Congressman Kevin McCarthy, who is quoted towards the end of this story from the Politico website, is 100% correct. I’ve bolded his quotes.

Redistricting and Blade Running By David Mark, The Politico In a move aimed at cementing House Democrats’ newly minted majority, California politicians are walking a tightrope on the volatile topic of redistricting. Under pressure from Washington, they are trying to keep their power to draw congressional district lines, while appearing to support good-government efforts to move redistricting out of politics. … Read More

Apparently the fun of election night – the last day flurry of GOTV leading up to the closing of the polls, a quick shower and change of clothes and rushing to the election eve party in time to catch the first returns about a half hour after the polls close, then watching returns come in for the next couple of hours, and then hearing the victory and concession speeches, all before midnight – is something I’ll have to tell the young people in Riverside County about, because our Registrar of Voters can’t seem to get it together.

Yesterday, there was a special election in Desert Hot Springs. A whopping 1,604 people voted, 1,025 by absentee ballot. Yet, the absentee results were not on the website by 10 PM, and the final results werereleased sometime after I turned in at 11:30PM – hey, I have a 3 year old!.

Scott Matos won the counil seat by 10%, Measure A lost 53% to 47% for those following the Desert Hot Springs saga.

Whatever excuse is mouthed is not acceptable since this same problem has existed in the last 3 elections. Perhaps the registrar has an interest in a newspaper and wants to make us all read it the next… Read More

Jason Roe, formerly the Washington, D.C. "Beltway" Correspondent for this website, has just shared with me that he has taken on a new challenge in life — he is leaving his position of Chief of Staff to Florida Congressman Tom Feeney (one of the most articulate, conservative leaders among House GOPers) to assume new responsibilities as the Deputy Campaign Manager for the Mitt Romney for President campaign.

This is great news for Jason, of course, as it represents yet another opportunity (his career has been full of them) to expand his horizons, and learn new things. It is also great news for Governor Romney. I have known Jason for a lot of years now, and seldom do you meet someone who is able to blend strong moral character, commitment to principle, and political sophistication the way that he does.

The other winner in this process is… California! Jason spent many years out here, and, in fact, is a former Executive Director of the San Diego County Republican Party. He also served, for… Read More

It is being reporting in the Washington Times today by FR friend and veteran reporter Ralph Hallow that the McCain for President Campaign, through former California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim, is advocating (behind the scenes) for the California Republican Party to change its existing Rules, which currently require that you must be a registered Republican to vote in the upcoming Presidential primary. According to the Times’ story, Sundheim supports allowing non-GOPers (specifically independent voters) to be able to cast ballots in the GOP primary.

Such a change is not supported by Sundheim’s successor, newly elected California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, who told me this morning, “We just completed our last state convention before the RNC’s June deadline for states to submit their delegate selection rules. Those rules are set as far as I’m concerned. Candidates should focus their efforts on persuading California Republicans they are the most qualified to provide the vision and leadership to carry the party’s banner in 2008.”

This morning I had a chat with a senior official with the McCain campaign back East,… Read More

It is being reporting in the Washington Times today by FR friend and veteran reporter Ralph Hallow that the McCain for President Campaign, through former California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim, is advocating (behind the scenes) for the California Republican Party to change its existing Rules, which currently require that you must be a registered Republican to vote in the upcoming Presidential primary. According to the Times’ story, Sundheim supports allowing non-GOPers (specifically independent voters) to be able to cast ballots in the GOP primary.

Such a change is not supported by Sundheim’s successor, newly elected California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, who told me this morning, “We just completed our last state convention before the RNC’s June deadline for states to submit their delegate selection rules. Those rules are set as far as I’m concerned. Candidates should focus their efforts on persuading California Republicans they are the most qualified to provide the vision and leadership to carry the party’s banner in 2008.”

This morning I had a chat with a senior official with the McCain campaign back East,… Read More

GOP strategist Patrick Ruffini (a Giuliani partisan), blogging Monday on Hugh Hewitt’s TownHall site, labeled the FlashReport one of the best places to go for an ’08 Presidential fix. In fact, he called it THE state website for California:

At the state level, Iowa leads the way with Caucus Cooler and Krusty Konservative. South Carolina has the Daily Chaser. In the critical GigaTuesday state of California, CRP vice chairman Jon Fleischman’s Flash Report does a great job of carpet-bombing Left coast liberalism. Read the entire post here.… Read More

Over the course of the last few months, I have had the great privilege of meeting with hundreds of folks, each advocating one position or another. In the lingo of the biz: meet & greets. These encounters typically are cordial affairs, and are designed to familiarize the member (that would be me) with particular issues and to establish working relationships. All that to say, I get paid by the good folks of California to listen, learn, and often, debate the merits of thousands of concerns.

More interestingly than the fact that these meetings occur may be the fact that so many of them are with groups and individuals from the Left. These meetings tend to go something like this:

Lefty: We are so happy to have you here in Sacramento. Congratulations. Me: Thanks. It’s a real honor to be here. So what’s on your mind? Lefty: We just wanted to talk to you about [fill in the blank] Me: That’s great that you are working on that problem, but what should government do about it?

And this is the point where more money is requested and/or, more governmental intrusion.

When I raise the obvious concern that… Read More

Last night, the Bay Area Chapter of CWLA (California Women’s Leadership Association) hosted Assembly Leader Mike Villines at their annual meeting in the posh Banker’s Club of San Francisco. As the sun set over the Bay, audience members were treated to a panoramic view of the most gorgeous city in the world (no bias on my part), and the Leader’s speech entitled “Straight Talk from the Capitol.” Last year, Assemblyman Villines authored the workplace flexibility bill, which would give non-union workers the same right to a four day, ten hour day work week that union members can currently negotiate. Several CWLA members, including yours truly, testified in committee alongside Cal Chamber, but not surprisingly, the Democratic legislators whose bread and butter comes from unions did not allow the bill onto the floor.

This was the Leader’s first Bay Area appearance, and from start to finish, he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. Just before he came onstage, the annual officer election took place for… Read More