OK, so we thought we knew how far to the left Phil Angelides is. We knew he was hanging out over there in the nosebleed seats high above left field with Mark Leno and Howard Dean. But now we see he’s barely in the ballpark at all.

Angelides has a bona fide, unabashed socialist working on his behalf. He’s making TV appearances on Angelides’ behalf and writing blog posts at a pro-Phil website.

And guess what else? He’s a union organizer, and he used to be a national official for the Young Democratic Socialists.

His name is Daraka Larimore-Hall, and on Tuesday he appeared as a surrogate for Angelides on Santa Barbara TV, defending Angelides’ plan to dismantle Prop. 13.

Larimore-Hall, who says he’s a PhD student in sociology, is one of the principal writers at a new website that insists it is not affiliated with the Angelides campaign, but posts campaign material and helps get people to Angelides’ campaign events.

You should read what Larimore-Hall’s Young Democratic Socialists are all about, taken from its website:… Read More

Last night Mike Osborn was elected Chairman of the Ventura County Republican Party by a 2/3 supermajority. It’s no great secret that the Ventura Republican Party has had a checkered and troubled past – torn and tattered by ideological and personal feuds. This overwhelming demonstration of support for Osborn gives the committee the rare opportunity to refocus on the basic tasks of a County Republican Party: registering new Republicans, enlisting and training precinct captains for advocacy and gotv programs, recruiting GOP candidates, and raising the money to accomplish those goals. None of those tasks are as fun as fighting over party leadership or passing resolutions, but for a political party to be meaningful those are the jobs that need doing.

Congratulations to the Ventura County Republican Party for an orderly election, and congratulations to new Chairman Mike Osborn.… Read More

OK, so we thought we knew how far to the left Phil Angelides is. We knew he was hanging out over there in the nosebleed seats high above left field with Mark Leno and Howard Dean. But now we see he’s barely in the ballpark at all.

Angelides has a bona fide, unabashed socialist working on his behalf. He’s making TV appearances on Angelides’ behalf and writing blog posts at a pro-Phil website.

And guess what else? He’s a union organizer, and he used to be a national official for the Young Democratic Socialists.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

Today, in a sharp step away from the free-market principles of Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman, Govenor Schwarzenegger has entered into an alliance with the most liberal elements of our State Legislature to impose government price-controls on prescription drugs.

THIS IS HORRIBLE PUBLIC POLICY.

I cannot say it any better than Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia in the following statement just released from his office:

“Republicans agree that expanding access to prescription drugs is an important priority, but we have many serious concerns about this prescription drug plan.

“By forcing companies to cut drug prices through price controls, which is the practical effect of this measure, we will jeopardize the development of life-saving drugs for all 35 million people in our state, drive up health insurance costs for all insured Californians, and threaten the jobs of thousands of highly skilled workers in this critical industry.

“Using a heavy-handed approach to force drug companies to participate may have the unintended and dangerous consequence of taking away critical medications for vulnerable Californians… Read More

THANK YOU!!

Below you will find my picks for Winners and Loser from last weekend’s GOP convention — but before I get into that, I wanted to take a quick moment to express my appreciation to the many legislators, volunteer leaders, and CRP delegates who endorsed my candidacy for Vice Chairman, South of the California Republican Party (read more here). The election will not be held until February, but time invested into the campaign last weekend was well worth the time!

I would like especially thank the four Statewide Republican Volunteer Organizations that have voted to give me an early endorsement in this race…

Over on the new Democrat site, two of the contributors are Gale Kaufman and Alan Arkatov. I probably would have been prepared to proclaim Kaufman to be the bigger union-hack of the two, just because she has a much higher profile, and has been so engaged on the front-side of pro-union causes. But I have now got some actual empirical evidence that officially gives the "Tip of the Cesar Chavez Grape Basket" to Kaufman…

Yesterday at the big lefty website kickoff event, I spoke with both Gale and Alan, and they both gave me their business cards… Only Gale’s was printed with the official union bug. Alan, does this mean you are ready to embrace paycheck protection? Maybe even become a GOPer?… Read More

Here are some thoughts, in no particular order, on the passing scene…

– At the CA Majority Report kickoff event, I was surprised how many Democrats I was meeting for the first time were quite candid in their expectation that Phil Angelides would lose. Some were senior Dem strategists.

– I know Ben Lopez. Ben Lopez is a friend of mine. Ben Lopez is not Lou Sheldon.

– I got irked that someone from the Governor’s Team tried to console me on the minimum wage increase by saying that at least we didn’t get stuck with indexing the minimum wage to inflation. Given that there zero GOP votes in the legislature to override a veto of ANY hike in the wage mandate, it wasn’t too much comfort.

– The most surreal moment of my week came when I saw the words “Flash Report” come out of the mouth of Gray Davis.

– The big education bond measure on the ballot should be called the “Blue County Bond” – a local school district has to put up matching funds to get the bond funds, but only liberal areas will pass local tax increases to create the matching funds.

– The OC Board… Read More

If there was ever an argument for hiring a political consultant, the really sorry excuses for ballot statements that pop up every election is one of them.

I will hight light several glaring examples of how candidates do the unthinkable…feel free to send me your own examples.

In today’s example, my favorite so far this year, Mr. Che Hill, in the FIRST LINE of his ballot statement, proclaims: "My name is Che Hill. I was named after the Cuban Revolutionary Che Guevara." [See the full ballot statement attached below.]

I prefer Guevara’s Bolivian work myself but something tells me the people of Perris where Che was planning on running for city council would not have appreciated the distinction.

Luckily they won’t have to. You see Che did not qualify for the ballot. I am not sure why and I am unclear as to whether he paid for the ballot statement anyway, but I am too embarrassed for him to even ask.

More from the ballot statements of… Read More