Just got this sent over from the CRA — a letter they just faxed around to all California legislators:

February 9, 2010 Re: Opposition to the Confirmation of Senator Maldonado Dear Senator/Assemblyman: The California Republican Assembly is strongly OPPOSED to the confirmation of Senator Abel Maldonado for the position of Lieutenant Governor of California. On behalf of the California Republican Assembly, the California Republican Party, and all the citizens of… Read More

Republican State Senator Abel Maldonado’s appointment by the Governor to the position of Lt. Governor has now been approved by the Senate Rules committee and "forwarded without recommendation" by the appropriate Assembly committee. Votes on the Senate and Assembly floors could occur any time now up to about February 22. If the houses do not act, Maldo will be confirmed.

The press seems to think that Maldo will be approved by the Senate but will have a rougher time in the Assembly, which could reject the nomination. If Maldo is rejected, what will happen?

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Matier and Ross column today has an insight on what will happen: they say that the Governor may very well appoint former Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg to the position, and the Legislature will need to go through the whole process again. Because the Maldo nomination will be at its end before filing for statewide office closes in early March, Hertzberg would be well-situated to open a political committee to run for the office as well.

Hertzberg was… Read More

Over two-thirds of Republican State Senators have officially come out against Proposition 14, the measure authored by their colleague, Abel Maldonado, that would have the effect of limiting voter choice, and ultimately lead to higher taxes in California.

Attached to this blog post is a copy of the letter signed by Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, Senate Republican Leader-Elect Bob Dutton, and nine other Senate Republicans including Sam Aanestad, Roy Ashburn, Jeff Denham, Tom Harman, Bob Huff, George Runner, Tony Strickland, Mimi Walters and Mark Wyland,

It is significant to note that this list of Senators opposing Prop. 14 includes some who were forced to vote to place Proposition 14 on the ballot as part of the legislative "blackmail" (our description for it, not one given to us by anyone else) of last February.… Read More

Former San Bernardino County Assessor, former Supervisor and former San Bernardino County GOP Chairman Bill Postmus has been arrested again, with substantial charges leveled at him. His former aide, Jim Erwin, was also arrested again, with substantial new charges leveled at him.

Read more here.… Read More

The long, sad saga of Poway Councilwoman Betty Rexford reached what may be its final stage this morning. The FlashReport just confirmed that the San Diego County Registrar of Voters completed its sampling of petitions submitted by recall proponents, certifying that more than the required 5,657 needed signatures were submitted. Over 6,300 valid signatures were previously turned in.

This qualifies the election for June 8, with both the Rexford recall and an "if she is recalled, who replaces her" question to appear on the ballot, sure to start a scramble by potential candidates.

"June 8 can’t come too soon," said recall organizer Steve Vaus, "It’s a bad day for Betty, but a great day for Poway."

For more on the recall: www.recallrexford.com… Read More

Okay, I made the quote in the headline up. The County Supervisors didn’t really say that to SEIU when taking today’s action on a June ballot measure to ban PLAs. Not publicly, at any rate.

From the Del Mar Times…

http://www.delmartimes.net/news/265750-supervisors-consider-measure-to-ban-labor-agreements

Supervisors consider measure to ban labor agreements

The Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to consider putting a measure on the June 8 ballot that would ban project labor agreements on developments being undertaken by San Diego County.

A project labor agreement mandates that government contracts for public construction projects go only to union contractors.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to direct its lawyers to draft ballot language that would amend the county charter to prohibit project labor agreements. The panel also asked staff to craft an ordinance… Read More

Last week longtime FR friend Martin Garrick was sworn in as Assembly Republican Leader last week.

Today Garrick announced the appointment of his final leadership team members — the Republican Whips. By way of describing the roles of whips, I pull this language from Garrick’s release…

The following Republican Assembly Members were named today as Republican Whips:

I admire the passion of Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Having gotten to spend a lot of time with him over the last five years or so, I know him as someone who really pours his heart and soul into just about everything he does. I figure it takes that kind of drive to have his level of epic success in business, and it certainly takes an Energizer-Bunny type level of activity to get elected to statewide office as a Republican in California, let alone to now be running for the Republican nomination for Governor. I know Steve to be a good man, who is passionate about making a difference.

I preface this column with these comments because I don’t want FR readers to misinterpret a critique of an individual policy proposal of the Commissioner as some sort of rebuke of the man, which it certainly is not. Nevertheless I have been troubled by a proposal he has generated from the Department of Insurance, which I wanted to address. I have brought this up directly with Poizner, so he won’t be surprised to read it here.

Last year Insurance Commissioner Poizner rolled out what I thought was a creative and useful plan to review the substantial financial… Read More