Last Friday at a meeting in Orange County, the Board of Directors of the California Republican Party voted to affirm current party rules that state that you must be registered as a Republican in order to cast a ballot in California’s Presidential Primary this coming February.

As many FR readers know, last February I was elected by CRP delegates in the southern part of California to serve as their regional Vice Chairman on the Party’s Board of Directors. Along with my board colleague, Vice Chairman Tom Del Becarro, we jointly introduced a successful, one sentence resolution opposing any change in our current rules.

My decision to co-author this important statement from our Board came in light of news from National Committeeman Tim Morgan that if this current rule were to change, and non-Republicans were allowed to vote in the Presidential primary, it would likely not cost California any delegates (even though a change at the upcoming September convention would be after the deadline for states to submit their delegate selection process to the RNC).

**There is more –… Read More

Last Friday at a meeting in Orange County, the Board of Directors of the California Republican Party voted to affirm current party rules that state that you must be registered as a Republican in order to cast a ballot in California’s Presidential Primary this coming February.

As many FR readers know, last February I was elected by CRP delegates in the southern part of California to serve as their regional Vice Chairman on the Party’s Board of Directors. Along with my board colleague, Vice Chairman Tom Del Becarro, we jointly introduced a successful, one sentence resolution opposing any change in our current rules.

My decision to co-author this important statement from our Board came in light of news from National Committeeman Tim Morgan that if this current rule were to change, and non-Republicans were allowed to vote in the Presidential primary, it would likely not cost California any delegates (even though a change at the upcoming September convention would be after the deadline for states to submit their delegate selection process to the RNC).… Read More

As I said in my commentary this morning, I invite all of my colleagues on the CRP Board to send in their thoughts on our vote to oppose any change in CRP Rules to allow non-Republicans to vote in our Presidential primary. I have input from two others so far, Vice Chairman Tom Del Becarro who co-authored the resolution with me, and National Committeeman Tim Morgan who voted against the motion:

TOM DEL BECARRO It would seem a rather obvious point. Registered Republicans should choose their party nominee for the upcoming Presidential election. However, there are some in the California Republican Party that favor changing our current rules to allow those registered as “decline to states” to vote in our primary to choose our… Read More

One of the most remarkable women today is former Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Her biography is an unrelenting page turner.Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2007, Free Press.

Ali is one courageous author, witness and political leader to confront the Cancer within Islam.

All great religions and ideologies always contain seeds of its own destruction. Islam is no exception. Given that America is one of the most tolerant societies is recorded history, many of our citizens still cannot understand the violent and extreme phenomena called Radical Islam.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells the story of the growth of the Radical Cancer in her homeland Somalia. Her father was a revolutionary working against the Marxists who seized Somalia in the early 80’s. American’s most unsuccessful President, the fall of Somalia waspart of Carter’s legacy when the last gasps of the Soviet conquests extended from Afghanistan, Angola, Cuba, Nicaragua, Grenada and many… Read More

Earlier, I posted a report on the entrance of wealthy magazine publishing baron Russ Warner into the 2008 race for the 26th Congressional District Democratic Party primary, a seat held by veteran Republican Congressman David Dreier. Read it here.Armed with endorsements from prominent DC Democrats, it seemed as if this once-failed Congressional candidate was in better shape heading into the upcoming election cycle. (In 2006, Warner was the heavily-favored candidate leading up to Primary Election Day, yet he saw his Congressional hopes shattered after a shock defeat to an under-funded perennial candidate, Cynthia Matthews. Well, it seems as if another failed 2006 Democratic primary candidate will be running. Meet Hoyt Hilsman, a … Read More

Earlier, I posted a report on the entrance of wealthy magazine publishing baron Russ Warner into the 2008 race for the 26th Congressional District Democratic Party primary, a seat held by veteran Republican Congressman David Dreier. Read it here.Armed with endorsements from prominent DC Democrats, it seemed as if this once-failed Congressional candidate was in better shape heading into the upcoming election cycle. (In 2006, Warner was the heavily-favored candidate leading up to Primary Election Day, yet he saw his Congressional hopes shattered after a shock defeat to an under-funded perennial candidate, Cynthia Matthews. Well, it seems as if another failed 2006 Democratic primary candidate will be running. Meet Hoyt Hilsman, a … Read More

Our Governor (pictured with Florida Governor Charlie Crist) is off making headlines in the Sunshine State today:

Associated Press: Schwarzenegger, Crist say people not politics should come first Schwarzenegger: States need to push Washington on climate change Florida News Press: Schwarzenegger adds muscle to Crist cause Orlando Sentinal: Schwarzenegger steals show at climate summit… Read More

Rich Hasen of Loyola Law School reports that yesterday, Wisconsin Right to Life ("WRTL"), the recent winner of a U.S. Supreme Court victory gutting the "soft money" prohibitions of the McCain-Feingold law regulating late campaign issue ads, asked the district court in the same case (still alive because of outstanding issues to be cleared up after the Supreme Court’s ruling), to reconsider its earlier decision to allow Sen. McCain and fellow campaign finance "reform" activists to formally intervene in the case. As background, when the Supreme Court ruled,it also set down some strict guidelines on the conduct of such cases in the future to assure that they are not burdensome to First Amendment rights. WRTL now argues it not only wants those rules applied to some other ads that they did in 2006, but also that it wants the district court to apply the new Supreme Court guidelines to kick McCain out of the rest of the case. – and all future such cases.

According to Hasen, Jim Bopp, lead counsel for WRTL, stated: "The Supreme Court has said there can be no more of the burdensome, complex, intrusive, litigation that WRTL… Read More