I’ve heard, like others, of a reputed "deal" on the State budget struck by Big Five negotiators, to be announced Monday. If it includes new taxes and fees, it will be an outrage, and the final nail in the coffin of a State Republican Party dying a slow death for 20 years. The tax issue is all this Party has left, and to cede it to a bunch of leftists, in the middle of a financial crisis, would be monumentally stupid.

But Mike, we need more revenues, you say. No we don’t. If you believe that, then you believe taxes are too low right now, and that the economy can withstand new taxes and fees. Anyone accepting either premise is either completely ignorant, or worse, intellectually defective.

Assembly leader Mike Villines and Senate leader Dave Cogdill have held out too long and worked too hard to accept a compromise. Eight years of compromise is precisely what put us here in the first place, and another compromise will plunge a… Read More

I love politics. Every once in a while you get these "say what?" moments, where you turn your head and actually say to the person next to you, "did you just see that?"

Earlier today, we reported that Tom Hudson had filed a complaint against Meg Whitman with the FPPC (you can see that a couple of blog posts down).

Just off of the transom is the press release below, sent out about an hour ago, announcing that Steve Poizner has endorsed Tom Hudson in his bid for party office.

That’s hardball politics.

POIZNER ENDORSES TOM HUDSON FOR NORTHERN VICE CHAIRMAN

Senator Dave Cox also Joins the Team

Insurance Commissioner and candidate for Governor Steve Poizner has added his full support to the growing campaign for Tom Hudson for Northern Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party. State Senator Dave Cox has endorsed Hudson as… Read More

UPDATE: 6:30am – Reliable sources tell us that former Governor Pete Wilson will be announced as Whitman’s Campaign Chairman.

ORIGINAL POST: 12:01am… Deborah Perry Piscione, CEO of BettyConfidential.com spoke with Meg Whitman over the weekend, who told her that she would announce her campaign for California Governor today, Monday, on her campaign website. Check it out here. Her local papers – the Chronicle and the Mercury News, heck, the FlashReport — we all got scooped in terms of getting the official word from the candidate herself, and getting it up online.

Well, I guess it’s off to the races sometime today!… Read More

The Chronicle’s Matier and Ross say there is a budget deal to be announced today. There isn’t.… Read More

The Whitman for Governor Campaign has released the following list of campaign team members:

Meg Whitman for Governor 2010 Exploratory Committee Team Leadership Team

Jeff Randle – Senior Advisor Jeff Randle is one of California’s most respected political strategists. He has played a leadership role in each of the last four victorious California Republican gubernatorial campaigns, including both of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s victories and both of Governor Pete Wilson’s campaigns. Randle has been Meg’s top political advisor since the summer 2007 and helped build the Whitman team.… Read More

Late last week, Congressman Campbell shared that he was undergoing major surgery….

Meg Whitman has opened an exploratory committee for Governor — no surprise. I just got word on my PDA – I’m out of the office. More to follow — though I can tell you her Campaign Chairman, as I reported earlier, is former Governor Pete Wilson. Some of her Co-Chairs include Congressman Kevin McCarthy, Congresswoman Mary Bono-Mack, State Senator Tony Strickland, and Assemblymembers Nathan Fletcher and Sharon Runner. More later if someone doesn’t beat me to it.… Read More

In the whirlwind that followed the qualification of the recall election of 2003, I was faced with a number of choices. My choice for Governor, Darrell Issa decided to drop out of the race, after qualifying the recall. Tom McClintock, who is a committed and principled conservative, did not have the horses (so to speak) to win, and I was concerned with the entry of Cruz Bustamante into the Governor’s race. Conservatives started the recall. We couldn’t hand the seat to Bustamante, who would give us another seven years of Davis without the brakes on liberalism. Schwarzenegger appeared the only choice.

So I met with him, in a hotel room in the Mission Inn in Riverside, and I asked him a number of questions. One of those questions was how he would approach the question of life. He said California was "a pro-choice state" and that being pro-life was political suicide. He "agreed with the principles of the pro-life" movement, after all, he said, "I am Catholic" but there was "nothing a Governor could do about the issues of life." He followed up saying "You will like the judges I appoint. They will be… Read More