Talk about taking the wind out of my sails. I came home on Sunday from the State GOP Convention all pumped up for the Fall elections. The Governor’s speech was great, and really fired me up. The Governor asked the audience, "What do we say to more government control?" The audience answered with a resounding "NO!" Well, by agreeing to hike the mandated wage that California businesses, large and small, must pay employees, the Governor has said a resounding "YES" to more government control. And that is exactly what has happenned – as Arnold Scharzenegger, without the support of our GOP legislative caucuses, has cut a deal with legislative Democrats to impose more government control on all California employers. His support for hiking the minimum wage (to the highest in the nation) strikes right at the heart of those who believe that the size and scope and regulatory authority of government is too vast, and that at risk is the liberty of all Californians. This… Read More

The California Republican Party Chairman, Duf Sundheim, has his own blog, and here is his official post-convention ‘pep-talk’ to the troops: Shortly after the Recall, I was asked whether the Recall marked a turning point in California politics. I said it was either a turning point or an aberration, depending upon where we went from here. By reelecting Governor Schwarzenegger and winning down ballot races in 2006, we will demonstrate that the Recall election of 2003 was The turning point. That is why… Read More

Chris Mowrer is State Senator Abel Maldonado’s Chief of Staff, and a Republican. I wonder how he is feeling as we sit here in the back row of the Governor’s Press Conference Room (1190) where the Governor and Democrat leaders are going to announce an increase in the state’s wage mandate on employers.

Waiting for this press conference is like waiting for somone to speak at a funeral. As a believer in the free markey system, a mandated wage hike on employers is like pouring kerosine on a burning building. Legislation that is designed to “help” people in fact is going to put people out of work.

Republican Abel “glutton for punishment” Maldonado is here and is going to be co-authoring this bad legislation, which makes me wonder if he needs to read Hayek’s Road to Surfdom or Bastiat’s The Law.

I also see Republican Bonny Garcia waiting in the wings. She looks pretty uncomfortable – unclear if it is guilt, being around too many Democrats, or the warm tempurature. Presumably she is supporting this bill as well.

There is a pretty yellow and blue sign above the podium with the catchy slogan… Read More

Early this morning, at midnight, a group of ultra-liberal California Democrat operatives – Steve Maviglio, Jason Kinney, and Roger Salazar – launched a new blogsite that is supposed to be the left’s answer to… well, this website! They have amassed an impressive array of Donkey operatives (see the attachment) and should be producing quite a bit of content… You can be sure that we (that would be me and the FR blog team) will be keeping an eye on them! This site has been up for nearly a year now, and has been starving for some company. A clear contrast between the failed liberal policies of the Democrat Party and the solid, sound principles of conservatism will show that, by and large, Republicans are right and Democrats are wrong! I have actually had a few chats over some months with the development team of their new site, the California Majority Report (CMR), in terms of giving them some logistical advice. I… Read More

Early this morning, at midnight, a group of ultra-liberal California Democrat operatives – Steve Maviglio, Jason Kinney, and Roger Salazar – launched a new blogsite that is supposed to be the left’s answer to… well, this website! They have amassed an impressive array of Donkey operatives (see the attachment) and should be producing quite a bit of content… You can be sure that we (that would be me and the FR blog team) will be keeping an eye on them! This site has been up for nearly a year now, and has been starving for some company. A clear contrast between the failed liberal policies of the Democrat Party and the solid, sound principles of conservatism will show that, by and large, Republicans are right and Democrats are wrong! I have actually had a few chats over some months with the development team of their new site, the California Majority Report (CMR), in terms of giving them some logistical advice. I would have tried to offer some policy advice as… Read More

Vacationing in Newport Beach this week (where else would a Republican stuck living in Ron Dellums-Barbara Lee’s backyard go on vacation?), we had dinner last night with some SoCal friends when one of them asked what we thought of the governor. This friend was no fan of the governator when I was cheering on Schwarzenegger’s candidacy in the recall election. To my "I’m in the anyone-but-Phil-so-I’m-going-to-hold-my-nose-and-vote camp," I got a big (and deserved) "I told you so." I said that while I knew that the governor was no Ronald Reagan, I thought he was more of a Chamber-of-Commerce Republican. And he was–the first two years in office. But this morning’s news on the minimum wage rate increase convinces me that the California Republicans are going to help re-elect Schwarzenegger to office and spend the next four years wondering what we did to ourselves.

I don’t really blame the governor. He is a product of Hollywood and, it seems to me, values making a deal and keeping the press and Maria happy over sticking to GOP values. But since this is his first elected office, we had no idea how… Read More

No big surprise, the Sen. Kuehl bill on discrimination in curriculum and behavior towards homosexual individuals or ideology passed off of our floor today on a 47-31 vote today. It was pointed out that it is redundant to current law that protects all students. The Governor had promised a veto of the bill. Theoriginal language, which had the requirement of curriculum reflecting historical contributions by homosexual individuals, was amended out last week to what we had today. We received an enormous amount of mail from constituents on this bill, the most of any, perhaps a tie with illegal immigration, as a topic.

On a ‘higher’ note, the legalizing-of-hemp bill passed out as well, 44-27. The unlikely duo of my desk-mateChuck Devore and Mark Leno"joint" [update: quotes added]authored this bill to the Governors desk as well…I don’t think it received more than 1 Assembly Republican vote last I checked. Chuck makes a very principled argumentbut we couldn’t get there.

"ALL I NEED ARE SOME TASTY WAVES, A COOL BUZZAND I’M FINE!" … Read More

If you are a National Review digital or print subscriber, make sure to read Chris Weinkopf‘s piece on Governor Schwarzenegger, "The Unlikeliest Girlie Man."(Image courtesy of the California College Republicans.)

Weinkopf, the editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Daily News, makes some inevasible conservative arguments against Schwarzenegger’s administration of California.He also features input fromJon Coupal and Arnie… Read More