Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner today set June 4, 2007 as the opening day of the anticipated trial against the Capistrano Unified School District for claims of multiple violations of the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act.

Under the tenure of former Superintendent James Fleming, the scandal-ridden Capistrano school district has seen a number of legal problems that have led to the resignation of Fleming, including a District Attorney investigation, an ABC 20/20 investigative story on district finances, a lawsuit involving use of racial preferences in school decisions, and the open meeting lawsuit.

Plaintiff Ron Lackey of Dana Point brought the Brown Act lawsuit to address claims that the district Trustees illegally met with Fleming in closed session on June 30, 2005 and conspired to limit Lackey’s right to participate in public session meetings, which are guaranteed under the Brown Act. Lackey’s lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against the district to enforce the provisions of the open meeting law and restrain the district from future violations. Former district press spokesman David Smollar has already… Read More

George Andrews will be the next executive director of the Republican Party of Orange County.

Andrews is the former deputy campaign manager for Diane Harkey’s campaign for State Senate. There he served under and learned from Jimmy Camp who most would agree is the best campaign ground game operator in the business.

Andrews most recently ran the California Republican Party/Schwarzenegger re-elect effort in the none-to-GOP-friendly Bay Area.

He will officially start in the position as of Jan. 1, 2007 but he is unofficially starting today. He will replace Erik Weigand who has worked for the OCGOP in different stints for nearly ten years. Weigand is moving on to run newly elected Assemblyman Jim Silva’s district office.… Read More

Every week, some unknown and wildly uncourageous penman over at the Capitol Weekly writes the "Ask Big Daddy" column — throwing around advice like it is going out of sale. His column this week was proof of one thing: Big Daddy Loves Big Government. The column is just one more nasty column aimed at those darned conservatives, by those who don’t understand that state government has grown too much, and is too large. The anonymous penman suggests a number of punative measures that should be taken against Republican legislators who don’t swallow the grow-government kool-aid. So, I would offer this:

It is really not hard to figure out why virtually every Republican legislator is opposed to the type of ‘bipartisan progress’ being offered up by liberal Democrats Fabian Nunez and Don Perata — because they do not represent any kind of compromise on the part of liberal… Read More

I know we are still a long way from the 2008 election, but there is a noticeable dearth of conservative candidates for President.

In the 2000 cycle, there were several candidates that could make a credible case for conservative support. Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, even George Bush, had solid conservative credentials, and could make a case for conservative support. Forbes and Bauer had no governmental record, but had solid backgrounds in the movement, Bush governed Texas as a conservative, and conservatives in Texas said great things about his time as Governor. While his record as President hasn’t been perfect (hedid not reign in the free spending Republican Congress, and he has been horrible on illegal immigration), he has, by and large, governed as a conservative. Tax cuts, judges, solid on life and guns, all commend his conservative credentials. Now if he would only veto those Democrat spending bills, he might restore the public’s confidence in the Republican Party as the party of small government.

Now some may complain that I am not the perfect measure of a conservative that only supports conservatives (although I can make my case in… Read More

Every week, some unknown and wildly uncourageous penman over at the Capitol Weekly writes the "Ask Big Daddy" column — throwing around advice like it is going out of sale. His column this week was proof of one thing: Big Daddy Loves Big Government. The column is just one more nasty column aimed at those darned conservatives, by those who don’t understand that state government has grown too much, and is too large. The anonymous penman suggests a number of punative measures that should be taken against Republican legislators who don’t swallow the grow-government kool-aid. So, I would offer this:

It is really not hard to figure out why virtually every Republican legislator is opposed to the type of ‘bipartisan progress’ being offered up by liberal Democrats Fabian Nunez and Don Perata — because they do not represent any kind of compromise on the part of liberal… Read More

Tonight, FR’s former State Capitol Correspondent, Karen Hanretty, with be guest-hosting for Sean Hannity on the Hannity and Colmes political show. You won’t want to miss this! The details: Foxs News Channel, 6 p.m. California time. If you miss it, or want to watch Karen twice, it will play again at 11 p.m. Karen has appeared on the program before, but this is a pretty big deal, to guest host a show. Congratulations Karen!

Before her ‘starring role’ with us here on the FR, Karen worked on Governor Schwarzenegger’s campaign in the recall election in ’03 and also served as Communications Director for the California Republican Party.

Actually, you can Tivo the show, and mass produce it onto video-tapes as stocking-stuffers for all of your friends.… Read More

As Presidential politics heads up nationally, of course it means that all of the candidates will be looking to California as they put together their national plans — especially on the financial side of things. For the Republican candidates especially, California has traditionally been considered an "ATM Stop" as there is a lot of fertile ground here for raising political funds — that they are traditionally spend in other states. FR Los Angeles County Correspondent Shawn Steel already posted about how some of the fundraising consultants are lining up in the GOP primary, but it is also notable to see that three California major finance players are taking the lead roles in the fundraising operations of Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. Who are they? Stepping up early for retiring Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s California efforts is highly… Read More

As Presidential politics heads up nationally, of course it means that all of the candidates will be looking to California as they put together their national plans — especially on the financial side of things. For the Republican candidates especially, California has traditionally been considered an "ATM Stop" as there is a lot of fertile ground here for raising political funds — that they are traditionally spend in other states. FR Los Angeles County Correspondent Shawn Steel already posted about how some of the fundraising consultants are lining up in the GOP primary, but it is also notable to see that three California major finance players are taking the lead roles in the fundraising operations of Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. Who are they? Stepping up early for retiring Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s California efforts is highly… Read More