In an amazing confession of weakness Orange County Democrat Party Chairman Frank Barbaro and Democratic Foundation of OC chairman Wylie Aitken sent a letter to Supervisor Lou Correa back in January, urging him to stay in his current job rather than run for the 34th Senate District.

The letter that just surfaced, says, "As you know voter registration [meaning Democrat voter registration] has severely declined during the last few years and the Republican Party of Orange County and Senate Republican Minority Leader plan to mount a very aggressive race against us this fall. Now more than ever, we need to stand together to unite behind Tom Umberg and work hard to elect him to the 34th State Senate seat. (To see the full letter, click on the link below.)

Certain Republican leaders over the years have been accused of strong arming candidates or being less than supportive of nominees but I have never seen a letter like this come out on official GOP letterhead.

From supervisor Correa’s perspective, this must have been an unwelcome letter, but also one that was… Read More

Jon may not want to get into the intrigue, but just some tidbits on tomorrow’s pending Plescia vote for Assembly Republican Leader…

With Walters, Keene and Runner on board, George has lined up 29 votes. Rumor has it that there are three hold-outs, some of whom may come on board today, perhaps as this is penned (er….typed).

I hope the holdouts strongly consider the importance of closing ranks and of having an energetic leader like George Plescia leading the charge. On a personal (if not geographic) note, there are plenty in San Diegowatching closely how the SD delegation votes….name the last time we had a leader from way down here, if you can….… Read More

PLESCIA SET TO TAKE REINS FROM MCCARTHY Thanks to a number of conversations with members of the Assembly Republican Caucus yesterday, the FlashReport is pleased to congratulation San Diego Assemblyman George Plescia on becoming the new Assembly Republican Leader! Over a week ago, the FR reported that AR Leader Kevin McCarthy was making ‘what if’ phone calls to members of the caucus, engaging them in ‘theoretical’ discussions about how long he might stay on as leader if he were to run for Congress. These calls, of course, were our first real hint that 14-term incumbent Congressman Bill Thomas of Bakersfield was seriously considering retiring from the House. This set into motion a behind-the-scenes scramble between various GOP legislators to see who would become the leader whenever McCarthy moved on, whether in days or months. By my reckoning,… Read More

PLESCIA SET TO TAKE REINS FROM MCCARTHY Thanks to a number of conversations with members of the Assembly Republican Caucus yesterday, the FlashReport is pleased to congratulation San Diego Assemblyman George Plescia on becoming the new Assembly Republican Leader! Over a week ago, the FR reported that AR Leader Kevin McCarthy was making ‘what if’ phone calls to members of the caucus, engaging them in ‘theoretical’ discussions about how long he might stay on as leader if he were to run for Congress. These calls, of course, were our first real hint that 14-term incumbent Congressman Bill Thomas of Bakersfield was seriously considering retiring from the House. This set into motion a behind-the-scenes scramble between various GOP legislators to see who would become the leader whenever McCarthy moved on, whether in days or months. By my reckoning,… Read More

Mary Jo Ford has taken out papers to run in the 53rd Assembly District. This is the district last year that Assembly leadership bungled the special election by supporting Ford over former Redondo Beach MayorGreg Hill. I’m sure the rematch will work out great.… Read More

In case you want a public forum to comment on my Winners and Losers of the GOP Convention column, this is the place to do it. Click through to the link, then let us know what you think!… Read More

WHALEN ON WESTLY Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a lot of things going for him as he runs for re-election this year. But certainly one of the best things going is the poor quality of the two Democrats seeking the Democratic Party nomination – State Treasurer Phil Angelides, and State Controller Steve Westly. Last Monday, FR correspondent Dan Schnur wrote a great piece on Angelides, and today we feature a column penned by our own Bill Whalen on Steve Westly, who Whalen points out is ‘too cute by half’ – a definate ‘must read’ for today! WILL THOMAS RETIRE? WE HOPE SO! … Read More

My first encounter with the "Thomas Machine" was in 1995 as the newly elected Vice Chair Central of the State Party. I travelled to Kern County to meet with Mark Abernathy, who I had never met previously, and Kevin McCarthy, then a young staffer whom I HAD met previously and liked. My mission: get the Thomas endorsement for my Vice Chair campaign.

After exchanging pleasantries and such, the first question from Abernathy was: "are you supporting Phil Wyman for Senate?" At the time, Wyman was running against Democrat Jim Costa. Of course I was supporting him. But, when I said yes, that was pretty much it. Meeting over. That kind of vindictive politics has been experienced hundreds of times over and over again in Kern.

I would win the race with the endorsement of every elected official in Central California except Bill Thomas. And I found out what kind of organization he did indeed run. And over the years, I took them on often.

There is a chance for peace now in the County, which was our own little "Middle East" in the Central Valley, with non stop factional… Read More