I got a lot of comments on my OC Power Broker Series published yesterday. So I am continuing with it today. I want to make a few things clear. 1) These people are listed in no particular order. 2) You can be important, elected and or rich but that does not make you an OC Power Broker. To be one, you have to possess extra-ordinary ability to navigate the political and more specifically the government scene.

So below is the list continued without numbers…

Brett Barbre. Elected member of the Municipal Water District of Orange County and chief-deputy to OC Treasurer John Moorlach. Barbre is a leader in the effort to build a tunnel between Orange and Riverside counties. With Moorlach running up-opposed for OC Board of Supervisor, watch for soon to be COS Barbre to gain influence.

Gary… Read More

Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is finding out that running statewide has its bumps.

First the story about his favors for "slumlords". Now the LA Weekly is exposing his firing of a tough deputy attorney that may have helped let a child molester go. Read it here.

And there is still 7 months before the primary!… Read More

OC Blog reports that 35th Senate District candidate Diane Harkey has picked up the endorsement of OC Supervisor Chris Norby, the most conservative member of the OC Board of Supervisors. While there’s no overlap between the 35th SD and Norby’s supervisor district, Norby’s endorsement is a sterling bona fide for Harkey to present to conservative activists and GOP regulars to whome she is still largely unknown. Plus, Chris Norby is also a recognizable name with positive resonance for anit-airport voters in the southern reaches of the 35th.

Coming on the heels of her endorsement by Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and OC Supervisor Jim Silva, the Norby endorsement emphasizes Assemblyman Tom Harman’s isolation from the GOP establishment in Orange County, despite nearly five years of being an Orange County legislator. Usually, your fellow Orange… Read More

NEW VERSION OF PAYCHECK PROTECTION? Lew Uhler, President of the National Tax Limitation Committee, and the ‘father’ of current Paycheck Protection movement is looking towards a new ballot measure for November of next year. This one would have a different twist to it. Here is a pull-quote from an interview that Uhler has in today’s George Skelton column (featured on the FR main page):

Last Friday I attended a lunch sponsored by the Southern California Public Affairs Association (of which I sit on the Board of) in Ontario. Orange County political attorney extraordinaire, Dana Reed, served as the Master of Ceremonies. The featured speaker was the esteemed Sacramento Bee Columnist and Blogger Dan Weintraub. While I don’t always agree with Weintraub, I do think he always brings an honest approach to the topic at hand.

After his recap of the special election (Governor Lost, Unions Won, and Governor in political trouble, yada,yada, yada) the topic turned to the future of print media. As we all know, newspaper circulation is plummeting throughout the nation. Weintraub adroitly pointed out that the newspaper publishers are still using Gutenberg technology in the age of Gates technology. Every morning more and more of us pour the cup of java and head for the computer rather then the porch to get out news. The advent of more powerful PDA’s will assure that this trend continues. Weintraub was one of the pioneering journalists to have a regular Blog and thus has great instinct on the future of news… Read More

I am stunned and saddened that my FR Blog colleague has left me — ME! — off his list of OC Power Brokers. Oh woe betide me! I was so looking forward to adding that testimonial to my promotional materials.… Read More

Those of us who live and work in the political scene are more likely to remember which of the board members on a random school district are up for re-election next year, than our mother’s birthday.

It is in that spirit that I launch the OC Power Broker Series and encourage my fellow FR contributors to do the same in their region. If you landed in Orange County and needed to get a quick lay of the land of government and politics and media or you needed help on a political/government related issue here is the beginning of the list of go to people (in no particular order).

1. Me. I say this not because I am the solutions to your problems/answer to your dreams, but I know one thing for sure–my limitations. Like most of the people listed below, I would never take on a project that was outside their sphere of expertise. Rather true power brokers know when to refer to the right talent.

2. Scott Baugh. As chairman of the… Read More

I’m embarrassed that Congressmen Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat from the Central Valley, would be able to get ‘ink’ in the newspaper attacking the Republican leaders of Congress for running up deficits and poor fiscal management.

"The Republican Party has abandoned fiscal conservatism and embraced a budget system with no accountability," he said. (The short article is linked on the FR main page.)

Why embarrassed? I’m embarrassed for the opportunity lost. That the Republican Party nationally has an elected GOP President and members of our Party hold a majority of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, yet, there has been growth, not reduction, in federal spending in Washington.

The GOP watched and decried the Democrat controlled Congress who, for years, increased the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy. In 1994, after two years of Bill Clinton, the voters had enough of this irresponsibility, and put Congress in the hands of the GOP. I can understand, with Clinton in the White House for another six years, the challenges of trying to reduce spending (kind… Read More