You may have read in my commentary yesterday that there is currently a controversy underway in the race to succeed the disgraced Duke Cunningham in the 50th Congressional District in San Diego County. The issue at hand is that one of the candidates, former Congressman Brian Bilbray (pictured), is a registered federal lobbyist, but really isn’t keen on listing that particular profession as his ballot title. So Bilbray, who has made about a third of his lobbying income over the past six years from an immigration reform group, filed as his ballot title: "Immigration Reform Advocate" – which apparently didn’t pass muster with the Secretary of State’s office. After some back-and-forth, the Secretary’s office signed off on "Immigration Reform Consultant." Well, the predictable next chapter in this story has now… Read More

Today’s A1, above the fold Fresno Beestory on Fresno City Police Chief Jerry Dyer potentially entering the County Sheriff’s race is a bombshell and will no doubt change the dynamics of the race. According to the Bee, Dyer is seeking a ruling from the State Attorney General’s office to find out whether he can can serve simultaneously as Police Chief and Sheriff. Should he receive a favorable ruling, he’s probably in the race and most likely the presumed front runner. The issue? Consolidation of services between the Sheriff’s office and Fresno PD. It’s an issue that has been talked about to death, but as Police Chief and candidate for Sheriff, Dyer could make it happen. He is very visible and respected in the local area.

Declared candidates with some strength behind them areSheriff’s Captain Colleen Mestas, who seems to have good community support and "under the radar" support from Congressman Radanovich’s operation; Clovis City Mayor and Clovis PD Captain Jose Flores, a recent Republican… Read More

Dis you the English language was Dead in Los Angeles?

Hawthorne is a city in the western part of LA County. It is in a Dem District near LAX.

Now a councilwoman, Ginny Lambert, there is leading the crusade to force business owners to include English on their signs. Remeber when voters added that English would be the official language of California? That turned out well.

Here is the article.By the way Lambert is a Republican.… Read More

* Governor Schwarzenegger’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Dunmoyer (pictured), attended the meeting of the California Republican Lawyers Association last weekend at the State GOP confab in San Jose. Dunmoyer spent over a half hour talking to the group, and to its leaders, both publicly and privately. He made it clear that the Governor’s administration would like to appoint more Republicans, and specifically would like to work with the CRLA towards that goal. He said that he looked forward to working with CRLA to set up a specific process to engage them in the process of making suggestions for potential nominees, and would work with the group to get them information ahead-of-time on locations of vacancies. In response to this, the (very excited) CRLA members, according to their Los Angeles County Chairman Adam Abrahms, have already set up a new program, forming their own "Mini-JENY" Commission – aimed at being able to give the administration the names of Republicans to consider for… Read More

* Governor Schwarzenegger’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Dunmoyer (pictured), attended the meeting of the California Republican Lawyers Association last weekend at the State GOP confab in San Jose. Dunmoyer spent over a half hour talking to the group, and to its leaders, both publicly and privately. He made it clear that the Governor’s administration would like to appoint more Republicans, and specifically would like to work with the CRLA towards that goal. He said that he looked forward to working with CRLA to set up a specific process to engage them in the process of making suggestions for potential nominees, and would work with the group to get them information ahead-of-time on locations of vacancies. In response to this, the (very excited) CRLA members, according to their Los Angeles County Chairman Adam Abrahms, have already set up a new program, forming their own "Mini-JENY" Commission – aimed at being able to give the administration the names of Republicans to consider for… Read More

I’m hesitant to post any kind of reflective thoughts on the CRP convention, but Jon asked us to do so…and I think I’ve come up with a way to offend as few as possible…and to make my good friend Mike Gunning over at PIF happy….this time my title comes from a songe by one of the best jazz saxophonists ever – John Coltrane…his song “… Read More

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown wants to be California’s next top cop. Yet, after two terms in office, Brown has not done much to fundamentally change Oakland’s crime problems. Today, he finally announced that he was putting 115 more cops on the streets after a rash of violent crime, which City Council President and mayoral candidate Ignacio de la Fuente calls a “crisis.” (We have already ha… Read More

This morning’s San Jose Mercury News reports that ever-gelled, always dapper San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is romantically involved with actress Sofia Milos, a co-star on “CSI: Miami”.

What gives the story a distinctly California flavor: Ms. Milos is an advocate of the Church of Scientology — so much so that she brought along the mayor to an annual dinner held by the group in Beverly Hills.

Stay tuned to see if the local press corps jumps the mayor will all sorts of Scientology “gotcha” questions: does he think Tom Cruise is unhinged; is he for or against psychotherapy and anti-depressants; has he ever read the works of L. Ron Hubbard, etc.?

Meanwhile, here are some sure signs that Newsom is falling under the Scientologists’ spell:

1) Gives up his tailored suits for too-small black t-shirts.

2) Starts jumping up and down on the couch the next time he’s interviewed by Phil Matier.

3) John Travolta is named head of the San Francisco Film Commission (mayor calls for citywide “Battlefield Earth Appreciation Day”).

4) SF Board of Supervisors is… Read More