As we continue to assess the lay of the land of Republican primaries in “safe” GOP or competitive seats, today we turn our virtual magnifying glass on the 68th Assembly District. This district is located in the center-west of Orange County. (See the map here.) It includes all or part of the following cities: Stanton, Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley, and Costa Mesa. The seat is currently held by my friend going back to college days, Republican Assemblyman Van Tran. Tran is departing the Assembly after his third allowable term, and is running hard for Congress, where he is challenging incumbent Democrat Loretta Sanchez.

By the numbers, the seat has been considered safe Republican. There are 90,496 GOP voters (41%), 72,992 Democrat voters (33%), and 47,166 Decline to… Read More

As we continue to assess the lay of the land of Republican primaries in “safe” GOP or competitive seats, today we turn our virtual magnifying glass on the 68th Assembly District. This district is located in the center-west of Orange County. (See the map here.) It includes all or part of the following cities: Stanton, Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley, and Costa Mesa. The seat is currently held by my friend going back to college days, Republican Assemblyman Van Tran. Tran is departing the Assembly after his third allowable term, and is running hard for Congress, where he is challenging incumbent Democrat Loretta Sanchez.

By the numbers, the seat has been considered safe Republican. There are 90,496 GOP voters (41%), 72,992 Democrat voters (33%), and 47,166 Decline to… Read More

7:20 pmUpdate…All the related data that only a wonk and/or a hack could possibly relish in has been added to the SDRostra post. __________________________ See the press release below and don’t even begin to tell me that aging name ID from the green-and-white-car days doesn’t mean anything.

That said, it’s still significantly early. Name ID can be softened just as significantly with financial resources and momentum. AppointedSheriff Bill Gore and former Assemblyman Jay La Suer have plenty of time to pick up both. Alternatively, Jim Duffy has the same amount of time to try to translate left-over name ID into something that heads off a closing pack.

This race will be way closer than the early polling shows, but this does help spell out for the entire field how to strategize going forward.

Watch for Duffy to continue to capitalize on his family name, while balancingthat against his own background and leadership skills, as well as his support by labor groups.

Watch Gore try to springboard on the support of retired… Read More

We’ve pinched Senate pro Tem Leader Darrell Steinberg for his myopic blindness in dealing with the notorious CAIR [Council of American Islamic Relations]. CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in a major terrorist trial in Texas, as stated by the US Justice Department and the FBI is now defending the Iranian controlled Mosques, now seized by the FBI and Homeland Security—under Obama, no less. Carmichael mosque seized by Homeland Security—less than 10 miles from Steinberg’s office.

These seizures are now realclose to home. In fact, only a few minutes drive from Steinberg’s ornate Senate office. On September 1, the page asked how could Steinberg sponsor the CAIR event in the Capitol Rotunda celebrating Ramadan. No one objects to Ramadan. But any… Read More

One of the greatest—if not the greatest—hindrances to real government reform in California is the unions. Flush with cash from mandatory dues, these self-serving organizations exert so much power over the majority party that they brazenly issue public threats against legislators. The Heritage Foundation posted a blog this morning reporting just how big a threat organized labor is to the rest of the nation.

Heritage scholar James Sherk explains that unions are no longer organizations that protect the interests of workers in the private sector. Instead, the majority of union members are in government, sapping taxpayer dollars for benefits and pensions that private sector employees will never see—especially since the private, productive sector must finance these government workers’ benefits.

Sherk cites California as an example of unions pushing for taxes on private entities to finance their entrenched government bureaucracy: “In… Read More

Capitol Weekly recently surveyed legislators and their cheif’s of staff on who they think are the top lobbyists. This is a great measure of relationships and real ability. And rememnber, lobbyists cannot make political contributions to state elected officials, so thats not a factor here.

MOST CONNECTED LOBBYISTS Bev Hansenof Lang Hansen O’Malley Miller whichrepresents California Trucking Association, CIty of Chino Hills, City of San Clemente, Union Pacific Railroad and Wal-Mart Stores.

Darius Andersonof Platinum Advisors which counts 24 Hour Fitness, Boeing, Lennar, County of Orange and UPS among its clients.

Also with Platinum Advisors,… Read More

I read with interest about a recent speech our state’s Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Ron George, gave about how the initiative system in our state is responsible for “dysfunction” in Sacramento. In my opinion, Democrat dominance in the legislature is more the cause of dysfunction, not the initiative process. To say that the initiative system is the cause of all our state’s problems is very wrong – because it blames the People of our state. In my opinion, the People, any subdivision of them; the first 120 names in the Fresno phone book, for example, would be far less dysfunctional leading our state than Speaker Bass and Company. The People want lower property taxes, the death penalty, and chickens to be treated humanely. What’s wrong with that? What does the legislature want? Not good stuff, that is for sure!… Read More

In response to the self-serving and dismissive way in which Attorney General Jerry Brown summary announced that his own investigation of his own office for potential criminal wrongdoing concluded that nothing criminal had occurred — strains credulity.

The California Republican Party has just unveiled a hard hitting web-presentation on the subject, worth a minute of your time, and one quick phone call…

… Read More