As my colleague Jon blogged earlier, the Lincoln Club of Orange County has endorsed Diane Harkey for state Senate.

That is a huge blow to Tom Harman’s campaign. Diane Harkey doesn’t really need their money (both collectively and individal contributions from members), but Harman certainly could.

But more than that, the Lincoln Club carries tremendous prestige and influence in Orange County GOP mover-and-shaker circles — others follow their lead. Check out this damning quote from Lincoln Club President Richard Wagner:

Ouch.

It’s a psychological blow for the county’s premier GOP donor group to endorse against an incumbent GOP… Read More

Here in Orange County, we have this special district called the Orange County Vector Control District. As you may have guessed, it supposed to control vectors — mosquitos, ticks, etc.

The OCVCD has been a center of controversy here in recent weeks, due to District Manager Gerard Goedhart’s determination to ram through a 62% pension spike for the OCVDD’s 50 employees. The 35-member Board of Trustees approved it on the first reading, and narrowly rejected two weeks later on the second reading. Goedhart planned to make another attempt to pass the pension spike on December 15, but the outcry — fueled by the OC Register editorial page and OC Blog — led to the vote being postponed until March or April. Goedhart is a former city councilman, and his experience has no doubt taught him that if you delay a controversial proposal long enough for people to… Read More

A follow up to Duane’s post this morning (see below) on the Union-Tribune’s endorsement of Kevin Faulconer … I wanted to note that the joint endorsement of Luis Acle for the other open city council seat, as well as the U-T’s support last month of Jerry Sanders in the mayoral election, puts the paper in the 100% column for Republican candidates for the threeSD city vacancies.

So what?, you may ask. A Republican town, a Republican newspaper, right?

Don’t be so sure. A historical look at the U-T’s ballot recommendations over the last several years shows a nearly dead heat between Ds and Rs endorsed for San Diego City Council seats. You can look it up.

The paper traditionally goes across the board GOP at the federal level, then it throws in a Democrat or two for good measure in state legislative contests (Kehoe, Vargas most recently) and by the time you get local it’s a completely… Read More

In Orange County, there are three major ‘Republican”donor’ organizations, the Lincoln Club, the Family Action PAC, and the New Majority. It is the former which has a decades-old rich tradition here in the County, and their support for a candidate carries a lot of gravitas. The club has weighed into the Special Election battle to replace now-Congressman John Campbell, who retired from the 35th State Senate seat when he was sworn into the House of Representatives earlier this month. The two candidates are businesswoman Diane Harkey, who is a member of the Dana Point City Council, and Assembly Tom Harman, whose primary source of notariety comes from having been elected to the Assembly in the year 2000 when the since-declared-unconstitutional "open primary" allowed him to capture the Republican nomination with the help of Democrat voters.

In endorsing Harkey, the Lincoln Club’s President, Rich Wagner (a great guy and a super Republican) really took off of the gloves in his assessment of… Read More

65th Assembly Candidate and San Jacinto Councilman Jim Ayres is bringing on Tim Clark ashis lead consultant. This is a long needed and very smart move by Ayres. Ayres and Hemet Councilwomen Robin Lowe are the leading contenders in this Riverside & San Bernardino County Assembly seat currently held by the termed out Assemblyman Russ Bogh. Ayers has been the top fundraiser in this race, but has been hampered by a weak campaign team. Look for the addition of Clark & company to turn things around ASAP. With Clark on board for Ayers and Jim Nygren working for Lowe, Sacramento money will be taking a serious look at both these candidates.… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger is expected to name Adam Mendelsohn his next Communications Director this week. Mendelsohn will take over from Rob Stutzman, who is expected to be going to the campaign to handle media duties.

I’ve known Adam for almost 15 years — he is one of the hardest working and most loyal operatives in California politics. His management skills are second to none, he recently was responsible for starting a DC based PR firm that services fortune 50 companies like AT&T and Microsoft. His California rolodex is strong — developed working for Bruce McPherson, Matt Fong and Steve Kuykendall.

Welcome back to California Adam, we’re glad to have you and your talent back in the state. [Publisher’s Note: I’ve known Adam for many years. Solid pick – I’ll write more tomorrow. Flash]… Read More

I read this heartwarming article in the Los Angeles Times yesterday: "Route For New Tollway Goes Through Sacramento, D.C."

And why is an article about building a tollway "heartwarming"? Because it details how OC’s Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) — and more specifically, TCA General Counsel Robert D. Thornton — have consistently defeated the efforts of environmentalist Luddites to halt the expansion of Orange County’s transportation infrastructure.

It has long been my considered opinion, based on observation, that compromising with environmental extremists isn’t an option. They must be defeated, not accomodated — politically. legally and rhetorically.

… Read More

A January 10 San Diego City Council Special Election will determine whether reformers or machine types control the council. The reformer is businessman Kevin Faulconer (disclosure: he is a Coronado Communications client) and the machine type is Bustamonte aide Lorena Gonzalez. Today’s Union Tribune editorial:

“Faulconer is a public relations executive who has pledged to support most elements of Sanders’ recovery plan, including a pay freeze for non-public safety workers, increases in worker contributions to the retirement system and contracting out of more municipal services. And, like Sanders, he rejects any tax hike to pay for the oversized pensions of city workers.

Faulconer’s opponent, Lorena Gonzalez, is backed by labor unions that oppose the mayor’s program. An attorney who works for Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, Gonzalez is bright and articulate. But we fear she would be a consistent vote to stymie San Diego’s financial recovery effort, which is precisely why she has the backing of organized labor. She will not commit to support any aspect of Sanders’ agenda and even refused to respond to his questionnaire probing… Read More