Just a few minutes ago, I got off of the phone with a very excited Assembly George Plescia. Although perhaps I should now use his more "formal" title – Assembly Republican Leader Elect! That’s right, today, at a lunchtime meeting of Assembly Republicans, Plescia was unanimously elected to succeed current Leader Kevin McCarthy, who yesterday announced that he was stepping away from his leadership post to focus on his efforts to run for Congress. McCarthy hopes to fill the seat currently occupied by his old boss, Representative Bill Thomas, who after 14 terms in Congress has decided to retire. Let me say this – I’ve known Assemblyman Plescia for many, many years now — and couldn’t be more excited and thrilled that he has been elected by his colleagues to this post. Plescia shared with me that he looks forward to spending a lot of time with McCarthy over the next month,… Read More

I had an opportunity a few weeks ago to have lunch with Rich Wagner, the President of the Orange County Lincoln Club. Instead of a smoke-filled back room, we enjoyed our meal on the smoke-filled patio of Zov’s Bistro in Tustin, as ashes from the nearby wildfires on the east end of the country rained down upon us.

The uptick of the meeting was that Rich was very excited and enthusiastic about the coming elections, and shared with me that the Lincoln Club, by all objective standards (number of members, level of involvement, etc.) was doing better than it has in years. This is a good thing because the Lincoln Club for decades has played a key role in making sure that it is Republicans that govern Orange County, and that we elect a delegation of solid GOPers to represent "The OC" in Washington, D.C. and in Sacramento.

Rich was in the final stages of negotiating an appearance by Governor Schwarzenegger at an event for the Lincoln Club. I was… Read More

DO THE RIGHT THING All eyes are on the State Capitol this week as discussions and negotiations take place about placing a major general obligation bond measure on the June ballot, dealing with infrastucture investment. In our featured column today, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal nails it when he says, " For the sake of all Californians, we hope this distraction [McCarthy’s run for Congress] will not divert the members from their first priority: ensuring that the infrastructure package is linked inextricably to meaningful reforms. As we have said many times on this page, infrastructure investment is an important responsibility of state government (though some of the things that state Democrats want to roll into an ‘infrastructure’ plan are hardly ‘brick and morter’ issues, but rather more attempts to socially engineer the lives of… Read More

DO THE RIGHT THING All eyes are on the State Capitol this week as discussions and negotiations take place about placing a major general obligation bond measure on the June ballot, dealing with infrastucture investment. In our featured column today, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal nails it when he says, " For the sake of all Californians, we hope this distraction [McCarthy’s run for Congress] will not divert the members from their first priority: ensuring that the infrastructure package is linked inextricably to meaningful reforms. As we have said many times on this page, infrastructure investment is an important responsibility of state government (though some of the things that state Democrats want to roll into an ‘infrastructure’ plan are hardly ‘brick and morter’ issues, but rather more attempts to socially engineer the lives of… Read More

Mary Jo Ford has taken out papers to run in the 53rd Assembly District. This is the district last year that Assembly leadership bungled the special election by supporting Ford over former Redondo Beach MayorGreg Hill. I’m sure the rematch will work out great.… Read More

Riverside County Republican has a new Executive Director, Tommy Thompson. When I heard the news I had to ask myself if the former Wisconsin Governor and Health & Human Services Secretary would be able to do a good job in that position. I kind of doubted it, since governing and running a good voter registration program were two different animals. I was relieved to hear that this Tommy Thompson is a much better choice. He is the son of former Assemblyman Bruce Thompson and comes with a great political resume. He worked on all his dads’ campaigns and did a stint in Assemblyman Haynes office. His mom currently works for State Senator Hollingsworth. The bottom line is that he is no stranger to Riverside Republican politics. I think this was a great choice by new Chairman Jeff Miller.

… Read More

Jon may not want to get into the intrigue, but just some tidbits on tomorrow’s pending Plescia vote for Assembly Republican Leader…

With Walters, Keene and Runner on board, George has lined up 29 votes. Rumor has it that there are three hold-outs, some of whom may come on board today, perhaps as this is penned (er….typed).

I hope the holdouts strongly consider the importance of closing ranks and of having an energetic leader like George Plescia leading the charge. On a personal (if not geographic) note, there are plenty in San Diegowatching closely how the SD delegation votes….name the last time we had a leader from way down here, if you can….… Read More

In case you want a public forum to comment on my Winners and Losers of the GOP Convention column, this is the place to do it. Click through to the link, then let us know what you think!… Read More