I figure it’s time for some news that does not involve publisher Jon Fleischman’s ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ to Washington D.C with Howard Kaloogian…

In the major suburban cities that circle San Diego City, there are Democrat Mayors in Oceanside, Lemon Grove, and Chula Vista. To be fair, Oceanside’s Mayor is not a Democrat. But he is a lickspittle of the labor unions and lefty extremists like Councilwoman Esther Sanchez so I figure I may as well toss him in. Not to digress on Oceanside, but the Democrat/labor dominated government is all the worse because the GOP has a clear registration advantage there. Unfortunately, as anyone who has had the misfortune to work there for a while knows, Oceanside is the Iraq of San Diego Republican politics. Various GOP factions are more interested in taking the knife to one another than they are in forming a winning coalition that actually governs. Oceanside is a pretty free-wheeling city… a Republican candidate who can unite the factions and organize the business community will find himself a powerhouse in local politics.

More interesting is yesterday’s revelation about Chula… Read More

OPERATOR ERROR YESTERDAY ON MY PART KEPT MY COMMENTARY FROM APPEARING ON THE SITE.

I have to run to an event for work this morning, but please enjoy yesterday’s commentary…today! Obviously if you read the FR blog yesterday, you know that the trip with Eric Roach to DC was successful, but you all missed out on an important mid-trip update, which is important because my entry belows makes the clear case why Democrats DON’T want Eric Roach to run – which is GOP turnout. Brian Bilbray is ill-equiped, as a GOP nominee, to inspire conservatives to the polls… Anyways, check it all out below, and if you missed out on yesterday’s featured piece on Tax Freedom Day by Doug Wilson, you can toggle to yesterday’s FR in the upper-right hand corner of the main page…

YESTERDAY’S COMMENTARY POSTED TODAY…

**There is more – click the link**

View Full… Read More

OPERATOR ERROR YESTERDAY ON MY PART KEPT MY COMMENTARY FROM APPEARING ON THE SITE.

I have to run to an event for work this morning, but please enjoy yesterday’s commentary…today! Obviously if you read the FR blog yesterday, you know that the trip with Eric Roach to DC was successful, but you all missed out on an important mid-trip update, which is important because my entry belows makes the clear case why Democrats DON’T want Eric Roach to run – which is GOP turnout. Brian Bilbray is ill-equiped, as a GOP nominee, to inspire conservatives to the polls… Anyways, check it all out below, and if you missed out on yesterday’s featured piece on Tax Freedom Day by Doug Wilson, you can toggle to yesterday’s FR in the upper-right hand corner of the main page…

YESTERDAY’S COMMENTARY POSTED TODAY… TAX FREEDOM DAY Today, April 26, 2006, is Tax Freedom Day. What does that mean? It means that the average … Read More

I’m waaay overdue for some posting here on FR.

Now that the 35th SD special election is over, focus is drifting back to the pocketful of contested elections on the June ballot.

The 67th AD primary is most directly impact by Assemblyman Tom Harman’s victory over Diane Harkey. Now he’s the presumed incumbent Senator for the next eight years, instead of a termed-out lame duck. As such, he’s in a much stronger position to help his wife Dianne succeed him in the Assembly.

Thus far, Mrs. Harman’s campaign has been overshadowed by the slugfest going on between Cypress Councilman Mike McGill and OC Supervisor Jim Silva.

Until a few months ago, the expectation (which I shared) was that Jim Silva would roll into this seat. Neither Harman nor McGill were considered serious candidates. In the last few monhts, however, McGill has revamped his campaign with $120,000 in his own funds and aggressive tactics from new campagin manager Joe Ghiardiello and Cal-YAFers. Their strategy is to positon McGill as… Read More

WenesdayAnaheim Mayor Curt Pringle wheeled out to the Mission Inn in Riverside to be the featured speaker at the Riverside County Association of Republican Elected Officials lunch. Pringle is the former Republican Speaker of the State Assembly and is doing an outstanding job of bringing conservative principles to local government as Mayor of Anaheim. He shared with the audience of mostly local electeds how he created many “City Fee Free” (i.e. Building Permit Fees Etc) periods that stimulated growth in the City. Under his tenor Anaheim is becoming a total Wi-Fi City that is being entirely done in the private sector and will still produce revenue for the city. Lastly he gave a great explanation of why he continues to fight to have the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angles remain simply the Anaheim Angles. As a life long Angles fan I support his efforts in keeping the name L.A. out of the Big A. As I looked around the room, there were more then a few local elected taking notes on what Mayor Pringle has done in… Read More

The Eric Roach mission to Washington, D.C, has officially ended with our arrival back to San Diego!

I’m sure I will write more observations on this trip in the coming days, but the overwhelming impact of the trip is easily summed up – lots of encouragement for Roach. It was clear that conservatives in D.C., who were totally underwhelmed by Brian Bilbray’s previous stint in Congress, and that everyone was very excited after getting to know Eric.

Clearly a lot of seeds were spread on this journey…with the potential to grow into a big tree – a really big, conservative one!

On a closing note – traveling with John Feliz, Stan Devereux, Sal Russo, Bill Hauf, Howard Kaloogian, Duane Admire and, of course, Eric Roach was a great experience. For those of you who know me, you know that I do not give my “seal of approval” easily – I’ve been around the block a lot. Roach is the real deal – an honorable, values-driven conservative who understands and is a part of a conservative movement. There are great things in store for Eric’s future…his near future!… Read More

Richard Pombo is a great Congressman. A principled conservative who has brought common sense to the Chairmanship of the House Resources Committee. It was great to be able to catch up with him. It’s one thing to write about these folks on this site — it’s another thing to get to talk to them! We had a chance to meet with Pombo – a great meeting. Steve Ding, his Chief-of-Staff is a close FR friend.

It was also nice to see another old friend today, Chuck Cunningham. Chuck is the political director at the National Rifle Association. A great guy and an FR subscriber. Chuck spent some time explaining how Bilbray earned his “F” ratins from the NRA because of his appearances with then-President Bill Clinton at pro-gun control events.

I did experience a bout of post-traumatic stress when we spent time at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Center, the headquarters building of the Republican National Committee. We went there since Eric Roach had a meeting scheduled with RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman.

I don’t know if I mentioned the wonderful weather here – balmy and nice. It’s been a great day!… Read More

We’ve been having productive meetings with Eric Roach on The Hill. It really resonated with Congressman Buck McKeon when we talked about how a Roach candidacy that is driving UP Republican turnout for the election day can only HELP the party keep the 50th in GOP hands. The opportunity of a Roach candidacy is a conservative Congressman long-term for the 50th. The danger if Roach doesn’t run is a suppresed GOP turnout and a real danger of a Busby win in June.

After all, there was a lot of pressure on Tom McClintock to stand down his campaign for Governor in the special election. But in reality, it was likely the increased conservative turnout is what put the first question, the recall of Davis, over the top. Had McClintock not driven conservative turnout, we might still have Gray Davis in office.

For those tired of this string, cut me some slack. I’ve never “live-blogged a trip to DC and I’m having fun!… Read More