In no particular order, the interesting news and gossip of the day. Apologies for being "Post-heavy" today but my Roll Call and Politico haven’t arrived yet:

Dana Milbank in The Washignton Post’s page two political column writes about the connection my two year old made a few weeks back between Bob the Builder and Sen. Obama

Elsewhere in The Post, Steve Mufson reports on the (gasp) supply-demand relationship between oil supplies and gas prices (double gasp!). This on the heels of a report a few days back noting the (unintended or otherwise) consequences of expanding corn- and palm oil tree-based ethanol production and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Dead… Read More

It’s the fall of 2006, and the midst of a very intense General Election here in California. With a host of down-ticket races providing some modest distraction, the attention of those driving the California Republican Party Victory ’06 program are focused relentlessly on the big prize, re-electing Arnold Schwarzenegger to a full four-year term as Governor of California. At the height of the effort, a decision was made by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, his campaign manager Steve Schmidt, and then State-GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim that is still having reverberations today.

You see, while the Governor’s re-election campaign was going well, and his numbers were looking solid, the Victory Program was rapidly running out of money heading into the final month — a month of critical importance to be up with television advertising. Then came the big decision (the Governor always thinks BIG) — to literally "bet the bank" and have the State GOP take out a THREE MILLION DOLLAR LOAN from a friendly contributor’s company, thus providing the necessary injection of cash into the CRP coffers to run a full campaign to the end. Chairman… Read More

Over the weekend, this FlashReport commentary evoked quite a bit of controversy and response. After an in-depth analysis of the RNC’s fundraising numbers, the FlashReport revealed that the RNC has been performing a "cashectomy" on California Republicans. In 2006, the RNC gave California just $204,101 out of the $37.5 million spent by the RNC in state party support. California ’s share was less than ½ of 1% of the RNC’s total state support, while Golden State donors gave over $12.9 million to the RNC.

Apparently there are some that dispute my research, saying that California received over $6.25 million in 2006. In order to make this true, one would have to look not at the RNC, but to the National Republican Congressional Committee, a separate organization.

Before we delve into the nitty-gritty, let me first offer this disclaimer. McCain-Feingold’s draconian campaign finance restrictions make it much harder for political parties to coordinate expenditures. It would be illegal for the RNC to transfer funds and… Read More

Today the Governor announced some cost savings measures that include an immediate hiring freeze for state government. Estimated savings, according to the Governor, could reach $100 million. Good for the Governor — every little bit helps.

That having been said, to put the magnitute of our $15 billion (and growing) shortfall into perspective, we’d have to have this hiring freeze in place until 2158 to deal with the shortfall, not factoring in inflation, which would add decades onto that year.

The Governor has called on the legislature to make more cuts. The billion in cuts earlier in the week were a good start, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg…… Read More

Today, Governor Schwarzenegger is officially going on record against Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata’s outrageous and politically motivated recall drive to remove Republican State Senator Jeff Denham from office. Denham’s “crime? – he voted against a state budget that history has proven to have contained far more spending than it should have.”… Read More

The Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation has launched The New Nixon Blog:

With an eye on the upcoming Presidential elections and the nation’s dramatically growing interest in politics and government, the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation will introduce its own blog, The New Nixon, at 9:00 am on Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 18. Noted commentators including Hugh Hewitt, KRLA talk show host and former White House staffer; Jack J. Pitney, Claremont McKenna College Professor of American Politics; and John H. Taylor, executive director of the Nixon Foundation, will be among the inaugural bloggers.

It’s being run by Red County‘s own Jonathan Constantine, who has kindly invited me to be a contributor, as well. Be sure to add it to your bookmarks or RSS feed.… Read More

I have had the great privilege of representing Riverside County for 14 years – first in the Assembly and now in the Senate.

I just can’t express here well enough how honored and grateful I am to have had the opportunity to serve the people of the 37th Senate District. It’s been a once in a lifetime job – and I’m glad I had the opportunity to be involved.

I take my job and mypolitical beliefsvery seriously and I thought long and hard before I endorsed in my Senate seat.

After all, I am a voter in SD 37 and I want a conservative Republican I can always count on to represent me in the Senate. Someone I can trust to do the right thing.

Russ Bogh is that man. Yesterday, I stood with Russ and endorsed him for my seat. I’m very comfortable with my decision and know he’ll do a great job. Russ is a steady, solid conservative vote.

Here’smy statement we gave to the… Read More

Update: The Senate bill, SB 8xxx,concerning the RV’s, aircraft, and boats use tax, did come up as "promised" and was defeated on the Assembly floor again, this timein it’s Senate iteration. It received less "aye" votes than last week, 47, where it had 49 before. The Assembly today [Friday, Feb 15] passed 6 bills that in some way addressed the mid-year budget shortfall under the emergency declaration by the Guv. Disappointingly, much of it was borrowing or putting off making payments, but there was also contained in the bills some reduced mid-budget year spending. It is a bit of progress towards our huge challenge budget-wise the rest of the year. All the bills passed with very strong bipartisan support, all of them receiving at least 70 votes if my memory serves.

What did not happen was the proposal to affect owners of aircraft, RV’s and boats with a plan to expand the time from 90 days to one year that the vessel would have to remain out of state to not be taxed as a new vessel or other technical reasons,etc. Some look at it as closing a loophole, others as a… Read More