Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has agreed to create and run anew project to be entitled "Coalition for a Conservative Majority" under the auspices of the American Conservative Union, the national conservative organization that is best know for its annual ratings of Congress and sponsorship of the yearly Conservative Political Action Conference. DeLay is known as a prodigious fundraiser, and was called "the most effective majority leader of the last 50 years" in terms of influencing legislation, by journalist Bob Novak. He will develop and implement a legislative strategy for the nonprofit ACU, and will join the Board of Directors of the organization.… Read More

Over at the San Diego Union Tribune’s America’s Finest Opinion Blog, FR friend Chris Reed has penned his own critique of Senator Perata’s expansion of government’s role in California healthcare. You should read it here.… Read More

In a brazen attempt to yank to the hard-left the discussions about how to deal with the fact that many Californians do not carry health care insurance, Senator Don Perata, the liberal President of the California State Senate predictably rolled out yesterday a massive government intervention into the healthcare marketplace. Perata is proposing that a hefty lien (tax, fee, or whatever you want to call it) on California employers to ‘provide’ health insurance for those Californian’s who are employed, but do not have coverage. Of course the impact of such a proposal will be exactly counter to what discussions are trying to achieve. If the goal is to reduce the number of Californians who are not currently buying health insurance, then putting Californians out of work, increasing the state’s unemployment numbers, and reducing income to the state of California but stifling tax-producing businesses, is not the way to go. The path towards seeing the number of uninsured Californians reduced is two-fold. The first is working to increase the income to these folks — through better jobs. Secondly there is the need to bring… Read More

In a brazen attempt to yank to the hard-left the discussions about how to deal with the fact that many Californians do not carry health care insurance, Senator Don Perata, the liberal President of the California State Senate predictably rolled out yesterday a massive government intervention into the healthcare marketplace. Perata is proposing that a hefty lien (tax, fee, or whatever you want to call it) on California employers to ‘provide’ health insurance for those Californian’s who are employed, but do not have coverage. Of course the impact of such a proposal will be exactly counter to what discussions are trying to achieve. If the goal is to reduce the number of Californians who are not currently buying health insurance, then putting Californians out of work, increasing the state’s unemployment numbers, and reducing income to the state of California but stifling tax-producing businesses, is not the way to go. The path towards seeing the number of uninsured Californians reduced is two-fold. The first is working to increase the income to these folks — through better jobs. Secondly there is the need to bring… Read More

Today funeral services will be held for Louise Leigh. Many of the activists in LA County and in the state recognize her as an important GOP volunteer. I met Louise when I was first elected to the LA County Central Committee. She convinced me I needed to tutor immigrants in English at a local church. She was also CRA Historian since 1969 and in the last decade was the organizer of Constitution Day. Below is part of an biography provided by Peggy Mew.Our Republic lost a a dedicated patriot and the GOP lost a bundle of energy. R.I.P.

Louise Leigh 1914-2006

She began her constitutional activism as an outreach director for the California Bicentennial Commission in 1987. In 1997 she founded Constitution Day, Inc to organize Constitution Day celebrations with school children, overseas military and Governor’s or their representatives from each state reciting the Preamble to the Constitution simultaneously on September 17 throughout the nation. Last year, Louise was instrumental in getting Public Law 108-447… Read More

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Willie Brown will be the Master of Ceremonies for the Governor’s Inauguration ceremony in Sacramento on January 5. Read the full story.

P.S. I’ll be there, so I’ll give you a full report on the 5th.

Update…here’s what our FR leader had to say in the San Francisco Chronicle…

"Jon Fleischman, publisher of the online Flash Report and former executive director of the California Republican Party, said, "When he was speaker, I cursed his name,” but now, "as Brown goes into his senior years, I look at him as a funny character."

"He should liven up the event," Fleischman concluded. "Willie makes me laugh." Read the full… Read More

Tim Clark tells us the number one indicator of political success is money in the bank. It looks like the three major Republican presidential candidates are burrowing inthe California money tree.

Ultra Heavy weight Anne Dunsmore of Capitol Campaigns [Pete Wilson and W] will take charge of Gov. Mitt Romney’s fund raising efforts. She worked with Gov. Romney when he served as Chair of the Republican Governors Association, 2004, and his Commonwealth PAC. She has the best Rolodex in town from raising millions and millions forPresident Bush alone.

Another millions and millions fundraiser Casandra Vandenberg, will head McCain’s effort with an impressive list of a half a dozen experienced regional fundraisers. She will be moving to a reported 11,000 square foot HQ in Century City in the near future. McCain will use LA as one of his three National Headquarters. That is a first in a long time for California.

Finally, financier Bill Simon is tapped to run Rudy Giuliani’s effort here. Simon a prodigious fund raiser himself, active in political and charitable circles, promises to make California the most sought after location for… Read More

Today, Assembly member Spitzer commented on the problem of prison overcrowding in California. A number of stories in a number of papers talked about Judge Karlton’s decision, but missed one very important point. Judge Karlton attributed the overcrowding to "Governor Schwarzenegger’s support of the three strikes law."

Judge Karlton is wrong. Dangerously wrong.

Three Strikes has done more to relieve prison overcrowding than any other single law in recent history. More important, Californians are safer today because of three strikes than they were in the 1970’s when Jerry Brown (our soon to be Attorney General) and his judges (more particularly Rose Bird) were letting bad guys go to relieve prison overcrowding.

In the two years following the passage of the three strikes law, California’s crime rate dropped 45 per cent. Despite the stories of pizza and underwear thieves being sentenced to life, people in the state got it. They figured out that two serious or violent felonies were enough. If a criminal was stupid enough to commit a third felony, that crimimalwas likely to continue to be a threat to the safety of… Read More