California Congresswoman Juanita Millander-McDonald has passed away today, according to a report from the Associated Press. As we reported last week, McDonald had taken a leave of absence from the House and was battling cancer. Our prayers go out to her family and friends over this horrible loss.

At some point when it is appropriate, the Governor will have to call for a special election to fill out the remainder of her term. That will all be about Democrats, no GOPers need apply in that district.… Read More

I am pleased to present this "Guest Cartoon" from FR friend Kevin O’Neill. We’re thinking about including cartoons from Kevin, on California political issues, as a regular feature on the site. Let us know what you think about that, either by commenting below, or e-mailing me – Flash … Read More

For quite some time, this website tracked all of Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointments — with a careful eye on partisan registration. We ultimately stopped because it was too disappointing. As a Republican Governor, I expected Schwarzenegger (like Wilson, like Deukmejian) to fill his open positions in state government with like-minded Republicans. By setting this standard for the Governor, I found myself being consistenly disappointed. The number of Democrats who have been appointed to judgeships is downright appalling. And on the plethora of non-judicial appointments, it was often the case where barely 50% of any given list (appointments typically are announced in groupings of 10 to 15) were GOPers, with most of the rest being Democrats, and a smattering of appointees to registered as Decline-to-State (one appointee wasn’t registered to vote at all!). I had one FR reader who follows things closely tell me that the numbers are even more misleading as a significant number of the Republican appointments are to positions like local Fair Boards thus ‘inflating’ the GOP numbers… This week, the Governor released two lists… Read More

According to Google, there are 538 articles online talking about the situation with Congressman John Doolittle.

But I digress. I thought if you were stopping by the FR this weekend, you might enjoy this video from the Heritage Foundation, on the big deficits that exist in funding current Social Security and Medicare obligations. It’s about two minutes long. … Read More

For quite some time, this website tracked all of Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointments — with a careful eye on partisan registration. We ultimately stopped because it was too disappointing. As a Republican Governor, I expected Schwarzenegger (like Wilson, like Deukmejian) to fill his open positions in state government with like-minded Republicans. By setting this standard for the Governor, I found myself being consistenly disappointed. The number of Democrats who have been appointed to judgeships is downright appalling. And on the plethora of non-judicial appointments, it was often the case where barely 50% of any given list (appointments typically are announced in groupings of 10 to 15) were GOPers, with most of the rest being Democrats, and a smattering of appointees to registered as Decline-to-State (one appointee wasn’t registered to vote at all!). I had one FR reader who follows things closely tell me that the numbers are even more misleading as a significant number of the Republican appointments are to positions like local Fair Boards thus ‘inflating’ the GOP numbers… This week, the Governor released two lists… Read More

Spring Cleaning

House Republican leaders moved swiftly to pressure two of their conference members under federal investigation to step down from key committee posts this week. Yesterday saw Rep. John Doolittle of California step down from his Appropriations Committee assignment after word leaked that his Virginia home had been raided by FBI agents seeking documents linking him with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Similarly, Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona stepped down from the Intelligence Committee after it was revealed that the FBI had raided a business tied to his wife as part of an ongoing probe into his official actions.

House Republicans were often slow in the last Congress to… Read More

The San Gabriel Valley Lincoln club meeting this morning offered more intrigue than I could have imagined in the 60th AD GOP race. Two candidates showed up. Larry Dick and Curt Hagman. You can see my last post on this race here. I asked both to say a few words. At the end of the meeting, one of our Lincoln Club members told me he was a potential candidate, but hasn’t decided yet. NO, I’m not hearing voices in my head. See post here. It was none other than La Habra Heights Councilman Stan Carroll. I pretty sure he has been elected at least two times to the council. Stan is a professor at Rio Hondo College and a formerprosecutor in San Bernardino. Did I … Read More

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail on redistricting reform that I received from former State Senator Chuck Poochigian: I have been a strong supporter of redistricting reform. I prefer a judge model as was used in the 1990s and earlier. However, experience tells us that might not fly. But an element which I think is vital is "nesting." By having 2 Assembly seats per each of 40 Senate seats (vs. 5 or more as is the case in many districts now), a number of positive things occur, among them:

It imposes necessary discipline on whomever is charged with drawing the lines and limits opportunity for gaming to accommodate or give advantage to particular prospective candidates. It limits unhealthy behavior that is a natural consequence of poorly designed districts as votes are cast and relationships are forged within the legislative arena. While this may seem esoteric or inconsequential to some, where several current … Read More