USA Today Online is featuring an interesting article about "Comeback Kids" — referring to Members of Congress who leave the institution (for one reason or another) and then come back. One example, referenced in the story, is California Republican Congressman Dan Lungren, who left Congress when he was nominated to be State Treasurer in the ’90’s. While that didn’t work out, Lungren went on to be elected State Attorney General, and was the party’s ill-fated nominee for Governor against Gray Davis in 1998.

The article talks about two more Californians attempting their comebacks — former Congressman Brian Bilbray is running in the donnybrook to succeed the disgraced Randy Cunningham — and up in the Central Valley, former Congressman Pete McCloskey is in an uphill Republican primary against popular Representative Richard Pombo.… Read More

While I often (or at least sometimes) agree with Fleischman’s posts, I’m going to have to take issue with the last one on former Congressman Brian Bilbray. Sometimes the Orange Curtain is pretty thick. First: disclosure on the table. I work for Bilbray. He was also MY Congressman for years when I lived in the City of San Diego. These comments are from my second role, rather than my first.

Congressman Bilbray was a consistent voice – often a voice in the wilderness – against illegal immigration throughout the 1990’s. Note that Bilbray represented a Democrat seat when he was defeated in the 2000 bloodbath. His ongoing crusade was not always an easy one.

After the 2000 elections Bilbray did not stop talking about illegal immigration. On the contrary, if any thing he upped the ante. He not only became a consultant and legislative advocate for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), he served on their Board of Advisors and helped them craft their national policy agenda. There is a reason the National Border Patrol Council (10,000 Border agents) choose to endorse Bilbray in the 50th district – his credentials… Read More

No, its not the famous actor Laurence Olivier – he’s not with us anymore. But there is another Olivier running for California’s top spot – and this one is the former Mayor of Bellflower, Art Olivier (pictured). Today, Olivier announced his candidacy for the Libertarian Party nomination for Governor of California. Olivier is a pretty big deal with the Libertarians, I guess — apparently he was their party’s nominee for Vice President in the 2000 national elections sharing the ticket with Harry Browne, who recently passed away. Olivier, a husband and father of four, is the former Mayor of the City of Bellflower in Los Angeles County. In reading about his announcement, there are a lot of things he says that make a lot of sense. That said, in the United States, we pretty much have a two… Read More

The single most important decision that the legislature will make this year is whether to put a massive infrastructure borrowing plan in front of California voters this year. There is a lot of pressure mounting in the Capitol right now as Secretary of State McPherson has said that the deadline for the legislature to place an item on the June ballot is tomorrow (although many have said there is a week of ‘cushion’ in there).

Everyone in the capitol, the Governor, the Democrat Leadership, the Republican Leadership, all agree on the need for infrastructure investment. However, HOW THIS IS DONE IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT.

When FR contributor Barry Jantz and I met with two Deputy Chiefs of Staff to the Governor in the hours leading up to the State of the State Address in January, a few key points were stressed to us: the Governor would insist that needed reforms (such as revamping the CEQA process) would be in this package, that there would be a 6% hard borrowing cap in the package, and that the Governor was committed to making sure that this bond measure did not get ‘loaded up’ with spending that wasn’t for basic… Read More

I had an opportunity a few weeks ago to have lunch with Rich Wagner, the President of the Orange County Lincoln Club. Instead of a smoke-filled back room, we enjoyed our meal on the smoke-filled patio of Zov’s Bistro in Tustin, as ashes from the nearby wildfires on the east end of the country rained down upon us.

The uptick of the meeting was that Rich was very excited and enthusiastic about the coming elections, and shared with me that the Lincoln Club, by all objective standards (number of members, level of involvement, etc.) was doing better than it has in years. This is a good thing because the Lincoln Club for decades has played a key role in making sure that it is Republicans that govern Orange County, and that we elect a delegation of solid GOPers to represent "The OC" in Washington, D.C. and in Sacramento.

Rich was in the final stages of negotiating an appearance by Governor Schwarzenegger at an event for the Lincoln Club. I was… Read More

Just a few minutes ago, I got off of the phone with a very excited Assembly George Plescia. Although perhaps I should now use his more "formal" title – Assembly Republican Leader Elect! That’s right, today, at a lunchtime meeting of Assembly Republicans, Plescia was unanimously elected to succeed current Leader Kevin McCarthy, who yesterday announced that he was stepping away from his leadership post to focus on his efforts to run for Congress. McCarthy hopes to fill the seat currently occupied by his old boss, Representative Bill Thomas, who after 14 terms in Congress has decided to retire. Let me say this – I’ve known Assemblyman Plescia for many, many years now — and couldn’t be more excited and thrilled that he has been elected by his colleagues to this post. Plescia shared with me that he looks forward to spending a lot of time with McCarthy over the next month,… Read More

When I heard about the Judge’s ruling today about whether lobbyist and former Congressman Brian Bilbray can list himself as an Immigration Reform Consultant as his ballot title in his bid to succeed the disgraced criminal Duke Cunningham in the House of Representatives, I was reminded of an old skit from the hay days of Saturday Night Live. The skit was a faux commercial for a product called Shimmer. In the commercial Chevy Chase and Jane Curtain argue about whether or not a new aerosol product was a floor a floor wax or a desert topping. Dan Ackward, the huckster selling the product, was quick to point out that Shimmer was actually both – a floor wax and a desert topping. Apparently, according… Read More

I’ve wriiten about how Los Angeles Mayor AntonioVillaraigosawants to take over the world– at least LA and it’s surrounding areas. He failed at the MWD. See post hereHe is making the grade at LAUSD. In a special election to fill a vacancy his candidate Monica Garcia received 47% of the vote and will face UTLA backed Christopher Arellano in a run-off. Arellano received only 19% of the vote as his condecade old shoplifting charges and his that his graduate degree from USC wasn’t really awarded. (I guess the check bounced.) Garcia is open to the Emperor taking over LAUSD.

Can the unions rally enough to stop Garcia? Does it matter?… Read More