Many members of the California Republican Party are asking, "What happened to the Party’s expensive 2006 GOTV program?"

Since the CRP’s biennial reorganizational convention is coming up soon (February 9-11 at the Capitol Hyatt in Sacramento), important questions need clear and honest answers. I will try to do so based on the facts I have learned…

The CRP’s Operating Account in 2005 spent a total of $9,100,000. Combining all CRP accounts (19 in all), including Assembly and Senate Republicans and Team California, the total expenses was $18,700,000 in all of 2005. Not bad for a Party out of power.

At the beginning of 2006 the members of the CRP Board of Directors were faced with poor political prospects, which generally became fact, including the Governor’s race. Remember — at that point Arnold was still suffering from the $164 million government-union-sponsored anti-Arnold hesteria.

The CRP has a committee, designated Cal Plan which provides a specifric political budget for each election cycle. It’s a powerful committee. Membership of the Cal Plan Committee is restricted to a few members of… Read More

Am I the only one that finds irony in the fact that the Governor today is praising the introduction of a Senate Resolution for the United States to cozy up to a global table at the United Nations to discuss global warming — when it is so cold here? It was almost hard to find the Governor’s release praising this resolution amidst all of the others declaring emergencies around the state due to the severe frost conditions.

I just found it a bit ironic.… Read More

I missed the memo that it was McCain Day on the Flash Report, but since I blogged last week that I like him, I am grateful for the opportunity to say why.

He’s a combat Veteran, and we’re at war.

A Big war.

A war that could last a long time…maybe as long as he spent locked up in the Hanoi Hilton.

Senator McCain is uniquely qualified to lead this country at a time when the rest of our nation’s history may be forever altered. We have to remember that we’re electing the leader of the free world at a time when freedom may have never been in more peril.

I’m not criticizing the other candidates, I merely believe that we have to triage the issues that are most important as we go into the ’08 election, and choose the person best suited to lead the country and the world in those issues. I believe that, though RG showed tremendous leadership on 9/11, we need someone with a global perspective on the strategic threat we’re facing before it comes to roost. John McCain understands international policy and global threats better than any other candidate I’ve seen.

If we don’t… Read More

I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for Joe Justin’s former sassy blog posts, so today I’m naming my post after a great Boston tune. The real title of my article is:

"Why Ron Nehring Will Make a Great CRP Chairman."

He considers GOP success as "more than a feeling". It’s something we can measure statistically using a variety of metrics.

First of all, full disclosure.I am a big fan of Ron Nehring’s. I went through his campaign finance school, and it helped me tremendously. He is clinically pragmatic in his approach to politics, yet he has strong beliefs on policy issues. He has a very mature blend of passion and calculation that I believe will make him an outstanding leader of the CRP, both internally and externally.

I just received one of his email letters, and I want to give you some highlights I particularly liked:

Maximize the number of Republican activists. Recognizing that the world is run by those who show up, our party must measure the number of activists in our ranks, then systematically work to increase those… Read More

Several weeks ago I penned a piece on some areas of focus that members of the state party should ask candidates for statewide office. See it here.I believe there is a great need to reform what we do. These items are not ideological, but mechanical. When liberals took over the state party they claimed that they would be inclusive (didn’t happen) and that they would focus on the basics. Let’s look at one area that needs change. Voter registration this last cycle shifted from a bounty system that paid professionals and local activist groups could participate in to one statewid vendor. This year the party spent over 2.2 million dollars on voter registration. Their program was to hire a vendor to pay people by the hour in only 13 California … Read More

According to an article in Roll Call todayfrom Washington, D.C., senior "Democratic Members" of both Houses of Congress have told the press that their ethics reforms in the new Congress will stop with the current lobbyist reforms and that new 527 committee reforms will not be considered. If that is the situation, and in light of a Federal Court’s decision in Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC and John McCain, which emasculated late election regulation of 527’s speech in Federal elections, the only thingthat can now stop unlimited corporate and union issues advocacy during Federal elections in the 2008 cycle is if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses the Wisconsin Right to Life decision. Legal observers note that Justice Alito, who replaces Justice O’Connor in the prior divided decision upholding regulation of 527s per the McCain, Feingold law, may be more inclined to see the case as a First Amendment infringement and uphold the lower court.… Read More

OCGOP COOL TO MCCAIN If last night was any indicator, Senator John McCain has a long way to go in endearing himself to California Republicans. The Orange County Republican Party had its biennial organizational meeting last night at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine, where former Assembly Scott Baugh was re-elected to another term as Chairman with hearty applause and no opposition. Also elected were a slate of officers that included myself as Second Vice-Chairman — also uncontested. That said, Chairman Baugh ended up holding an impromptu popularity poll of the roughly 200 party leaders in attendance for the 2008 GOP Presidential primary. The context was Baugh asking which Presidential contenders those present would like to see speak at the GOP’s big annual Flag Day Gala. Baugh cycled through all of the most talked-about candidates — where Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich received the most applause. There was what I will characterize as a polite applause for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. But probably the most noteworthy response from the room came when Baugh… Read More

OCGOP COOL TO MCCAIN If last night was any indicator, Senator John McCain has a long way to go in endearing himself to California Republicans. The Orange County Republican Party had its biennial organizational meeting last night at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine, where former Assembly Scott Baugh was re-elected to another term as Chairman with hearty applause and no opposition. Also elected were a slate of officers that included myself as Second Vice-Chairman — also uncontested. That said, Chairman Baugh ended up holding an impromptu popularity poll of the roughly 200 party leaders in attendance for the 2008 GOP Presidential primary. The context was Baugh asking which Presidential contenders those present would like to see speak at the GOP’s big annual Flag Day Gala. Baugh cycled through all of the most talked-about candidates — where Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich received the most applause. There was what I will characterize as a polite applause for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. But probably the most noteworthy response from the room came when Baugh… Read More