It is never a good thing to talk about elections in the middle of an election. I already know that, if there are responses to what I write, they will be mostly ad hominem. The conservative movement, however, is worth the criticism. As a political force, the conservative movement is dying in California, and it is dying because too many of our conservative leaders have allowed their personal agendas to trump the principles they claim to espouse.

Let me first explain what I mean. I don’t count consultants as conservative leaders. They will pick up the cause of whoever writes the check. One problem is that too many activists confuse consultants with principle. They believe that political consultants actually believe in more than the fifteen per cent they collect from their clients. The fact is that consultants serve candidates or their pocketbook, not causes. They are an important part of the political process but they cannot drive it. They have to feed their family first, and that need too often trumps principle.They are the tacticians, they are not the leaders. The two cannot be confused if we ever wish to create a… Read More

I was going to write this anyway, but since the Bee ran a story with my comments about Tom McClintock today, I figured I better get a correction out as quickly as possible. You would think that after 15 years of dealing with the press, I would know better how to talk to the press. But I guess I don’t. So I am going to issue the correction that the Bee never will to the comments I made to the reporter.

It is no secret that Tom and I have had our set of disagreements over time, mostly over strategy. I endorsed Schwarzenegger in the recall, mainly because I believed (and still believe) that since conservatives started the recall, we had to finish it with a victory. At the time I endorsed Schwarzenegger, he was tied with Bustamante, and since I believed that Tom couldn’t raise the money to win, I did what I believed was in the best long term interest of the conservative movement. I have been less than underwhelmed with the gratitude that the Governor has shown for the huge risk that I took in my own political career on his behalf, but I didn’t do it for him anyway, so I don’t take his ingratitude personally. The only bad part aboutthe… Read More

I have gotten a few notes from folks asking me why I did not talk about the State Senate in my earlier post on how Republicans should not participate in coronating Democrats as Speakers.

To be honest, I didn’t leave out the Senate for any reason other than it is the Assembly that votes for a Speaker tomorrow…

That said, Republicans in the State Senate also need to change how they do things. Apparently, over there, there’s an actual roll call vote for President Pro-Tempore where GOPers have for some time been voting for the Demcrat. Ugh!

When the vote comes up for Steinberg, Republicans should be placing Dave Cogdill’s name into nomination. He will lose, but that’s to be expected. But having Republicans vote for a Republican, and not a Democrat, is the right thing to do for all of the reasons outlined in my earlier post.… Read More

Last week, the California Department of Fish & Game issued a permit for work on the 241 toll road completion — specifically on environmental mitigation measures.

It comes on the heels of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announcing completing the 241would not threaten endangered species, and of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration saying it would not threaten the steelhead trout (which no one has really seen in that vicinity, anyway).

Dan Silver of the Endangered Habitat League dismissed the decision as "procedural and routine."

Yeah.

And if Fish & Game had denied the permit, does anyone think Mr. Silver would dismiss it as "procedural and routine"?

Not hardly.

He and the rest of the anti-241 enviros would be trumpeting it from the roof tops as "more prof" that finishing the 241 will turn that section of South OC into a wasteland.

Instead, the F & G, F & W and NOAA announcements have been greeted by crickets from Environmental Left, and received near-cricket treatment… Read More

A new verb was created during the hearings on Robert Bork’sunsuccessful nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was "Borked" by his opponents.

A charter amendment I wrote for the City of Newport Beach, and proponents William Ficker, Jack Croul, and the Hon. Marion Bergeson, was adopted by a majority of the voters in February, despite opposition from 4 of7 city council members,and it places the new City Hall on City owned property near the Central Library. A pretty reasonable proposal. And a cost saving one.

But resident Alan Beek has a different idea. Despite overwhelming case law to the contrary, including a century-old California Supreme Court case, he is now suing the City to have the initiative and vote of the people set aside. It is a curious situation. The City Council, a majority of whom did not support the Measure, must defend it in court through their lawyers Reed and Davidson, and the exceptional Brad Hertz. So, the proponents, my clients, seek intervention to help protect the law. We set a hearing for June 5 to intervene in the case. But after that motion was filed, Beek and his lawyer, a… Read More

Roll Call* has published their list of the Top Ten Must Vulnerable Incumbents In Congress. Six are Democrats, four are Republicans — only one is from California — below is the relevant excerpt:

JERRY MCNERNEY Not only did McNerney oust then-House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo (R) in the 2006 general election, to get there he had to upset the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s preferred candidate in the primary. So McNerney has shown his mettle. Still, he’s sitting in a fairly conservative district. And his challenger, former state Assemblyman Dean Andal (R), carries… Read More

In case you missed it Sunday….

Hunter’s rivals work to stand out By Michele Clock STAFF WRITER

Duncan D. Hunter is making his first run for Congress, but he’s got many of the advantages of an incumbent.

As the son of U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, the 31-year-old captain in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve has built-in name recognition and political connections, and he has raised more money than his rivals for the 52nd District seat.

How much those assets will help in the June 3 statewide primary remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Duncan D. Hunter’s three Republican rivals are using their own considerable experience and connections to collect endorsements and carve out constituencies, which could play an elevated role in a campaign in which there is little difference among the candidates on key issues.

All the Republican candidates are focusing on their backgrounds to underscore why they would be best qualified to serve the heavily Republican district, which covers much of eastern and… Read More

Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has penned this very sobering column that exposes why the League of California Cities and the Redevelopment Community in California is so supportive of Proposition 99 — it is worse than doing nothing.

For the past several months, local government interests, including the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties, have spent millions of dollars touting Prop. 99 as ironclad protection for Californians who fear having their homes seized by local governments to be turned over to private developers for strip-malls and other for-profit projects.

But the list of property rights experts who reject this claim is growing. This is because Prop. 99 includes significant loopholes that will allow public agencies to continue… Read More