candidate Bill Dalati is quickly becoming a topic of conversation nationally. Why would local Anaheim politics make the national scene? Well, Bill Dalati is a controversial figure, it turns out. A local… Read More

**Update 11am Sunday: Turns out that after I posted this via blackberry that I quickly discovered that the outgoing DA, Grover Trask, was not on hand — which probably also explains why DA-Elect Pacheco was also not there. I did have a nice chat, though, with the County Assessor…**

I won’t steal the thunder of FR’s Riverside County Correspondent, Barry Nestande, by giving away too many details…okay maybe I might…

But Barry and I are both at the Cabazon Resort just west of Palm Springs where Riverside County GOP Chairman Jeff Miller is presiding over an amazing "Liberty Dinner" event for the county GOP.

The list of elected Republican officeholders tonight for this event that is a tribute to retiring legislators Russ Bogh, Ray Haynes and retiring District Attorney Grover Trask.

Besides Haynes and Bogh, present here tonight are their successors Kevin Jeffries and Paul Cook (the incoming DA Rod Pacheco is noticably absent), Congresswoman Mary… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail (thanks John for the F/R ‘shout-out’):

California Goes Its Own Way

Washington D.C.’s conservative community is acting as if an invasion of barbarian liberals is at the city’s gates. But out in the nation, the picture is a bit more mixed. California conservatives aren’t depressed at all, despite their state’s reputation as a pure blue stronghold. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t a traditional conservative but his lengthy coattails may bring along some top-flight conservative candidates who are running for lesser statewide offices. Should State Senator Tom McClintock be elected lieutenant governor, for instance,… Read More

Much has been made about the strength of the GOP team of statewide candidates this year.

Arnold has the star power. Tom and Tony and Pooch bring out the base. Poizner and McPherson give us strength and balance.

But as these last days approach, I’ve come to believe that the rest of the team brings significant benefit to the ticket as well, but in an unusual way…

About a year ago now if you recall, businessman and Redistricting Reform advocate Bill Mundell was talking about putting his millions up against Senator Feinstein. Bill Simon too was talking about making a run for the Treasurer’s post.

Neither ultimately decided to run, and in some ways, it’s a blessing.

Instead of the popular Senator and the deep-pocketed AG adding to the clutter on the airwaves and giving Democrats actual reasons to go vote, both are opting to sit comfortably atop their warchests, secure in the knowledge that their races don’t require vast expenditures.

An unintended consequence of those decisions though is the removal of a competative race for either post that could possibly pull the Democrats out of the downward spiral of… Read More

Tan Nguyen, the newly minted Republican who is running for Congress in central Orange County fresh on the heels of running for Congress as a Democrat in the neighboring House seat is having a bad day — actually — a bad few days. As a general rule you probably never want to be linked to the DrudgeReport – that is usually bad news. Looks like the Feds are all over him…Nguyen is, and the links are below…

GOP Calls for Withdrawal of Candidate After Letter...

Agents Search Office...… Read More

We can’t keep up with the cancellations fast enough. Here are more television stations where Cruz Bustamante has pulled his television ads. These are in additions to the ones listed below.

You may ask yourself, Why Measure Y? Measure Y was placed on November’s ballot in Santa Monica by the initiative process. If it passes it will make adult personal use of marijuana the lowest enforcement priority, unless the use occurs on public property or in conjunction with driving under the influence. So, puffing and driving is a no, no. Anyone taking a walk Friday night by the pier already knows that enforcement of pot laws is low. Along with vagrancy, public drinking etc…. Just don’t let your parking meter expire. Here is how one knows that this is a liberal city and not a libertarian city. While this is on ballot and may pass, the City Council voted to ban all tobacco related smoking around ATM’s movie line and mandated a 20 ft smoke free zone around non-governmental buildings. … Read More