Tonight I drove down to the San Diego Republican Party’s monthly Central Committee meeting. Well, to be most accurate, State GOP Southern Vice Chairman Keith Carlson drove, and I warmed the passenger seat. County Chairman Ron Nehring ran an excellent meeting with about 200 Republicans in attendance – including many VIPS (the introductions took quite a while). Curiously, disgraced criminal Randy “Duke” Cunningham is apparently still a member of this committee. He didn’t answer his name when the roll was called – go figure – he’s not here. That said, it does seem like there may be 100 candidates here running for Duke’s seat. Apparently the rumor is true, that FR Contributor Duane Dichiara is no longer Chief of Staff to Assemblyman Mark Wyland. I just met his replacement. Fresh from the Congressional office of Florida Representative Dave Weldon comes Paul Webster. I don’t know much about Paul yet, except that he has good taste in employers – Wyland is top notch. The big speaker tonight – State GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim. The Chairman spoke about some of the Governor’s staff picks, and some of his… Read More

Conservative UCLAstudents used to say that UCLA is just ACLU scrambled.

I have to confess that I love UCLA. I enjoyed my years there. I was in student government there. I met FR Publisher Jon Fleischman, who while not a UCLA student came to campaign for me. I wrote a column for the Daily Bruinthat had someone spell check and editit for me. It was great.

I actuallyliked the Rose Bowl outcome.

However, I remember walking into the first day of a history class and having the Professor tell us he would approach this history class from a Marxist perspective. And believe it or not I was happy!Why? At least, I had an honest professor.Needless to say, many times you would find out too late that the Professor you had tolerated hate towards America andwas intolerant tostudents that didn’t hate America.

Andrew Jones from the Bruin Alumni Associationanother UCLA grad has launched a web site called UCLAProfs.com.. I do need to disclose that he asked me to be on the advisory boardalong with much more worthy… Read More

Carl Burton of the California Congress of Republicans recently sent out a letter supporting the bond busting proposals of the Governor. In order to do so he invoked conservative activist Steve Frank and his position of a former CRA President to do it.Here is the lead.

"I believe Steve Frank (past-President, CRA) was right on target when he wrote that Governor Schwarzenegger’s speech "… was an A+ speech …" Steve also wrote that the governor "… had passion, energy, structure, focus, it was delivered with humility in parts and sincerity throughout. He gave the audience confidence that he knew the subject and had a full grasp of the issues being raised. And the construction of the speech–masterful. Coming back several times with the line, ‘I say build it’ was forceful and positive."

You can see the whole CCR letter below.

While it is true Steve wrote this about the style of the speech, hewas against the policy.

"The policy of this speech did not work, because it did not give answers, nor did it address the major… Read More

Update: The link to both the Democrat and Republican surveys in the 50th is here.

Leave it to team Furlong/Babcock at Datamar to be running numbers at this point:

Republican Voters Not Wild Yet About Any One Republican Candidate

For Every Republican Candidate in the Candidates-crowded April 11th 50th Congressional Special "Mixed" Primary Election the Combined "Neither favorable or unfavorable" (neutral) and "Unfamiliar with the name" responses Far Exceed the Combined "Favorable" and "Unfavorable" responses San Diego – In the poll released today by Datamar Inc. regarding Republican candidates in the mixed-parties 50th Congressional Special Election to be held April 11th, the combined "Unfamiliar with the name" and "Neither favorable or unfavorable" (neutral) responses exceed the combined "Favorable"… Read More

The knock on Bill Morrow going into the special election to replace the Duke of Wiretapping has been the perception that he won’t be able to raise the money to be competitive. Morrow shattered that perception with his announcement earlier today that he raised over $200,000 in the 4th quarter – an impressive number for anyone given the challenges of raising that money in the current environment and the holiday season.

Also, conservative Congressman Gary Miller joins a majority of the elected California Senate and Assembly members in endorsing Morrow.

Those that counted Morrow out early, should take notice. With more candidates to come, this race will be a free-for-all.… Read More

John Boehner, Ohio. Currently the chairman of the House Education & the Workforce Committee and formerly the House Republican Conference Chairman (defeated by J.C. Watts). Boehner has been in the leadership before and has a conservative voting record. He comes in with the support of a united Ohio delegation and probably the support of more senior Republicans and committee chairman. Although he has a conservative voting record, he will be able to pick up significant moderate support thanks to his easy going, non-confrontational style.

Roy Blunt, Missouri. The Majority Whip and acting-Majority Leader was picked out of no where in his second term to be Chief Deputy Whip to then-Whip Tom DeLay. When DeLay was elected Majority Leader, Blunt easily moved into the Whip job. Sometimes referred to as the “Velvet Hammer” due to his smoother style. Blunt doesn’t have a big state delegation but as Whip has 30-40 members… Read More

A recent post by businessman and major Republican donor Mark Chapin Johnson over at the California Campaigns blog underscores my concern that I laid out in my post below responding to Dan Schnur, about the impact of the Governor’s shift-to-the center. Mark Johson was one of the original three co-founders of the New Majority, the state’s (and perhaps the nation’s) preeminent Republican political action committee that self-describes itself as moderate. They boast that their organization and members donated millions to Schwarzenegger his ballot causes. Johnson is no longer a part of the New Majority, but his political philanthropy has continued with much generosity. Over the past few years, Mark and I have struck up a friendship as we have found an important quality for each of us – the other is willing to listen to us rant when we’re wound up, and we also share some common friends. That said, Mark is one of the only people I know who actually IS fiscally… Read More

Time Magazine is reporting that ex-Congressman Duke Cunningham wore a wire in cooperation with the FBI before he publicly admitted to being on the take and resigning in disgrace.

As you may remember, I am not a fan of federal prosecutors (see my previous post here) but I have even more distain for rats. Those among us who would for their own personal gain abuse friendship and a history of trust to entrap someone else are some of the lowest of the low.

It’s a sad day when any office holder is found or admits to being guilty of crimes against the very people they represent. But even worse to me is the crime of being a rat which is punishable with a total and complete… Read More