On Thursday night I attended the LA County Republican Party’s annual fundraiser in Beverly Hills. For a County Party that just a few years ago failed to be able to consistently make rent on their headquarters, the event was a huge success.

County Chair Linda Boyd and her team should be congratulated for the ongoing success of the Party.

The event itself featured several hundred paid attendees, and brought in over $100,000 to the Party. It honored longtime LA conservative fixtures Supervisor Mike Antonovich and donor extraordinaire Burt Boeckmann and his wife, Jane.

Also in attendance were CRP Chairman Ron Nehring, former CRP Chairs Shawn Steel and Frank Visco, Sheriff Lee Baca, super donor Eli Broidy, longtime politico Bill Saracino, and former Mayor Dick Riordan. It was also good to see former Assemblyman Tony Strickland, Palmdale Councilman Steve Knight, and Nathan Fletcher – each legislative candidates from around Southern California, make it out to the event.

The old adage is that money is the mother’s milk of politics, and after Thursday night, the LA County Party will have a few bucks to invest in the cause.… Read More

My brother, Rick, went to his local AT&T Store yesterday in San Francisco, and missed getting his new iPhone by just a few people. Well, determination is a strong suit for Fleischmans, and he was at a local Apple Store at 8am this morning, and now has his 8 gig iPhone. He’s already loaded Star Wars into it!

While we have determination in common, we don’t share our politics. To prove the point, when he was showing it to me just now, he got an email… From Michael “Sicko” Moore. Blech!… Read More

Today was the day the $3 million of the CRP’s Victory ’06 massive debt was due. Yesterday the current CRP Board got an extension on the $3 million dollar portion of the $4.5 million oweduntil…….. August. Or so I’m told by four non-CRP board members that have all told me the same story.

What will be different in August? The CRP will have paid about a half a million bucks in interest. The real question is when will the Governor keep his pledge to pay this debt rather than keep raising money for his own fund.

By the September CRP Convention we will only havethe shirts on our backs—if we’re lucky.

You can see my last post on this that has links to the Victory ’06 debacle here.… Read More

Are you a Republican candidate running for President of the United States? If so, have I got an offer for you! I would like to offer my services as a delegate or alternate delegate for your candidacy at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis next Summer. There’s only one catch — I cannot endorse you, nor work towards your winning the GOP nomination. Believe it or not, that is the only ‘pitch’ available to myself and the other elected officers of the California Republican Party!

As the Vice Chairman, South, for the CRP, our bylaws prohibit my endorsing or helping a candidate in a contested Republican primary. A few of my colleagues don’t have to worry about this — the Chairman along with our National Committeemembers are automatic delegates for the RNC Convention. The rest of us are not so lucky. If you would like to submit the names of some or all of the State GOP Officers as delegates, speaking on behalf of my colleagues (without asking for permission), I am sure they would be pleased to serve.

(For those new to the process here in the… Read More

Are you a Republican candidate running for President of the United States? If so, have I got an offer for you! I would like to offer my services as a delegate or alternate delegate for your candidacy at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis next Summer. There’s only one catch — I cannot endorse you, nor work towards your winning the GOP nomination. Believe it or not, that is the only ‘pitch’ available to myself and the other elected officers of the California Republican Party!

As the Vice Chairman, South, for the CRP, our bylaws prohibit my endorsing or helping a candidate in a contested Republican primary. A few of my colleagues don’t have to worry about this — the Chairman along with our National Committeemembers are automatic delegates for the RNC Convention. The rest of us are not so lucky. If you would like to submit the names of some or all of the State GOP Officers as delegates, speaking on behalf of my colleagues (without asking for permission), I am sure they would be pleased to serve.

(For those new to the process here in the… Read More

Talk about "all politics being local" — this takes it to the extreme. This morning I walked over to my local Einstein Brothers bagel shoppe where Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani made a campaign swing. I grabbed the FlashCam while headed out the door, and so I have the following edited nine-minute ‘work of art’ for interested FR readers. I hope you enjoy it!Not visable on the video were a few "FR friends" that were ‘working’ the event — Deputy Campaign Manager Anne Dunsmore was traveling with the Mayor, the hard working California staff team of Brett Lowder and Eric Beach, and who was driving Rudy’s cool blacked-out SUV? None other than Erik Weigand from Assemblyman Jim Silva’s office!… Read More

Cross Posted at Red County SD….. Keith Barnett, executive director of Adam Smith of California, shot the following over to me regarding Jerry Sanders’ visit to the organization’s breakfast meeting this morning in Mission Valley. About 40 turned out to hear Sanders….

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders received a standing ovation this morning as he accepted the Adam Smith Award for Fiscal Responsibility. Judging by the importance of City Council candidates Phil Thalheimer (District 1) and Carl DeMaio (District 5) attending today’s Adam Smith of CA meeting, it is safe to say they are committed to stand beside the Mayor in reforming City Hall.

This next budget year San Diego will be eliminating over 600 positions in city government (I refer to them as positions, not employees, because most jobs are presently vacant). Sanders spoke to the fact that SD has added 2,000 employees in the last ten years, yet has failed to see an increase in service. Most San Diegans would argue that service has in fact declined. The Mayor… Read More

Jon asked me to offer a few thoughts on the happenings in the race to replace me in the 2nd District Assembly seat up here in North California. I’m nearly halfway through my third term and out the door in November ’08, so I was particularly pleased with former Senator Jim Nielsen’s decision this week to throw his Stetson in the ring to replace me.

A lot of folks in the Northstate remember Jim from his 12 years representing the area in the State Senate. There weren’t many elected Republicans in this part of the state back then, but thanks in large part to Jim, that changed. My parents knew Jim since he first ran in ’78. I was just a high school kid not paying much mind to it other than knowing the names and rooting for Reagan when I could vote in ’80. Jim "came out of nowhere"to win his Senate seat in ’78 ina district that was a Democrat stronghold, barely 30% Rep and 60% Dem, besting incumbent Democrat Senator John Dunlap.

Jim has won more friend of the taxpayer awards than one can count, being a "Prop 13 baby" in that ’78 sweep when 13 passed. Jim works today as Chairman of the… Read More