I’ve had the privilege of watching Keen Butcher, the county chair directly to my South, for the past year, and I am hopeful that his bid for the CCA Chair is successful for three reasons:

Keen gets Republicans elected. He doesn’t engage in squishy, nebulous measures of success – like how many sacrificial lamb candidates he can deliver up for slaughtering on the altar of the party. He has a very simple metric…how many Republicans in his county get elected. He realizes that the GOP will only be successful if our candidates are successful in getting elected. At the end of the day, we can have all the CRP conventions and party press releases we want to, but if we don’t put Republicans in office, we’ll go the way of the Whigs. Keen gets that…and he gets the job done. Keen makes people LOVE being a Republican. Last summer, about 300 Bay Area Republicans gathered at Mayor Charles Marsela’s gorgeous home in Atherton for the annual Rising Tide event. It was 115 degrees – though in typical GOP fashion, all the men were in coats and ties and the women were very professionally dressed as well, i.e. we … Read More

It has been a busy couple of weeks here in the Capitol, what with the budget, health care reform, the bond proposals, and everything, it has been hard to keep up. I thought I would let things settle down a little, and then comment.

First its time to give credit where credit is due. October, November and December were unusually warm throughout the country, and we were starting to read about how global warming was kicking in. Then, AB 32, California’s global warming solution came into effect on January 1, and within a week, California experiences a record cold snap. Good job, California government. I am sure that the country would not have experienced that cold snap without the hard work of our legislature. What is next? To paraphrase an old musical–"I know we made a law a year ago here. July and August mustn’t be too hot. And next, a legal limit to the snow here?" You finish the song. You’ll get the idea.

But what about health care? The Governor’s proposal is basically the old SB 2 on steroids. Remember SB 2. The Governor opposed SB 2, which was referended and defeated by the voters in 2004, saying… Read More

Okay, the Flashreport is supposed to be a site for interests of Californians. But today, the national interest must trump our State. Clueless Americans, being spoon fed a daily dose of negative news about the battle of Baghdad, just one front in the global war on terrorists (those that have killed our citizens, and want to end this country, placing her under Sharia law, or Islamic Courts), tell pollsters they don’t like the war. These poll respondents don’t have a clue about what is going on in Iraq, apart from biased news coverage. (What is the number one complaint of our troops abroad? Biased news coverage)

Politicians react to clueless Americans, so we get a clueless response in the form of a Senate resolution against the troop "surge" – emboldening terrorists to commit more terror as spineless liberals and a cheerleading press create a culture of surrender in this country.

Hagel and Warner – two more GOP Senators that deserve to lose – are doing Americaa great disservice as they themselves morph into "useful idiots". Is this 1930 or 2007? Hard to tell the difference. We need more Joe… Read More

Today we feature columns from the two candidates who are running to head up the organization of California’s 58 Republican County Chairmen, aptly called the Republican County Chairman’s Association. I asked the current President of the CCA, Tom Del Becarro of Contra Costa County, to give FR readers a quick description of the group. In Tom’s own style, he penned this:

It is said that all politics is local. For the California Republican Party, the 58 County Parties help keep that spirit alive. In the years to come, if we are wise and build those local parties, they will provide a renewable base of support for our elected officials.

The County Chairman’s Association (“CCA”) is the association of all of our County Chairs. At its best, it provides ongoing training to incoming Chairs and communicates our successes and areas for opportunities to each Chair so that they may benefit from the collective wisdom of its… Read More

Today we feature columns from the two candidates who are running to head up the organization of California’s 58 Republican County Chairmen, aptly called the Republican County Chairman’s Association. I asked the current President of the CCA, Tom Del Becarro of Contra Costa County, to give FR readers a quick description of the group. In Tom’s own style, he penned this:

It is said that all politics is local. For the California Republican Party, the 58 County Parties help keep that spirit alive. In the years to come, if we are wise and build those local parties, they will provide a renewable base of support for our elected officials. The County Chairman’s Association (“CCA”) is the association of all of our County Chairs. At its best, it provides ongoing training to incoming Chairs and communicates our successes … Read More

He may be considered a longshot by many, Quixotic by some, but that doesn’t make his effort any less interesting to those of us living in the San Diego area…and especially those of us who have called him our representative for the last 26 years. Duncan Hunter will announce for Pres from South Carolina this morning. See Tuesday’s blurb in CQPolitics.com

A missive from Larry Cutting at the campaign:

YOUR CHANCE TO BE A PART OF HISTORYDuncan Hunter for President

Duncan is moving closer to the White House and we’re doing everything possible to help make it happen. He will be making his historic official announcement Thursday morning in South Carolina , and we are going to be there vicariously to inject our energy and support.… Read More

Ensuring Accountability on Infrastructure Spending Yesterday, I stood with Governor Schwarzenegger as he signed an executive order making state officials accountable for how they spend the $42.7 billion infrastructure bond package approved by the voters. While many of us had concerns with the bonds in the past, now is the time to ensure accountability and transparency. With the stroke of a pen, Governor Schwarzenegger acted decisively to ensure that these critical infrastructure dollars be spent exactly as the voters intended — easing traffic congestion on overcrowded roadways, strengthening flood control protections, building new schools and modernizing existing campuses. … Read More

In Roll Call Magazine (the foremost newspaper covering the ‘insider news’ of Capitol Hill), they profile a handful of GOPers (five in the Senate, five in the House) worth keeping an eye on — one of these ten is a Californian… Freshman Kevin McCarthy.

Here is was Roll Call had to say about McCarthy: Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.). In his first weeks in Congress, McCarthy already has shown signs of the same political acumen of his predecessor, Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.): He was tapped to serve on the transition team at the National Republican Congressional Committee, the freshman class elected him as their representative on the powerful GOP Steering Committee, and he landed a seat on the House Administration Committee – a panel once chaired by Thomas before he took over the House Ways and Means Committee. McCarthy’s… Read More