At 10:30 am this morning, Congress John Doolittle announced that he would not be seeking re-election in 2008. We wish him well. Representative John T. Doolittle Remarks January 10, 2008

Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you very much for being with Julie and me this morning. I am honored to represent such a great state and district in the 110th Session of the US House of Representatives. I plan to complete my term and finish my congressional service at the conclusion of this Congress. This circumstance reminds me of a passage in the 2nd letter of St. Paul to Timothy; “The time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

My wife, Julie, and I have made this decision after much prayer and deliberation. It was not my initial intent to retire, and I fully expected and planned to run again right up until very recently. But it distilled upon us that we were ready for a change after spending almost our entire married lives with me in public… Read More

With the announcement of John Doolittle’s retirement comes more bad news for Nancy Pelosi and House democrats. Dean Andal, challenger to vulnerable democrat Jerry McNerney has received the endorsement of the Club for Growth which will guarantee an even heavier flow of financial resources into the 11th Congressional District.

Andal, in his time in the State Assembly and on the Board of Equalization, has crafted a strong pro-taxpayer record in favor of lower taxes and cutting wasteful government spending. Just this week, Andal revealed at a meeting of the South San Joaquin Republican Club that he had raised over a half million dollars already for this race and is running hard on the economic issues of taxes and cutting wasteful spending.

Club for Growth President Pat Toomey had this to say about the race in his release announcing the Club’s support for Andal:

"Dean Andal has an impressive record on economic issues with the potential to be a superstar if elected to Congress. His principled fight against wasteful government spending and his tireless work on behalf of taxpayers will be a vast improvement over Rep. McNerney. While this… Read More

Later today, the Governor is going to unveil is proposed 2007-2008 budget. Based on the portions of his State of the State Address from earlier in the week, it sounds like a budget proposal that our readers will like.

Although the State of the State left us in a doubt as to the Governor’s reasons for proposing pretty heavy cuts in state government (we here at the FR feel that significant cuts in state government levels would be a good thing whether the state had enough tax income or not — because we also think that taxes are too high in the Golden State), we are pleased that for very pragmatic reasons, the Governor has pulled out his red pen.

In order to spend more time heaping anticipated praise on the Governor’s proposed budget, I thought I would take a little bit of time to focus some sharp criticism on one small part of the Governor’s plan — a proposal to tax property insurance premiums for every policy, residential and commerical in the state. This proposal would increase the size of state government by over a hundred million bucks a year, said moneys to go towards helping the state’s efforts to fight… Read More

Later today, the Governor is going to unveil is proposed 2007-2008 budget. Based on the portions of his State of the State Address from earlier in the week, it sounds like a budget proposal that our readers will like.

Although the State of the State left us in a doubt as to the Governor’s reasons for proposing pretty heavy cuts in state government (we here at the FR feel that significant cuts in state government levels would be a good thing whether the state had enough tax income or not — because we also think that taxes are too high in the Golden State), we are pleased that for very pragmatic reasons, the Governor has pulled out his red pen.

In order to spend more time heaping anticipated praise on the Governor’s proposed budget, I thought I would take a little bit of time to focus some sharp criticism on one small part of the Governor’s plan — a proposal to tax property insurance premiums for every policy, residential and commerical in the state. This proposal would increase the size of state government by over a hundred million bucks a year, said moneys to go towards helping the state’s efforts to fight… Read More

UPDATE: 845am – Associated Press is also now carrying this story. Congressman John Doolittle is holding a press conference at 10:30 a.m. this morning, and it has been widely speculated that he will be announcing his retirement from Congress at the end of the year.

That said, David Drucker over at Roll Call has decided to "call this one early" through sources, with the story that Doolittle, is in fact, hanging up his political shoes.

Here is the story: California Source: Doolittle to Announce Retirement Today Thursday, Jan. 10,… Read More

Former State Controller Houston I Flournoy was one of my instructors at USC. He was a statesman and a scholar.

He believed he was a Nixon pardon away from being Governor.

Flournoy passed away on Monday.

Fight On!

My prayers are with his family.… Read More

I spoke yesterday with Jackie Kucinich, a reporter with The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C. She covers Congressional races, and has an eye trained, with everyone else, on California’s 4th District, where we should hear any time now whether John Doolittle is going to announce retirement plans.

She quotes me quite a bit in this article which talks about an interesting player in this scenario — former Congressman Richard Pombo.

It’s worth a read.

Oh, and for the curious — Jackie is, in fact, the daughter of Democrat Presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich. Despite that, Jackie seems pretty squared away.… Read More

UPDATE 1:55 PM: WHAT THE BUCK? I thought I would add another interesting aside (which I am sure my friend Martin Wisckol at the Orange County Register’s Total Buzz blog will enjoy) — the one name that I thought for sure would appear as a delegate for Mike Huckabee is Orange County’s Buck Johns. Buck, who hails from Arkansas, held a huge event for Huckabee at his home and is quite enthusiastic about Huck. Fascinating.

OK – thanks to Democrat Secretary of State Debra Bowen, all of the submitted delegate lists for the GOP Presidential candidates are available on the SoS website here.

I note with some interest that California "Favorite Son" candidate Duncan Hunter did not even both to submit a delegate list, even to name three prospective delegates should he win his own House seat. A strong indicator that he is in the process of ending his ersatz candidacy.

Heck, even Alan Keyes, whom I frankly forgot was "running" for President, submitted seven prospective… Read More