This is a rare year for turnover in Fresno County elections. In our neck of the woods, those elected countywide don’t ever lose o it can get quite boring around here at times in local politics. But over the last two local election cycles most of the county administrative offices have turned over after retirements by long term officeholders. This year presents two major announcements. First, Sheriff Richard Pierce if retiring after serving two terms. He followed longtime Sheriff Steve Magarian, who was Sheriff for over a decade. Announced candidates thus far are few, but a well known Clovis City Councilman and former Mayor, Jose Flores, has announced his intention to succeed Pierce. Councilman Flores is also a captain in the Sheriff’s department and appears to be the early frontrunner. If elected, he would become one of the only Hispanic countywide officeholders in Fresno County history. And, yes, he is a recent convert to Republicanism.

The next major retirement announcement came from longtime County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Pete Mehas. A lifelong Republican, he has an educational and political resume too voluminous to reprint here.… Read More

Probably the most telling comment of the budget announcement yesterday was when the governor made the joke about his motorcycle accident. It answered a nagging question in my mind: How much was pillow talk directing state policy? The answer is one I was fairly certain of: a lot.

In case you missed it, the governor’s joke was (as reported by the Sac Bee): "A car pulled out in front of me … I just couldn’t make a decision which way to go.… Read More

The ranks of Inland Empirerepresentation in the Assembly’s Republican leadership grew considerably today. Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy announced the appointment of three new Republican Whips, including Inland Empire legislators Bill Emmersonof Redlands (pictured right) and Bob Huff of Diamond Bar (who represents the City of Chino Hills in San Bernardino County). They join Roger Niello of Fair Oaks as the newest members of McCarthy’s leadership team.

Emmersonand Huff (picturedright) have quickly risen through the ranks of their freshman class, which is important in the era of term limits. They have both proven to be team players who have the ability… Read More

Diamond Bar Congressman Gary Miller has had an impressive track since his election to Congress. He has ranked as the most conservative member of California’s delegation. In fact, CRA gave him an award recognizing that fact at last year’s state convention.

Before becoming a Congressman Gary wastheRepublican elected in the 1994 recall of party switching Paul Horcher. That turned out to be the first step in electing Curt Pringle as Speaker of the Assembly. There is a blog set up toremember those years. See it here.

At that time I actually considered running for that seat. I even took out papers. I was on the State Board of the CRP at the time and a local officeholder etc.. I met with Gary Miller. He was right on about issues that mattered and it was clear he was an honorable guy. I didn’t run and I endorsed Gary. I never regretted that decision. I should also say thatI serve on a Meals on Wheels Board with Gary’s wife Cathy as well.

With all the scandals and said to be scandals happening with GOP Congressman, every act is under a microscope. The… Read More

Pomona is one of the largest cities in Los Angeles County. It seems to always be in the Democratic column come election time. However, the Mayor’s office has been held by Republicans most recently Eddie Cortez. He passed away last year and a special election was held to replace him.Three Republican council members jumped in.

All of them were beat by the heavily union backed Norma Torres.We are talking more mail and IE’s for Norma than the other candidates combined. One Rep councilman, George Hunter who came in second was supported by the Pomonapolice unions.

She won by about250 votes, according to the City Clerk employee I just talked to. Results MAY be posted on the web by now at the city web site.Memo to city officials—get your act together and post election results on the web!

On interesting thing is that former Pomona City Councilwoman and State Senator publicly supported Republican Dan Rodriguez. Norma Torres was going to run againstSoto for the Assembly seat she now seeks. See the rest of… Read More

First, an update on the Leader race. RSC Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana and Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis of California have both taken their names out of the race. Conservatives in the House are still optimistic that Arizona Rep. John Shadegg will still decide to jump in though its seems Shadegg is unconvinced 1) that he can win and 2) that is useful for conservatives to run and lose. Yet, there is a desire to clean house and Shadegg could benefit from that.

On that note, there is a movement among the GOP Conference to have full leadership elections and have a fresh start. However, Conference rules do not require that and by my understanding, that would take 50 members to sign a petition calling for full elections (it might even require a petition for each of the 8 elected positions). This movement is not limited to conservatives and could build steam.

If Roy Blunt wins the Leader race (by my count he has a very slight lead), he would then vacate the Whip’s job. Here the candidates lined up to replace him:

… Read More

Let’s begin with the premise that being called too conservative by Phil Angelides is like Paris Hilton telling you that you’re spending way too much time studying quantum physics. It’s not a particularly high threshold, coming from such a far end of the other side of the spectrum.

But Angelides may have inadvertently helped Arnold Schwarzenegger make the case for the fiscal responsibility of his bond proposal. After a long weekend of trying to figure out a way to criticize Schwarzenegger’s building plan without offending commuters, parents, residents of flood plains, and other desirable constituencies, the likely Democratic nominee for governor took a break from calling for tax increases on rich people to criticize Arnold for not spending enough on the bond package.

The key point that Angelides made is this: Schwarzenegger’s proposal actually decreases the average annual expenditure on bonds from the rate that has existed for the past five years. Since 2000, California voters have been passing $7.1 billion in new bonds per year. The governor’s bond package calls for an average of $6.8 billion in bonds. What… Read More

We are only ten days into the New Year and I think the most honest and noble act by a politician that will be done in 2006 has already happened.

Congressman Rohrabacher has stood by his long-time friend Jack Abramoff through the high flying days and now at Mr. Abramoff’s lowest point. This is a quality we should all emulate. Without regard for political fallout, Congressman Rohrabacher says what he believes–does what is right.

Congressman Rohrabacher, is the best of the best we have in Congress (except for some of his Middle East policies, but at least with Dana and I that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends)..

The bottom line: Good people at heart do not dispense with friends as they do with old appliances that break down.… Read More