* Conservative Republican Bill Simon, Jr., who ran unsucessfully for Governor in 2002, was in NYC for an exclusive meeting of supporters of Rudy Giuliani’s bid for the Presidency.

* Milton Friedman was a noted economist and an ardent libertarian. I attended a dinner once where his talk centered around his opposition to the war on drugs and the need to decriminalize prostitution. Nice.

* Margita Thompson, who is departing as the Governor’s Press Secretary, is rumored to be leaving for Nepal, to trek up to the top of Mount Everest – time for her to take it easy.

* Clearly conservative Simon wouldn’t be attracted to Giuliani’s mold of East Coast liberal Republicanism. But Simon used to work for Giuliani as a prosecutor… They are close personal friends I am told…

* Former Schwarzenegger Campaign Deputy Communications Director Matt David is rumored to be in consideration to replace Thompson. That would be a great pick. I give Matt my strongest recommendation (sorry, Matt, I may have sunk your chances).

* Success or failure for legislative leaders, under this redistricting plan, must be… Read More

That’s right. The tax increases are coming! A while back a reporter asked me if I feared an Angelides tax increase. I told him I didn’t, because Republicans would block, like we did during the Gray Davis years. I feared an increase from the Governor, because he might get some GOP votes for it. See the interview here.

I know you didn’t see it in the advertising for the bonds but with the State 5 Billion in debt (This is without lots of bad things like prison reform, pensions etc.. not figured in), that fear is reality.I have now confirmed that the governor’s office is considering tax increases. Specifically, I have heard these at least in play. A taxon satellite and cable television and radio and TV advertising. I assume that is the tip if the iceberg.

If you see some GOP legislators. Grabthe and tell them they have to vote no. That is the only thing that may stop these increases

I hope the governor proposes to tax retroactively all the advertisements that ended just a couple of weeks ago… Read More

On election night I was in the McClintock suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel as the election results came in. I knew we were in trouble when Tom has a couple of percentage point lead and LA still hadn’t been counted. Pollster Stephen Kinney was there. It was his and other polling that had told us that McClintock, McPherson had slight leads and that Strickland was getting close.

Today Kinney made his post-election analysis at the meeting of the San Gabriel Valley Lincoln Club (For disclosure purposes I chair this Lincoln Club chaper)

Steve went through all the pre and post polling. Why did we lose the down ticket races? TURNOUT

Kinney thinks that the spread between Dem and GOP turnout may hit 10%. Some big Southern California GOP counties had lower turnout than in 2002. Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino to name them.

The reason. Kinney points to the nationalization of the election that didn’t come to California really until the last few days. Republicans were demoralized and didn’t show up. According to Kinney Arnold won by only 2% on election day.

I agree… Read More

Congressman Tom Cole was just elected to head up the National Republican Congressional Committee. In a recent letter to his fellow Congressional Members he wrote, "Everything is on the line in 2008 — lets start working together now to illuminate the liberal agenda of a Democrat controlled Congress".

Cole was Chief-of-Staff at the RNC in 2000 and he is a member Chickasaw Nation Indian Tribe from Oklahoma. He was an Oklahoma State Senator and Secretary-of-State.

This is a clear indication that the GOP is serious about taking back the House.… Read More

From today’s San Bernardino County Sun (missed this on the news roundup):

Discouraging words aimed at Lewis George Watson, Staff Writer Though he won re-election, November has not been kind to Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands. First, his party lost control of the House of Representatives. That meant Lewis will lose his chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee, which made him one of the most powerful lawmakers in the nation. And now, already facing a federal… Read More

It seems to me like Senate and House Republicans in Washington, D.C., have a tremendous challenge ahead of them. If I had to give it a title, I would call it, "Mending the Credibility Gap." When you are the party in power, you have to govern. This means that you move beyond the world of rhetoric, and you actually have to enact policy. I believe that a large part of the reason why Republicans their majorities in the Senate and the House in this last election was because a lot of core Republican voters had finally stopped mustering up the support to re-elect Republicans who were long in rhetoric about limited government, but who presided over unprecedented growth in the size and scope of the federal government. According to Ed Fuelner, the President of the Heritage Foundation:

It seems to me like Senate and House Republicans in Washington, D.C., have a tremendous challenge ahead of them. If I had to give it a title, I would call it, "Mending the Credibility Gap." When you are the party in power, you have to govern. This means that you move beyond the world of rhetoric, and you actually have to enact policy. I believe that a large part of the reason why Republicans their majorities in the Senate and the House in this last election was because a lot of core Republican voters had finally stopped mustering up the support to re-elect Republicans who were long in rhetoric about limited government, but who presided over unprecedented growth in the size and scope of the federal government. According to Ed Fuelner, the President of the Heritage Foundation:

Thanks to HJTA for providing the text and links……

A Great Man Passes

Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman has passed at the age of 94.

Many know him as a great advocate for the virtues of the free-market economy, but fewer may recall that he was an enthusiastic supporter of Proposition 13. In 1978 he appeared in television spots saying, "Don’t let politicians fool you. Proposition 13 will work. It will not force schools to close. It will not cause policemen or firemen to disappear. It will not require increases in other taxes."

Professor Friedman and his wisdom will be sorely missed.

Links to news stories:

The Financial Times Los Angeles Times… Read More