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

Arnold’s Conservative Understudy

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger walked into a potential lion’s den over the weekend when he spoke at the California Republican Party convention in San Jose. The typically conservative delegates aren’t fans of his plans to borrow a massive $222 billion for infrastructure projects without first reforming contracting rules that dramatically boost construction costs. His plan to raise California’s minimum wage has also fallen flat with conservatives.

But the Governator nonetheless picked up some ground simply by showing up and making a strong pitch that the party should be united for the fall elections. He reminded delegates that he has held the line on taxes and vetoed many bills passed by the Democratic legislature. His efforts were aided by a new alliance with State Senator Tom McClintock, a hard-shell… Read More

OC Register editorial writer Steve Greenhut posted this yesterday in the OCR’s Orange Punch Blog:

As I begin to write about the California Republican Party Convention that I attended this weekend at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, I should start out by saying that as the week goes by, I (along with many other FR weblog contributors who attended the convention) will be following this piece with other thoughts, observations, stories and vignettes on things that happened in the hallways, backrooms, and hospitality suites at the convention. Of course, the highlight of our review of the CRP convention will come late in the week when the FlashReport releases our latest version of the Winners & Losers of the CRP convention. For the last ten convention (going back five years), the W&L edition of the FR has looked back over the weekend, from just about every imaginable angle, and tried to figure out how people fared, from topics as varied as political elections to personal attire. We really encourage input as we figure this all out, as the FR and our team couldn’t be everywhere, so please submit your ideas here. My first… Read More