H/T to OC Register Reporter Martin Wisckol for the tip that in Sacramento Superior Court today, the judge ruled that Democratic Supervisor Lou Correa will be able to stay on the ballot in his quest to be the State Senator in the 34th District in Central Orange County. Of course Correa will first have to best Assemblyman Tom Umberg in the primary, and then face Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher in the general election.

Umberg had challenged Correa’s filing as he had turned in substantially more signatures to qualify than you are supposed to, apparently. You can read what Mike Houston said here on this last week, and what Dana Reed said here last week.

I’m sure we’ll see more on this in the Register tomorrow, and in on the Register’s "Total Buzz Blog" (see it under Blog Roll above).… Read More

The passing of former Reagan Defense Secretary Weinberger is a great loss to our country.

I had the opportunity to spend the day with Secretary Weinberger several years ago and kept in contact with him through the years. He was a wealth of knowledge and a class act.

California Republicans were better off for having Weinberger serve as chairman of the California Republican Party in the early 60s and all of California had the benefit of his leadership in the State Assembly having been elected in 1952 and re-elected in ’54 and ’56. Here is a link to his full bio, a facinating read.

During the time I spent with the Secretary, he was candid and predicted the current trouble with North Korea.

Rest In Peace Mr. Secretary.

From CNN.com:

WASHINGTON (Reuters)… Read More

Last night’s San Diego City Council meeting clearly demonstrated that the wind is behind the back of Mayor Jerry Sanders and the Reform City Hall movement. By a margin of 7 to 1 the council voted to place two Sanders supported measures on the November 7 ballot: one which would require voter approval for any employee pension benefit increase and one which opens up city services to competition from the private sector. The sole dissenting vote was machine Democrat Hueso. During the process, several complaints about “political pressure” were heard from labor Democrat Councilmembers. Presumably, they were referring to the local reform advocates and business owners who over the past couple of months had been gathering money and signatures to place these measures on the ballot should the council not support the Mayor’s reform agenda.

The difference between the last, paralyzed administration and the Sanders administration could not be more clear. The previous administration spent it’s resources denying that there was a fiscal or ethical problem at City Hall. They were indecisive in policy and in politics. Mayor Sanders and his team are keenly… Read More

The 50th Congressional District Two weeks from tomorrow, there will be Congressional special election taking place in California. Actually, with absentee voting being such a large percentage of votes cast in special election, it would almost be more accurate to say that is a special election "underway" right now. The race has captured the national political spotlight because it is the race to fill out the unexpired term of former GOP Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham who is now one of the most infamous criminals in the annals of Congress. The millions of dollars that he took in exchange for directing government contracts into the hands of his ‘benefactors’ has sent Duke to jail for many years, and now voters on San Diego’s "Gold Coast" need to choose a new representative. There are a ton of Republicans running for the seat — thus making the amount of votes necessary to clintch the GOP nomination… Read More

As some can imagine, I received several emails and calls from folks upset the CRA “hit” Bilbray is his race to replace convicted Congressman Cunningham. Many have suggested that we are not allowed to speak ill of a GOP candidate and cite Ronald Reagan’s “11th Commandment” Historically, I’m glad Reagan challenged the powers to be and ran against an incumbent Republican in 1976. Principle is always more important than being “nice” CRA hit Bilbray for one reason. His nomination jeopardizes Republicans keeping the seat. I know many say it is impossible to lose this seat. History tells us differently. Democrats lost a safe seat when the Powerful Dan Rostenkowski had ethics problems. Congressman from both parties has been upset when corruption is on the table. The 50th district is one of the most … Read More

Over in Capitol Weekly newspaper, FR friend Anthony York has penned a quick piece looking at Governor Schwarzenegger’s new media team. I’ve reprinted an excerpt below, but you can read the whole piece here.

The real question is whether of not, in bringing together this team, the Governor has used his gravitas to corral these media consultant into flat-rate contracts where they are making a reasonable amount of money, but not so much that the precious money donated to help the Governor get reelected is instead diverted to vacation homes and lavish trips. For example, I’ve been told that media buyers might take as much as 15% of the buy as a "commission" for booking the airtime. I guess this would mean that for every million dollars of airtime purchase, $150,000 is going to a consultant. In the world of politics, that is an outrage.

Anyways, my editorial whim now being satisfied, here is the excerpt:… Read More

Click here to see Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first commercial of the season.

… Read More

The 50th Congressional District Two weeks from tomorrow, there will be Congressional special election taking place in California. Actually, with absentee voting being such a large percentage of votes cast in special election, it would almost be more accurate to say that is a special election "underway" right now. The race has captured the national political spotlight because it is the race to fill out the unexpired term of former GOP Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham who is now one of the most infamous criminals in the annals of Congress. The millions of dollars that he took in exchange for directing government contracts into the hands of his ‘benefactors’ has sent Duke to jail for many years, and now voters on San Diego’s "Gold Coast" need to choose a new representative. There are a ton of Republicans running for the seat — thus making the amount of votes necessary to clintch the GOP nomination… Read More