Today was the first of my weekly appearances on Sacramento conservative talk radio station KTKZ, spending a segment with popular radio talk show host and FR friend Eric Hogue (his columns on his Hogue News website are linked often on our site’s main page — very insightful).

You can listen to the audio of my interview with Eric below — our topics? The Field poll results in the Governor and U.S. Senate races, and a bit on the budget crisis.… Read More

John Fund in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…… Read More

MEMORANDUM

TO: Interested Parties FR: Martin Wilson, Campaign Manager, Carly for California RE: Pick up the phone…California is calling __________________________________________________

I guess it’s not a secret anymore; we’ve got ourselves a little old competitive Senate race here in California. The Field Poll shows Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina in a statistical tie, 47 percent to 44 percent. This represents a 30-point improvement for Carly since Field first matched up the two in March 2009. Most importantly, Carly has closed a 15-point gap since January 2010. Trends are stubborn things, and Barbara Boxer has found out that this trend is not her friend. Looks like Barbara Boxer has earned herself a spot on the endangered politicians list.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

MEMORANDUM

TO: Interested Parties FR: Martin Wilson, Campaign Manager, Carly for California RE: Pick up the phone…California is calling __________________________________________________

I guess it’s not a secret anymore; we’ve got ourselves a little old competitive Senate race here in California. The Field Poll shows Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina in a statistical tie, 47 percent to 44 percent. This represents a 30-point improvement for Carly since Field first matched up the two in March 2009. Most importantly, Carly has closed a 15-point gap since January 2010. Trends are stubborn things, and Barbara Boxer has found out that this trend is not her friend. Looks like Barbara Boxer has earned herself a spot on the endangered politicians list.

The political environmental assessment for Barbara Boxer is bleak. Her job performance ratings are 42 percent/48 percent approve/disapprove in this most recent poll. In previous years when she was running for re-election,… Read More

This just in from State Senator (and soon to be Congressman) Jeff Denham… Denham has submitted this ballot argument against the "Porkulus" (as we call it), the massive water bond that is currently scheduled to appear on the November ballot. Advocates of the bond want to push the vote off to 2012 — presumably their internal polling shows that spending such vast amounts of money during a recession is not too popular with taxpayers…

Here what Denham submitted to the Secretary of State: The politicians and the special interests are at it again! Not only have they racked up a $19 billion deficit but now they are trying to con Californians into voting for a phony $11 billion water bond. Proposition 18 is a pork measure that gives billions of dollars to… Read More

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

FR has covered the controversy of the competing claims of leadership of the Republican Party of Los Angeles (RPLAC) of Jane Barnett and Robert Vaughn, including the outcome of the May 26, 2010 court case. The court ruled in Barnett’s favor.

A reporter called me right before the case for a comment and I told the reporter that the outcome of a court case wouldn’t decide the future of the RPLAC, but the following weeks Central Committee elections would. I should point out I have been an elected RPLAC member for almost two decades. Yikes!. And I am a local Lincoln Club Chair.

Here is a quick look at it. I should note that RPLAC could have over 200 members. With people elected from districts that have little GOP registration to some that have a lot. Some District are very small, like the LA portion of the 61t AD. Needless to say in some districts you get whomever runs and that is it.

As I look at the winners, Barnett clearly was the winner. She had help from the LA County Lincoln Club that bought slates in the very competitive areas.

There help had a big… Read More

Frequent FR readers are well aware of my views about SEIU, but I am in the mood for venting today, so here goes. It drives me nuts when I read quotes by state workers saying they are being used as "pawns," or that the Governor is "balancing the budget on the backs of state workers."

These are absolutely ludicrous statements.

It is as if the people who make these statements are in denial of the fact that they are members of one of the biggest and most powerful unions in the country—SEIU. The same SEIU that was a top political contributor to California Democrats last year, and that regularly strong-arms Democrat legislators on everything from appointments to bills to the budget. And more importantly, the same SEIU whose leadership has made drastic measures like furloughs and minimum wage necessary because of their refusal to make any compromises.

Compare SEIU to the National Federation of Independent Business. The NFIB is comprised of small business owners who run businesses, meet overhead, comply with labor laws, and pay taxes. Their bottom is line is the private sector. In addition to this they spend some time (too little)… Read More