Frankly, I have been pretty impressed with Democrat Senator Lou Correa in this year’s budget stand-off. While every other Democrat Senator has had no problem showing a willingness to compound the financial woes by punishing California taxpayers with more taxes, Correa, who campaigned rather overtly as a "different kind of Democrat" and on a pledge to voters that he would oppose new taxes, has not gone along with his socialist-leaning colleagues. On a recent budget vote, which included a massive sales tax increase, Correa refused to go along, abstaining and withholding his vote.

That said, it is possible that my positive thoughts about Correa in this budget stand-off may be misplaced, after all. Yesterday, the Orange County Senator voted not once, but twice against motions to allow for hearings on a bill by Republican Senator Jeff Denham to provide vital services to Californian’s most vulnerable customers of government. Most recently, yesterday Senator Jim Battin made a motion to have a hearing on the bill, and Correa… Read More

It’s been non-stop action for the California Delegation since Saturday evening here in St. Paul. The convention has scaled back out of respect for the crisis on the Gulf Coast; and it’s entirely appropriate to focus our nation’s attention on the trials of our fellow citizens at this time. But now that the imminent danger has passed, delegates are also taking care of the important business of nominating the team we believe is best qualified to lead our nation for the next four years.

Jon and Jill have posted about some of their experiences already—and with so much taking place at a national political convention, there’s a lot to cover. Yesterday the delegation heard from former Governor Pete Wilson who delivered a stirring speech about the socialist policies of Barack Obama. What few of Obama’s acolytes fail to understand is that for all his charisma and teleprompter-eloquence, the junior senator from Illinois wants to be President of the United States, not president of the West Wing television show.

We also heard a moving presentation from American hero Captain Jerry Coffee, a Vietnam War prisoner. His compelling story about 7 years in a Vietnamese… Read More

Looks like we are "back on" here in Minneapolis. We’ve been told that we’ll have a "normal" convention evening — President Bush will speak, as will Rudy Giuliani and others. I think that our VEEP nominee, Sarah Palin, will also speak this evening. We’ll bring you more coverage on how that all goes — though be sure to watch some of the coverage on tv. Should be good stuff.

In case you are wondering why we love California — it’s raining cats and dogs here. The upside — all of the lame eco-terrorist protesters are stuck in the rain.… Read More

Right now we are in the midst of the two weeks that comprise the quadrennial national conventions of both parties. These events will suck up all the political wind until the gavel falls to close the Republican convention in Minneapolis. Congress goes back into session on September 8th, which will begin a 3 week sprint until we go home again to campaign for the November elections. By the way, this is a normal recess date particularly during presidential election years.

So, what’s going to be on the agenda for those 3 weeks? Not too much. The House could probably pass some stuff but the Senate will be the choke point. Since I have been in Congress, I have learned why so many things pass the House and then don’t pass or are never taken up in the Senate, regardless of which party is in charge of either house. First of all, in order to become law, all bills must pass both the Senate and the House. That means that Senators must do the same work to pass the same number of bills that we do. But there are only 100 of them and there are 435 of us. This means, for example, that although I am on 2 committees (many House members serve on only one), Senators usually serve on… Read More

Kevin Yamamura has the story over at the Sacramento Bee.

Wilson is like a bottle of fine wine. As he ages he only gets better and better.… Read More

If you looked for the Eiland family, part of the California delegation, at today’s truncated convention session — you wouldn’t have found them. They ended up leaving to go to a local Irish pub to look for the most coveted and non-existant commodities at the Excel Center — food and beverage. Other than the finger food provided in the elite RNC members-only suite, there was none to be had. I don’t mean to make this the main point of a blog on the opening session of the convention. But…

By mid-way through the session, the circular walkway around the perimeter of the arena was packed with ravenous, parahna-like delegates, looking for anything to eat. The talk was that food intentended for delegates and convention goers had been diverted to the gulf coast.

I will always remember the look of relief on the face of Mindy Fletcher when incoming California RNC Committeeman Shawn Steel pinched a Diet Coke for her from the coveted and guarded RNC members-only suite.

At some point, towards the end of the session, someone wheeled out boxes of potato chips and chocolate chip cookies. If you can imagine a coy fish pond… Read More

I’ve just returned from the first delegation meeting at the Bloomington Sheraton Hotel, the “home base” for the California Delegation to the Republican National Convention. Over breakfast, our delegation, many hundreds strong, was given an orientation of the week – which is to say that we all found out that everything is in flux. Right now, it is unclear how Hurricane Gustav is going to impact the rest of our week, but for today, we will be traveling by bus to the convention hall to take care of only the “must do” actions required under the RNC rules in order to nominate Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin as our official GOP ticket for the November election.

The Chairman of the delegation is former California Secretary of State Bill Jones (as is appropriate since he was a McCain guy back in 2000, and serves as his State Chairman for California this year). Jones welcomed the delegates, as did… Read More

The Convention is now underway, and while I could write pages on what I’ve seen, heard, and learned, I’ve decided to give you all a pictorial report for Day One, because it’s almost 1 a.m. and I still have more emails to answer. (:

Here you see the California Delegation sign with "Country First" in the background. I love that slogan; it really makes you think about what politics is supposed to be…a way to serve our country. With Hurricane Gustav blowing in, and two more storms behind it, the California Delegation worked with the American Red Cross to set up a variety of ways for delegates to donate money, hotel points, frequent flier miles, and a number of other ways suggested on www.redcross.org. It’s been pretty cool to see delegates eager to help and serve fellow Americans.

… Read More