Tribute to Jay La Suer… It was a near-roast Friday night in Mission Valley as about 300 well-wishers said thanks to termed-out Assemblyman Jay La Suer. Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy and BOE Member Claude Parrishwere among those honoring Jay.

A Capitol-Watch highlights video ran interspersed with scenes from John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies, over-dubbed with Sergio Leone spaghetti-Western music. Some fun ensued over La Suer’s and Mountjoy’s unique, conservative alliance in Sacramento. Some lines from the evening:

Hollingsworth claimed that "the only vote Jay and Mountjoy ever disagreed on was tax breaks for domestic partners…Jay was for principle and Dennis was for practicality."

"You know how kids wear Superman pajamas to bed?" asked Mountjoy, "Well, Superman wears Jay La Suer pajamas to bed!"

About their shared house in Sacto, Mountjoy said "I didn’t know that I could ever live with a Sheriff…and Jay’s not justthe Sheriff when he’s on duty, he’s the Sheriff full… Read More

Mark Pruner is a Regional Vice Chairman on the California Republican Party Board of Directors, and Chairman of the Yolo County Republican Party — both post for which he will need to stand for re-election in the coming months.

Mark contact me about penning some post-election thoughts for FR readers… We now have an historic opportunity. In 2008, for the first time in 56 years, there will be neither a sitting President nor a sitting Vice President running for the office of President of the United States. Not since the Dwight Eisenhower vs. Adlai Stevenson contest of 1952 has the race for the White House been this open. In nearly every sense… Read More

Below is an email I received by up and coming conservative activist and tommy girl t-shirt model Meredith Turney.

CRP Needs New Leadership In the months following the primary election, I have sat in countless meetings with the Schwarzenegger campaign and CRP leadership. During these meetings, the campaign hierarchy assured conservatives that the Victory ’06 program would help down ticket candidates. The "CRP leadership", including Duf Sundheim, addressed conservatives’ concerns by stating that Tom McClintock, Tony Strickland, Chuck Poochigian and others would all benefit from the governor’s campaign. Around midnight on November 7 th, we realized that we had been lied to, not just once, but repeatedly.

In the days and weeks leading up to the election, conservatives expressed our frustration that Victory ’06 and the governor were not in fact focused on "the team" but on re-electing a man who continues to search for his core values. I can’t tell you how many fellow Republicans I talked to who said that… Read More

Lynn Daucher’s election to the California State Senate matters. Right now she and her Democrat opponent, Supervisor (and former Assemblyman) Lou Correa probably both feel a great deal of empathy for both President Bush and former Senator Al Gore — as election day for Daucher (pictured to the right) and Correa continues to go on and on. You see, in this Central Orange County Senate District, represented by term-limited Democrat Joe Dunn for the past eight years, the votes are too close to call. When all of the election-day ballots were counted, Daucher held onto a razor thin lead — but that was with over 20,000 votes yet to be counted (late absentee ballots, those who brought their AB’s to their polling place, and provisional ballots cast by those who had some issues at the polling place). **There is more – click the… Read More

Lynn Daucher’s election to the California State Senate matters. Right now she and her Democrat opponent, Supervisor (and former Assemblyman) Lou Correa probably both feel a great deal of empathy for both President Bush and former Senator Al Gore — as election day for Daucher (pictured to the right) and Correa continues to go on and on. You see, in this Central Orange County Senate District, represented by term-limited Democrat Joe Dunn for the past eight years, the votes are too close to call. When all of the election-day ballots were counted, Daucher held onto a razor thin lead — but that was with over 20,000 votes yet to be counted (late absentee ballots, those who brought their AB’s to their polling place, and provisional ballots cast by those who had some issues at the polling place). After several days of counting ballots (with several more days to go), today Daucher sits with an 833 vote margin over… Read More

Today Bob Huff put out the following column on the Assembly GOP’s leadership change. It’s well worth the read…

Election Reinforces Need for a Leadership Change

By Assemblyman Bob Huff

Pundits will Monday-morning-quarterback the state election and its outcome for months, but it seems clear that voters like the idea of a bipartisan effort to wrestle with and solve state issues. In a move that ran counter to national trends, the California electorate rewarded a Republican Governor with a second term to govern with a Democrat-controlled legislature.

Contrary to the electorate’s expectations though, Sacramento will be a de facto one-party state – unless the Republicans in the Assembly work as a team and stand united. If we don’t, we will be nothing more than a wire fence with an open gate for the liberal agenda to pass through. And, all of the work we have done to be elected and serve our constituents according to our values and principles will be for… Read More

This race was going to be a no brainer. Margaret Mims, Democrat, Assistant Sheriff, against retired CHP and gang task force leader Cal Minor, aRepublican. Republicans have a 25,000 voter registration advantage in the County. Minor is endorsed by the Fresno Bee, the Lincoln Club of Fresno County, Congressman Radanovich and Nunes, Senator Chuck Poochigian and Assemblyman Mike Villines, Fresno Chamber of Commerce,Deputy Sheriff’s Association and Fresno Police Officers Association, the Republican Central Committee, and countless others.

It appears as if Minor has lost the race – and Mims might have scored the biggest upset win in decades in Fresno County. How did she overcome all the assets of Cal Minor?

She mostly benefited from the GOP implosion.

Minor’s apparent loss, by 770 votes out of over 140,000 cast, was driven by several factors, as… Read More

FR friend Bill Bradley interviewed Matthew Dowd, Chief Strategist for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election, last Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The interview is below. Of course, lots of talk about the Governor’s success with his new ‘bipartisan’ approach to governing and campaigning. There is no doubt that this strategy has brought about electoral success – very much so. But becoming elected to office is a means to and end. Other than his firm commitment not to raise taxes, it is really hard for me to discern what is on, and what is off of the table in terms of public policy proposals for the Governor.

Part of the problem is that I thought I had a clearer picture of where the Governor wanted to take this state right after the recall of Gray Davis. I am hoping that the Governor will start to make it more clear where he is coming from so that we can all understand it. In the absence of specificity, I get very nervous.

There are a lot of very bad things that can happen to California at the hands of Don Perata… Read More