This just in…

Dear Friend, Like many other supporters of Steve Poizner, you have probably been contacted recently by operatives for the Meg Whitman for Governor Campaign. These operatives have one simple message: Steve Poizner cannot win, you need to join the Whitman team, and we will remember you if you fail to join us. In fact, one Whitman operative recently threatened a $40 million negative attack campaign against Steve Poizner if he did not withdraw from the race.… Read More

I just sent this out to the CRP membership…

Last Saturday I wrote to you about the question that will be coming before the California Republican Party Board of Directors – whether or not to extend invitations to the Republican candidates for Governor, Attorney General and United States Senate to participate in debates at our upcoming convention next month in Santa Clara.

In that e-mail I mentioned that the Board would be voting on a proposed resolution to that effect today. I wanted to let you know that our meeting ended up not taking place today, but that will be convening for a telephonic Board meeting on Thursday morning at 8:30am.

I would like to share with you that I have heard back from nearly a quarter of the State Central Committee members, and by a staggering proportion, they would like… Read More

There has been a lot of discussion about whether or not there will be a GOP Gubernatorial debate at the upcoming California Republican Party Convention. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that there has been a lot of debate about whether the CRP should formally invite the candidates to debate at the convention. I think, based on the posturing of Meg Whitman’s campaign, that she is unlikely to accept a CRP debate invitation — but, hey, stranger things have happened.

That said, it is worthy of note that there is a potential GOP Gubernatorial debate taking place a couple of days later in front of the New Majority, a major GOP donor group ($10k/year to join). Meg Whitman has already and long ago agreed to participate in a debate at that event — but like with all events, I suppose the devil is in the details.

Apparently the Poizner campaign is worried about the details of that event, as Poizner’s Campaign Manager, Jim Bognet, has fired off a letter to the leadership of the New Majority going to into the details of the debate format.

To excerpt part of the letter where they start by calling for a high-profile, non-biased… Read More

On March 24 there will be an informational hearing held by the Fair Political Practices Commission’s Subcommittee on the Political Reform Act & Internet Political Activity at the University of Southern California School of Law.

I have been asked to testify before this Subcommittee and have been asked to focus my remarks on, "On developments in the use of the internet in campaigns and what you expect will happen in the future. Your thoughts about what that means for the appropriate regulatory structure for such campaign activity would also be very helpful to us."

IF AFTER READING THIS BLOG POST YOU HAVE INPUT FOR ME RELEVANT TO MY PENDING TESTIMONY, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

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

On March 24 there will be an informational hearing held by the Fair Political Practices Commission’s Subcommittee on the Political Reform Act & Internet Political Activity at the University of Southern California School of Law.

I have been asked to testify before this Subcommittee and have been asked to focus my remarks on, "On developments in the use of the internet in campaigns and what you expect will happen in the future. Your thoughts about what that means for the appropriate regulatory structure for such campaign activity would also be very helpful to us." IF AFTER READING THIS BLOG POST YOU HAVE INPUT FOR ME RELEVANT TO MY PENDING TESTIMONY, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

By way of background, here is an excerpt from the FPPC’s website where they talk about the… Read More

This just in from Tucker Bounds, Communications Director for the Whitman for Governor campaign…

With Election Day 2010 fast approaching, Jerry Brown has refused to explain what his intentions would be as governor. It’s a stark contrast to the way Meg has gone about courting voters.

Meg, who leads her Republican primary rival by 30 points and is tied with Jerry Brown in a brand new poll, is running a modern, multi-tiered media campaign that is focused on how Californians get their news today. Since announcing her intentions to seek the Republican nomination for Governor,… Read More

The well-respected Rasmussen public opinion research company today has released some new survey data on the California Governor’s race with some pretty significant results…

Joe Matthews reports today that the electronic petition signature of Mr. Michael Ni has been filed in San Mateo county, the first of its kind, (and on a marijuana initiative) setting up a legal battle on whether such a signature is a valid "affixation." If it is, Matthews says "efforts to reform California’s dysfunctional government could get an important boost."

Not too long ago our publisher asked if I’d consider writing something about the brewing issue of iPhone applications for California initiatives. I punted at the time. But Joe’s story today breathed some life into me. I disagree with the analysis that electronic signatures can help reform California in a positive way, and I want to spend a little effort here to parse this "iPhone" initiative distribution talk, because I think it is not legal, not a good idea, and will only create more dysfunction, because ultimately it will undermine and reduce the influence of initiative campaigns themselves. More on that near the end of this post.

First, I disagree with the underlying notion that the initiative system is the source of the… Read More