As FR readers know, I am not partial to reprinted press releases up on this blog. That said, this morning the California Republican Party issued a release chock-full of new appointments that are all worth sharing, and I have no desire to virtually re-write what they’ve put out… So here it is:

The California Republican Party today announced the following nominations and appointments have taken place since the election of a new Chairman and Board of Directors at its February convention. CRP Chairman Ron Nehring announced the nomination of Steven Francis, Chairman of AMN Healthcare, to serve as the California Republican Party’s new Finance Chairman. Mr. Francis is a successful business leader in Southern California and a board member of The New Majority donor group, the Lincoln Club, plus numerous charitable and civic organizations including Father Joe Villages, the Chamber of Commerce, and the YMCA. This position… Read More

A few other blogs have reported today about the Governor’s return to using union-printed letterhead.

This, from the so-called student of Milton Friedman.… Read More

As reported in the LA Times, State Sen. Maldanado has proposed a "snitch" line for carpool violations. See here.(it was on the FR Front page). This vital piece of legislation should just be a start. California should also have the following snitch lines:

Conservatives may want these:

People that use food stamps to buy Nachos at 7-11 (I’ve seen this)

People that use food stamps for food and then with cash buy Whiskey and a TV Guide. (Seen that too. I hang out in all the right places.)

Liberals may want these:

Parents who give foods with Trans Fat to their children.

People driving while using a cell phone.

People laugh at the Sienfeld episode that uses "Not. that there anything wrong with that." as a punchline.

Personally, I think we need a snitch line for GOP politicians that pretend to be fiscally conservative then vote for budgets that aren’t.

Let all the snitch lines happen, except for a line to reportBloggers that can’t spell. That would be very very… Read More

War Funding Bill: So, the Democrats in the House have passed their “Defeat with Pork” resolution. The Senate is unlikely to support a final version of this critical war funding legislation that has the withdrawal provisions or the pork included in the House version. Even if they do, and it comes out of a conference committee and is passed again by both houses, the President will veto it.

So now what? The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will reportedly be running out of money in mid-April. That means our troops will run out of supplies, replacements, and be placed in a very precarious position. The military commanders will probably do whatever they can to keep things moving forward. They may defer purchase of new ships or planes or whatever to get the money to keep the effort moving forward in the war.

But they will run out eventually. The $95.5 billion for the war that was in the supplemental appropriations bill is roughly 17% of this year’s military budget. So, they are unlikely to be able to work around this.

What we may have is a very consequential game of chicken like the one between President Clinton and Speaker Gingrich in the… Read More

Jon posted the other day about the upcoming prestigious Sushi Rollers face-offsponsored by theCalifornia Rice Commission.[Disclosure: Iam a former director of the Commission and current constituent] That competition was held today here in Sacramento at the Sutter Club. Itmatched our fearless Republican leader, Mike Villinesvs. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. [Last year, yours truly forged a three way tie in the competition with Senator Cedillo, Senator Denham, and I competing]

The winner would win the honor of displaying a beautiful Samurai Sword and sheath, mounted inside a lovely windowed frame. They had me display it on the floor Thursday for the members during the challenge by Mike of the Speaker. We thought maybe it should have a sticker on it, "In Case Of Emergency, Break Glass" forour Samurai Tax Cutters.

The buildup to the competition was tense, both members looking for tips to best roll their own winning California Roll. The… Read More

"I’m concerned about not building into the general election a whole block of voters, that by that rule, we’ve isolated," said Tim Morgan, National committeeman.

Currently our rules provide that only the votes of registered Republican will be used to determine the outcome of the Republican Presidential Primary in California. A change to this rule may be debated and voted on this September 9th at the CRP fall convention in Palm Desert. The Party may be asked to permit some 3,000,000 Decline-To-State [DTS] voters to be able to vote in the Republican primary to select the GOP nominee for President.

While its true we permit DTS to vote in our legislative primaries presently, changes our current rule would erode the very function of our national Republican identity. Essentially, we would be following Arnold’s mistaken and hilariousvision of… Read More

"I’m concerned about not building into the general election a whole block of voters, that by that rule, we’ve isolated," said Tim Morgan, National committeeman.

Currently our rules provide that only the votes of registered Republican will be used to determine the outcome of the Republican Presidential Primary in California. A change to this rule may be debated and voted on this September 9th at the CRP fall convention in Palm Desert. The Party may be asked to permit some 3,000,000 Decline-To-State [DTS] voters to be able to vote in the Republican primary to select the GOP nominee for President.

While its true we permit DTS to vote in our legislative primaries presently, changes our current rule would erode the very function of our national Republican identity. Essentially, we would be following Arnold’s mistaken and hilariousvision of… Read More

David Drucker pens an outstanding analysis today of some of the impacts of the California Republican Winner-Take-All-By-District Presidential Primary:

By David M. Drucker, Roll Call Staff

California House Republicans could wield unprecedented influence over the outcome of their state’s Feb. 5 presidential primary, thanks to a move by the state GOP to scrap the traditional winner-take-all system in favor of awarding delegates by Congressional district. Member endorsements generally have limited utility in White House primaries. But in the race for California’s 173 Republican… Read More