My brother, Rick, and I are here in the Santa Ynez Valley, enjoying some wine tasting here in God’s Country. Yesterday we stopped into the Firestone Winery for some tasting. I thought it would also be fun to rub his considerably-left-of-center nose in all of Brooks Firestone’s GOP paraphernalia that usually adorns the walls. Alas, due to an imminent remodel on the tasting room, all of the Republican goodies have been put away. Like a good red-meat-eating conservative I ponied up to the tasting bar for some Cabernet Sauvignon. Um…. No. There is NO Cabernet there (Nor any Pinot Noir, for that matter). BROOKS FIRESTONE: MODERATE WINE AND POLITICS I couldn’t help but think to myself — "Of course Brooks doesn’t make Cabernet — a bold, decisive wine — there is nothing bold… Read More

Anyone that pays scant attention to politics still knows that immigration is percolating below the surface – even in non-border states. The influx of illegal immigrants, particularly post-9/11, has frustrated Americans of every political party and polling shows that there is very little daylight among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents on the issue.

A great indicator of how powerful this issue has become was the Democrat governors of Arizona and New Mexico declaring a state of emergency in their states about illegal immigration while the Democrat Speaker of the California Assembly urged Governor Schwarzenegger to follow suit. Since 1994’s Proposition 187, Democrats have used immigration to demagogue – and it says something that they are now using for their own political benefit.

The challenge however is what to do. Since Prop. 187, little has been done on the issue at the federal or state level and President Bush failed miserably in his proposal which is… Read More

Saturday’s column by Fresno Bee political writer John Ellis chronicles a fundraising letter sent by the campaign of Congressman George Radanovich expressing concern about a potential Democrat challenger in 2006, T.J. Cox. The fundraising letter, which I also received, suggests that Mr.. Cox will spend $1 million of his own money to defeat Radanovich and that this will be matched by "ultra liberal" Nancy Pelosi, for a total of $2 million.

Now, let me tell you what is really going on here. One of the major casualties of redistricting, as you all know, is competitive elections. It seems that all of these incumbents are having trouble raising in their Districts, precisely because donors know how safe the Districts are. I, for example, don’t give to ANY legislative candidates seeking a safe seat unless that candidate is in a contested primary. So, in order to create a sense of urgency, fundraising… Read More

You may wonder why there are two bottles of wine in this post. Well, they both have something in common. Both wines were produced by Republicans in the wine business. Both of these Republicans were formerly members of the State Assembly. But the similarities stop there. One of these former GOP legislators, now a county Supervisor, is extremely moderate, both ideologically and stylistically. The other, so successful that his family-owned business shipped out over 1,000,000 cases of wine last year is very conservative, and quite assertive. Why are they, and what does this all mean? Read my Sunday Commentary and find out more than you wanted to know!!

I’m traveling in the Santa Ynez wine region, and it seemed appropriate to share a… Read More

[UPDATE: A friend has jogged my faulty memory. While Ray, did, in fact endorse all of the candidates below, the ORDER of endorsement was as follows: DEVORE (where he should have stopped), then CRISTICH, then ZIPPI, then WAGNER. So we should be watching Dale’s website to see if there is a pattern… Flash]

Hmmm. From reading Mike Spence’s post just below this one, it appears Ray Haynes ‘dual endorsed’ both Joel Anderson AND Debbie Byer in the GOP Primary for the 77th AD… WAIT! There is a moderate Republican running in that primary, too, right? Jack Dale of Santee, I believe.

I think that someone should go check and see if Ray endorsed Dale FIRST.

You see, in the 70th Assembly District where I live, there was a very contentious primary for the GOP Assembly nomination. One of the candidates in that primary, Cristi Cristich, ran for the office with a record of having… Read More

Why wait until the last minute? It’s time to start the post-election spin….

I don’t pretend to know who’s poll numbers are right. The Public Policy Institute and the Schwarzenegger team seem to be polling on different planets, or at least using vastly different samples and techniques. If I had to guess, though, Proposition 76, the governor’s budget reform initiative, is pretty much dead. Propositions 74 and 75, the measures on teacher tenure and paycheck protection, could go either way. And Prop 77, the redistricting initiative, looks like a long shot but is still pretty much of a wild card, given the cross-partisan nature of its support.

Mike Murphy, the governor’s lead consultant, has been quoted saying that passing just one of the four of the initiatives would be a victory for Schwarzenegger. That doesn’t sound like a campaign that’s confident of winning three or four of them. But for the most part, Murphy’s probably right.

Passing teacher tenure reform but losing the other three would be a very thin reed on which Arnold could claim success: it wouldn’t be a believable claim… Read More

Last timeI wrote about the confusion wrought by conflicting press releases, endorsements and dinner invites involving conservative assemblyman Ray Haynes and candidates for the 77th Assembly District. Joel Anderson and Debbie Beyer.

I have heard from both campaigns and from Ray Haynes. Here was Ray’s response:

I dual-endorsed because I am tired of conservatives eating each other alive, and trying to use the endorsement wars to accomplish that. Both are great conservatives, both should work out who should run. My endorsement shouldn’t determine that outcome.

As for the fundraiser, Debbie didn’t ask me before she used my name, but since I did endorse, I didn’t complain

Good Enough?… Read More

YESTERDAY MORNING… If you were spending the day yesterday at the famed Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, you might wonder what was creating all of the clamor outside of your hotel window. You part the curtains, and look down into adjacent Pershing Square…

What do you see? There is a fired-up latino yelling to a crowd of seemingly-deranged and maniacal followers. A cult? A demonic ritual? From the window, you can see that many are carrying signs, and you squint to try to read them.

That’s when you notice that many in the crowd have turned on a woman — they surround her, and the chanting turns into yelling. Through the glass of the window, you can’t tell exactly what they are screaming, but the tone would fit screams of "Go to hell, Bitch!"

From your vantage point, high up, it looks like the crowd has descended on this poor woman — are they hitting her?

As you pull away from… Read More