I am sitting here with Mike Der Manouel, Jr, our Central Valley Correspondent. We just had come over the FlashReport transom an announcement from Californians for Schwarzenegger, announcing that Governor Schwarzenegger and ersatz Governor Angelides will be holding a debate on Saturday, October 7. (Mike points out the cleverness of a Saturday debate as no one will be watching…)

Of course, looking at things through the political prism, conventional wisdom is that the front runner wants to have as few debates as possible and the underdog would like to have as many debates as possible. Each debate presenting yet another potential opportunity for the front-runner to stumble.

So, as Mike and I have been discussing this, we both agree on a two points. The first is that the race for Governor is going to tighten up much more than it is now — as partisan voters settle into their comfort zone as election day approaches. We also agree that debates between Schwarzenegger and Angelides will be one sided, with Angelides… Read More

In the LA Times article referenced in blog posts below, Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia shrugged off the Governor’s remarks about their temperaments. Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia chose not to comment on the "deer that keeps getting caught in [Susan Kennedy’s] yard" personal description and the "wild bunch" Republican Caucus description for the Times article.

Here’s Plescia’s official response to the tape (taken froma just transmittedpress release):… Read More

Proper respect goes to the Sacto YRs for wading into the new Kings arena sales tax debate and opposing Sacramento County‘s Measures Q and R, theproposed early Christmasgifts from the taxpayers to the Maloof family. (A Sacramento Bee article mentions that Gail Kaufman, of CMR Democrat consultant insider fame, was recently hired to "drum up support" for the measures.)

Here’s the text of YR Fed’s press release I received yesterday: Sacramento Young Republicans Oppose Arena Tax Raises Taxes to Provide Millions in Corporate Welfare

SACRAMENTO – Citing the devastating impact on local taxpayers, the Sacramento Valley Young Republicans announce their opposition to… Read More

I was there in 2003, working out of the Schwarzenegger for Governor campaign press office in Santa Monica when the Los Angeles Times wrote an unsubstantiated pre-election hit piece against him.

However, today’s article by Robert Salladay, which reveals a privately tape recorded conversation between Gov. Schwarzenegger, his chief of staff and two aides, is not a case of history repeating itself.

No, something much more sinister is at work, and it doesn’t involve anyone employed by the LA Times.

Rather, this is a case of one of the governor’s staff — who apparently didn’t sign the same confidentiality agreement I was forced to sign when I went to work on his campaign three years ago — betraying his trust, calling into question the confidentiality of future private conversations the governor may have with members of the legislature, and publicly embarrassing him through a news article that is now posted on the Drudge Report, read by millions of people around the world.

Oh yes, and let’s not forget, handing his opponent, Phil Angelides, a hit piece of his own on a silver platter.

I write today… Read More

Last night was one of those nights where you just feel like tossing your cell phone into the swimming pool, or in this case, my friend Mike Schroeder’s swimming pool. Last night there was an intimate fundraising event for Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona at the home of Mike and Susan Schroeder, but I ended up missing most of the festivities as I hunted for that one spot in the backyard of the Carona Del Mar home where my cell phone could get good signal.

I was on the phone quite a bit as there was talk that Bob Salladay of the Los Angeles Times had "gotten a hold" of an audio tape, or a transcription of an audio tape of the Governor, his Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy, and a couple of others where there is some colorful talk about Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia, his predecessor Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia.

It took a while but I finally was able to have someone read to me a copy of the transcribed conversation — and when they did, I said to the… Read More

Last night was one of those nights where you just feel like tossing your cell phone into the swimming pool, or in this case, my friend Mike Schroeder’s swimming pool. Last night there was an intimate fundraising event for Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona at the home of Mike and Susan Schroeder, but I ended up missing most of the festivities as I hunted for that one spot in the backyard of the Carona Del Mar home where my cell phone could get good signal.

I was on the phone quite a bit as there was talk that Bob Salladay of the Los Angeles Times had "gotten a hold" of an audio tape, or a transcription of an audio tape of the Governor, his Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy, and a couple of others where there is some colorful talk about Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia, his predecessor Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia.

It took a while but I finally was able to have someone read to me a copy of the transcribed conversation — and when they did, I said to the… Read More

Yolo County’s strong arm tactics to takeover from private ownership the 17300 acre Conaway Ranch in eastern Yolo County has been thwarted. Eminent Domain was invoked over a yearago by the county since the owners wouldn’t sell, in order to ‘protect’ the ranch, ostensibly. The owners had been operating it as it had been for many years, as a rice farming operation and as duck clubs with much natural wildlife habitat. The owners were even awarded for their stewardship by wildlife organizations. But the county, sensingthat some of theownership, having a history of being in the development history [the horror!]may want to turn the 17300 acres into houses and strip malls, thereby the county must take the land to ‘save’ it! Never mind that about 15,000 acres is virtually undevelopable as it is so highly susceptible to flooding you would be out of your mind to try. Our helicopter ride with the Guv and Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff early this year gave me abirdseye view of the vast majority of the land under several feet of water, up next to the Sacramento River and it’s working, intact levee.

So what… Read More

Last night I did something I haven’t done much of since I moved to the Bay Area: attended a fundraising event for a GOP candidate. Jill Buck is running for the 18th Assembly District against Mary Hayishi, a Nunez appointee to the Board of Registered Nurses and public health activist (click here for more background on the Jill and the district).

I’ll post more on Mary Hayishi in the next day or so, but today I just wanted to bring FR readers up on the Jill Buck campaign. The 18th Assembly district has traditionally been considered a “safe seat” for the… Read More