San Diego Congressman Darrell Issa, will be announcing later today his intention to seek the position of House Policy Chairman in wake of John Shadegg’s announcement that he will resign as he seeks the Majority Leader post.

The Policy Committee chairman is responsible for formulating the majority’s policy directives and works directly with the GOP leadership.

Letter from Issa to the GOP Conference:

January 13, 2006

Dear Republican Colleague:

Today, I am announcing my candidacy for Policy Chairman and I ask for your support.

I have served as a member of the Policy Committee since my election in 2000. I believe in the need for this very important committee and I want to continue to make it relevant in the policy discussions that our conference will have in the 2nd Session of Congress; specifically, in the issues of Immigration, Health Care, Telecommunications and Tax Reform. These and many other issues of importance to our Conference need to be outlined and discussed, because our constituents demand… Read More

Arizona Rep. John Shadegg, former chairman of the Republican Study Committee and currently chairman of the House Policy Committee, announced today that he will be seeking the post of Majority Leader. A product of the class of ’94, Shadegg has been an effective and respected conservative voice within the GOP Conference and his entry will certainly shake things up immediately.

Shadegg will pull together an interesting coalition that can make him very viable in the contest, even with the late entry. As an active and trusted conservative, he will get significant support from the RSC but since he has been an honest broker with the moderates, he can appeal to them without compromising on principle. Further, many members have refrained from endorsing either Roy Blunt or John Boehner waiting for a "clean break" or "fresh face" candidate. Amazingly, given the impact of the class of ’94 on the Congress, no ’94 member sits in the leadership. Shadegg might also appeal to his colleagues… 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

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