From Senator Chuck Poochigian’s office:

Poochigian Requests Attorney General Investigation into Use of Taxpayer Funds for “Preschool for All” Campaign

SACRAMENTO – Senator Chuck Poochigian (R-Fresno) has requested a formal Attorney General investigation into whether taxpayer funds were illegally used to influence signature gathering efforts and build support for the Proposition 82 “Preschool for All” campaign. Below is a statement from Senator Poochigian on his request, followed by the text of the letter sent to Attorney General Bill Lockyer on February 24, 2006:

“There have been calls for audits to connect the paper trail about the process in which taxpayer money was spent on the ‘First 5 California’ and… Read More

Arnold’s Conservative Understudy

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger walked into a potential lion’s den over the weekend when he spoke at the California Republican Party convention in San Jose. The typically conservative delegates aren’t fans of his plans to borrow a massive $222 billion for infrastructure projects without first reforming contracting rules that dramatically boost construction costs. His plan to raise California’s minimum wage has also fallen flat with conservatives.

But the Governator nonetheless picked up some ground simply by showing up and making a strong pitch that the party should be united for the fall elections. He reminded delegates that he has held the line on taxes and vetoed many bills passed by the Democratic legislature. His efforts were aided by a new alliance with State Senator Tom McClintock, a hard-shell… Read More

I’m posting this from my Blackberry, so pardon any formatting issues. But I have had a few people today tell me that a good friend of the FlashReport, Bill Christiansen, is coming onboard in the coming days at the Director of the coordinated State GOP Victory ’06 program. This is an important position as Bill will have the primary responsibility of working with all of the players involved in this cycle’s elections — The Governor’s campaign, the downticket candidate campaigns, any party-endorsed ballot measure campaigns, Senate and Assembly GOP campaigns, the RNC, NRSC, NRCC and all of the GOP infrastructure (State Party, County Committees, Vol Orgs,etc) – and getting everyone marching in the same direction. A Herculean task to be sure, but Bill will have a lot of help.

Bill brings to the table a lot of relevant experience to help him — most notably his two most recent political jobs — he is fresh off of a multi-year stint as Executive Director of the Arizona State Republican Party, and before that he was Executive Director of the Orange County GOP for the better part of a decade.

Bill brings… Read More

These days, central Orange County is a hotbed of political activity. The nucleus of the craziness is the bigger-than-life double-contested-primary race to see who will succeed State Senator Joe Dunn (D-Lives out of the district) in the 34th State Senate District. One of the candidates in the contested GOP primary for that seat is Assemblyman Van Tran. Tran’s Senate candidacy sets the stage for a GOP primary in his 68th Assembly District seat, which he has represented for only one term.

As has been mentioned on the FR before, there are two candidates running in this Republican primary (in the 68th, Democrats need not apply). One is long-time GOP activist and donor Jim Righeimer. The other is Janet Nguyen, who is a member of the Garden Grove City Council, and works as an executive with the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce.… Read More

The FlashReport has learned tonight from Assemblyman Van Tran that he has decided NOT to run for the State Senate in the 34th State Senate District. Instead, he will sit out the Senate race, and seek re-election to the 68th Assembly Seat he has occupied since 2004.

Tran said that his decision was not based on his ability to defeat his primary opponent in the race, Lynn Daucher. Rather, he felt that coming out of a bruising primary would make it virtually impossible to beat the eventual Democratic nominee, especially with his feeling that there was a lack of unity from certain critical fellow Republican leaders.

There is still a primary match-up though for Daucher, with the opponent being long-time Santa Ana Republican activist Lupe Moreno. But clearly she will not be as formidable a challenger to the well-funded Daucher as Tran would have been. The most immediate ripple-effect here is that Tran will now seek reelection in the 68th district where a GOP donnybrook was in full… Read More

The more manageable size of an Assembly District makes the local contact programs a good manager can set up more important in the total scheme of things than they often are in the larger State Senate or Congressional Districts. In a primary Assembly race, with even fewer voters, these programs double in importance.

Most Assembly races have a consultant and a manager. Sometimes the manager is the driver of the two entities, but much more often in California the consultants are the drivers. This is an exception to the national rule. This may be one of the reasons that "campaign managers" in California tend to be younger and less experienced than those I meet from other states. In short, if your career has a glass ceiling because a consulting firm is going to call all the shots, you do the job for a few years until you can either join a consulting firm or get a job in the legislature or 3rd house.

On the GOP side this glass ceiling has led to a new crop of inexperienced "yes men" every year who know their future is based more on their relationship with the consultant than in their performance in the field. While this may not be a big deal in… Read More

For some time now, the editorial team at the Orange County Register has been running a blog called the Orange Punch, but as of just a few days ago, I am pleased to let FR readers know that some of the political writers on the new-side of the OC Register have started writing for the new "Total Buzz" blog. The ‘starters’ for this new venture are the Register’s "Ace" Political Reporter "in county" – FR friend Martin Wisckol, who has garnered a reputation for his wide network of good sources. Joining him is the hard-charging Norberto Santana, who cover’s the OCR’s county government beat. Finally you have reporter Peggy Lowe to round out the trio.

FR predicts that very soon we will see the additions of Saraya Nelson out of the OCR Sacramento Bureau, and Dena Bunis out of DC. This will make for a great team, bringing us more great… Read More

I may be biased on that question, but a poll from American Viewpoint (hardly a right-wing polling company) shows that I’m in the majority of Californian Republicans that criticism of the Governor is valid.

In a poll conducted last week showed that a total of 65% of likely GOP primary voters feel the Governor should be criticized strongly when he strays from principle. See more here.… Read More