OK – it is getting hard to read the playsheets these days, and so it should have come as no surprise to me that I got an email yesterday from Nick Valasquez, the Press Secretary to the Steve Westly for Controller campaign.

Apparently, I confused my former employees of new Schwarzenegger Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy…. (pictured left)

You see, I reported that smarmy Democrat operative Bob Mulholland had taken a position with Westly’s campaign last Thursday. Valasquez correctly pointed out that Mulholland actually went to work for the Angelides campaign!

This makes sense because when Phil Angelides was Chairman of … Read More

KEVIN MCCARTHY: KENNEDY APPOINTMENT A "MISTAKE" Yesterday in my commentary, I had a short mention of the fact that while State Senate President Dick Ackerman has been quite vocal, and critical of one of California top’s Democrat operatives being placed into the #1 staff position in the Governor’s office, Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy had been very quiet in the papers.

Since then, I have heard from several sources that McCarthy has actually been a vocal critic of the choice within the closed-door circles of the state capitol, including with the Governor.

I spoke with McCarthy yesterday, and he made it clear to me that he things that this appointment was a mistake. When we spoke, he told me that we can look for public comments from him in the media as early as Monday, vocalizing his concerns. In the meantime, McCarthy says that he has been making his concerns known in his speeches to groups and organizations.

Look for more of a profile on the Assembly Republican Leader and how he will navigate his caucus through the unchartered waters… Read More

Ihate to interrupt all of the well-justified venting over the appointment of Susan Kennedy as Governor Schwarzenegger’s new chief of staff, but I figured FlashReport’s readers might be due for a little distraction. This magazine cover, believe it or not, was published by the first Democrat candidate to announce against 26th District Republican Congressman David Dreier in the 2006 election.

The publisher, Russ Warner, is from Rancho Cucamonga, and he’s absolutely loaded. Obviously this means there’s a possibility he could self-fund. Rancho Cucamonga, in San Bernardino County, is the most conservative part of the 26th district. Having been added to the district in the lastreapportionment, it’s not Dreier stomping grounds (the reigning House Rules… Read More

OK. I am usually supposed to write about legal issues, that is why I am the "political law correspondent." However, there are some things that transcend law and politics — such as, for instance, what ideas mean to a political party. I am not so naive as to think that ideas will always carry the day (though I wish that were the case). But the state GOP leadership’s failure to exert LEADERSHIP on the Kennedy issue is almost nauseating. Let’s get this straight: 1. Kennedy is a liberal Democrat activist. 2. Kennedy led the hatchet job on one of the most thoughtful and eloquent Republican leaders of the 1990s (Republican US Senate nominee Bruce Herschensohn). 3. Kennedy has now been nominated to be the COS for Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.… Read More

The Republican Governor’s Association just wrapped up its annual meeting in Carlsbad in Northern San Diego County. I asked State GOP Vice Chairman and FR friend to give us a report on how things went. Here is his "report from the field" – enjoy!

From Ron Nehring:

If you join the staff of a Republican governor, one of the first lessons you learn is that you want to be the guy who gets to staff the governor at the annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association — it’s always held at a first class resort in a warm climate while the rest of the country is blanketed with cold, rain or snow.

For the last two days I’ve attended the RGA’s meeting here at the La Costa Resort in Carlsbad in San Diego County, both in my role as Senior Consultant for Americans for Tax Reform, and… Read More

The key words in Spence’s last submission are "within the next month" which to me indicates no urgency on anyone’s behalf – rather an attempt to placate the grassroots.

Anyway, there is quite a number of reasons to be upset about this hire which have been discussed here and everywhere else over the last couple of days. I share many of the complaints, and am shocked and angry.

But getting down the the point of this missive – there is always one good thing about hiring a Democrat. Generally, the Democrat insiders and grassroots are as partisan as we are. I can’t imagine the vast majority are thinking of Kennedy as anything but a traitor to the Democrat Party. Imagine what our reaction would be if, for instance, our good buddy Jon Fleischman had gone to work as Gov. Davis’s Chief of Staff. We’d drum him out of the Party. I doubt many of us would be thinking "well now we have our guy in there and he’ll control policy." Instead we’d know that old John knows all our strategies and tactics and dirty laundry and since old John would never be welcome home to the GOP he would have great incentive to… Read More

As Flashreport readers know the initial response of the CRP to the Kennedy Chief of Staff nomination was that Republicans should "hold their fire." Today the state CRP Board of Directors held an emergency Conference Call to discuss growing grassroots outrage to a partisan Democrat being placed in charge of a Republican Administration. Senate GOP Leader Dick Ackerman has expressed his displeasure. I’m told they have asked to have a face to face meeting with Governor about the appointment within the next month. Maybe, just maybe, the CRP will speak out for Republicans. [Publisher’s note: I have spoken with a couple of CRP Board members since the meeting. One of them told me that several board members are debating telling the Governor that they will encourage a withdrawal of the party’s pre-primary endorsement of the Governor is he doesn’t rethink this. This same board member said that even if unsuccessful, the Governor would get a deserved "GOP divided over Governor" bout of bad press no matter… Read More

One of the major questions swirling around Washington is who will get the coveted Appropriations Committee seat vacated by Duke Cunningham.

The Appropriations Committee, the prime vehicle for dishing out “pork” has ten subcommittees. Each subcommittee chairman is commonly referred to as a “cardinal” and they are unrivaled in their power over the purse. Cunningham sits on the Defense Subcommittee as well as the Labor, Health & Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis favors fellow Californian Rep. Ken Calvert for the vacancy. One of the arguments is that this is a “California seat,” which it is. Before Cunningham took the seat, it was occupied by former Rep. Bill Lowery of San Diego. Lewis, as chairman, and a member of the House Republican Steering Committee (the committee on committees) holds… Read More