If I were putting together a strategy for Arnold Schwarzenegger to employ that would attempt to calm the anger among Republican activists regarding his hiring of Susan Kennedy (which I am not), I would hire a Democrat to do something really extreme that reminded Republicans why Arnold is still their best option next year.

So I’m assuming that the Schwarzenegger team has put Democratic Assemblyman Paul Koretz on their payroll, and bribed him to propose legislation and hold high-profile hearings to push for a death penalty moratorium in California. Then the governor could spend the first few months of his re-election campaign fighting heroically to preserve the death penalty in the state, while Phil Angelides and Steve Westly looked for safe hiding places until their party’s primary was over.

But even for a principled opponent of capital punishment, and even for a legislature gerrymandered into safe districts, Koretz’s quote in this morning’s Los Angeles Times offers an excellent reminder on why competitive legislative elections would improve the quality of political debate in California. Defending his proposal, Koretz told… Read More

"Republican lawmakers scolded Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday, telling him in a closed-door meeting how seriously his support among party stalwarts is wavering." – Los Angeles Times

**So…want to know which 19 GOP Assemblymembers actually showed up to hear from the Governor in yesterday’s caucus meeting? It’s at the bottom of this Commentary!**

In today’s Commentary:

I continue to be knotted up inside over the… Read More

If you are the Chairman of the California Republican Party, and your Republican Governor appoints a Democrat to be his Chief of Staff, what do you do about it? Well, today, State GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim and newly appointed Gubernatorial Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy were seen having lunch at one of Sacramento’s political ‘hot spots’ – Chops steakhouse.

One can only imagine the awkwardness of such a meeting. You have Kennedy, who has spent a lifetime toiling for Democrat causes (you’ll recall her resume — Deputy CoS for Gray Davis, Comm. Director for Feinstein, Exec. Dir. for both State Dems and Abortion Rights Action League), and is now dealing head-on with the awkwardness of having to break bread with a Republican Party Chairman. I would imagine the heat that Kennedy took working for pay-for-play Gray Davis… Read More

Businessman Jim Grimes has dropped out of the race for the 65th Assembly District seat currently held by termed-out GOP Caucus Chair Russ Bogh of Yucaipa. Yesterday, Riverside County FlashReport correspondent Phil Paule reported that Grimes had parted ways with his consultant, Tim Clark. Read it here. Grimes had nothing but good things to say about Clark today and hinted that he’s considering endorsing San Jacinto Councilman Jim Ayres in the June ’06 primary. "I’ve always been a team player," Grimes said. "As long as a Republican wins the seat and we move the party forward, that’s what I’m about." Grimes, a Realtor from Running Springs in the San Bernardino County side of the district, said Ayres’ fundraising success was too much to compete with. He also said he plans to remain active and involved in… Read More

My first attempt at online political activism follows. The Fresno Bee has quietly, without any fanfare, cancelled the weekly John Ellis political column and reassigned him to, of all areas, the federal courts "beat". I discovered this after I sent John an email earlier this week asking him if we was on vacation, as the column didn’t appear in the paper Saturday. He informed me that the column was no longer a part of the paper!

I want to be clear: he has not asked me to campaign for the column to reappear. But it is one of the top two reasons why I even take the paper, so its important to me and many political insiders across California.

The Ellis column was the most widely read and quoted column in the Bee. I’ve seen it excerpted in the Hotline, Rough & Tumble, Calpeek and the Flashreport dozens of times and on weblogs and political websites literally every week. The Bee evidently didn’t value (or even know) of this exposure. Worse, they don’t understand that the Central Valley and State need this column. It has existed since Editorial Page editor Jim Boren had it back in the 1980’s and 90’s and probably… Read More

I’m the last to claim that I am an OC insider, but I think that another look at State Senate seat 35 might be in order. As much as I respect Cunningham, Probolsky, and Fleischman as consummate players in OC, I also believe that their perspective on the race is biased. You see, I don’t think that these folks have ever gotten over the WAY Tom Harman was elected to the State Assembly. I also think these same folks, all of whom are friends, would rally around any candidate who challenged Harman and they thought was capable of beating him. I think that their opinions require a little balance (disclaimer: we are Tom’s consultants, and while I would never play my entire hand, I feel an obligation to at least show one card to get some balance).

A look at Tom’s actual votes in the Assembly demonstrates his Republican record. Lets use the California Republican Assembly’s rankings over the past few years, as an example. I don’t think… Read More

Four years ago only one Republican filed for the Board of Equalization’s Fourth District. The seat is now held by Democrat John Chiang and is heavily Democratic. It encompasses most of LA County (they left out the GOP areas) [Publisher’s note: Are there Republican areas of LA? – Flash]. The Republican nominee got 30% of the vote in the general election. Legislators Judy Chu and Jerome Horton are battling it outon the Democratic side. Chiang is term limited and running for a statewide office This year there are three candidates for the GOP side in what is turning into an interesting race for the Republican nomination. The lone Republican four years ago was businessman Glen Forsch. He is running again this year. He is a traditional conservative … Read More

Does anyone ever make the wrong decision for principled reasons?

Reading the defenders of Tookie Williams in today’s news coverage, I couldn’t help but to be struck that every single critic of the governor dismissed his conclusion to reject clemency as a decision made for political purposes. Some talked about Schwarzenegger’s need to placate conservative voters, while others admitted that the majority of Californians support the death penalty and that Arnold didn’t want to offend them heading into re-election. But every single proponent for clemency automatically dismissed the idea that the governor genuinely believes that Williams deserved to die for his crimes, and that refusing to admit guilt for those crimes precludes the possibility of redemption.

Of course, this works both ways. Last week, the governor’s conservative critics assailed his hiring of Susan Kennedy, also arguing that the appointment was made because of political motivations. Arnold is moving to the left because of his defeat in the special election, he’s looking to reach out to disaffected moderates, Maria has cast a magic spell upon him, etc,… Read More