If you were a member of the Filipino Baptist Fellowship Church in Long Beach, you would be confronted with the fact that the California Redevelopment Agency wants to condemn your Church… If you are in Yolo County, your county is using police powers to try and seize the 16,300 Conaway Ranch, intending to own and manage the ranch itself… If you are the owner of 16 acres of residential land in Grand Terrace, California, city officials are trying to force a shopping center and a ‘big box’ store on your land…

These are just a small sampling of abuses that are currently taking place because California property owners are lacking basic protections to preserve their private property rights against over 6,000 governmental jurisdictions in California that have the power to seize your property!

In the next couple of days, over ONE MILLION letters will arrive into the mailboxes of California voters. Inside of them, an urgent appeal from popular State Senator (and GOP Lieutenant… Read More

Morgan Crinklaw, the Press Secretary for the Assembly Republican Caucus, privides these answers to my questions:

Assistant Republican Leaders are an important part of the Republican Leader’s team. They assist the Leader in articulating the caucus message, promoting policy and maintaining unity among members. Assistant Republican Leaders work with the Leader to focus and frame the debate. Republican whips are also an important part of the Assembly Republican Leader’s leadership team, providing guidance on public policy issues before the Legislature. Whips also assist the Republican leader in devising legislative floor strategy, and advancing caucus positions and goals to the Assembly’s 32 members. Their primary role on the floor of the Assembly is to convey messages from the leader to the other members… Read More

This morning I had an opportunity to listen to President George W. Bush speak for the better part of an hour at what I would characterize as an ‘intimate’ townhall-style ‘talk’ to several hundred Orange Countians who were arranged bleacher-style in a 360 degree layout around the President. It was a respectful audience, and clearly everyone in the room was proud to be an American, and was relishing in the opportunity to hear in such a direct, familial fashion from the President of the United States. Of course, to get into the Hyatt Hotel (about four blocks from my home in Irvine) you had to pass the two distinct groups of protestors — the ones who disagree with the President’s ‘guest worker’ solution for the illegal immigration problem, and those who just disagree with the President on everything. The event was hosted by the Orange County Business Council and I want to give a shout-out to FR friend Todd Priest (and to RD with Team43) for the hook-up, and… Read More

Check out this behind-the-scenes clip, from yesterday’s Schwarzenegger interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos (warning: it’ll pop up, after an annoying ad).

The video begins with the Governator asking his interviewer how he stays so trim. The two then get into a discussion of workout regimens, with Stephanopoulos saying that he’s currently into "super-slow" weight-training.

That prompts Arnold to outline what he calls "the shocking principle" — "you never let the muscle know what’s coming next, because you shock it . . so what you do is you always surprise the muscle."

Sounds like an apt metaphor for a Governor who sometimes shocks and surprises us with his swings from left to right to somewhere in between.… Read More

Those watching the Oakland mayor’s race should check out Chip Johnson‘s column in the San Francisco Chronicle today. Johnson rightly points out that former Congressman Ron Dellums is long on rhetoric but short on details in his campaign for mayor. Johnson says that Dellums offered soft-on-crime views during a recent meeting with the Chronicle’s editorial board. For example, Dellums said he doesn’t support the Oakland Unified School District‘s zero tolerance for violence or drugs because he thinks it disproportionately affects African American and Latino youth.

With the election just six weeks away, maybe Dellums will… Read More

Rasmussen has a new survey out on the Governor’s race here in California and it is good news for Schwarzenegger.

You can catch their release here.

Angelides: 36% Schwarzenegger: 49%

Westly: 40% Schwarzenegger: 48%… Read More

When the unions are quiet the Governor’s approval ratings start inching up, so its no surprise the California Teachers Association is up on radio blaming Arnold for a supposed lack of "college opportunity" tied directly to his borrowing of education money a last year to shore up the budget.

The latest ads were heard on Newstalk 580, KMJ, a Fresno based station with huge reach in Central California.

Although this new ad is not up on the CTA Website yet, the rest of last year’s ads against the Governor are – and there is no reason to believe the summer of 2006 will be any different or any less effective.

Arnold’s fortunes in November are tied to one strategicaspect of his campaign – how does he deal with teachers, nurses, firefighters, cops and prison guards? If his campaign does not aggressively define these groups before they define him again, he won’t win re-election.… Read More

Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia announced the following as the members of his Leadership Team.

I’ve made an inquiry to find out exactly the responsibilities of some of these positons. Caucus Chairman and being the Vice Chairman of a key policy committee are more or less self-explanitory in terms of added responsibility (and presumably staff positions). But it is unclear to me what you "get" if you are one of five Assistant Leaders or Six Whips. Do these folks all meet as a leaderhip team? Is there staffing augmentation? Do tell! In the meantime, you can figure each of these folks played a key role in the election of Plescia, either in helping him to get votes, or helping him by getting out of the way…

➢ Republican Caucus Chair: Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton

… Read More