"He really didn’t used to be this bad," I can imagine Congressman Kevin McCarthy telling his fellow Republican Congressman from California at their weekly delegation meeting, as they absorb the fact that despite the fact that every one of them opposed President Obama’s pork-laden "stimulus" boondoggle plan, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger embraced the plan, signing a letter encouraging its passage.

Perhaps the next time that Governor Schwarzenegger is in Washington, D.C., he can stop by a meeting of the California GOPers. Of course, if he did, I would recommend that freshman Representative Duncan D. Hunter stop by the office of his local Assemblyman, Joel Anderson, who can make him some name tags.

It seems remarkably shallow if the only criteria that Governor Schwarzenegger uses on judging this terrible legislation is "how much welfare do we get for California government" — we expect the Governor to apply more sophistication, and reject this kind of redistributive, Keynesian policy… Read More

So FR readers know that a judge ruled against State Controller John "Union Tool" Chiang and so Governor Schwarzenegger’s modest proposal to require all state employees to take off two days a month without pay (now referred to as "Furlough Fridays" apparently). My prediction is that this action foreshadows more extreme decisions by the Governor, such as significant layoffs. Logically, how do you shrink state expenditures down to the level of state income without reducing the state’s work force? I digress…

So all of the State’s Constitution Officers who are not famous movie stars all send whiny letters to Chiang, who packages them all up (see the attachment below) and puts a cover letter on them, and asks Judge Marlette to, in essence, exempt these 15,000 or so state civil servants from the furloughs that effects over 200,000 other state employees. (I would note, by the way, that I never saw these Constitutional Officeholders complain about any raises that were bargained with the Governor for their employees).

Without going… Read More

There is no larger region, geographically, within the California Republican Party than its Northern Region. It takes in vast amounts of the "north state" and includes 19 counties! The current Northern Vice Chairman of the CRP, Jerry Maltby, with whom I have served for almost two years, is term-limited out of his position (you can serve two 2-year terms).

There is a spirited contest to replace Jerry, between Placer County GOP Chairman Tom Hudson, and Lori Ann Cline, a former county chairman herself.

I can tell FR readers that I worked on recruiting Tom Hudson to run for this seat for well over a year, and when he finally jumped into the race, I was the first person to endorse his candidacy. Tom and I have known each other for two decades now, and worked side by side towards countless Republican victories in that time. In fact, going all of the way back to 1990, I played a leadership role in his election as Chairman of the California College Republicans, and Tom reciprocated helping me to be… Read More

Yesterday, my friend Patrick Dorinson penned a column for Fox and Hounds Daily, Inherit the Wind, where he questioned the wisdom and tactics of my decision to introduce a resolution for the upcoming California Republican Party convention that would officially censure any Republican legislator that voted to increase taxes. This resolution is accompanied by another one that praises Republican legislators for holding the line against higher taxes. It is my sincere hope that the first resolution gets tabled as being inapplicable, and that the party faithful will be able to unanimously pass the latter – a well deserved thank you to Republican legislators that have, despite a very high degree of pressure on them from the special interest groups that dominate the State Capitol, and the battering by the political left who occupy their high chairs on many of the editorial boards of major California newspapers.

In Patrick’s piece, he makes this statement: “Political parties exist to win elections. Period. That is… Read More

Sometimes you do something and you get an unexpected benefit. Kind of like if you go to the movies, and find out that it is "free poporn night" after you get there. You would still have bought the ticket to see the movie — but the free popcorn is an added bonus of sorts.

Being berated by the Sacramento Bee in an editorial this morning for being an "anti-tax jihadist" was the furthest thing on my mind when I quickly threw together a prospective resolution for the State GOP Covention to take any GOP legislators to task that vote for or support a tax increase as part of a solution to the state overspending-created fiscal deficit.

That said, the Bee’s hit piece on me is definitely the "free popcorn" in this deal. LOVE IT.

Even better is this outstanding commentary from San Diego Union Tribune Editorial Board Member Chris Reed, where he comes to my defense, and really lays out the Bee’s Editorial Board. It’s a MUST READ REED!

I should probably make it… Read More

Much is discussed about Michael Steele’s remarkable election as chair to the RNC. Already Republicans note his unswerving conservative views on the Chris Wallace FOX show last Sunday night. His election has electrified a rather lethargic and angst ridden political party. Last evening I accepted Steele’s invitation to join his 10 person Transition Team. We are meeting this week in DC.

The opportunities for conservatives… Read More

I have to tell you that there is a humorous irony with President Obama’s pronouncement that companies that want a government subsidy courtesy of the egregious and ill-advised $700 billion TARP bail out (and presumably companies who choose to feed at the taxpayer trough if/when Obama’s latest boondoggle "stimulus" package is signed) will have to limit the compensation of their top execs to 500k annually.

For those of us that oppose the bailouts, past, present and future — this is delicious. As far as I am concerned, the more disincentives we can provide for private companies to accept bail-outs the better.

To those who supported the taxpayer bailout of Wall Street, some good friends of the FR, well I suppose you think Obama’s decree is outrageous, because you think it is okay for private companies to get taxpayer subsidies.

Here is the problem. Normally, I shouldn’t CARE about what the CEO of Citibank makes. That should be a private matter — I guess if I were a stockholder, I might have some interest. But not really as long as my dividends are high.

But now we all have to care, because we… Read More

Much is discussed about Michael Steele’s remarkable election as chair to the RNC. Already Republicans note his unswerving conservative views on the Chris Wallace FOX show last Sunday night. His election has electrified a rather lethargic and angst ridden political party. Last evening I accepted Steele’s invitation to join his 10 person Transition Team. We are meeting this week in DC.

The opportunities for conservatives… Read More