Well, since old Cunningham decided to write about the OC Lincoln Club, I thought I’d finish the short report I was writing on the San Diego Lincoln Club.

Last Thursday night I attended the 22nd Annual Dinner of the Lincoln Club of San Diego County. It easy fell into the top few local political fundraising events I’ve attended over the last ten years or so, and demonstrated the meteoric re-birth of the organization. The dinner featured a moving tribute to one of San Diego’s truly great men, Corky McMillin, a Cardinal of the Republican Party who passed away this year, and a keynote address by new Mayor Jerry Sanders.

It’s no national secret that I really dislike speeches – particularly the run of the mill boring non-partisan ones, but also the long ones over say 10 minutes. Jerry Sanders was neither boring nor long. In fact, and this is a rare treat, I and the other folks at the Francis table were moved and excited. In about ten minutes, Sanders outlined a program of real reform at City Hall with the calm authority of a man that says what he means, and means what he says. He was very clear… Read More

TOM MCLINTOCK ON BONDS Today’s lead commentary is from State Senator Tom McClintock, who at this point, is the presumptive Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor. McClintock is well respected for his acumen on state fiscal matters. In this ‘must read’ column, Tom looks at the prospects of a bond-measure roll-out, and gives his criteria for a responsible borrowing measure, as well as some important historic perspective. State government has been porking out since the days of Governor Pat Brown… WHO IS ADAM MENDELSOHN? The news broke yesterday in the Capitol Weekly (with a formal announcement today) that GOP communications pro Adam Mendelsohn will be taking the reigns of Communications Director for Governor Schwarzenegger – the current CD, Rob Stutzman, will be departing for the campaign trail as part of the Governor’s… Read More

Time Magazine’s Joe Klein says of the Governor, in his 2005 wrap-up column:

Why do I see her as one of the dumbest people on the planet, and yet Bay Area leftists love her? MDM

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi had this to say yesterday about the Republican budget resolution:

“Mr. Speaker, as we leave for this Christmas recess, let us say, ‘God bless you’ to the American people by voting against this Republican budget and statement of injustice and immorality, and let us not let the special interest goose get fat at the expense of America’s children.

“The gentleman from Washington [state], Mr. McDermott, quoted the prophet Isaiah. And as the bible [sic] teaches us, to minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship, to ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us. Let us vote no on this budget as an act of worship and for America’s children.”

When a conservative politician cites the Bible in support of his views on, say, abortion or homosexuality, people like Pelosi get their backs up about the mingling of church and state. We guess Pelosi’s defense here is that she’s insincere, as evidenced by the referece in her press… Read More

Pomona sits on the eastern border of Los Angeles County and is aDemocratic Town. Except the last mayor Eddie Cortez was a Republican as was his predecessor Donna Smith. Pomona has had a GOP mayor for sometime. That may change Jan. 10. Eddie passed away and a special election was called. Imagine campaigning through Christmas and New Years Day. Any beats on turnout? Eleven candidates have thrown their hats in the ring. 5 are current or former council members. And three are Republicans. Republicans might have a shot at keep this Blue state city in Red state hands, but it won’t be easy. Democrat Norma Torres is council member who planned to run for the Democrat leaning 61st Assembly District against Senator, former Assembly member and former Pomona council member Nell Soto. This opened up as she transferred some of the cash she had. … Read More

A follow up to Duane’s post this morning (see below) on the Union-Tribune’s endorsement of Kevin Faulconer … I wanted to note that the joint endorsement of Luis Acle for the other open city council seat, as well as the U-T’s support last month of Jerry Sanders in the mayoral election, puts the paper in the 100% column for Republican candidates for the threeSD city vacancies.

So what?, you may ask. A Republican town, a Republican newspaper, right?

Don’t be so sure. A historical look at the U-T’s ballot recommendations over the last several years shows a nearly dead heat between Ds and Rs endorsed for San Diego City Council seats. You can look it up.

The paper traditionally goes across the board GOP at the federal level, then it throws in a Democrat or two for good measure in state legislative contests (Kehoe, Vargas most recently) and by the time you get local it’s a completely… Read More

A January 10 San Diego City Council Special Election will determine whether reformers or machine types control the council. The reformer is businessman Kevin Faulconer (disclosure: he is a Coronado Communications client) and the machine type is Bustamonte aide Lorena Gonzalez. Today’s Union Tribune editorial:

“Faulconer is a public relations executive who has pledged to support most elements of Sanders’ recovery plan, including a pay freeze for non-public safety workers, increases in worker contributions to the retirement system and contracting out of more municipal services. And, like Sanders, he rejects any tax hike to pay for the oversized pensions of city workers.

Faulconer’s opponent, Lorena Gonzalez, is backed by labor unions that oppose the mayor’s program. An attorney who works for Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, Gonzalez is bright and articulate. But we fear she would be a consistent vote to stymie San Diego’s financial recovery effort, which is precisely why she has the backing of organized labor. She will not commit to support any aspect of Sanders’ agenda and even refused to respond to his questionnaire probing… Read More

Arnold Schwarzenegger made a very poor decision when he hired Susan Kennedy to be his Chief of Staff. He did so knowing full well that her leadership role in the administration of recalled Governor Gray Davis (Kennedy is pictured, to the right, with Governor Schwarzenegger in the background), as well as her extremely partisan credentials (former Executive Director of the State Democrat Party and the California Abortion Rights Action League, as well as time spent as a senior aide to Democrat U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein) would not sit well with grassroots Republican activists and donors throughout the state. I am not saying that a less-partisan Democrat would have been more readily accepted, but with this pick, the Governor reached for someone with the most patisan resume of Democrat activism possible. Perhaps the Governor felt that everyone would simply understand that he still runs state government, and not to be concerned. This… Read More