The California Republican Party announced they are launching a new initiative that fundamentally changes the way the Party conducts outreach and coalition building.

For all the years I have been involved in the political and non-profit worlds outreach efforts have focused on forming affinity groups internal to an organization. For example the "Asian Outreach Committee of the Republican Party" or the "Commercial Real Estate Network of the Jewish Federation".

These groups serve a purpose, but generally require someone to sign-up, attend and get involved in a "new" group. It takes them out of their comfort space, away from their core business or interest. While they support the Party or non–profit it can be an imposition to participate in another group.

Last week CA GOP Chairman Ron Nehring announced that he has been working on a very different kind of outreach effort, one that goes to the supporter rather than making them come to the Party. If executed well over time, it will mean that Party leadership and volunteers are integrated into outside organizations of every type throughout the state, on an ongoing and… Read More

The California Republican Party Initiatives Committee meet by conference call and voted by a vote of 9-4 to oppose Propositions 1A-1F as a package. The Committee also voted to endorse the Voter ID Initiative.

The recommendations need to be approved by the CRP Executive Committee tomorrow to be official.… Read More

Today Republican Congressman Devin Nunes in the Central Valley called on Arnold Schwarzenegger to resign his Governorship. "Why," you as? Details.… Read More

Assemblyman Mike Villines has sent out a letter to the State GOP’s Executive Committee meeting, predictably asking the State GOP to do what only seven Republican Legislators (our of 45) in the State Capitol have done, and that is to endorse Proposition 1A. FR readers will recall, quite easily, that Villines (along with Governor Schwarzenegger, Senate President Darrell Steinberg, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, and then-Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill) was an architect of the February budget proposal that purported to "solve" our state’s fiscal woes through cuts and tax increases. Villines was one of six Republican legislators to vote for a deal which has hatched these ballot measures, the most controversial of which is Proposition 1A.

1A is the measure where Villines asks you to support it (and the $16 billion in additional taxes on Californians that come with its passage) in return for a "spending cap" that he says in his letter below that 1A will, "provide a permanent solution to stop the spending madness and force our government to finally live within its means."

The problem is that we are forced… Read More

If the campaign for the next GOP nominee for Governor of California is going to be won over fairly obscure inside baseball arguments about Silicon Valley business deals, we have already lost the election to the Democrats.

Across the country and especially in California,the Republican Party and its brand desperately need redefinition. Voters need to have their confidence restored in our party, and the most important need right now is for voters to understand there is a difference between the parties, and that our party and its leaders unshakably stand for lower taxes and less government. Thisshould beone of the lessons learned as a result of the recent "Tea Parties" across our state and America, and as Grover Norquist quipped, "it should take only a mildly alert Republican candidate to get in front of that parade."

Steve and Meg: most voters in Republican voter rich southern California have no idea what Skype is, let alone whether their vote will turn on who made money or lost money on anything to do with it. At a time when the flooring is giving way in our party to recall witch-hunts, statesmanship… Read More

Tomorrow, the 100-member Executive Committee (ExComm) of the California Republican Party will meet at the convention center in Downtown Sacramento. After several morning presentations on various party-building topics, at 2 p.m. the ExComm will go into session to consider only seven matters – six of them being whether to take positions on Propositions 1A – 1F which are on the special election ballot next month, and the seventh on having the party endorse a ballot measure aimed at reduce instances of voter fraud, the proponent of which is popular GOP State Senator George Runner.

With my profuse apologies to those who prefer long, drawn-out drama, I have to tell you that in my opinion, the results that tomorrow’s meeting – at least where Propositions 1A, 1B, and 1C are concerned, are a foregone conclusions. Just a couple of weeks ago, as a Board Member of the State GOP, I voted to approve a slew of appointments to the ExComm made by CRP Chairman Ron Nehring that overwhelmingly oppose these three propositions. This is in addition to those on the ExComm by… Read More

Tomorrow, the 100-member Executive Committee (ExComm) of the California Republican Party will meet at the convention center in Downtown Sacramento. After several morning presentations on various party-building topics, at 2 p.m. the ExComm will go into session to consider only seven matters – six of them being whether to take positions on Propositions 1A – 1F which are on the special election ballot next month, and the seventh on having the party endorse a ballot measure aimed at reduce instances of voter fraud, the proponent of which is popular GOP State Senator George Runner.

With my profuse apologies to those who prefer long, drawn-out drama, I have to tell you that in my opinion, the results that tomorrow’s meeting – at least where Propositions 1A, 1B, and 1C are concerned, are a foregone conclusions. Just a couple of weeks ago, as a Board Member of the State GOP, I voted to approve a slew of appointments to the ExComm made by CRP Chairman Ron Nehring that overwhelmingly oppose these three propositions. This is in addition to those on the ExComm by virtue of… Read More

"When you run a campaign based on your career in business, then that makes your past business failures a legitimate issue in the campaign," was what Kevin Spillane, senior communications consultant for the Poizner for Governor Campaign, told me when I called him a few minutes ago. he went on to say, "If past performance is indicative of future results, Californians can’t afford Meg Whitman’s disastrous record of fiscal mismanagement.”

My call to Spillane was prompted after I received a very hard hitting piece from the Poizner Campaign blasting Meg Whitman — for a failed business venture launched by eBay when she was their CEO. The business venture was the purchase of the online phone/video technology firm SKYPE. Rather than go into all of the details, I’ll let the materials sent to me by Poizner’s campaign speak for themselves. They are attached (.pdf) below.

I will say that I found it rather interesting that Poizner’s missive really launched into Whitman’s right-hand adviser Henry Gomez. I have had the opportunity to meet Gomez a few times, and he seems nice enough (if he has horns, he keeps them… Read More