Over the weekend the Whitman for Governor campaign sent out a "campaign update" from Campaign Manager (and FR friend) Jillian Hasner. These broader campaign updates are released by both campaigns periodically and we try to put them up here on the FR Blog.

In this email, Hasner says that the campaign will be announcing an endorsement from former Secretary of State Bruce McPherson early this week. Actually, I suppose the email was the announcement, eh?

McPherson is controversial these days in GOP circles for his support of the so-called "open primary" — a measure which is a direct assault on the Republican Party. It is important that everyone understand that unlike previous "open primary" measures, this one would take away from the Republican Party the right to have a candidate on general election ballots. So literally huge swaths of California would have no GOP standard bearer every November.

That said, I’ll vouch for one immutable fact, McPherson is one of the nicest and most genuine people I’ve had a chance to work with in politics.

WHITMAN CAMPAIGN UPDATE… Read More

These are some observations I have thought about writing down for quite some time. It is by no means a complete listing of all the truths I have observed, but they are true, as far as they go.

Truth No. 1

Democrats win power by making promises to grow government, then alienate voters by keeping those promises. Republicans win power by making promises to cut government, then alienate voters by breaking those promises. So it doesn’t matter who gets power, government always grows.

Truth No. 2

Democrats are intensely partisan when they enforce the law, and prove that partisanship by only prosecuting Republicans. Republicans want to prove they are nonpartisan when they enforce the law, and prove that nonpartisanship by only prosecuting Republicans. So it doesn’t matter who gains control of the law enforcement mechanism, only Republicans get prosecuted.

Truth No. 3

Democrats are intensely partisan when it comes to drawing political lines during redistricting, and they prove… Read More

I think its curious when State and local elected officials go to Washington DC to ask for money. Frankly, they seem to me quite like the sad blokes standing in the median of a busy street corner holding a cardboard sign.

Many State and local governments just haven’t done their job correctly in handling taxpayer dollars. They’ve negotiated stupid contracts with their employees, overpay for everything, and seemed genuinely stunned that there is a business cycle, you know, that period of time when tax revenues actually fall.

There may be nobody in America that has abdicated his responsibility worse than California’s Governor. Oh, he took a stab at reform, once, in 2005. After a crushing defeat, he never tried again. He is now a pathetic figure, flying back to Washington to beg for money, asking the feds to borrow from China and give it to California after laundering it through the bureaucracy.

This is all an attempt to get Washington to subsidize the poor performance of a Governor who should know better, and a psychotic Legislature, that even in the face of ANOTHER $20 billion deficit was STILL voting for single payer health care… Read More

This may come as a surprise to some, but perhaps not to all — but State Senator Abel Maldonado, while fairly well known by Republicans, is not well liked by Republicans. Gee, I wonder why? Could it be his deciding vote to smack every Californian with higher income, sales and car taxes?

I have just reviewed a statewide survey for the Lt. Governor GOP primary taken by Smith Johnson Research, of 500 likely Republican primary voters and on a first ballot test, the results are pretty clear. When those surveyed were asked for whom they would vote for Lt. Governor, they responded: FIRST BALLOT Aanestad 20.4 Maldonado … Read More

Andy Pugno is the legal counsel for ProtectMarriage.com and is the lead attorney defending Proposition 8 in Federal Court. Below is a column from Pugno worth a read… Pugno is blogging on the trial here. What First Amendment? By Andy Pugno, General Counsel, ProtectMarriage.com Over the last couple of days, we have been treated by the plaintiffs to astonishing intrusions into areas supposedly protected by the First Amendment, including religious freedoms and the political rights of… Read More

This morning Governor Schwarznegger put out a statement in response to the climbing jobless rate, saying that creating jobs was his top priority.

With all due respects, Governor, that is a lie.

The job-killing regulations in AB 32 are hurting our state’s economy and pushing people out of jobs. When you championed this bad legislation, you put in a provision for its suspension in bad economic times, which you could do with a stroke of a pen.

You should correct your release to be more accurate. You mean that you are for politically correct "green" jobs at the expense of all of the other sectors of the economy. You are for a big government that in the midst of a recession seeks to use its powers to manipulate the market instead of leaving it free, so that we can recover.

Instead of putting out some misleading release about your support for "jobs" you should either suspect AB 32 or perhaps apologize to Californians for your role in increasing unemployment rates.… Read More

Last year Michael Steele upset the Republican establishment as the first outsider in a generation to win election as Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Massive forces were aligned against Steele, but the harsh lessons of wholesale Republican repudiations of 2006 and 2008 helped propel Michael’s message.

The message from Steele? That for Republicans to win again, they must embrace and act conservative. We have valuable lessons to learn from the Tea Party movement. Depending on the Republican bulls in Congress could be fatal. Over the years, many RNC vendors grew rich over no-bid contracts. In fact, there still remains an RNC member who was paid over $1,000,000 from the RNC — who was a fierce opponent to Steele’s election. Chairman

Steele promised reforms. No more no-bid contracts. Old favored vendors would have to compete. The Establishment would have to move over and and re-invent themselves.… Read More

I enjoyed reading Senator John McCain’s book during the 2000 election cycle, about his service in the military and time in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp. He seemed to be a real hero. I also recall fondly bumping into him occasionally at the "social Safeway" in Old Town Alexandria, Virginiawhen my wife and I worked in the Reagan Administration. I specifically recall one instance where he was closely observing a Romaine Lettuce and I approached him to say he was getting a raw deal on the "Keating Five" scandal in the media. The next time I met him was at a private meeting with the Board of Directors of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in Los Angeles, that Mrs. Jarvis attended. We talked about his presidential ambitions but I voiced a small concern about his idea on campaign finance reform. He didn’t have much of an answer when I asked about implications to the First Amendment.

Today Cindy McCain is reported to have appeared in a television advertisement in support of gay marriage. This report comes on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court, in yet another decision, has further clobbered… Read More