Eight citizen members of the California Redistricting Commission held their first meeting last Tuesday at the Secretary of State’s offices in Sacramento. The commission so far is made up of 3 Republicans, 3 Democrats and 2 Decline to state voters chosen randomly from a pool of 36 people. Those 36 are the survivors of 120 applicant/semifinalists who were vetted thru the complicated process required by the Voters First Act. Four partisan legislative leaders got to strike two people each from the final pool of applicants. Now the final 8 will chose an additional 6 members from the final pool of 36, to finalize the commission membership at 14. It is all a little like the finals of “Dancing With The Stars,” except Bristol Palin would have been cut by now. Soon the commissioners will begin work on dividing up all of California’s partisan legislative districts based on Census data soon to be provided by the Obama Administration. When they are done, we will really learn what “random” and “nonpartisan” actually mean.… Read More

The California Supreme Court will receive written arguments next week to set aside the open primary system scheduled to go into affect in special elections next year and in 2012 as a result of the passage of Proposition 14. A superior court judge and an intermediate appellate court have already essentially approved implementation of Proposition 14. The Supreme Court will hear a challenge driven largely by non-recognized minor party candidates who claim they are at a disadvantage as a result of the implementation law, known as Senate Bill 6, over the issue of "declaring party preference."

Under Proposition 14, candidates for partisan office who are registered in established political parties can essentially "hide the ball" from voters by not disclosing their party registration on the ballot. I have always felt that this was one of the biggest flaws in Proposition 14, because it give voters less information on the ballot, not more, about the candidate. I thought that might be a pretty good line of challenge, too. But the folks challenging the law are from parties that… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail… … Read More

With the big gains nationally for Republicans, after a four year hiatus, voters have returned a Republican majority to the United States House of Representatives. Back in 2006 Republicans lost the majority, in part, because the GOP had lost touch with voters, and embraced federal spending. Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan, did a great job in describing this in a September column in the Wall Street Journal…

Song of the week: “It’s America” by Rodney Atkins "It’s a high school prom, it’s a Springsteen song, it’s a ride in a Chevrolet. It’s a man on the moon and fireflies in June and kids selling lemonade. It’s cities and farms, it’s open arms, one nation under God. It’s America!" My new, favorite, inspiring, patriotic song. If you haven’t heard it, go online and listen. Back here in DC, the "lame duck" session continues to trudge towards its end, likely with little resolution of much because lame ducks are rarely very productive. So, since there is nothing definitive to report on the lame duck at this point, here are some random thoughts of mine about recent developments on other topics:

Deficit Commission: I do not… Read More

I remember talking to someone once about an election I was running in and I told him that if I lose I want to lose by a lot. He was taken a back and asked why? I told him if you lose by a little you kick yourself for not working a little harder, walking just a few more hours, raising a little more money etc… If you lose by a large margin there was nothing you could do, the people are stupid.

He laughed. But, you do see this happening with the Cooley race.

I have already pointed out that the over confidence in Los Angeles County vote totalswas mistaken. Cooley hadn’t run a TV ad or sent a mailer to the much larger general election electorate in ten years.

Torey Van Oot reported about the feud between the Whitman campaign and the CRP over a mailer highlighting everyone on the ticket.

There is a little more to that story. At the CRP Convention in San Diego the initiatives committee (that I Chair)… Read More

If anyone has any remaining questions as to why Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives earlier this month, take a look at this video.

The video shows Indiana Republican Congressman Steve Buyer trying to be recognized by California’s Democrat Congresswoman Laura Richardson, who was running the floor at the time. She repeatedly tries to use parliamentary chicanery to deter him from expressing outrage that a bill bypassed the committee process.

Republicans are particularly sensitive to this kind of trickery, considering Democrats are trying to pass their remaining agenda items during the lame duck session. Trying to further shove their agenda on the American people after such a sharp repudiation shows just how arrogant and unheeding Democrats have become in their fundamental transformation of our government and society.

Frustrated at Richardson’s robotic, vapid unwillingness… Read More

The American people have chosen new leaders for the House of Representatives. After listening to millions of Americans over the last two years, it became clear that a majority wanted Congress to focus on creating jobs, cutting spending and reforming Congress. With a change in leadership for the 112th Congress which convenes in January, we will renew our focus on those three vital areas.

… Read More