Around 900 Republicans gathered last evening at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine for the 9th Annual Flag Day Fundraising Gala Dinner of the Orange County Republican Party. Every year, this event is a who’s who of the OC political community, with most every prominent Republican official or activist being present. This year was no exception as popular County Party Chairman and former Assembly Republican Leader Scott Baugh presided over a packed house of GOPers who gathered to hear addresses from Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who everyone knows is on the “short list” for McCain’s VP considerations, and GOP Gubernatorial hopeful Dino Rossi, who famously won the Washington State Governor’s race in 2006 only to literally have the race stolen away from him in a third recount. Rossi is running again, and looks to be the favorite as his popularity has grown while the incumbent’s has shrunk.

The tradition of this dinner is that it is impossible to move two feet without running into yet another county leader, and last night was no exception.… Read More

Around 900 Republicans gathered last evening at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine for the 9th Annual Flag Day Fundraising Gala Dinner of the Orange County Republican Party. Every year, this event is a who’s who of the OC political community, with most every prominent Republican official or activist being present. This year was no exception as popular County Party Chairman and former Assembly Republican Leader Scott Baugh presided over a packed house of GOPers who gathered to hear addresses from Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who everyone knows is on the “short list” for McCain’s VP considerations, and GOP Gubernatorial hopeful Dino Rossi, who famously won the Washington State Governor’s race in 2006 only to literally have the race stolen away from him in a third recount. Rossi is running again, and looks to be the favorite as his popularity has grown while the incumbent’s has shrunk.

The tradition of this dinner is that it is impossible to move two feet without running into yet another county leader, and last night was no exception. I will refrain… Read More

First and foremost, my apologies for the little lull here on the FR blog. It’s a busy season for most, but for me I have been swamped helping to prepare for the Orange County Republican Party’s big Flag Day fundraising Gala, with special guest Florida Governor Charlie Crist. The event will have nearly a thousand attendees and will raise a huge amount of the funds that this county needs to maintain its operations and fund some of our GOTV efforts.

That said, I was sad to read about the sudden passing of NBC’s Tim Russert, who had a heart attack.

As I was contemplating what I would say about it, I got this statement from John McCain in my inbox:

The Protect Marriage Act will be the “star attraction” on the November ballot.

It will truly be “ground zero” as the eyes of the nation focus in on whether the people of California will step up and, in essence, overturn the activist ruling by the California Supreme Court and place into the State Constitution that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman (as opposed to what we will have starting on Monday at 5 p.m., which is more or less that marriage shall be between “Party A” and “Party B”).

Needless to say, some critical decisions will be made by both the proponents and opponents to the Protect Marriage Act – but one of the early decisions will be who to bring on as consultants to drive your public relations and outreach efforts – huge for an issue that comes with so much earned media opportunity, and the spotlight of attention.

Andy Pugno from the Protect Marriage Campaign reached out to me today to let me know the their campaign has retained the four-star GOP team at… Read More

UC students denied the right to hear from Clinton, Henry Waxman, Gen. Wesley Clark and Fabian Nunez . What calamity could cause this educational crisis? It’s the government unions. Union boss Lakesha Harrison , of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, demanded that prominent democrats to cancel commencement speeches because she wants a 25% pay raise.

UCLA no democrat speakers.

Of course, Harrison wants only a 25% increase given that California budget is nearly 20 billion in the red.… Read More

Earlier this week I was alerted to the fact that the CTA was promoting a “community call-in day” to pressure lawmakers to not cut education spending. The CTA provided a toll-free number for their members to call legislators and tell them to raise taxes to fix the budget crisis. So we at CRI decided to help out the CTA with their plan to disperse the toll-free number far and wide. After we sent out our email last night to our supporters, the Sac Bee picked up the story… (h/t to Steve Frank)

Conservative jiu-jitsu

The Capitol Resource Institute, which lobbies Sacramento on conservative social policies, has blasted an e-mail to its statewide network of supporters urging them to call their local legislator — on their opponent’s dime.

"Use Teacher Union’s Money to Call Legislators!" blared the subject line of the e-mail.

Today is a "community call-in" day for members of the California Teachers Association.

Here’s the CRI’s not-so-secret plan:… Read More

Yesterday Senate President Don Perata introduced a budget plan on behalf of State Senate Democrats that would propose foisting another $11.5 billion in new taxes on Californians.

I think that Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill should hold a press conference, and call for $11.5 billion in tax relief for Californians.

Then we can get past the unrealistic press events and focus on balancing our state budget by reducing overspending. Punishing tax-paying Californians for obscene overspending is ludicrous.

Earth to the Sacramento political community: Republicans are not going to raise taxes. This includes not being drawn into some sort of faux-compromise between not raising taxes and imposing billions in new taxes.

California does not, I repeat does not have an income problem. State government is suffering from an overspending problem. End of story.… Read More

With summer budget battles looming, the liberal drumbeat for tax increases is starting to pound its way through the halls of the state capitol. The constant barrage of union and media attacks leaves Republicans committed to a balanced budget feeling isolated and beleaguered. But yesterday, reinforcements marched on Sacramento and their message was clear: hold the line and don’t tax California!

During this “Taxpayer Action Day,” hundreds of citizens from every corner of the Golden State descended on our state capitol to deliver thousands of petitions representing citizen opposition to “solving” the budget crisis through raising taxes. Sponsored by a coalition of California taxpayer advocates, including Americans for Prosperity and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association, the event sent a strong message to state lawmakers that citizens are drawing a hard line against tax increases.

The gathering at the capitol was the culmination of a… Read More