Martin Wisckol, OC Register political reporter offered a quick schooling in press relations for candidates in a recent post to the Total Buzz blog on the paper’s site.

A candidate for Orange County Council is widely known to live in Newport Beach (several cities and miles from the city of Orange). Wisckol publishes an email from Rudat and then recounts a phone conversation with her where he explains what off the record is all about.

Those of us who deal with the press regularly have few problems with these rules and when we do have a problem with one reporter, we usually learn our lesson.

Wisckol explains:

The way it almost always works with us newspaper reporters is that everything someone tells us is considered "on the record" unless the reporter agrees to talk off the record. 99.9% of the time that’s the way it works. Sometimes, with everyday people who have no … Read More

When it was all said and done, there was no real surprise that the Escondido City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday night in support of an ordinance penalizing those who rent to illegals, thus becoming the first such city in California.Short of someone in the council majority of Marie Waldron, Ed Gallo, and Sam Abed buckling in the intense spotlight, this ordinance was going to pass. By all accounts, any such buckling was not going to happen.

There was also no surprise over the tenor of the debate, the huge turnout for the council meeting, the media attention, the ACLU sticking its nose in, the…should I go on?We’ve seen controversial social debates before.

What is somewhat of a surprise, although perhaps it shouldn’t be, is the vehemence with which so many people — not just in Escondido and National City, but everywhere — are willing to stand up and advocate for that which even they admit is illegal.… Read More

Our Democrat friends over at the California Majority Report finally pulled their act together and are posting on a daily basis with what seems like some autonomy from the mother ship. See a previous commentary by FR publisher Jon Fleischman on the subject here.

On Monday Steve Maviglio whined about how Saturday’s upcoming gubernatorial debate wasn’t going to be more of a debate style debate.

Its just the first in a series of excuses for Angelides failing campaign and what will probably be a poor debate performance for him.

The Democrats know what the voters don’t yet: Governor Schwarzenegger actually has a command of the substantive policy issues that face California today. When the voters see the Governor answering policy questions with real answers, not just platitudes, they are going to be even more confident in his ability to lead… Read More

Sen. Chuck Poochigian and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown met today in a debate hosted by the San Francisco Chronicle and CBS 5. You can watch the debate by clicking here.

It is worth it to watch the whole debate, but here are a few Brown quotes that were very telling:

“I’m running for AG because I want to bring some common sense and a practical approach to that office. I’ve had a record of integrity and innovation and I know how to get things done.”

I’m thinking that the only people in this… Read More

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown couldn’t refer to Gov. Schwarzenegger enough in his debate with Sen. Chuck Poochigian today in front of the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board. And he just can’t wait to begin helping the state’s bureaucrats put teeth in the new greenhouse gases bill the governor signed into law recently (against the recommendation of the California Chamber of Commerce and many others concerned about the law’s effect on the economy and lack of environmental returns).

Here’s what Brown had to say about AB 32 today:

"Governor Schwarzenegger is now returning California to a path that we embarked upon 30 years ago when I was governor."

Just what every Republican voter wanted to hear. We’re trying to forget the bills the governor just signed so we can bring ourselves to vote for him next… Read More

Former Assembly candidate and Redondo Mayor Greg Hill is apparently eyeing a return to politics.

Greg, who a few years ago was the closest of all the Republican challengers in Dem seats, is deciding whether the Redondo Treasurer’s slot is right for him.

Is this the first step of a future Assembly run? We’ll see…… Read More

Just an hour or so ago, the California Court Appeals ruled that Proposition 22’s definition of marriage is constitutional. This overturns a lower court ruling and sets up a possible Supreme Court hearing on the case. See article here. See entire ruling here.

Pro-Family citizens while celebrating should realize that thier homosexual activists are making huge strices in Sacramento. Equality California got 14 bills passed and the Governor signed 10 of them. See here.Arnold only vetoed those with a high profile. Otherwise he did the homosexual lobby’s bidding on the others.

That’s the lesson. Public profile on these issues is the only way to get the Governor’s attention.… Read More

That is what happened yesterday in Glendora. Nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley, Glendora is GOP stronghold in a blue county. Last November every one of the Governor’s propositions passed. This time almost everybody did.

A developer from Texas wanted to do a land swap with the local country club in order to build some homes on their land. The City Council said no. The Developerspent over a millions of dollars qualifying and supporting his measureina special election. He got 9% of the vote. Over 90% said no. See article here

No small part in this defeat was the local GOP effort run by Doug and Linda Boyd. Below is their mail piece designed by Bieber Communications. I know Doug is busy trying to identify the 14 people in his precinct that voted yes.… Read More