The Republican National Committee is made up of about 165 or so members (a rough estimate), which includes the 50 State Republican Party Chairmen, and a Committeeman and a Committeewoman from each of the 50 states and the U.S. Territories. So California’s three representatives to this body are CRP Chairman Duf Sundheim, Tim Morgan, and Barbara Alby. As a practical matter, when there is a Republican in the White House, the RNC members, in practice, defer the running of the National Committee to the President, who exercises this faith by naming the Chairman of the Party (in this case, Ken Mehlman), who goes through a ratification vote by the full committee (but I don’t think the committee has ever turned down the pick of a President). The Chairman runs the day-to-day operations of the party. The Republican National Committee meets from time-to-time as the policy-setting body of the RNC. Under party rules, they are involved with budgetary issues, matters concerning party rules, the… Read More

The Republican National Committee is made up of about 165 or so members (a rough estimate), which includes the 50 State Republican Party Chairmen, and a Committeeman and a Committeewoman from each of the 50 states and the U.S. Territories. So California’s three representatives to this body are CRP Chairman Duf Sundheim, Tim Morgan, and Barbara Alby. As a practical matter, when there is a Republican in the White House, the RNC members, in practice, defer the running of the National Committee to the President, who exercises this faith by naming the Chairman of the Party (in this case, Ken Mehlman), who goes through a ratification vote by the full committee (but I don’t think the committee has ever turned down the pick of a President). The Chairman runs the day-to-day operations of the party. The Republican National Committee meets from time-to-time as the policy-setting body of the RNC. Under party rules, they are involved with budgetary issues, matters concerning party rules, the… Read More

Special elections are fun because they take place ‘away’ from all of the other noise going on in the state. We have two of them going on right now — the 50th Congressional District race in San Diego County (the "Duke Cunningham" seat) and the 35th State Senate District in Orange County (the "John Campbell" seat).

It would be impossible, nor would we want to delve into much detail on every legislative race in the state. There are other folks that do that. But, on special elections, we try to get into more of the nitty gritty. With two candidates running in the "OC" Senate race, Assemblyman Tom Harmon and Councilwoman Diane Harkey, it shouldn’t be too complicated to follow this race. The Congressional donnybrook has about 2000 candidates, so that one will be a bit more complicated.

That said, Harkey, in the Senate race, has dropped her first mailer, which is attached below. The classic ‘intro’ piece.… Read More

With the revelation that Governor Schwarzenegger’s Chief of Staff would be splitting her time between her official state duties, and working on the Governor’s campaign, this really blurs the lines. Since Susan Kennedy’s appointment, there has been growing unrest and unhappiness statewide among GOP leaders and activists, because of her ‘unique’ background. You see, Kennedy served as Deputy Chief of Staff to none other than disgraced and recalled Governor Gray Davis, a Democrat. She was a senior staff member and Communications Director for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat. She served stints as Executive Director of both the California Democrat Party, and the California Abortion Rights Action League. She cut her teeth as an activist working with Tom Hayden, and idolized Jane Fonda so much as a child she had a scrapbook of… Read More

The campaign for Assembly District 72 has been pretty tame. In the race to replace termed-out Lynn Daucher are Yorba Linda Councilman Mike Duvall–the front runner and Brea Councilman Marty Siminoff. Both are Republicans, Democrats don’t need to bother in this heavily GOP seat.

Duvall is a likable fellow with big voice and constant smile. Siminoff is somewhat more reserved but a smart policy maker and well respected. In terms of philosophy, Duvall is clearly more conservative.

The latest news is good for Duvall. Today he announced that Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman has endorsed him.

For Siminoff the news is not so good. His fund raising consultant Jennifer Cowan of CL7 Communications (Jennifer was formerly district director for Rep. Ed Royce and a leader in promoting GOP women) is rumored to have dropped the councilman as a client.

San Francisco‘s top officials thumbed their noses at the federal drug enforcement officials yesterday as they endorsed a marijuana giveaway at a Civic Center rally. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi helped hand out bags of marijuana cigarettes and candy laced with the drug yesterday, while representatives of Mayor Gavin Newsom, Assemblyman Mark Leno, state Sen. Carole Migden, and District Attorney Kamala Harris read statements reaffirming the officials’ support for medical marijuana. Supervisor Chris Daley was also on hand to endorse the efforts of Cathy and Steve Smith, the couple who runs HopeNet, a medical marijuana "club." In December, the feds raided HopeNet, seizing plants, equipment and records. The full Chronicle story is… Read More

The GOP rank-and-file response to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s rapid transmogrification from government reformer to The Bondinator — and of course the hiring of Susan Kennedy — has generally been one of sullenness and deflation rather than outright rebellion. Given the alternatives – either a Governor Westly or Governor Angelides — the GOP dike has held despite the pressure Schwarzenegger has been putting on it.

Yesterday, however, the first significant crack appeared in the form of this op-ed by Mike Schroeder, entitled "This Governor Should Be Terminated," published in the conservative heartland of Orange County:

At some point, an elected official’s actions can become so erratic that they call into question his basic competence as a leader. It simply needs to be said. Those who raised serious questions in the beginning as to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s basic competence have been proven right. Gov. Schwarzenegger to date has not shown that… Read More

After a late night debate that ended at just after 11:30 p.m., the City of Irvine has enacted some of the toughest ethics laws in the Sate of California. You can read the OC Register’s take on it here. Among other things, the new ordinance prohibits city council members from working as lobbyists. This provision includes a prohibition on council members lobbying other governmental agencies. (Disclosure: My law firm serves as City Attorney to the City of Irvine and drafted the ordinance, though I had no personal interaction on this issue.) Ethics ordinances have become a trend in cities. The most noteworthy of such ordinances, probably being the Los Angeles ethics ordinance, which permits the LA Ethics Commission to investigate and fine violators.… Read More