In the wake of Senator Ashburn’s arrest last week, I found myself actually hoping for communication from the CRP. Those are the moments when leadership is needed, and the party needs a positive and unified message. But unfortunately, the CRP was deafeningly silent when the Senator was arrested.

So I called my friend, Charles Moran, who ran media for the California delegation at the RNC convention in 2008, to find out what the Log Cabin Republicans think about Senator Ashburn’s predicament. And as you will see below, there is a good reason why Charles is the national spokesperson for the Log Cabin Republicans…he is excellent at communicating on subjects that can be very difficult. I appreciate what he had to say.

JIll: Generally speaking, what was your reaction to the news regarding Senator Ashburn’s arrest for DUI, and the mention that he was driving from a gay bar?

Charles: The first reaction was one of concern of the safety of the pubic – drinking and driving is a grossly irresponsible and dangerous practice… Read More

Numerically, so far the candidate campaign that has sent the most correspondence to California Republican Party Conventioneers in advance of this weekend’s confab is easily Attorney General candidate Steve Cooley (the latest being a letter from four past CRP Chairmen – Dr. Tirso Del Junco, Mike Motgomery, Frank Visco, and my former employer L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich). Right behind him is the campaign of Gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman (her latest letter is a piece from former Governor Pete Wilson). But all of those have been rather subdued mailers in terms of presentation — a simple letter in an envelope.

The only mail piece I have received from a campaign that is impressive in its presentation has come from U.S. Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina. This glossy mailer is personalized and includes not only a strong letter from some conservative U.S. Senators, but it really lays out the fiscal follies of candidate Tom Campbell. Of course, for strategic reasons, Fiorina doesn’t even mention the candidacy of Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, whom she cannot "out-conservative" but she can out-spend — but the mail piece is… Read More

Steve Poizner’s campaign has launched a new website, RealMegWhitman.com — a site intended pound away at the GOP primary frontrunner on a number of issues. The first feature video on this site is, simply put, a doosey. I have "lifted it" and placed it below… … Read More

Here’s the piece. I’m sure it deserves some analysis. But who has time for that? I guess I will leave it to readers to decide whether a Constitutional Officer who has CHP protection should be reimbursing taxpayers for that protection when it is provided at campaign events….

… Read More

Having gotten to know many of the members of the press corps that cover California politics, I have found them to for the most part be pretty fair and balanced. There is always an occasional example of some liberal reporter going too far — but generally, for our part here in the Golden State, we’ve got a good crew of reporters (almost all of whom invariably voted for President Obama – but then again, so did most Americans).

There is no good reason for Meg Whitman and her campaign to go through Herculean efforts to avoid meaningful dialogue with the California press corps. All it does is feed speculation that she has good reason to do so, when I don’t think that is the case. I have heard Whitman in intimate campaign settings, and have myself sat down with her on more than one occasion writing for this website. I’m confident that she would do just fine in media interviews.

As a Republican Party officer, who is neutral in this primary and is waiting on the proverbial "50 yard line" to help our nominee win the office in November, I really do believe that practice makes perfect where it comes to media interviews.… Read More

My good friend Eric Hogue may have indulged in a little bit of over-analysis this morning as he penned a lengthy blog post over at Hogue News on the fact that the campaign of ersatz Board of Equalization member Alan Nakanishi made an ‘amateur hour’ faux pax at the California Republican Assembly convention last weekend in Orange County

The committed sin? Nakanishi’s campaign flyers, distributed all around the convention, were printed on official government paper with a watermark. How might that have happened? Well, Eric goes on about that at length. But if you haven’t see it yet, our cool graphic artist buddy Dave took the flyer I brought home and "enhanced" it so you can see the watermark. Check out his work below.

I will ask this question — why in the heck does the state place watermarks on its paper ? And how much does it cost taxpayer to do that. While apparently there is some utility in knowing when "government" paper is used, I would think those would be few and far between. Oh well, state government does a lot of things that make normal people go,… Read More

My client Assemblyman Bill Emmerson will stay on the ballot for the April 13th special election for the vacant Republican-dominated 37 th State Senate special election, according to a bench ruling by Superior Court Judge Kenneth Andreen, issued about an hour ago in Riverside. The judge announced his ruling after a full blown Perry Mason-style trial that included testimony from a Private Eye that Emmerson opponent and Corona Councilman Steve Nolan, the unsuccessful petitioner, had hired to snoop on where Emmerson sleeps at night. I must admit, I thought the case was getting a little out of hand, but the judge delivered a resounding ruling in Emmerson’s favor and I’m pleased to chalk this one up as yet another Lacy legal masterpiece.… Read More

It has been an honor and pleasure to provide you with information and commentary about state government these past years. Today I am accepting an appointment from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve as the Secretary for State and Consumer Services with the mission to hold down government spending.I am resigning my position the Board of Equalization and turning it over to the capable hands of my chief deputy, Barbara Alby. Because I now have only one boss, the Governor, this will be the lastposting for 2010.I need to focus exclusively on helping the Governor with the duties he assigns me. Thank you for your comments, support, suggestions and prayers, as they are all … Read More