[While this column space is usually devoted to FR Publisher Jon Fleischman’s Daily Commentary, today we are pleased to present commentary by FR’s State Capitol Correspondent Dan Schnur.]

Redistricting Reform Urged by Bi-Partisan Citizen’s Coalition by Dan Schnur What do respected conservatives like Bill Leonard, Jon Coupal, and Jim Brulte have in common with Leon Panetta, Fred Keeley, and the head of the League of Women Voters? Answer: they all agree that letting legislators draw their own districts is like letting third-graders decide how much ice cream they can have for dessert. To be fair, none of the… Read More

I read with great interest Karen Hanretty’s two previous posts regarding the Governor, the first theorizing that he will sign an illegal immigrant driver license bill if he is re-elected, and the second his apparent support of single payer health care for California during a second term.

It’s time to put him on the record on both of these issues. As soon as these primaries are over the State GOP Board or Executive Committee needs a commitment from him to oppose both of these issues if he earns a second term. If we can’t get a firm commitment, there isn’t any reason to work for his re-election. The Governor needs to understand who his primary constituency is.… Read More

I received a missive from a conservative Republican yesterday, concerned about the prospects of Francine Busby serving in the House. Brief, but to the point. And, 100% correct:

The Bilbray team has to get this message out to pouting Republican voters: 1) This election is essentially about illegal immigration. 2) I am serious about solving the problem, Busby is not. 3) If Busby wins, her victory will send the message to all politicians that the voters are not serious about immigration issues. 4) The result will be for the nation’s border problems to be returned to the back burner — unsolved. 5) If you want the border problems fixed, YOU MUST GET OFF YOUR REAR-END AND VOTE!… Read More

John Myers’ is the first to report this morning policy news that Gov. Schwarzenegger supports universal health care in his second term in office. As you read, ask yourself how the government can provide health insurance for everyone without a tax increase. User fees?

"First, some news: the governor said that his goal for the first year of a second term would be, in his words, ‘to create health care for every citizen.’ The comment was made in response to a student question about universal health care, specifically the kind Massachusetts has moved forward this year.

"Schwarzenegger said the Massachusetts model won’t work, in part, because of California’s larger uninsured population. But his comments clearly sounded like he favors some new effort.

"’I believe we can really conquer that problem, once and for all, if everyone works together,’ he said. ‘It means that employers have to put money in, I think that employees have to put money in, and I think that the government has to put money in.’ The governor said… Read More

A friend called me up yesterday, laughing, saying, “Well, I’m sure this is the first and last time I’ll see a lawn sign for a Democrat in your front yard.”

She may be right, unless I continue to live in Oakland where no GOP candidates even bother to file for the mayor’s race (or my assembly district!).

Normally, I’ll just cast a vote and ignore the rest of the campaign (in 2002, I voted for the more conservative candidate in the race for mayor—Jerry Brown).

This time, I’m a little more invested in the race. Not so much on behalf of the candidate I’m supporting—City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente—but because I cannot sit back and allow the wackos in this city install Ron Dellums in the mayor’s office. I do not want to foot his travel bill to Cuba or his self-esteem meetings for the poor kids kicked out of school because they… Read More

From today’s WALL STREET JOURNAL POLITICAL DIARY

Whistling Past California’s 50th District

Republican officials in California are less nervous than their national counterparts about the prospects of holding onto the San Diego congressional seat being filled next Tuesday in a special election. Republicans have been unlucky in the seat ever since the previous incumbent Randy "Duke" Cunningham went to prison for taking bribes and cast a corruption pall over the race to succeed him. The GOP primary was a contentious affair in which a former congressman turned lobbyist named Brian Bilbray came out on top with only 15% of the vote in a divided field. He now faces… Read More

In February Hemet Councilwomen Robin Lowe’s campaign for the 65th Assembly Republican nomination was dead. Her long gone ground team failed to understand what the procedure was to get her on the ballot. She had to go to court and have a judge do what her campaign manager failed to do. Flash forward (yes it is a pun) to a week out and she is being attacked by I.E. committees. (Robin likes to travel on the city dime) Now you don’t get attacked by smart money in the end unless you are in the hunt. Robin has also picked up the endorsement of the two large Newspapers in Riverside County. Is this an upset in the making?

This one is going down to the wire. Like I said in an earlier post, hats off to Brenda Salas. She got to the right of everyone else on the hottest topic out there for Republican primary voters, illegal immigration. Finally, sources tell me that Councilman Jim Ayres campaign seems to be having a little difficulty in rebounding from the military medals flap. The last week in contested Republican primaries are always interesting, this one should be no different.… Read More

This morning I thought I would take a few minutes to share some of my thoughts about goings-on in San Diego County. It’s a crazy time in the county just to the south of my own…

Congressional District 50 – a.k.a. "Oatmeal vs. Acid" What do you do when the Republican candidate in the special election doesn’t excite conservative voters? The only issue on which he seems to be campaigning where he is in line with conservative voters is on the immigration issue, where he has been paid to be hardcore as he has represented (as a federal lobbyist) a hard-line immigration reform group. Bilbray moved into the district. He was tapped by D.C. power-brokers. He defeated a horribly split field of conservative candidates to eek out a plurality, most likely with the help of non-Republican voters. On many issues that I care about, he is only marginally better than the liberal Democrat Francine Busby. And so I read in ‘insider… Read More