Readers will know I have been covering progress of the Wisconsin Right to Life case, which challenges the portion of the McCain-Feingold campaign reform law that bans late election issue advocacy communications that mention a candidate’s name, but do not contain words of express advocacy of election/defeat of a candidate. The Supreme Court today decided the case in favor of the First Amendment rights of Wisconsin Right to Life, an Internal Revenue CodeSection 501(c)(4) advocacy organization. This is a big win for issue advocacy speech in an election context and couldchange the way issues are addressed in an election context — it means nonprofit advocacy groups funded by unions and corporations will not be afraid to speak out during election periods on the records of legislators and candidates, as long as their underlyingintent is to address their issue, and not the election itself. The court, in a 5-4 vote, upheld an appeals court ruling thatthe anti-abortion group should have been allowed to air ads during the final two months before the 2004 elections. The ads asked voters to contact the state’s two senators, Democrats… Read More

How the NYSun got it first, who knows. The Chronicle circles back from this morning and may have it first in CA:

Monday Update…as noted to me by Chron reporter Carla Marinucci, they did have it first. The NYSun was using the Chronicle as its source. State GOP’s finance chief resigns Top Republicans shocked by Aussie’s immigration troubles Michael Kamburowski, an Australian immigrant who served as the California Republican Party’s chief operating officer, abruptly resigned Sunday — less than 24 hours after The Chronicle reported he had been ordered deported in 2001, jailed in connection with the order, and now has a $5 million wrongful arrest lawsuit pending against U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials.

The move was reported in a terse statement late Sunday by state party chair Ron Nehring, who said the state GOP’s Operations Committee accepted Kamburowski’s resignation during a teleconference with him.

"We thank… Read More

I have gotten about twenty emails since Brandon’s post went up below asking me if it is true about the State GOP COO resigning today. It is true. I was informed of this by Chairman Ron Nehring. I’ll opine more in the morning.… Read More

9:45 pm Update: Check out the NY Sun article, including this:

"The California Republican Party Operations Committee held a teleconference tonight with Mike Kamburowski where he offered his resignation, which has been accepted," the state party chairman, Ronald Nehring, said in a terse statement e-mailed to The New York Sun. "We thank him for his service."———————————- Brandon has it below and Red County SB has it as well. I’ll assume that’s good as gold. I’ll look forward to an official statement from the CRP.

That said, Kamburowski’s resignation was not the noble thing to do. In this case, it is largely irrelevant whether the feds were wrong in any arrest or deportation procedure, even if thenow former COO was 100% in the right. From a PR standpoint, what is relevant is that it happened and that it wasn’t fully disclosed by the job applicant, thus calling into question his judgment.

The noble thing… Read More

I have had it confirmed from reliable sources that Michael Kamburowski, who was retained just months ago as the new COO of the California Republican Party has resigned. From what I hear, Kamburowski tendered his resignation after the San Francisco Chronicle broke the news this morning that he had been having "issues"regarding his immigration status, is party in a lawsuit against the government, that he briefly was a guest at a New York prison, etc.

Apparently Kamburowski never told his new employers about any of this.

I guess this leaves two questions to be answered:who will replace Kamburowski, and how much willthishurt newCRP Chairman/world travelerRon Nehring. Kamburowksi was a total outsider, never having worked in California, but had Nehring vouching for him to assauge concerns.… Read More

Let me make sure I have it straight. After I posted the other day on the CRP’s hiring of Chris Matthews as reported in the SF Chron, I get a PEED OFF phone call from a high-up in the State GOP (one that does not write for the FR), essentially ticked that I would repeat anything in that paper, and asking why I would purposely extend a prior week’s story into a second week.

My answer: Many were talking about it, but few were writing about it. It deserved to be vetted and debated. And, I believed I had provided both sides … and would let the commenters drive the debate. They did.

As well, I indicated to the caller that I would try to verify the story with them in the future.

Then, I get attacked on other blogs for a perceived defense of the CRP, when in actuality many wouldn’t have even known of the hirings without my FR posts.

Then, I put myself out there more by suggesting Ron Nehring wouldn’t hire anyone unqualified — citizen or not — and saying it looked like the CRP had followed the rules — like it or not about the non-citizens (which is also a legitimate debate).

Of course,… Read More

There is a major story in the San Francisco Chronicle that alleges that Michael Kamburowksi, the Chief Operating Officer of the California Republican Party, has had a storied history with his immigration status (he is an Austrailian citizen here in the U.S. with his green card), it seemed like I should at least comment on this briefly. Especially since it is being alleged that he was at one point imprisoned, and is currently litigating against our own federal government.

As an elected officer of the State GOP (Vice Chairman, South), there are personnel issues that may be involved and so I will keep my comments brief this morning.

Reading the Chronicle website at 7am this morning was the very first time that I had heard about any of these allegations. I have not yet been able to determine whether any or all of the allegations made in the story are true. I can assure all FR readers that Mr. Kamburowski did not disclose anything to the Board of Directors that even hinted at any of this stuff prior to our voting to retain his services.

I have reached out to CRP Chairman Ron Nehring to ascertain what he knew about any of this.… Read More

There is a major story in the San Francisco Chronicle that alleges that Michael Kamburowksi, the Chief Operating Officer of the California Republican Party, has had a storied history with his immigration status (he is an Austrailian citizen here in the U.S. with his green card), it seemed like I should at least comment on this briefly. Especially since it is being alleged that he was at one point imprisoned, and is currently litigating against our own federal government. As an elected officer of the State GOP (Vice Chairman, South), there are personnel issues that may be involved and so I will keep my comments brief this morning.

Reading the Chronicle website at 7am this morning was the very first time that I had heard about any of these allegations. I have not yet been able to determine whether any or all of the allegations made in the story are true. I can assure all FR readers that Mr. Kamburowski did not disclose anything to the Board of Directors that even hinted at any of this stuff prior to our voting to retain his services.

I have reached out to CRP Chairman Ron Nehring to ascertain what he knew about any of… Read More