In one of the most breathtakingly stupid political moves of all time, the Fresno Police Officers Association has endorsed Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown for Attorney General over our own State Senator Chuck Poochigian. The Board vote, as reported in the Fresno Bee, was 12-2.

This is idiocy for a number of reasons, to wit:

Senator Poochigian, throughout his entire service in government, has been a reliable law and order vote in the State Assembly and Senate;

Poochigian is from Fresno and has represented Fresno in the legislature for 12 years;

Pooch will outpoll Brown at least 60-40 in Fresno County if not by more;

85 percent of the Fresno Cops will vote for Poochigian.

What is the real issue here? Real simple. The cops hate, I mean HATE the Workers’ Comp reform bill written by Senator Poochigian and signed into law by the Governor in 2004. Workers’ Comp is no longer easy street, and unions are madder than a hornets nest about it.

No doubt, the FPOA vote was stupid, and I look forward to saying that to Union President Jackie Parks next time I see him. He can’t defend their actions with any logic… Read More

FYI – I just got a release from the State GOP Victory Program announcing the Governor’s endorsement of the entire GOP ticket. Even the awkward Claude Parrish.… Read More

All in all, it was a pretty good election night. In California, we held the threatened Congressional seat. Both big spending initiatives lost and moderates beat liberals in a number of Democratic primaries around the state. Turnout was exceptionally low in spite of millions spent by statewide Democrats in contentious primaries. Seven other states also held primaries on Tuesday and in all cases the predictions of Republican demise were premature.

So, what happened? We Republicans have been worried about our base and with good reason. But it appears that the Democratic base did not turn out on Tuesday. That is also with good reason. They can’t figure out what their party stands for anymore. Neither can I.

In Washington, we in the majority still have to deliver more spending and border control because it’s the right thing to do and togive the voters what they expect from us. But let’s remember that the other side has a challenge too. Being the party of "no" and the party for nothing is not going to motivate their voters any more than it would motivate ours.

Are they really for nothing or are they for higher taxes, open borders,… Read More

There’s only one unsettled race left in Orange County after Tuesday’s primary election: the 5th Supervisor District, which goes to a November run-off between Pat Bates and Cassie DeYoung. Pat took 44.3% on Tuesday to DeYoung’s 36.7%.

Both campaigns say transportation will be a central issue of the campaign, meaning much Cassie DeYoung Chicken Little-ism over the Terrible Tunnel. During the primary campaign, DeYoung attempt to make an issue out of Cong. Ken Calvert’s support for studying a possible tunnel underneath the Santa Ana Mountains connecting Orange and Riverside counties. Pat Bates supports studying whether a tunnel is even technically feasible before making a decision whether or not to build it.

I’ve blogged elsewhere of my free-floating anxiety about the collateral impact DeYoung’s demonization of the tunnel project might have on the resolve of other politicians who favor building, or at least studying, a mutli-use tunnel through the Santa Ana Mountains.

Take, for example, this Los Angeles Times… Read More

Last night, Phil Angelides won his party’s nomination to face-off against the Governator this November. But typical of Steve Westly, he couldn’t quite find it in himself to concede defeat, and congratulate his primary opponent. Instead, Westly had this to say in his statement last night: "My friends, we’ve run a terrific campaign, and we’re going to be running a good campaign for another day or two it looks like. I’m here to tell you the LA Times has announced the race is too close to call. With roughly 30% of the vote in, bouncing back between three and three and a half percent, most of the counties we believe will be strongest remain – have yet to be counted."

I found this to be a hypocritical position as you need not look back too long ago to remember when Westly was singing a different tune. Westly narrowly defeated Tom McClintock for his current… Read More

Bilbray Heartens the GOP – WSJ’s Political Diary

Republicans can breathe a sigh of relief. With some 40,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted, moderate former GOP Congressman Brian Bilbray won a much-watched special election in San Diego yesterday. Mr. Bilbray won 50% of the vote to Democrat Francine Busby’s 45%. Should those numbers hold through the absentee count, it will mean that Ms. Busby won only the base Democratic vote in the district — John Kerry won 44% there in 2004.

What makes the Bilbray victory noteworthy is that he was a weak candidate, having won a divided GOP primary with only 15% of the vote and losing 5% of yesterday’s vote to right-wing third party candidates. Even the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, which spent an unheard-of $4.5 million on his behalf, noted this morning that Republicans… Read More

Since we don’t have a central coast blogger right now, I’m going to pick up the slack and report on Ventura County’s hotly contested Supervisorial race. The district includes the cities of Simi Valley and Moorepark. Republican Judy Mikels was the three term incumbant in this GOP dominant district. Mikels, who challanged Tom McClintock unsuccessfully in 2000 for State Senate, was seen as somewhat vulnerable because of her ties to unpopular local development projects and an ongoing rumor that she actually lived out of state. Populist Democrat Jim Dantona declared against her nearly a year ago and was rrunning a well funded aggresive campaign but the general feeling among many insiders was that party registration alone would probably save Mikels. Enter conservative Republican Peter Foy, who literally decided to run and filed on the deadline. Local media reported Foy as a ‘spoiler’ set up to run by local conservatives who disliked Mikels in order to make sure Dantona came in first in the run-off against Mikels. Most of the coverage treated him as a secondary candidate, with the big show being the increasingly bitter and savage Dantona… Read More

In a press release, which characterizes an NBC report which aired Wednesdayas "false," Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) issued the following statement in response to the report:

"I have never recommended a lobbyist to any constituent, contractor or anyone seeking federal funds. I have absolutely never told anyone to provide ‘stock options’ or any other sort of compensation to someone who is their advisor or lobbyist. To do so would be extremely unethical, and it goes entirely against all of my principles of good governing.

"It is outrageous and false to suggest that I might have supported a program in order to provide some illicit benefit for a friend. This technology was primarily supported by the two Congressmen who represented the area, and had been endorsed by top members of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee – including the Democratic chairman. Although I was a junior minority member of the subcommittee at the time, I felt it was worthwhile to join in that support because the technology appeared to have promise.

"All of this information was provided to NBC in detail, and I am… Read More