As implementation of Proposition 14 looms – which will emasculate political party primary elections – the organization and activities of local Republican Central Committees will become all the more important in helping to define differences between candidates. But the same election that spawned Prop. 14 also brought some curious changes to Republican Central Committees across the state as well. In Orange County, a whopping 17 incumbents were defeated in re-election bids for their party posts. And in Placer County, high profile GOP Chairman Tom Hudson and First Vice Chairman George Park both finished dead last in their districts and were thrown out of office. Why? The phenomenon did not occur in a number of other locations. Back in Orange County, high profile leaders like Scott Baugh and Tom Fuentes finished at the top of the ticket in their districts. The losers seemed contained for some reason. And in San Diego, Tony Kravric’s team was re-elected pretty much in tact. One observation was that “tea party” activists got traction in areas of some counties. That might be true in Orange County, but Hudson and Park claimed to represent the… Read More

On Sunday, many families will celebrate Father’s Day. As a Dad, I look forward to this day because it means spending extra time with my kids and grandkids. But in all seriousness, Father’s Day provides a great opportunity for people to recognize the important role men play in their families.

According to a 2008 survey, 95% of Californians agree that fathers are just as important as mothers in influencing their children. Hardworking dads who make an effort to be there for their kids contribute positively to their self-esteem and decision-making abilities. A strong father figure is irreplaceable in a child’s life.

Just this last week, I authored a Father’s Day resolution (SCR 112) commending the important role fathers play in their household and community. Annoyingly, the resolution wasn’t even given a hearing, but was blocked by progressive liberals. It’s funny that the party whose members claim to champion families and disadvantaged kids would choose to ignore a resolution with such a positive message.… Read More

Four years ago I pointed out that Imperial County tends to vote for candidates with Latino surnames. My example was the Lt. Governor candidate Liz Figueroa won only a small umber of counties. It might have been her home county of Alameda and Imperial.

I got nastygrams from multiple people that told me I was wrong, racist, and mean to the people of Imperial County.

Four years later I have another prime example of why Imperial County is not like the rest of the state.

Take a look at the race for Insurance Commissioner in the Democratic primary. Hector De La Torre won a single county by a wide margin. He won with 67% of the vote actually.

Was it Los Angeles county where he lives and people know him? That would be a good guess but wrong.

Was it Sacramento County where people know his opponent Assemblyman Dave Jones? That would also make sense if you have observed Jones but not correct.

The correct answer would be Imperial County where despite being crushed by Jones statewide by a margin of 61-39 he got more than 2/3 of the vote. The map is pretty easy to… Read More

We’ve been seeing reductions in staff at MSM newspapers for years now, as these publications deal with the significant decline in revenues and print-circulation. As these cuts have taken place, we’ve seen a serious pruning of veteran California political and policy reporters.

In the Voice of San Diego today there is an article about a new wave of cuts at the San Diego Union Tribune as its new owner makes changes in how they will operate. Included in the broad cuts are a number of local political reporters.

But of glaring interest (and alarm) to FR readers should be that longtime veteran political reporter and analyst John Marelius is among those departing the U-T in this latest reorganization. This is terrible news. John’s been observing and reporting on political here in the Golden State for as long as I can remember. Heck, I first met and dealt with John when I was an up… Read More

From Today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary Email…… Read More

My blogging yesterday was light as I was down in San Diego County hanging out with U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and another buddy of mine, David Rivera, who is a leading candidate for an open U.S. House seat in South Florida.

Today’s blogging will also be light as I am off to Sacramento today. Former Senate (and Assembly) Republican Leader Jim Brulte, along with the current Senate and Assembly Republican Leaders, are hosting a two-day event for all of the GOP nominees for State Senate and State Assembly. Brulte asked me to participate as part of the program for that event this afternoon. (Hey, my flight lands in Sacramento at noon — I offer credit in the FR for any FR friend who wants to give me a lift to the Hyatt!).

By way of brief commentary, it will be funbto watch the final numbers gel in the Republican primary for Insurance Commissioner. Former Assembly Republican Leader (and Kennedy Library Honoree) Mike Villines is literally neck-and-neck with DOI Enforcement Attorney Brian FitzGerald, the latter having spend only a few thousand dollars on his campaign. Clearly the big factors… Read More

Last week, I mentioned that overmy next few blogs, I would provide someshort observations on the state of things here in Washington, D.C…and here is a group of several additional observations. Enjoy!

For decades, the assumption has been that government employees were paid less than their private sector counterparts. But the tradeoff was that the public sector jobs were more secure and often times, youcan’t be fired without gross malfeasance. That has since changed. Big time.The American Enterprise Institute, just completed a study whichshowed that the average government employee now makes significantly more than their private sector counterparts when pensions, generous vacations, and other benefits are taken into account. Equivalent workers in the private sector only make half that much! This is on the heels of another study which showed that government employees now earn about 25% more than private sector workers in straight salary without taking benefits into account. And of course, the … Read More

My friend Larry Levine, a Democratic consultant, posted a very interesting factoid on our election law blog today. It is too interesting a matter to pass up on presenting here, so I want to be sure I am crediting Larry.

If Proposition 14 were in place in the most recent election, the top two vote getters for Attorney General would face off in the Fall general election. Who were they? Well, Republican Steve Cooley got the most votes of any candidate, Democrat or Republican. He would definitely be in the runoff. But conservative Republican John Eastman is currently within 9,435 votes of being the second biggest vote getter in the primary, as that is the small margin separating him and Kamala Harris, who won the Democrat primary.

Wow. The situation was caused by the fact that there were more candidates running in the Democrat primary for AG than the Republican primary, thus depressing overall vote among the Democrat candidates. That is a very interesting clue about how Proposition 14 will work in future. But could it be that under Proposition 14, Republicans will "own" the Attorney General position?… Read More