[Cross-posted from OC Blog]

Sen. Abel Maldonado, basking in the adoration of the California Left — not to mention that of Governor Hollow Man — declared this weekend that "We need a change."

By "we," Maldonado means Republicans, and he uttered that profound insight in response to my f friend Jon Fleischman calling him on his role as the enabler of the largest state tax increase in American history. Kudos to Jon, by the way — wish I could have been there.

By the way, if you haven’t joined my FaceBook group — "Never Elect Abel Maldonado To Anything, Ever Again" — please do so. It figured in a San Francisco Chronicle story on Friday, and in the… Read More

Despite all the angst among Republican legislators and activists from earlier in the week, this weekend’s Republican organizing convention was remarkably upbeat. I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the party volunteers to take a look at the candidates who are already campaigning for office in 2010. With the knowledge that the controversial Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations will not be on the voters’ minds in 2010, there is renewed hope for Republican gains. There is also an understanding that voters will turn quickly on new officials who do not deliver on their campaign promises, and there is ample evidence that this will hit the new Obama administration by the 2010 elections.… Read More

This last weekend’s California Republican Party Biennial Organizational Convention in Sacramento was a busy one, and so it will take me a few blog posts to really talk about all of the aspects of it, and ultimately provide a comprehensive recap. As conventions go, it was a tremendously successful one. It was a extremely well attended by delegates and guests (this is especially notable due to the absence of hotly contested races for statewide party office) and the lineup of speakers was top notch.

Speakers at the convention included South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, Chairman of the National Republican Governors Association, former United National Ambassador John Bolton, gubernatorial hopefuls Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman, Lieutenant Governor candidate State Senator Jeff Denham and talked about potential candidate Bill Simon, U.S. Senate candidate Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and rumored potential candidates Carly Fiorina and Larry Elder, Congressmen Darrell Issa and Tom McClintock and also national conservative leader Bill Bennett. As I pen more from the… Read More

In case you missed the detailed links from today’s FR homepage, an excerpt from the SF Chron piece on the State GOP Convention:

The bad blood in the party was evident at the convention. On Saturday, state party vice chair Jon Fleischman angrily confronted state Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), who made his name last week by providing the critical vote needed to pass the state budget.

"You voted for the largest tax increase in the country when you could have stopped it," said Fleischman, publisher of the GOP Web site Flashreport.com, which had publicly pressured Republicans to stand united against the package of $15 billion in spending cuts and $12.5 billion in new taxes. "Good call."

As an open-mouthed crowd of Republicans looked on, Maldonado – viewed as a turncoat by some Republicans, and a hero by others – coolly shot back: "We need a… Read More

I have heard from way too many readers complaining that there isn’t a lot of blog coverage from the State GOP convention. So I wanted to first assure readers that we’ll to a comprehensive post-convention write up, but also wanted to remind you that I was running for re-election as Vice Chairman, South of the party (I was reelected, yeah!). But my focus has been on MY convention experience at the expense of YOURS. My apologies, and frankly almost all of the time my priorities are flipped (to your benefit). Not an excuse, but an explanation…… Read More

Yesterday, wedged squarely in between the legislature passing a tragic State budget package and the start of the California Republican Party’s bi-ennial organizational convention, came two loud-and-clear calls-to-action, in the form of emails, from two clearly differing interests.

The first, from the head of the State Party, with these headlines:

CRP Chairman Ron Nehring Blasts So-Called Open Primary Plan – Urges state party delegates to oppose measure that would polarize, regionalize political parties

The second message, from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, with the headline:

The Budget Is Done, Now It’s Time For Reform The content of the missives, you can read below. But, it’s the headlines that are so striking,or at least one of them.

The timing of Nehring’s clarion call clearly and rightfully means to fuel the collective energy of reeling and angry Republicans, just sold down the road by a few of their own, as they head into Sacramento for the convention weekend.

Whether the… Read More

From yesterday’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary…

Not So Golden

… Read More

Not everyone is aware of the fact that FR blogger and now infamous Assemblyman Anthony Adams is not only a member of the California State Assembly, but less than two months ago had been elected Chairman of the San Bernardino County GOP. This becomes significant in light of Adams’ decision a few days ago to bust his "no new taxes pledge" and vote for the largest single state-level tax increase in the history of America. As an Assemblyman, Anthony will largely have to answer to his constituents for that action as he seeks re-election. But as a Republican Party Chairman, he will have to justify maintaining his role at his party’s leader to the membership of the San Bernardino County Republican Party.

One of the members of that Central Committee, a rather high-profile one, has called for Adams to resign from his Chairmanship post — his legislative colleague, State Senator Bob Dutton.… Read More