More shake outs in the 59th Assembly District race as former Sierra Madre City Councilman drops his bid for the GOP nomination. Doyle cites a couple of business reasons for his decision.

Doyle also endorsed former Covina City Councilman Chris Lancaster for the seat. This leaves Lancaster as the only announced candidate from the San Gabriel Valley side of this oddly shaped District that contains Hesperia and other parts of San Bernardino County. This also frees LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich to endorse another candidate.

The race could end up as a test of geography between Anthony Adams and Chris Lancaster. Adams has worked hard and I suspect that he will have the most dollars when Jan. 31 numbers are revealed. Lancasterin now consolidating LA County, but can he reach the desert?

Awild card is the candidacy of San Bernardino businessman Barry Hartz. WhileHartz hails from the desert, he is formerly from the San Gabriel Valley part of the district and has support from the Mountjoy political operation.

You can see… Read More

As I sit here writing this post, floor debate is going on in the US Senate over the confirmation of Appellate Judge Samuel Alito. The American Bar Association (a notoriously liberal organization at the board of directors level) has stated that Alito is "well qualified" (the highest rating the ABA can give). It was no surprise that Ted "is that a bridge I see?" Kennedy and Joseph "Stalin" Biden vocally opposed his nomination in the Judiciary Committee. Now, however, the full Senate will weigh in and, barring some sort of disaster of epic proportions, Alito will be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Probably today.

While O’Connor was certainly not a judicial activist, Alito will be a welcome addition to the bench. He is well know for his judicial restraint and has a philosophy of letting the legislature legislate (as opposed to the judiciary legislating). That will be welcome on the Court. The criticism of his decision in Casey (an abortion case that was reversed by the Supreme Court) is misplaced. In fact, his opinion in that decision demonstrated his restraint and dedication to precedent… Read More

PAY-AS-YOU-GO: GREAT IDEA! Today, at 11am, Assembly Republicans will release the details on a new "pay-as-you-go" infrastructure proposal, which is summarized today in the lead piece on the FlashReport – and exclusive column from Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (pictured to the right). This plan, which McCarthy’s staff says has been blessed by Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, represents a major effort by legislative Republicans to fund infrastructure projects in each budget, rather than relying exclusively on a ‘max out the state credit card’ approach to borrowing as much as possible. This proposal just makes the dynamic in the Capitol that much more confusing. The Governor has proposed and aggressive borrowing plan, the lynchpin of while is a massive $68,000,000,000.00 ($68 billion) general obligation bond package to go to voters. Some Democrats (unbelievably) has said… Read More

PAY-AS-YOU-GO: GREAT IDEA! Today, at 11am, Assembly Republicans will release the details on a new "pay-as-you-go" infrastructure proposal, which is summarized today in the lead piece on the FlashReport – and exclusive column from Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (pictured to the right). This plan, which McCarthy’s staff says has been blessed by Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, represents a major effort by legislative Republicans to fund infrastructure projects in each budget, rather than relying exclusively on a ‘max out the state credit card’ approach to borrowing as much as possible. This proposal just makes the dynamic in the Capitol that much more confusing. The Governor has proposed and aggressive borrowing plan, the lynchpin of while is a massive $68,000,000,000.00 ($68 billion) general obligation bond package to go to voters. Some Democrats (unbelievably) has said… Read More

GOP Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon (Santa Clarita) represents the 25th District that includes portions of LosAngeles andSan Bernardino Counties (okay its has Mono and Inyo too.) McKeonhas joined Congressman Dan Lungren as a signer of the petition to have elections for several House leadership positions. He was one the signers released publicly by supporters of the vote that could change many House leadership positions and becomes the second California Congressman associated with this possible overthrow of leadership. See the story here.

Supporters of a shake-up in leadership say they have 30 of the 50 votes needed to force a meeting. McKeon is on the Armed Services Committee and is senior member of the House Education and Workforce Committee. He isn’t your normal rabble-rouser and his support for a vote shows thatleadership has some problems. You can see FR Publisher Jon Fleischman’s commentary on the topic here.

Will there be athird Congressman… Read More

Everyone knows that Kevin McCarthy’s political machine includes the Abernathy’s and Western Political Research. What most people have forgotten is that ten years ago these very same people helped Willie Brown keep power by helping Republican puppets, Doris Allen and Brian Setenich. These consultants should be banned from party services not raking in money because they are connected to the GOP Miniority leader. See the whole post here.

Not thatMcCarthy is trying that hard to recruit candidates for a GOP Majority now. See my previous post here.… Read More

When Gavin Newsom was running for mayor, he was criticized by the left for being too pro-business. After his gay marriage stunt, you don’t hear the lefties criticize the mayor much…until this week. Newsom vetoed an anti-landlord bill sponsored by Supervisor Chris Daly last Friday afternoon, before leaving for an international trip. The bill would have required property owners to disclose evictions of disabled or elderly tenants to at showings and open houses. Newsom supported an amendment which would have required sellers to notify serious buyers that a disabled or elderly tenant was evicted in order to sell the property (which in itself is a silly law), but the Board refused to change the measure.

Newsom’s staff has said that he also will veto another Daly-sponsored bill which would require property owners to appear before the Planning Commission before being allowed to… Read More

Last December, Rasmussen Reports polling showed that the Governator was down by a few points in one-on-one hypothetical match ups with Phil Angelides and Steve Westly. Now, a few weeks later, the same company is reporting that the race is neck and neck. I’ve reprinted some of their summary findings below, but you can read more, including survey crosstabs right here.