WenesdayAnaheim Mayor Curt Pringle wheeled out to the Mission Inn in Riverside to be the featured speaker at the Riverside County Association of Republican Elected Officials lunch. Pringle is the former Republican Speaker of the State Assembly and is doing an outstanding job of bringing conservative principles to local government as Mayor of Anaheim. He shared with the audience of mostly local electeds how he created many “City Fee Free” (i.e. Building Permit Fees Etc) periods that stimulated growth in the City. Under his tenor Anaheim is becoming a total Wi-Fi City that is being entirely done in the private sector and will still produce revenue for the city. Lastly he gave a great explanation of why he continues to fight to have the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angles remain simply the Anaheim Angles. As a life long Angles fan I support his efforts in keeping the name L.A. out of the Big A. As I looked around the room, there were more then a few local elected taking notes on what Mayor Pringle has done in… Read More

The Eric Roach mission to Washington, D.C, has officially ended with our arrival back to San Diego!

I’m sure I will write more observations on this trip in the coming days, but the overwhelming impact of the trip is easily summed up – lots of encouragement for Roach. It was clear that conservatives in D.C., who were totally underwhelmed by Brian Bilbray’s previous stint in Congress, and that everyone was very excited after getting to know Eric.

Clearly a lot of seeds were spread on this journey…with the potential to grow into a big tree – a really big, conservative one!

On a closing note – traveling with John Feliz, Stan Devereux, Sal Russo, Bill Hauf, Howard Kaloogian, Duane Admire and, of course, Eric Roach was a great experience. For those of you who know me, you know that I do not give my “seal of approval” easily – I’ve been around the block a lot. Roach is the real deal – an honorable, values-driven conservative who understands and is a part of a conservative movement. There are great things in store for Eric’s future…his near future!… Read More

Richard Pombo is a great Congressman. A principled conservative who has brought common sense to the Chairmanship of the House Resources Committee. It was great to be able to catch up with him. It’s one thing to write about these folks on this site — it’s another thing to get to talk to them! We had a chance to meet with Pombo – a great meeting. Steve Ding, his Chief-of-Staff is a close FR friend.

It was also nice to see another old friend today, Chuck Cunningham. Chuck is the political director at the National Rifle Association. A great guy and an FR subscriber. Chuck spent some time explaining how Bilbray earned his “F” ratins from the NRA because of his appearances with then-President Bill Clinton at pro-gun control events.

I did experience a bout of post-traumatic stress when we spent time at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Center, the headquarters building of the Republican National Committee. We went there since Eric Roach had a meeting scheduled with RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman.

I don’t know if I mentioned the wonderful weather here – balmy and nice. It’s been a great day!… Read More

We’ve been having productive meetings with Eric Roach on The Hill. It really resonated with Congressman Buck McKeon when we talked about how a Roach candidacy that is driving UP Republican turnout for the election day can only HELP the party keep the 50th in GOP hands. The opportunity of a Roach candidacy is a conservative Congressman long-term for the 50th. The danger if Roach doesn’t run is a suppresed GOP turnout and a real danger of a Busby win in June.

After all, there was a lot of pressure on Tom McClintock to stand down his campaign for Governor in the special election. But in reality, it was likely the increased conservative turnout is what put the first question, the recall of Davis, over the top. Had McClintock not driven conservative turnout, we might still have Gray Davis in office.

For those tired of this string, cut me some slack. I’ve never “live-blogged a trip to DC and I’m having fun!… Read More

Eric Roach and I were walking by the Judiciary Committee meeting room in the Rayburn House Office Buidlng, and noticed a lot of people going in. Eric asked the young lady at the door what was going on…and she told us a, “hearing on the National Security Agency syping on Americans.”

Eric and I walked up the hallway, looked at each other, and speaking about the young lady, we simultaneously said, “Democrat.”… Read More

San Francisco is such a cutting-edge city. Not cutting-edge when it comes to reducing crime or successfully dealing with homelessness, but cutting edge when it comes to “cool” ideas like a free wireless network and, now, text messaging teens on their cell phones about safe sex.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the city is spending $2,500 a month to run the program which is targeted at youth ages 12-24. Kids can text message the city’s public health department and get a quick response about how to have safer sex or deal with the ramifications of unsafe sex. City officials are concerned about the rising rates of sexually-contracted diseases. For example, last year there was a 100 percent increase in gonorrhea in African American youth.

At the same time, a… Read More

The meeting with the Weyrich group was outstanding. It underscored two important points – social conservatives are disheartened with the idea of a long-term stint for Brian Bilbray in Congress (again, we all think that he is better than Busby, but altogether unremarkable). There was tremendous excitement for Eric from many leaders of important conservative groups.

As an aside, I had a great talk with former Congressman Pat Toomey, who heads up the Club for Growth. He is very concerned about Congress assaulting the first amendment rights of 527 advocacy groups.

Now we are headed to Capitol Hill to meet with various conservative leaders in Congress!

Yes, this is a rush! Let me add, by the way, that the more time I spend ith Eric, the more I really come to realize what a great person he is – truly dedicated to our Republican principles!… Read More

Long Beach 2nd district councilman Dan Baker resigned beause of some ethics problems. As a result a special election is scheduled. All 11 candidates in the race endorsed legalizing homosexual marriage at a forum heldat A CHURCH. One candidate led with the "I’ve be gay longer than any of you." It’s a gay old time in Long Beach that at one time was oncerepresenetd by Dan Lungren& George Deukmejian. See article here.… Read More