CRP Inland Empire Vice Chairman has said he will resign today at 5 p.m. unless the Governor reconsiders his appointment of Democrat Susan Kennedy as his Chief of Staff.

Ed just sent me the text of his resignation letter:

My roots are deep in California. My family has been in the Los Angeles region since the late 1700’s. I have not always been a Republican. When I first registered to vote, I registered Democrat as all of my family were in the steel mill town of Fontana, CA. I became a Republican in 1980 in order to vote for Ronald Reagan and have been a Republican ever since. I was newly married and the Carter malaize was in full bloom. Reagan offered hope and a vision in a time of despair, that is what drew me to the Republican Party. … Read More

Today there were more changes made at the senior-most levels within the Administration. Governor Schwarzenegger, presumably with the advice and sign off of his Chief of Staff, controversial Democrat Susan Kennedy, moved Fred Aguiar (pictured to the right) from his post old post of Secretary of California’s State and Consumer Protection Agency to the position of Cabinet Secretary, displacing Terry Tamminen who will now be a senior advisor (read: still in the Governor’s office, but in a lower-profile role). Also, Dan Dunmoyer (pictured below, to the right) comes onboard as a Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor for Policy Development.

Aguair and Dunmoyer have… Read More

Ed Laning is the California Republican Party’s Vice -Chairman Inland Region. Last year he ran for Congress against Joe Baca in a horrible district.

This is the text of an email he sent the CRP Board of Directors on 12/4/05

"If the Governor doesn’t withdraw Ms. Kennedy as his pick for COS by the end of next week 12-9-05, I will resign in protest."

As of midnight tonight, it looks like the CRP’s Board meeting with the Governor on the 15th will be short one. It looks like no clemency for Laning.

[Publisher’s note — I just got off of the phone with a very concerned and demoralized Ed Laning. He did confirm for me that if Susan Kennedy is still the Governor’s Chief of Staff today at 5 p.m., he plans on resigning his elected post as Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party for the Inland Empire. This is the most high profile and startling turn of events in this saga… Read More

RECALLED GOVERNOR DAVIS GETS PORTRAIT IN CAPITOL Well, the news loves to eat up photo-opportunities like this one. At any other time, disgraced former pay-for-play Governor Gray Davis would have slinked into the state capitol for a subdued ceremony to unveil his ‘official’ portrait to adorn some obscure wall on the ‘old site’ of the capitol. But Gray Davis’ stock is on the rise now, as two of his former Deputy Chief’s of Staff have now taking on two prominent spots as Chief of Staff to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Chief of Staff to First Lady Maria Shriver. Sound like a nightmare to you? Me, too. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you wanted: Here are two choice quotes for you:

"A gathering such as this usually marks the last page of the last chapter of an administration," she said. … Read More

A couple weeks ago theradical Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a rulling declaring that the Voting Rights Act requirement that election materials be in various languages applies to recall petitions. The case was the succesful2003 recall of Nativo Lopez from the Santa Ana Unified School District Board. See a quick recap here.

A bitter campaign by unions against Wal-Mart in Rosemead has been derailed by that decision. After the city council apporoved 5-0 a development plan for a Wal-Mart, the unions and other Wal-Mart haters went to work. First they defeated 2 or the three incumbents that supported Wal-Mart.

That still left them one vote shy of a majority. So Wal-Mart opponents started a recall against the two incumbent members that weren’t up for election. They collected enough signatures and the election was on until the Ninth Circuit made their decision.

Now, the majority put off the election citing the lack of multi-language recall petitions. See the story here.

For now the liberals… Read More

In a move that pretty-much guarantees the escalation of this issue over Governor hiring Susan Kennedy as his Chief of Staff, I just received a press release from the California Republican Assembly calling for the State GOP, at its upcoming February convention, to pull the Governor’s pre-primary endorsement. The angst comes from the fact that Kennedy has spent the last two years as a Gray Davis appointee on the Public Utilities Commission, and before that she was the now-recalled Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff, she served as Communications Director and senior policy advisor to United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, and she served as Executive Director of both the California Democrat Party and the California Abortion Rights Action League.

This resolution of the CRA Board of Directors (passed unanimously by their 27 member Executive Committee) is significant because a large percentage of the State GOP Central Committee (which has roughly 1400 members) is made up of proud CRA conservatives. The CRA is the… Read More

While, I’m a Flashreport writer, I’m also President of the California Republican Assembly. The recent vote of our board has raised many questions. For further information on our unanimousvote to try pull the CRP’s pre-primary endorsement of the Governor click here.… Read More

I have really come to enjoy the writing style of columnist William Bradley. I don’t always ‘agree’ with him, but that is a separate issue. He has penned a story for the LA Weekly that includes some observations of yesterday’s ceremony honoring recalled Governor Gray Davis as his official portrait was unveiled. It is a ‘must read’ for those following state politics…

Arnold’s Gray Day – A portrait of a troubled term by WILLIAM BRADLEY Los Angeles Weekly More than a week after Arnold Schwarzenegger shocked the political world and enraged much of his own Republican Party by … Read More