This time of the political season, we are all following the late-contribution reports to see where the money is flowing — and a lot of it has been moving around — millions.

Nary lost amongst the other activity was this transfer of $110,000 from "Leadership California" (Lame-Duck Senate President Don Perata’s PAC) to the "We Deserve Better; Yes on the Recall of Jeff Denham" PAC.

Given Perata’s public pronouncements recently that he was pulling the plug on any attempt to recall Denham, this transfer raises serious questions. In addition, the pro-recall committee still has yet to return several six figure contributions sent in by labor unions in recent days.

So it begs the question – is the recall back on?

Senator Denham, of course, hasn’t let up from campaigning against this petty political recall instigated by Perata in one of his frequent "I am four years old"… Read More

John Fund in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

One More Time, Liberals Overplay Their Hand on Gay Marriage

… Read More

San Bernardino County Supervisor (and former FR Blogger) Brad Mitzelfelt seems to be well on track to being re-elected.

Just one little comparison to show how the race is going.

Brad hasbeen all over ABC tv, appearing on World News Tonight and on Good Morning America touting his efforts to keep sex offenders from stalking children behind the wheel of an ice cream truck. Pretty nice opportunity – being able to appear on network tv, talking about a popularissue just before anelection.

By contrast, Brad’s opponent – a woman who decided to base her campaign on the surefire-winning issue of campaign finance reform – hasn’t been able to keep from repeatedly tripping over herself. From failing to and lying about filing her Campaign Finance documents, to now questions arising of whether she hid assets on her Statement of Economic Interest forms, Rita Vogler has been her own biggest obstacle to competitiveness.

But as we sit here two and a half weeks from Election Day – Brad is looking awfully good.… Read More

Just off the transom from uber-consultant Tim Clark on behalf of the Robert Rao campaign in AD 15 (this is what we call an “oops memo”) —

In a statement released earlier today, the Rao for Assembly campaign announced that the Contra Costa Chapter of the California Republican Assembly had endorsed Robert Rao for Assembly in the 15th district. Although Rao won the “straw vote” taken, CRA bylaws do not permit a local CRA chapter to formally endorse except at the district endorsement meeting held earlier in the year.

“We appreciate the wonderful work of the California Republican Assembly and would love to have their formal endorsement,” said Rao Spokesman Mike Caporusso, “but no candidate was endorsed at the Spring meeting, and that’s the official vote, so we respect that.”… Read More

Longtime FR friend Jim Brulte, the former Leader of both the Senate and Assembly Republican Caucuses, penned this commentary after reflecting on the Governor’s May budget revisions, announced yesterday.

Fiscal Conservatives Have Got To Rally Around The Governor’s Budget And His Call For Rainy-Day Fund By State Senator Jim Brulte, Ret. Before this year’s state budget gets picked apart by the interest groups who always want more funding and spun up by legislators who have to position themselves for re-election, I want to note a few things about the Governor’s May revision. A Governor is the only elected official in Sacramento who has to make a budget work.… Read More

Longtime FR friend Jim Brulte, the former Leader of both the Senate and Assembly Republican Caucuses, penned this commentary after reflecting on the Governor’s May budget revisions, announced yesterday.

Fiscal Conservatives Have Got To Rally Around The Governor’s Budget And His Call For Rainy-Day Fund By State Senator Jim Brulte, Ret.

Before this year’s state budget gets picked apart by the interest groups who always want more funding and spun up by legislators who have to position themselves for re-election, I want to note a few things about the Governor’s May revision.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full… Read More

TO: Members and Friends, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association FROM: Jon Coupal, President SUBJ: California State Budget Yesterday, the Governor released his "May Revision" of his earlier budget proposal. The "May Revise," as it is called, takes into account more recent financial considerations of which our political leaders were unaware back in January. HJTA has several concerns about the Governor’s May Revise. First and foremost, it reflects another failure by projecting a level of spending in excess of revenue. The fact is, the taxpayers of California have done their job — and then some. You have provided political leadership with billions of dollars more than just a few years ago. In fact, general fund spending has about doubled in just ten years, from $50 billion to $100 billion. It may be a worn-out expression, but it is fundamentally true: California does not… Read More

Offsetting the glee from the loony-left, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines issued this strong statement in response to the Supreme Court decision to, in essence, prepare the way for legal same-sex marriage in California…