It’s financial disclosure time–and you thought FPPC Form 700 season was tough! The Washington Post and Politico have coverage of the statements, outlining members worth and liabilities, here, here and here. California member Doolittle is mentioned in both because the form shows contributions to his legal defense fund.

The digging has begun, and members of the House are answering questions about their mortgages, noted in today’s Roll Call (sadly, despite a site re-vamp, subscription still required). In a related note, House conservative Rep Jeb Hensarling has called for hearings to determine the impact of discounted rates given to Representatives and Senators on mortgages from Countrywide. Here and here.

Politico looks at the politics of immigration and also at the "budgets" of key members,… Read More

It’s easy for political pundits and campaign operatives to Wednesday morning quarterback a campaign’s effort. More often than not, this evaluation process means unfair praise for the winners and excessive blame for the losers. That’s why I wanted to take a moment- to recognize the stand-out campaign manager of the cycle. The best campaign manager doesn’t mean the best campaign. It doesn’t even mean that you won the race. The best campaign manager means the person who best executed the X’s and O’s of a ground campaign. The 2008 Primary’s Campaign Manager of the Cycle is Barrett Tetlow. Barrett is an experienced campaign operative, who arguably managed the primary’s best ground effort. The Larry Dick campaign was always walking precincts and calling voters. They walked every house several times over in an “unwalkable” district and chased them with a phone call. … Read More

In my write up of last Friday’s big Orange County GOP fundraising dinner, I mentioned that Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit would undoubtedly follow with some thoughts on the dinner. You can read them all here, though below I have excerpted the part of his column where he gives a stinging assessment of the performance of Florida Governor Charlie Crist.

Crist. Oy. Brought in as the keynote speaker because he’s on the short list of potential McCain running mates, his performance Friday night truly did help his party. By showing unequivocally he would be a complete disaster for the GOP – the worst running mate since Dan Quayle.

Mr. Crist looks great: – silver hair, ragged shirt, baggy pa— … wait, that’s Mr. Bojangles; let’s try again: silver hair, warm smile, great tan, perfectly tailored suit of clothes, decent teeth. It’s when he uses his… Read More

Just off the transom — from State Senator Bob Dutton, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee…

Senate Republicans Announce Website to Keep Taxpayers Updated on Latest Budget News On Friday, Senate Republicans launched a new website to track the latest news and developments on the 2008-2009 budget crisis. It should be a one-stop shop for taxpayers to stay informed about the budget debate. The multi-media site will serve as a clearing-house for budget-related news, policy … Read More

Today California Congressman Kevin McCarthy rang the opening bell for the stock market.

You can see the video here.… Read More

There can’t possibly be anything more frustrating than being one of the two Republicans who serve on the State Budget Conference Committee. The reason for this is that even though California voters long ago placed a two-thirds vote requirement to pass a state budget, this important clause intended to prevent a tyranny of the majority is ignored during the process where legislators actually go through the budget proposals. Or, to put it more simply, legislative Democrats in the Senate and in the Assembly use a majority-vote threshold in their Budget Subcommittee meetings, and in the case of the Budget Conference Committee, the Committee itself is stacked with a 2-1 advantage of Democrats to Republicans (which does not mirror the makeup of either house where Republicans have more than 1/3 of the seats). The result, predictably, is that Republicans are pretty much left out of the process at this stage, able to vocalize concerns about overspending, but lacking the votes on the Conference Committee to do anything about it.

Needless to say, this means that in terms of… Read More

There can’t possibly be anything more frustrating than being one of the two Republicans who serve on the State Budget Conference Committee. The reason for this is that even though California voters long ago placed a two-thirds vote requirement to pass a state budget, this important clause intended to prevent a tyranny of the majority is ignored during the process where legislators actually go through the budget proposals. Or, to put it more simply, legislative Democrats in the Senate and in the Assembly use a majority-vote threshold in their Budget Subcommittee meetings, and in the case of the Budget Conference Committee, the Committee itself is stacked with a 2-1 advantage of Democrats to Republicans (which does not mirror the makeup of either house where Republicans have more than 1/3 of the seats). The result, predictably, is that Republicans are pretty much left out of the process at this stage, able to vocalize concerns about overspending, but lacking the votes on the Conference Committee to do anything about it.

Needless to say, this means that in terms of Democrat and Republican… Read More

Here are a few choice items to read on this quiet Father’s Day, when you aren’t watching to see if Tiger Woods can hold his one-stroke lead going into the final day of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, or wincing tonight as we see if the Lakers can at least not end their season on home turf…

Here is State GOP Vice Chairman Doug Boyd’s take-away from a recent speech by Gov. Crist of FL in Orange County and the reaction from nearly a thousand GOPers to Crist’s reference to Arnold… on Red County’s LA Blog… Straight from Congressman John Campbell’s Green Eyeshade Blog – Read it and weep, as Jerry Lewis’ (R-CA) former top staffer lays out the virtual quid-pro-quo on earmarks. Last week, Americans for Prosperity’s California Chapter hosted a rally on the State Capitol steps against tax increases – after which members of AFP carried piles of petitions in to State … Read More