The 35th SD special election is only six weeks away (April 11). Dana Point Councilwoman Diane Harkey has been campaigning hard — at least eight campaign mailers to date, including an absentee ballot program. Two of the mailers hit Assemblyman Tom Harman hard on his votes for tuition for illegal immigrants and sponsorship of the diaper tax [by the way, OC Blog has been posting the mail as it goes out — click here for an overview]. Harkey has the endorsements of just about every major OC GOP political leader, as well as Lincoln Club and the HJTA. The New Majority will likely make a decision in the near future.

Today, this simple, hard-hitting Harkey ad (see link at end of post) began airing on local cable channels, contrasting the two candidates on illegal immigration.

I’m not sure what to make of the Harman campaign. Other than… Read More

The most outrageous thing I saw at the Republican State Convention this past weekend was the ego of Pierre Richard Prosper, candidate for State Attorney General. Now everyone in politics has a little bigger ego then the average Joe, including myself. If you don’t have a healthy ego, you should not be in the arena. With that said and adding to on to the account of my fellow Flash BLOGer Jennifer Nelson; Mr. Pierre Richard Prosper set a new low for pointless self promotion this weekend. His huge 4X8 posters of him walking off a US Government jet with a security guy standing at the doorway was one of the most obnoxious, pompous and stupid things I have seen at a GOP convention in a very long time.

Again, echoing everything Jennifer Nelson said, I will add this- Who the Hell do you think you are Mr. Pierre Richard Prosper? Thanks for showing all of us little peons at the convention that you are so dame important that you get to fly on government aircraft and have security. George W. Bush does the same thing, but you don’t see him or any other President or Governor highlighting the fact in campaign materials.

I am glad you choose to show us… Read More

I’m posting this from my Blackberry, so pardon any formatting issues. But I have had a few people today tell me that a good friend of the FlashReport, Bill Christiansen, is coming onboard in the coming days at the Director of the coordinated State GOP Victory ’06 program. This is an important position as Bill will have the primary responsibility of working with all of the players involved in this cycle’s elections — The Governor’s campaign, the downticket candidate campaigns, any party-endorsed ballot measure campaigns, Senate and Assembly GOP campaigns, the RNC, NRSC, NRCC and all of the GOP infrastructure (State Party, County Committees, Vol Orgs,etc) – and getting everyone marching in the same direction. A Herculean task to be sure, but Bill will have a lot of help.

Bill brings to the table a lot of relevant experience to help him — most notably his two most recent political jobs — he is fresh off of a multi-year stint as Executive Director of the Arizona State Republican Party, and before that he was Executive Director of the Orange County GOP for the better part of a decade.

Bill brings… Read More

This morning’s headlines carry the news of the sixth CHP officer to be killed in the line of duty in the past months.

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of a blocked execution, California faces a question over the future of the death penalty. And voters will soon face a choice over whether to bring Jessica’s Law to California.

All of which begs the question: why isn’t Governor Schwarzenegger taking a higher profile and talking more about crime — especially when he’s trying to make nice-nice with conservative activists?

Schwarzenegger did not attend last Thursay’s funeral in Modesto for slain CHP officer Earl Scott — a service that attracted about 4,000 police officers, fire fighters and paramedics. Not surprisingly, law enforcement unions attacked him the next day for being a no-show. At the time of the funeral, Arnold was in San Diego, promoting infrastructure and community college funding. His press office says he did talk to the fallen officer’s father the night before the funeral.

Schwarzenegger did give passing mention to Jessica’s Law during his Friday night speech in… Read More

The convention this weekend continued the ongoing GOP dialogue about our governor and our party. Going into the convention, Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign announced that Mindy Fletcher Tucker, the governor’s deputy chief of staff for external affairs, was joining the organization as deputy campaign manager. The campaign is shaping up to be a great GOP organization.

But, in truth, I’d be happier with a boatload of Democrat staffers running the campaign, getting him re-elected, and then have our folks in the governor’s office, shaping policy, keeping the civil servants in line and negotiating with the legislature, instead of the other way around.

With the ongoing exodus of Republicans from the Horseshoe, my issue with Schwarzenegger is not what the campaign will do to keep my vote (all… Read More

I may be biased on that question, but a poll from American Viewpoint (hardly a right-wing polling company) shows that I’m in the majority of Californian Republicans that criticism of the Governor is valid.

In a poll conducted last week showed that a total of 65% of likely GOP primary voters feel the Governor should be criticized strongly when he strays from principle. See more here.… Read More

It was annoying to see the big Pierre Richard Prosper for AG display at the convention this weekend, especially since he has not pulled papers on the race.

Prosper really should be running against Dianne Feinstein for U.S. Senate. We have no one running against Feinstein, allowing her to lean left in an election year (voting against Supreme Court nominees Alito and Roberts in committee and on the floor).

Prosper should run in this seat, not against Sen. Chuck Poochigian in the attorney general race. He has no state experience, he doesn’t live in California and his homeland security experience would serve him well in the Senate race.

There’s no question that… Read More

The more manageable size of an Assembly District makes the local contact programs a good manager can set up more important in the total scheme of things than they often are in the larger State Senate or Congressional Districts. In a primary Assembly race, with even fewer voters, these programs double in importance.

Most Assembly races have a consultant and a manager. Sometimes the manager is the driver of the two entities, but much more often in California the consultants are the drivers. This is an exception to the national rule. This may be one of the reasons that "campaign managers" in California tend to be younger and less experienced than those I meet from other states. In short, if your career has a glass ceiling because a consulting firm is going to call all the shots, you do the job for a few years until you can either join a consulting firm or get a job in the legislature or 3rd house.

On the GOP side this glass ceiling has led to a new crop of inexperienced "yes men" every year who know their future is based more on their relationship with the consultant than in their performance in the field. While this may not be a big deal in… Read More